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DON QUIXOTE - ROYAL BALLET AUTUMN 2023


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46 minutes ago, Rob S said:

Oh dear, Steven slipped over towards the end of act 1 and although he got up and they carried on for a bit the curtain came down while things were still going. Then an announcement about an issue on stage 

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear this. I hope Steven is ok? :( 

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The Royal Ballet is not very lucky with Don Q !  I was in the audience many years ago when Fumi Kaneko injured herself in the middle of Act one, they had to close the curtain, we had to wait for a while and Kevin O'Hare came on stage to announce that Marianela Nunez had accepted to finish the show...  Exactly the same story happened the second time I was in the audience for Don Q, this time it was Natalia Osipova getting injured at the end of act one and we had to wait even longer to get the news Akane Takada had accepted to finish the show...

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32 minutes ago, MAX said:

The Royal Ballet is not very lucky with Don Q !  I was in the audience many years ago when Fumi Kaneko injured herself in the middle of Act one, they had to close the curtain, we had to wait for a while and Kevin O'Hare came on stage to announce that Marianela Nunez had accepted to finish the show...  Exactly the same story happened the second time I was in the audience for Don Q, this time it was Natalia Osipova getting injured at the end of act one and we had to wait even longer to get the news Akane Takada had accepted to finish the show...

 

Oh god Max... have you booked tickets for any performances this time...?

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26 minutes ago, oncnp said:

In other Don Q news....Marianela Nunez has posted a brief close-up view of the wedding pdd costumes and their exquisite detail....https://www.instagram.com/p/CyWaX1lr5b2/

 

I saw this. One of my favourite tutus for the details. 

One thing that has been on my mind is that sometimes they will have a white flower in their hair and then other times (most of the time this run) a tiara instead. I wonder if a switch was made before opening night and the tiara won the day.

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Anna-Rose and Marci made for a great show with nil/minimal rehearsal. They came across as a winning pair, particularly well matched. Unsurprisingly not everything came off as well as they would have liked but Anna-Rose held one fabulous balance for an age, quite extraordinary, and the solos were sparkling.

A great shame about Steven’s injury as I thought we were heading for a truly memorable evening.

I managed a brief word with Anna-Rose at the Stage Door as I’d ordered some flowers. It must be incredibly difficult to carry on a performance when your partner with whom you’ve been rehearsing for weeks has had to retire part way through a show. And then face well wishers in Floral Street. Anna-Rose is a true professional but it must have been very tough. I do hope there’s some good news for next week.


Picking up an earlier topic, from chatting to neighbours in the theatre, the heavily discounted Stalls tickets in the last 24 hours were a little cheaper than a standing ticket. For my part, I’m pleased the house was pretty full but I do wonder if more modest discounts made available to Friends, audience members etc might have generated additional income. I should add I have no idea how many tickets were sold at less than the price of a standing ticket.

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Hell, I'd happily have paid rather more than the cost of my standing ticket for a Stalls seat, if it had been offered!  I've said it before, I think, but I find it rather obscene to hear of tickets going for that little.  Amphi tickets, maybe, but not nearly-top-price stalls tickets.  Why not just give them away, and have done with it?

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15 hours ago, alison said:

 

Funny, that. I suppose by now they must have a long list of those deemed worthy 😕  Are they still doing student offers? It would be sensible.

 

I’d say barely - much less are available per performance now compared to before, and stalls seats aren’t really included.

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3 hours ago, JohnS said:

Picking up an earlier topic, from chatting to neighbours in the theatre, the heavily discounted Stalls tickets in the last 24 hours were a little cheaper than a standing ticket.

I cannot, of course, say to whom these tickets were offered, and it may be that they were very deserving recipients, but my initial reaction is what a kick in the teeth for long-standing patrons who can no longer afford the grossly inflated amphitheatre prices, let alone the rest of the house. 

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7 hours ago, JohnS said:

I should add I have no idea how many tickets were sold at less than the price of a standing ticket.


Several hundred including last night and this afternoon.

I want the auditorium to be full for the wonderful dancers but this covert selling of premium tickets is deeply unfair to Friends and regulars.

 

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1 hour ago, capybara said:


Several hundred including last night and this afternoon.

I want the auditorium to be full for the wonderful dancers but this covert selling of premium tickets is deeply unfair to Friends and regulars.

