Why does the Royal Ballet rarely sell out any more?

[The Sitter In]

It has been a noticeable feature of recent seasons (post-Covid?) that the RB’s audiences just aren’t there in the same numbers and that ‘full’ houses are often the result of numerous ticket offers in-house and to ‘selected’ groups.

I have identified some possible reasons:

1. The repertoire is no longer attractive. From a purely personal point of view this carries a lot of weight - there are works I simply do not wish to see either more than once or at all. This season features a number in that category. The near total absence of Balanchine (except Jewels) Robbins, Cranko, de Valois, Fokine, Nijinska and much Ashton has seriously impoverished the repertoire and the quality of works by McGregor and Wheeldon is simply nowhere comparable.

2. The scheduling is unattractive. Again, in my view, the severe reduction in triple bills and the often nonsensical composition of the ones which do make it to the stage is a turn off. The interminable runs of full-length works is similarly unattractive - if three programmes existed in the place of one long run of, say Swan Lake, I would be at the ROH three times as much.

3. The dancers are not interesting enough. This is a fraught question. For me, the company is very strong and likeable at present, but also very young and there are, apart from a few clear exceptions, no real ‘stars’ in the way that those who remember the 60s and 70s might understand. There is for me a certain uniformity and sameness which makes viewing multiple performances less likely - I simply don’t think that that would lead to any revelations.

4. The ROH is not exactly keen on ‘regular’ ballet goers and does little or nothing to encourage loyalty. I think anyone with any memory of years past could not deny that this is certainly the impression given, although it may not be the intention. The pursuit of ‘new audiences’ is all very well, but, balance is essential not to alienate those who, of their own accord and without incentive, turn out on a wet November night…

5. The prices are too high. It is clear that, in pursuit of maximising income, the ROH is squeezing the pips out of its paying audience (and not all pay full price…). The exponential rise in seat prices means that, at the top end, fewer people will ‘take a punt’ on unfamiliar works and/or unknown dancers (£150 for Don Q featuring two non-principals is, frankly, extraordinary - and no disrespect to the two dancers, both of whom I like and am eager to see in the roles). At the lower prices, the rises have been as painful for many regulars on limited incomes. Result: people will see one or two performances and not the several of times past.

 

I would be very interested to read any thoughts fellow forumites might have

[Jan McNulty]

6.  Maybe there aren't as many tourists who see a performance at ROH as a tick box?

 

I would say ticket prices are a major factor.  For many of us it is not just the transport costs but also, for an evening performance, accommodation costs.  

 

I was looking at Manon matinees so I could do just a day trip but they start at 1pm.  Last time (some years ago and well pre-Covid) I booked a triple that started at 1pm.  I should have arrived at Euston just after 11.  In the event I got to ROH just in time to see the audience coming out for the first interval.  It was Sod's Law that that was the piece I particularly wanted to see.  For similarly timed matinees I ended up travelling the day before and booking a hotel.  With hotel prices the way they are currently it makes it a ludicrously expensive outing.

 

I've just booked for Northern Ballet's R&J in Sheffield next April.  The three front row tickets cost me £4 less than a seat in the stalls for one Don Q performance!  

[annamk]

For myself it's first and foremost the rep. If I don't want to see it the price is irrelevant. I downgraded my friends membership this season because of the programming. In the past I'd go to multiple performances in a run to see different casts; yes all standing but occasionally for something really special I have splashed out up to £90 for a side stalls aisle seat - now those seats are £150. I actually like Don Quixote and Swan Lake but sadly I don't like the RB productions at all. There are very few of the new commissions at the RB over the last 10/15 years that I've loved and would see on repeat. And that's not because I don't like new work: I loved Akram Khan's Giselle, if Tiler Peck were to bring her "Turn it Out" back to Sadlers Wells I spend my ballet budget for the year on it, same with ENB and the Forsythe bill to name just a few. 

But it's not just RB that's suffering - ENB at Sadlers Wells wasn't well attended, likewise the Pam Tanowitz at the Barbican. 

[Scheherezade]

I’d say a combination of ticket prices and the rep, but ticket prices primarily because punters who will not - or, frequently, can not - pay the massively inflated prices currently demanded for productions that they are lukewarm about at best, might well go along anyway if prices were less prohibitive.

