ROH booking discussion - summer 2024

[lady emily]

No issues here either, except one failed payment that set my heart racing! 

[Sophie_B]

I got a regular Friends membership for the first time this past autumn (the final straw was being overseas for the opening of general booking. I didn't fancy waking up at 3am to do it). This is the second time I've booked as a Friend, and everything went smoothly. I waited 10 minutes today while I hardly had a wait time last time, but there were no bugs or being thrown out of the system, which had happened to me previously. 2x Winter's Tale, 2x Sarasota, 1x Swan Lake.

[San Perregrino]

to update non-friends, there are currently hundreds of tickets still available for all performances of both Ashton triple bills in the main house.

[JNC]

4 hours ago, PeterS said:

to update non-friends, there are currently hundreds of tickets still available for all performances of both Ashton triple bills in the main house.

But not many for Sarasota as @Bruce Wall suggests. Best to be realistic that I won’t be getting a ticket for this perhaps! 
 

on a separate note (I didn’t want to create a new thread for it) does anyone know when we can expect the 2024/2025 season announcement? Last year it was 26 April so presumably thereabouts but I wonder if anyone has confirmed a date yet? 

[LinMM]

I rarely do this as think I should be prepared to pay the Friends fee if want early booking etc but I did get the help of a Friend today to see Sarasota ballet.
On the three possible nights put forward only restricted view were still available and these were for mid week performances. I’m only going the once but it’s one of the better restricted views (£25) so am pleased I did text a Friend on this occasion (after alerts from the Forum this morning) as am pretty sure there will be hardly any tickets at all left by public booking. 
 

I was wondering whether the Peacock Theatre could have been suitable for Sarasota if planned well enough in advance. 

Edited March 6 by LinMM

[bridiem]

Someone did say upthread that some Sarasota tickets were being held back for public booking. So I hope the fact that there are only restricted views available at the moment may not be the case when public booking opens.

[LinMM]

Yes I do think at least a few tickets at least should be held for the public booking day and hopefully that will be the case. 
However I’m very happy with my ticket as it’s not a badly restricted one and feel relieved I will be definitely getting to see them. 
 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

I rarely do this as think I should be prepared to pay the Friends fee if want early booking etc but I did get the help of a Friend today to see Sarasota ballet.

 

The same for me. I've always waited for public booking before (apart from the 1 season when I tried having basic Friends membership) but when someone very kindly offered to get Sarasota tickets for me last week I very gratefully accepted. I've never seen any of the works being performed before & I would so like to, especially Facade, & it feels like this might be the only opportunity given the RB hasn't performed them in a long time.

[Beryl H]

Most of the Linbury seats seem to be restricted view (apart from the Stalls which I dislike), I managed to get a ticket for each Sarasota programme this morning at 9am, I saw Facade years ago and it can be hilarious, I'm most looking forward to Dante Sonata which I've never seen. 

[LinMM]

Yes it was the Dante Sonata programme I most wanted to see. 
I might go for a return for the other programme with Facade (on the Thursday) nearer the time though. 

[Scheherezade]

4 hours ago, LinMM said:

I was wondering whether the Peacock Theatre could have been suitable for Sarasota if planned well enough in advance. 

It suits The Trocks very well. And the sightlines are good pretty much everywhere. 

[alison]

Although I'm not sure it has a proper dance floor/stage, which appears to be absolutely indispensable for a lot of dance companies these days.

[Emeralds]

Eek no- not Peacock Theatre. I've been to it three times....not a great venue for classical ballet at all. If Linbury is too small, Sadler's Wells would be the next step up if they can't get ROH Main Stage. Barbican Theatre (which was used by ENB to premiere their WW1 Lest We Forget mixed bill) and Sadler's Wells are far preferable to Peacock. 

Linbury seats 394 people. Peacock Theatre seats 999. Sadler's Wells seats 1568. Barbican Theatre seats 1154. 

[FionaM]

@alison  both the roll-out vinyl and the wooden sprung floor needed below the vinyl, can be laid over the existing stage floor if it is not already suitable.  

[FionaM]

12 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Eek no- not Peacock Theatre. I've been to it three times....not a great venue for classical ballet at all. If Linbury is too small, Sadler's Wells would be the next step up if they can't get ROH Main Stage. Barbican Theatre (which was used by ENB to premiere their WW1 Lest We Forget mixed bill) and Sadler's Wells are far preferable to Peacock. 

Linbury seats 394 people. Peacock Theatre seats 999. Sadler's Wells seats 1568. Barbican Theatre seats 1154. 

Having been to the Peacock only a week ago for ‘Everyone’s talking about Jamie’ a dance musical, it seemed fine for smaller dance productions to me.  And ENB are using it for their children-friendly production of Swan Lake.   
 

could you explain why you think it’s not so suitable for dance/ballet? 