 

 

It does rather beggar belief - very heavy discounting should surely be the last resort. I am sure that 20/25% discount on certain areas to Friends and those on distribution lists would have helped to shift sales. 

 

 

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I’ve emailed Alex Beard asking if he’ll look at what happened to ensure there were full houses this weekend and whether other steps could have been taken (such as the discounting for The Cellist) which might have helped secure full houses and generate more income.

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Actually, a 25 percent discount wouldn't even bring the price of my former seats down to last year's "normal" price :(

 

I can understand not wanting to annoy people - particularly Friends - who had already booked, but for financial management reasons at least I would hope that some sort of higher-priced offer had originally been made.

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8 hours ago, alison said:

My guess is that they would have been sent by personal email, to those qualifying.  

 



 

I wonder what criteria are used in order to qualify?  I live in London, and could have got there with very little notice.  I know I am on their mailing list.  I have had 3 emails now offering me a discount for the Cellist double bill.  I have seen it before, and quite enjoyed it, but not enough to see it again unless it was with something I really wanted to see.  

I am absolutely fuming that these tickets were offered at such ridiculously low prices.  If I had received an email offering me a 50% discount for "tomorrow's performance" I would snapped it up immediately, and I am sure I wouldn't have been the only one.  

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I'm starting to think the train companies have taken a dislike to ballet, or at least to me seeing ballet. After missing the first part of ENB's triple bill last month I nearly missed the start of Don Q today. At 10.13 I looked up the National Rail website to check the 11.14 Cambridge-Kings Cross was running, only to find there are severe delays through Royston. On the Liverpool Street line the only train that would get me to London in time left my local station at 10.25. At this point I was still in my dressing gown. I somehow managed to get dressed & to the station in 10 minutes & got the train!

 

ETA Ah, cross-posted with you @alison!

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3 minutes ago, Fonty said:



 

I wonder what criteria are used in order to qualify?  I live in London, and could have got there with very little notice.  I know I am on their mailing list.  I have had 3 emails now offering me a discount for the Cellist double bill.  I have seen it before, and quite enjoyed it, but not enough to see it again unless it was with something I really wanted to see.  

I am absolutely fuming that these tickets were offered at such ridiculously low prices.  If I had received an email offering me a 50% discount for "tomorrow's performance" I would snapped it up immediately, and I am sure I wouldn't have been the only one.  

I have not even received one discount offer for any ballet, just Opera ☹️

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2 minutes ago, AnneL said:

I have not even received one discount offer for any ballet, just Opera ☹️

 

I never go to the opera, so maybe the marketing department has picked that up.  

 

I

5 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 At this point I was still in my dressing gown. I somehow managed to get dressed & to the station in 10 minutes & got the train!

 

 

 

The dress code is very relaxed now @Dawnstar  I am sure you could have passed off a dressing gown as the latest fashion.  :)

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14 minutes ago, alison said:

Actually, a 25 percent discount wouldn't even bring the price of my former seats down to last year's "normal" price :(

 

I can understand not wanting to annoy people - particularly Friends - who had already booked, but for financial management reasons at least I would hope that some sort of higher-priced offer had originally been made.

 

That's the problem I'm finding with the 25% off offers: as they only apply to the higher priced seats, with ticket prices having gone up so much I still can't afford stalls seats even with 25% off. If it was 50% off then I could just about stretch to it on occasion.

 

I think finding out tickets are being made available to only a select group for a pittance is much more annoying than if there's a smaller discount made available to the general public.

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Just now, Fonty said:

The dress code is very relaxed now @Dawnstar  I am sure you could have passed off a dressing gown as the latest fashion.  :)

 

Given I've had said dressing gown for about 20 years & it's already been mended & is now developing more holes, I think not! If I meet up with anyone on here later today, please be aware that I do have a good excuse for looking a mess!

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In weighing the certainty of a favourite seat or standing place when booking opens against the possibility of a later discount, my preference is certainty.
I also love the buzz of a full house and a hugely enthusiastic audience (as we had last night) and discounting can help bring this about. I’d prefer discounts to be widely available and relatively modest.

But if there’s a need for significant discounting (number of tickets and percentage discounted), then it’s incumbent on the ROH to look again at the original pricing decisions. 

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