By way of comparison, look at the swathes of £20 seats with excellent sight lines at the National Theatre, where the very best seats in the house cost less than virtually every one of the cheapest restricted view seats in the amphitheatre at the ROH. 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Scheherezade

[Linnzi5]

Cost of living crisis. People just cannot afford to pay for seats the way they used to?

[bangorballetboy]

I think the simple answer is the proportion of the general public that are interested in ballet is much, much smaller than it used to be.

[Scheherezade]

22 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

I think the simple answer is the proportion of the general public that are interested in ballet is much, much smaller than it used to be.

 

But surely not diminished to such a noticeable extent over the duration of lockdown for this reason alone.

[Sim]

I think it's probably a combination of much of the above.  I have reduced my ticket purchases for the first part of this season and concentrated mostly on DonQ.  I don't need to see Nut more than a couple of times, and I didn't want to see Dante or the Cellist bill at all, but my daughter is making me go to one of each to give them another go.  I am very lucky in that I always stand, which is the only way I can go to multiple performances.  Although the prices have gone up for this too (£14 for DonQ) it is still much cheaper than going to the cinema or most West End theatres.  And yes, I know that not everyone can stand.  But for those who can, I think it's the best value in London.

[art_enthusiast]

20 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

But surely not diminished to such a noticeable extent over the duration of lockdown for this reason alone.

Yep, exactly. For me, lockdown actually got me into watching ballet, as I had not much else to do and there’s so much content online, ROH YouTube channel, etc. And with social media prevalence, awareness of ballet has increased a lot recently, particularly among young people.

 

I think it’s mainly cost that’s an issue, there are more important things to spend that amount of money on (or more of a reason to save it) and that’s the case for a lot of people.

[capybara]

3 hours ago, The Sitter In said:

It has been a noticeable feature of recent seasons (post-Covid?) that the RB’s audiences just aren’t there in the same numbers and that ‘full’ houses are often the result of numerous ticket offers in-house and to ‘selected’ groups.

I have identified some possible reasons:

1. The repertoire is no longer attractive. From a purely personal point of view this carries a lot of weight - there are works I simply do not wish to see either more than once or at all. This season features a number in that category. The near total absence of Balanchine (except Jewels) Robbins, Cranko, de Valois, Fokine, Nijinska and much Ashton has seriously impoverished the repertoire and the quality of works by McGregor and Wheeldon is simply nowhere comparable.

2. The scheduling is unattractive. Again, in my view, the severe reduction in triple bills and the often nonsensical composition of the ones which do make it to the stage is a turn off. The interminable runs of full-length works is similarly unattractive - if three programmes existed in the place of one long run of, say Swan Lake, I would be at the ROH three times as much.

3. The dancers are not interesting enough. This is a fraught question. For me, the company is very strong and likeable at present, but also very young and there are, apart from a few clear exceptions, no real ‘stars’ in the way that those who remember the 60s and 70s might understand. There is for me a certain uniformity and sameness which makes viewing multiple performances less likely - I simply don’t think that that would lead to any revelations.

4. The ROH is not exactly keen on ‘regular’ ballet goers and does little or nothing to encourage loyalty. I think anyone with any memory of years past could not deny that this is certainly the impression given, although it may not be the intention. The pursuit of ‘new audiences’ is all very well, but, balance is essential not to alienate those who, of their own accord and without incentive, turn out on a wet November night…

5. The prices are too high. It is clear that, in pursuit of maximising income, the ROH is squeezing the pips out of its paying audience (and not all pay full price…). The exponential rise in seat prices means that, at the top end, fewer people will ‘take a punt’ on unfamiliar works and/or unknown dancers (£150 for Don Q featuring two non-principals is, frankly, extraordinary - and no disrespect to the two dancers, both of whom I like and am eager to see in the roles). At the lower prices, the rises have been as painful for many regulars on limited incomes. Result: people will see one or two performances and not the several of times past.

 

I would be very interested to read any thoughts fellow forumites might have

 

All of the above except  point #3 ("The dancers are not interesting enough").

 

They are to me and I think that the RB does have "real stars" (including a few in their late twenties/early thirties who must surely be in, or reaching, their prime). However, and it seems bizarre to be saying this  in this age of social media, today's RB elite dancers do not enjoy the same level of exposure as their predecessors.  They are on stage too infrequently for audiences to get to know them, love them, and 'follow' them and the ROH does little or nothing to celebrate their world class status and promulgate their names to the general public.