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, FionaM said:

Having been to the Peacock only a week ago for ‘Everyone’s talking about Jamie’ a dance musical, it seemed fine for smaller dance productions to me.  And ENB are using it for their children-friendly production of Swan Lake.   
 

could you explain why you think it’s not so suitable for dance/ballet? 

Hi FionaM. I think it's an adequate venue for small or amateur productions, or those that don't have a lot of jumping or tricky lifts7. The building and auditorium have a bit of a school assembly hall character and the stage floor seems a little stiff as though it's either not sprung and insteas laid directly (which would be at best unhealthy and at worst dangerous for dancers' knees and backs). Or it might be that it's the way they've laid down the wood that gives that impression. It's not the most comfortable seating for patrons nor a conducive atmosphere for dance performances. I wouldn't pay a lot for a performance there regardless of where I sit - £15 tops. In the same way that I wouldn't pay £20 for a McDonald's burger. 

 

While Sarasota Ballet may not have the size and other attributes of large companies like American Ballet Theatre or the Royal Ballet, I think it's an excellent small company who offer qualiry programmes and should be seen in a theatre that reflects their quality eg Linbury, Sadler's Wells etc. I would be happy to see plays. comedy, small musicals,school performances (ENBS presented their graduation performances there) and poetry readings at Peacock Theatre. 

Edited March 7 by Emeralds

[Jan McNulty]

3 hours ago, FionaM said:

Having been to the Peacock only a week ago for ‘Everyone’s talking about Jamie’ a dance musical, it seemed fine for smaller dance productions to me.  And ENB are using it for their children-friendly production of Swan Lake.   
 

could you explain why you think it’s not so suitable for dance/ballet? 

 

 

In the past I've seen The Trocks, Northern Ballet (R&J as it happens) and the Royal Danish Ballet group a few years ago.  I didn't see any of the dancers having an issue with the stage.

 

There was a jolly nice atmosphere there on the occasions I have been.

[Emeralds]

I didn't see Northern Ballet at PT but I saw the Royal Danish Ballet group there and the ambience and the sound system for the music were awful (there was no space for live music) - it was like watching them dance for a primary school in a small school hall.

 

Their dancing was excellent (Andreas Kaas, Marcin Kupinski and Sebastian Hayes created quite a sensation) in that

performance, but a couple of the women appeared to have issues with the stage that they didn't have on videos of them in live performances. The ticket sales were also much worse than when they visited Sadler's Wells with a similar programme some years before that and when they visited ROH as a full company along with their opera company (some shows were operas and the others were ballet) even  So one problem that audiences won't have if Sarasota Ballet used PT is difficulty obtaining tickets! 

 

I should add of course that this discussion of PT is totally hypothetical as Sarasota Ballet will be dancing at Linbury Theatre at ROH in June and that won't be changed as the invitation is from RB & ROH, who don't have anything to do with the running or programming of SWT & PT.  😉

[Paco]

Got everything I wanted yesterday (Swan Lake, Chenier). For Ashton I will wait until the casts are communicated.

For the Pappano gala of May 21st there was no availability even at the opening of Friends booking, but fortunately a friend of mine who is Premium had previously booked a seat for me through his Premium Friend priority. This has confirmed to me that there aren't anymore dedicated seats capacity per segment of audience (Premium Friends, Friends+, Friends, non-Friends...): If the house is sold out with the Premium Friends or Friends+, then it is not worth logging in at the Friends booking opening, there won't be additional availability.

Edited March 7 by Paco

[Jan McNulty]

17 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I didn't see Northern Ballet at PT but I saw the Royal Danish Ballet group there and the ambience and the sound system for the music were awful (there was no space for live music) - it was like watching them dance for a primary school in a small school hall.

 

Their dancing was excellent (Andreas Kaas, Marcin Kupinski and Sebastian Hayes created quite a sensation) in that

performance, but a couple of the women appeared to have issues with the stage that they didn't have on videos of them in live performances. The ticket sales were also much worse than when they visited Sadler's Wells with a similar programme some years before that and when they visited ROH as a full company along with their opera company (some shows were operas and the others were ballet) even  So one problem that audiences won't have if Sarasota Ballet used PT is difficulty obtaining tickets! 

 

I should add of course that this discussion of PT is totally hypothetical as Sarasota Ballet will be dancing at Linbury Theatre at ROH in June and that won't be changed as the invitation is from RB & ROH, who don't have anything to do with the running or programming of SWT & PT.  😉

 

I beg to differ.  I didn't notice any problems at the 2 performances we saw.

 

Northern Ballet performed there with an orchestra.