 

The obvious priority given by the RB to bringing on young dancers is all well and good;  but recognising the stars who have worked tirelessly for years to reach the top is of equal importance and seems to be being overlooked by comparison. This is to the Company's detriment, not just that of the dancers concerned.

 

[annamk]

11 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

All of the above except  point #3 ("The dancers are not interesting enough").

 

They are to me and I think that the RB does have "real stars" (including a few in their late twenties/early thirties who must surely be in, or reaching, their prime). However, and it seems bizarre to be saying this  in this age of social media, today's RB elite dancers do not enjoy the same level of exposure as their predecessors.  They are on stage too infrequently for audiences to get to know them, love them, and 'follow' them and the ROH does little or nothing to celebrate their world class status and promulgate their names to the general public.

 

The obvious priority given by the RB to bringing on young dancers is all well and good;  but recognising the stars who have worked tirelessly for years to reach the top is of equal importance and seems to be being overlooked by comparison. This is to the Company's detriment, not just that of the dancers concerned.

 

 

I completely agree with you re the dancers.  If more triple bills were programmed then presumably we would see our favourite principals more often ? It seems to me reading @Bruce Wall reports from New York that in a very short space of time he's seen all the principals on stage several times. 

 

Maybe also part of the reason they aren't known is that the RB no longer tours the UK - I'm reading Dame Beryl Grey's autobiography and the company used to tour extraordinarily extensively, very gruelling for the dancers it has to be said. I understand that it's totally uneconomical now (Aaron Watkins said as much in the LBC interview the other evening) but Roberto Bolle seems to have a model for Italy in the summer that works.

 

Maybe there are just too many competing forms of entertainment these days ......

[OnePigeon]

I think all of the above reasons are very true and I do agree about there not being the star dancers there have been in the past- bar a few exceptions - who even then aren’t household names.  The Arts in general is just not well represented in the media anymore, and with the wide choice of streaming services and YouTube to watch, the audience is so dispersed that even if ballet was shown on the BBC daily, it still wouldn’t have the reach it once had.  It is very hard to make artists and dancers the stars they once were.  Having said that, although I think there are lots of amazing dancers who I love to watch,  I do believe the RB doesn’t currently have a real stand out star whose charisma and presence transcends the regular ballet going audience.
 

I think the Arts in general are suffering as everything has become so expensive and some people’s habits have changed post-Covid.  People working from home more and not being in Town so much may be a factor as they would have gone to a performance after work, but may not make a special trip into London for it.  Perhaps tourism in London is down, or the higher prices stop the tourists from attending.  There’s a lot of competition out there for their money and the theatre has gone up in price so much that maybe they have to choose between a West End show and the ballet now, whereas once they could have seen both, or maybe they can get last minute deals to shows, whereas the RB don’t offer last minute discounts to most audience members.

 

Personally, lack of funds and the very narrow programming is the main factor in my purchasing habits.  I’m only seeing one performance of one ballet on average per season.  There are so many ballets I haven’t actually seen live that it’s incredibly frustrating that the ones I am seeing are all ones I’ve seen before - with the exception of Don Q which I originally missed.  I do feel that  they have largely disconnected from their past, churning out the usual suspect on an infuriatingly regular basis whilst eschewing most of the amazing and influential works bridging the classical and contemporary worlds, which are now slipping into obscurity (however, I feel like I moan about that on a far too regular basis).  Perhaps this isn’t such a wise direction for them to take after all.

[Suffolkgal]

Very little does... massive reductions for big shows all over the place 

[Bruce Wall]

1 hour ago, OnePigeon said:

I do believe the RB doesn’t currently have a real stand out star whose charisma and presence transcends the regular ballet going audience.

 

Half jokingly the other night, I said to some people in the NYCB Patron's Lounge that Mira Nadon (21) and Roman Mejia (23) ALONE are an insurance policy for NYCB.   They - even now - have the mantle of stars about them that @OnePigeon references.  They seem to transform whatever they touch with a magic that is uniquely their own.  Nadon especially has been a special delight and I must confess I really wasn't expecting it.  Well, certainly not this quickly!  Can't wait for her NY debut tonight in Concerto Barocco.  I think I can see it in my mind's eye but then Nadon - BEING Nadon - I NOW know will surprise me.  Her debuts have been revelatory as have Mejia's.  (He's so lucky to have Tiler Peck to coach him.  They are so adorable together - and I use that word advisably - both on and off stage.)  Nadon tonight is partnered by Gilbert Bolden III, a corps member, who I have come to really like as well.  (In the past I wasn't quite certain - but he has really come on and is SUCH a spectacularly strong partner.   Certainly he enchanted as a principal in the West Symphony First Movement - so fiercely balletically classical - (but then that's NYCB's calling).  With his colouring a la Tony Curtis and that stunning square-jawed smile of his a la Cary Grant he is - in a word - bedazzling.  Plus he's tall.  Certainly not as towering as Miriam Miller - NO - but TALL enough to hover over others.  Here he is with Sara Mearns in Peck's Rotunda.  This is one of the pieces that Alistair Sparling has chosen for the NYCB London showing in March.  Sparling I'm sure SO knows HIS London audience.  I pray they follow his lead.  I'm uncertain that they will - but I'm sure HE knows better.  Bolden's slimed down and shaped up since then.  He doesn't look so tall in the clip - but you have to remember that Sara, herself, is a big girl.  (Question:  How many corps members partner principals at, say, the Royal at Covent Garden?  I'm trying to think.  Happens frequently at NYCB.  Tomorrow corps member Alec Knight (an Australian) partners principal Unity Phelan in her SiC 2nd Movement debut.  Saw him in rehearsal.  He looked fantastic.) 

 

Still, it is I think the fact that these dancers DANCE SO MUCH - in so many varieties - AT ALL RANKS - which becomes a point unto itself as @annamk rightly suggests.  The people have BEEN flocking in to SEE NYCB.  Case in point:  It's the COMPANY they CHEER.  The concerns you constantly read about 'casting' in some other places doesn't so much prevail here.  Indeed you no longer see people thronging around the paper panels with the casting changes.  THIS IS NYCB AFTER ALL.  (I promise you they did in the days of Baryshnikov, etc.)  These have come to see the Company - THAT'S THE STAR - and I promise you that you'll always find something to thrill you in 'dose 'dem ranks.  

 

It has been heart-warming in the extreme to see State Theater so FULL.  Last Spring I had said to friends who are long-standing core NYCB Volunteers - a group so important to the organisation's smooth running and NYCB's popular interface - [and I'm especially delighted to have been asked if I might re-join the team I first worked with decades ago - even though I DO LIVE IN LONDON NOW!!!] - that I was VERY fearful for the full Balanchine season.  I was afraid it simply wouldn't sell.  So often in the recent past his bills had the Fourth Ring - and sometimes even the Third Ring - closed off.  It was the new balletic works - especially the Peck - understandable in so many instances - which were the BIG sellers.  I cannot tell you how happy I am that I was ENTIRELY wrong.  Audiences have been thronging in - and - excitingly - they are in the majority young.  Moreover, you get the sense that they will keep coming back.  Reassuringly so.  It doesn't need to be pushed.  They've already been sold - the COMPANY sold them.  I left my seat in the Second Ring last night and walked up to the Fourth Ring and found a seat there.  It was like old home week for me.  It was so lovely to see all these young people SO excited at the actual construct of a work like T&V  - much as I had been at their age decades ago.  

 

Still, there is OVERALL now more forward optimism about here generally I find - i.e., this city certainly - than (understandably) there is just now in the UK - Well, certainly in London. Economic outlooks have so much to do with it.  Always have; always will I have come to learn.  Concerning THAT I fear any ballet company has very little influence - if any at all.  As I've said in the NYCB strand - you can ONLY live in and through your own time.   Your choices will ALWAYS be dictated by it be it for the better or worse.  Always were; ALWAYS will be. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[zxDaveM]

4 hours ago, Linnzi5 said:

Cost of living crisis. People just cannot afford to pay for seats the way they used to?

 

indeed - if your available 'free' funds are reducing because the bills are going up and up, most people will reluctantly forego a night out midweek, especially if the ticket prices are going up (and of course they have to go up to pay for increased costs).

no easy solution either side of the box office (though bumping tickets up from >£25 to over £50, isn't a good look)

 

[Tango Dancer]

I think it's a combination of these factors. 

 

I don't go as much to RB because there's so much else I want to see in London and elsewhere.  I am someone who likes variety rather than seeing different casts in the same piece.  

 

Also for the cost of the RB ticket I can go and see several other things at BRB or NB or companies visiting the UK such as Alvin Ailey.  The tickets for RB are much more expensive for a good seat (and I don't like standing).  I much prefer to travel to Birmingham, stay in a hotel and have a decent seat.  

 

I like the dancers at RB and think they have very talented people, some of whom I really enjoy watching.  I don't always like all of the repertoire but there are some things I do enjoy.   

 

[alison]

1 hour ago, Scheherezade said:

 

But surely not diminished to such a noticeable extent over the duration of lockdown for this reason alone.

 

I think lockdown only exacerbated things.  After all, if you look at the average classical concert, attendances have been noticeably decreasing for years.

 

The Sitter In, thank you very much for asking the question, which I've been pondering for some time too - prompted, probably, by seeing loads of ballet students sitting in Orchestra Stalls seats for Romeo & Juliet, of all things!  R&J, which you used to fight to get a seat for.  I've come to the conclusion that it's been many little things, all chipping away at the audience.  In no particular order:

 

- I can't believe that digital exclusion and going paperless hasn't played a part.  Digital exclusion, because it makes it very difficult for those who don't have smartphones, or even computers (or regular access thereto) - and yes, they still do exist, even if the numbers are shrinking - to get hold of tickets, and going paperless because it makes it that more difficult to find out what's on in the first place, and be persuaded to book.  Yes, they send out some (often rather unconvincing) emails telling you what's on, but do you read them?  Do you even open them?  (I frequently don't, because they get pushed down my inbox so fast).  A lot of times in the past, I used to pick up the booking brochure and be attracted by the photos (although I'd probably have been booking for the ballet anyway), or find that some particularly good opera singer was performing and decide to book for them.  Now, I have no clue who's singing, and my attendance at the opera side of things has virtually ceased.

 

- Obviously, the audience gets older, and reduces its attendance, and eventually stops coming all together.  Covid has probably accelerated this - some people are still anxious about being in a crowded situation.

 

- Pricing is a very obvious consideration, especially now - and the prices for Don Q and Manon certainly aren't helping.  I don't appear to have booked a seat for Don Q last time around, but my standing tickets have gone up 40%.  But they have a captive audience, when everything else has gone up so much.  That's as nothing compared with my (formerly "cheap") seats for Manon, though, which have - literally - tripled in price since 2019.  But the standing tickets themselves have got so expensive that I'm being much more picky about which casts I book for and where I stand.  With amphitheatre prices for ballets having breached the three-digit barrier, the ballet has become as expensive as - and perhaps even more so than - the opera.  Never mind that the ballet, with its salaried dancers and shorter durations, is cheaper to put on in general than opera - are the swingeing price increases offsetting some of the losses for the opera?  I could go on, but we've moaned enough about pricing on here.

 

- Cost of living crisis - although this was already starting to happen before then.

 

- External factors.  Despite what was said about people getting an increasing appreciation for the arts during lockdown, has this translated into more bums on seats?  I'm not sure.  Does the fact that so much of the free-to-air arts output is hidden away on BBC4 or SkyArts these days mean that people simply aren't exposed to it?  Do they even know those channels exist?  I rarely see adverts for arts output on any other BBC channels.

And as for general exposure, how much do people see?  With the increasing siloisation (if such a word exists) of subject-matter, arts coverage moving to the online-only sections of the press (or being jettisoned all together), how do you find coverage of the arts if you're not actively looking for it, particularly online?  How do you know you ought to go and see something?

 

- ROH marketing.  Who are they marketing to, and is it succeeding?  Why the continual hunt for new audiences (Arts Council diktat, I know) when it's counterproductive if first-timers don't attend more than the once?  Are they pitching too young?  Should they be more aware of their existing audience, and particularly the regulars?  What makes them tick?  Why are they vanishing - apart from being made to feel unwanted, of course.

 

And then of course there's the ballets themselves, but that's for later ...

 

 

 

 

[zxDaveM]

2 hours ago, annamk said:

 

Maybe there are just too many competing forms of entertainment these days ......

 

As a music fan (rock on!) this is evidently true in the collpase of owning music (CDs or vinyl) to streaming and YouTube or tik-tok garbage, and also losing out to computer games. When I was a nipper (OK, teenager) music was VITAL. Now it seems it's become 'meh' (and the artists that produce it don't help). I started coming to the ballet when gigs were becoming too boisterous for me (though still buy the CDs if they get a release), and then, ballet was an exciting prospect of discovery (back in the days of 12-13 different productions, inc 5 or so triple bills). Nowadays, I will only go see my very favourite dancers in the 'war-horses', and certainly will no longer be seeing 15+ of something I've already seen 15+ (30+?) times any more. Yes, that's you Swan Lake, Manon, Nutcracker, DonQ, Winters Tale. Not so keen on Dante, so just a couple of visits (each cast); I like the double bill (especially the Cellist) but can't go to that many as it clashes with new shows I'd like to see in the Linbury - typical!

PS - though I will be trying to go to as many of the Ashton triple bills in June as I can get to!!

[MAB]

Royal Opera audences are shrinking too.  

[Dawnstar]

It feels as though overall there are 2 different but intersecting issues: regulars attending less often, due to programming & pricing, and fewer "casual" audience members, due to less general public interest in ballet & pricing. Since the issue in common for both groups is pricing then it would be nice to think the ROH would do something about this but thus far it seems to be quite the reverse.

 

38 minutes ago, alison said:

A lot of times in the past, I used to pick up the booking brochure and be attracted by the photos (although I'd probably have been booking for the ballet anyway), or find that some particularly good opera singer was performing and decide to book for them.  Now, I have no clue who's singing, and my attendance at the opera side of things has virtually ceased.

 

I too am seeing less opera than I used to at the ROH, though for a different reason. For me it's the ugly modern opera productions that put me off. Though admittedly when I look at the opera cast lists there seem to be decreasing numbers of singers who I've even heard of, let alone am really keen to see. However it was due to my opera attendance decreasing 5 years ago that I decided to try seeing the RB live for the first time & I'm now seeing far more ballet than I did opera due to the multiple ballet casts. So by an odd twist the ROH is actually getting more money out of me! As a new ballet viewer I have yet to get to the stage of being bored by the standard rep that some people on here have got to. Whether I'll get to it in a few years I don't know. For the sake of my bank balance in some ways I hope I do! And while part of me would like the RB to do more "heritage" works & less McGregor, another part of me is pleased when they do pieces I don't want to see as that saves me some money!

[RHowarth]

2 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

  There’s a lot of competition out there for their money and the theatre has gone up in price so much that maybe they have to choose between a West End show and the ballet now, whereas once they could have seen both, or maybe they can get last minute deals to shows, whereas the RB don’t offer last minute discounts to most audience members.

I think this is a very good point. When I come to London I tend to stay one or two nights (Friday and Saturday) in a cheap hotel, and pack in as much as possible (theatre and exhibitions). A few years ago I realised I could round off the weekend by seeing Sunday matinées of West End musicals before catching a train home at 6pm or 7pm. I use TodayTix to get excellent seats (front row stalls for example) for under £30. I've caught the bug a bit, and now that ROH prices are so dear, I sometimes see fewer ballet performances when I'm in London, filling some 'slots' with West End shows instead.

[Paco]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

It feels as though overall there are 2 different but intersecting issues: regulars attending less often, due to programming & pricing, and fewer "casual" audience members, due to less general public interest in ballet & pricing. Since the issue in common for both groups is pricing then it would be nice to think the ROH would do something about this but thus far it seems to be quite the reverse.!

Totally agree (also regarding the decreasing attractiveness of opera casts, this is a global issue Worldwide).

 

At Paris Opera we have experienced this pricing issue 15 years ago, when they started to increase every year the price of the cheapest seats (and decrease significantly their quota in the auditorium), chiefly at Bastille. The result has been a progressive decline of regular attendees, those passionate of opera and/or ballet who were used to attending several casts for a same ballet or opera. The marketing transparently voiced out that "fans" were not an interesting target and that tourists/ occasional spectators were the most interesting audience for Paris Opera. Promoting more and more the kind of "champagne evening at Paris Opera" at very expensive prices.

 

This resulted in slow, latent, progressive decline of sales, from auditoriums previously sold at 100% to 95%, 94%, 93% .... With fantastic novlangue communiqués every year "we have reached an unprecented 94% filling", "we have reached a triumphant 93% capacity..." (uuuh, yes but 3 years ago it was 97% wasn't it???). 

Then sales of subsciptions started to decrease as well (the equivalent of ROH former packages). Then the institution started to propose last minutes discounts of performances which sales were catastrophic. Then the audience started to understand that it was not useful anymore to book far in advance, because for sure there would be discounts at the last minute (except perhaps for a Netrebko or Kaufmann show, and except at Garnier which has limited capacity and is a Worldwide touristic attraction).

 

When the Covid-crisis and touristic crisis happened, the impact at the reopening was sideral because suddenly the Paris Opera had lost its "best audience target", the tourist Champagne-evening at Paris Opera... and could not anymore rely on passionate/ fans as they had gone away to other venues (Théâtre des Champs Elysées, ROH chiefly for the Ballet, various venues in Germany or Italy or French provincial theatres etc.).

 

I am afraid this could be the future of the ROH with the current pricing strategy. But the situation is even worse here because, contrarily to French cultural instiutions, when the ROH is in fnancial trouble the governement does not always come to the rescue. We could see it during the Covid-crisis when it had to sell some artistic works of the building to avoid bankruptcy. This would never had happened at Paris Opera where financial losses would be immediately covered by the State.

So the ROH is somehow trapped: Because of its post-Covid difficult financial situation (which is fortunately improving, but not fast enough due to the unexpected inflation on costs), It needs to schedule those looooong runs of Swan Lake and Nutcracker (and, last year, SB) - and the equivalent Tosca, Traviata or Aida for the opera-, to secure the cash machine, and it has to try to increase the revenue by seat. Globally it has to find money by all means, it is a matter of survival.

And the more it increases prices, the less tickets it sells, so it is a vicious circle...

 

The worst signal that I have seen since September is the empty tables at the foyer restaurants: This is really a warning signal that something is going wrong, and it is directly linked to the economic context.

 

The issue is not that Stalls best seats are now priced over £150, the issue is that some Amphitheatre seats jumped from £50 to £95 or more. The issue is not that there remain a hundred or more empty seats in the Stalls, the issue is that even Amphitheatre is only sold at 65%. This is the real signal that something is wrong in pricing strategy.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Paco

[Candleque]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

...the RB does have "real stars" (including a few in their late twenties/early thirties who must surely be in, or reaching, their prime). However, and it seems bizarre to be saying this in this age of social media, today's RB elite dancers do not enjoy the same level of exposure as their predecessors. They are on stage too infrequently for audiences to get to know them, love them, and 'follow' them and the ROH does little or nothing to celebrate their world class status and promulgate their names to the general public.

This. (Bold emphasis mine).

There is an oft-quoted principle in business which says: in general, 20% of your customers represent 80% of your sales. Smart marketers analyse that top 20% to replicate their characteristics and grow their audience overall. Seeing multiple casts because you know and love specific dancers is a balletomane thing. It is repeat buyers that used to sell out the ROH. The general public doesn't know (or care) that a ballet like Don Q can have 6-7 different must-see casts. 

Hit your core audience with sky high prices and unattractive programming (cough-McGregor-cough) and it is no wonder many above have mentioned getting their ballet fix more affordably elsewhere. The Royal Ballet need to convince casual fans to buy more than one ticket to replace this drop-off. Mainstream fame for the dancers is key to building demand to see them. (And so obvious even the ROH marketing peeps must know it.) 
 

[Paco]

5 hours ago, capybara said:

 it seems bizarre to be saying this  in this age of social media, today's RB elite dancers do not enjoy the same level of exposure as their predecessors.

 

Exactly and this is an important concern for the future. And it is the same at other companies: Who will be the star at La Scala Ballet once Bolle has definitely retired (which apparently is not for tomorrow fortunately)? Nicoletta Manni is an amazing artist, but apart from ballettomanes "nobody" knows her (even my French and British ballettomane friends don't know her).

 

Same in France: Even members of my family who never attended a ballet in their life knew the names of Noella Pontois, Patrick Dupond, Sylvie Guillem, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Nicolas Le Riche ... (and not to mention Nureyev). Today there is a marvelous artist Dorothée Gilbert: Who knows her in France except ballettomanes? She approaches the end of her brilliant career though...

And same for Russia, the USA, etc. At Amsterdam it was not so difficult to buy seats for Smirnova's Giselle ...

 

I don't know why we have reached this situation, but perhaps it is the problem with social media: Social media of ballerinas only speak to people who are already passionate of ballet. Whereas 20 years ago, the Sunday Times and equivalent were publising 2 pages about Carlos Acosta or Tamara Rojo and readers were not only ballettomanes.

[alison]

36 minutes ago, Paco said:

I don't know why we have reached this situation, but perhaps it is the problem with social media: Social media of ballerinas only speak to people who are already passionate of ballet. Whereas 20 years ago, the Sunday Times and equivalent were publising 2 pages about Carlos Acosta or Tamara Rojo and readers were not only ballettomanes.

 

This was partly what I meant when I talked about "siloisation", and breaking down the barriers.  Yes, 20 years ago, indeed the weekend quality press (broadsheets at the time), at least would have published articles (I seem to remember both Melissa Hamilton and Lauren Cuthbertson being referred to as the "next Darcey Bussell"), but now?  One of those "quality" papers' arts supplement cut its "what's on" arts coverage to 5 items during Covid, and hasn't reinstated it since - although admittedly it does have good books coverage - so if you were relying on that you would have no idea what was on.   It's rare to get any dance, or opera, coverage now.

 

1 hour ago, Paco said:

At Paris Opera we have experienced this pricing issue 15 years ago, when they started to increase every year the price of the cheapest seats (and decrease significantly their quota in the auditorium), chiefly at Bastille. The result has been a progressive decline of regular attendees, those passionate of opera and/or ballet who were used to attending several casts for a same ballet or opera. The marketing transparently voiced out that "fans" were not an interesting target and that tourists/ occasional spectators were the most interesting audience for Paris Opera. Promoting more and more the kind of "champagne evening at Paris Opera" at very expensive prices.

 

 I hadn't realised the Paris Opera was ahead of the ROH in this respect, but I definitely get the impression that the ROH is heading in this direction.  The casual balletgoer, who is prepared to pay top whack for the "ROH experience" and buy a glass (or even a bottle) of champagne and maybe some smoked salmon sandwiches (or a meal?) as well, but do it only once in a blue moon, seems to me to be far preferable to them than a more-committed balletgoer who pays lower prices.

[jmhopton]

3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

PS - though I will be trying to go to as many of the Ashton triple bills in June as I can get to!!

Me too Dave!

[capybara]

18 hours ago, capybara said:

 

.........today's RB elite dancers do not enjoy the same level of exposure as their predecessors.  They are on stage too infrequently for audiences to get to know them, love them, and 'follow' them and the ROH does little or nothing to celebrate their world class status and promulgate their names to the general public.

 

Apologies for quoting myself but, coincidentally, three RB dancers have been put in the media spotlight this weekend: Matthew Ball, William Bracewell and Mayara Magri.

Please see the top items in todays' Links.

 

 

[annamk]

A friend pointed out that the first two programmes at Paris Opera Nallet seemed to sell out. The top price tickets are the same as the RB so I wonder why this is: is it the ballets themselves, are there fewer seats to shift overall, are there more cheaper price tickets, do people in Paris have more money, are there fewer alternatives ? 

[Lizbie1]

33 minutes ago, annamk said:

A friend pointed out that the first two programmes at Paris Opera Nallet seemed to sell out. The top price tickets are the same as the RB so I wonder why this is: is it the ballets themselves, are there fewer seats to shift overall, are there more cheaper price tickets, do people in Paris have more money, are there fewer alternatives ? 

 

I do think that fewer alternatives is a big but underremarked factor when we start hand-wringing about relative audience numbers for opera and ballet in other countries.

[Scheherezade]

50 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Apologies for quoting myself but, coincidentally, three RB dancers have been put in the media spotlight this weekend: Matthew Ball, William Bracewell and Mayara Magri.

Please see the top items in todays' Links.

 

 

All very media-savvy and all very welcome. 
I have read the Tatler piece on Magri and Ball and thought that the ‘share’ would open the Times article on Bracewell but that was sadly not the case. 

[Tango Dancer]

8 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I do think that fewer alternatives is a big but underremarked factor when we start hand-wringing about relative audience numbers for opera and ballet in other countries.

 

Definitely.  There is a lot of choice in the UK so people may find something else more interesting.  Sometimes I like seeing what smaller companies can do with less resource or see a tour that may be a one-off, e.g. Sao Paolo dance company is on tour hear next year with some interesting new works so I'm putting some money aside for it because I don't know when they'll come again.  

 

What I'm tending to do now is see the RB in the cinema relay where I can get a good view for less money and save money for other live companies which don't have the relays.  

[Ian Macmillan]

For Scheherezade and anyone else:  Apologies if The Times link didn't work.   I've edited it and it should do so now.  (It works for me as I have a subscription, so I hope it will now do so for others.)

[Scheherezade]

16 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

For Scheherezade and anyone else:  Apologies if The Times link didn't work.   I've edited it and it should do so now.  (It works for me as I have a subscription, so I hope it will now do so for others.)

Thank you Ian and, yes, it works perfectly now.