[Dawnstar]

Prior to public booking opening tomorrow, may I ask if anyone has any opinions as to whether Winter's Tale is better viewed from the far left or far right of the auditorium? I've never seen it live, only at the cinema a decade ago, so I am struggling to recall if there is anything that would particularly affect one side or the other. As far as I recall the scenery in Act II was just a large tree at the back of the stage, so that should be similar from both sides, but I cannot recall the scenery for Acts I or III in detail.

[LinMM]

My memory is very hazy but I seem to remember Mr. Watson hanging around a pillar more to the right of the stage ( right if you were sitting in the audience) so perhaps left side would best but I could be completely wrong. 
I do remember the dancing being more central in the second Act though. 

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Prior to public booking opening tomorrow, may I ask if anyone has any opinions as to whether Winter's Tale is better viewed from the far left or far right of the auditorium? I've never seen it live, only at the cinema a decade ago, so I am struggling to recall if there is anything that would particularly affect one side or the other. As far as I recall the scenery in Act II was just a large tree at the back of the stage, so that should be similar from both sides, but I cannot recall the scenery for Acts I or III in detail.

Most of the dancing and key solos/pas de deux were quite central. I did actually do that thing of watching it from both sides (like you, Dawnstar) and my preference is to sit on the right because in  the reconciliation scene where Paulina recognises Perdita from her necklace and Leontes and Perdita realise they are biological father and long lost daughter, Leontes and Perdita are on the left (from the audience view) and Paulina on the right (and really close to you if your seat is close to the stage) so that scene ie really powerful viewed from that angle on the right.

 

However, if you want a close look at the details during the scene where Antigonus has to abandon baby Perdita, the bear comes along, then Father Shepherd and his son discover the baby, the action is a little more to the right, so those on the left see the details more easily (but those on the right should still be able to see it, even the "pursued by a bear" bit). 

 

The staircase where Hermione and Leontes' unfortunate son watches his mum being unfairly tried is quite central also - both sides get a clear view of him, Hermione and Leontes.  I don’t remember any important bits of dancing being obscured much from either side, so kudos to Wheeldon for that. Probably the only area I wouldn't purchase is last row of Amphi or standing in the Amphitheatre as you might miss the bear and you definitely need binoculars to see the baby, the necklace, and details like Polixenes' steward hiding and looking for Florizel.  

Edited March 26 by Emeralds

[Dawnstar]

Thank you. It sounds like I should probably try viewing it from both sides (ticket availability permitting).

[alison]

I'd say possibly the left: there's another staircase at the back which I'm not sure you could see from the right.

 

Btw, thanks for the reminder: I'd completely forgotten!

[JNC]

Just to say my general booking this morning was very smooth and I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to find availability for all Sarasota ashton dates in the Linbury. (No I didn't book all of the dates though it was very tempting!) 

 

The date that had the least availability was the Saturday evening gala with only a handful of £110 tickets left (I couldn't really justify that) and not many more restricted view tickets but given my interest in seeing it I compromised on a restricted view ticket which I usually never do!

 

For the other dates there was 'good' availability (given the proportion of the Linbury) for non-restricted seats as well at more reasonable pricing than the Saturday evening performance (I suppose because it's badged as a 'gala' maybe they have raised the prices?). 

 

I had a quick question - does anyone know if the 'diverts' mentioned as part of the Sarasota/Linbury programme - will they be the same as the 'short works' that are comprising one of the main stage Ashton bills? 

 

Anyway I'm very happy to say in this instance I was very much proved wrong on Linbury ticket availability, so thank you and well done to ROH for holding back some tickets for general booking (assuming that is what they did?). And very happy to have much Ashton in the foreseeable future (doubly happy as the tickets are so much cheaper than everything else this year so I'm spending about £20 less to sit much further forward in the amphi). 

 

This will certainly be my ballet highlight for the year! 

 

Edited to say - not only was the booking itself smooth but my anxious wait for email confirmation and to see the tickets in my account was approximately 10-15 minutes, which feels much quicker than previous years. 

 

If anyone is interested, I decided to line up various tabs to book (prioritising Sarasota). Annoyingly once you add a ticket to a basket you do get taken to another screen, but then if you click 'add more tickets' you can then through that select other dates for the same set of performances. I don't think this is a new function but previously it hasn't worked quite so smoothly for me. In any case to avoid potential issues I checked out my Sarasota purchases before then heading back to add some of the main stage performances - but thankfully it didn't get me to queue from the beginning again. 

 

What was interesting was when I tried to sign into my account 10-15 minutes before 9am I was put in a queue! For me it was only about 1-3 minutes but I wonder if the pre-sign in queue avoids a bit of a queue later? 

Edited March 27 by JNC

[San Perregrino]

1 minute ago, JNC said:

assuming that is what they did?)

yes definitely more tickets at all prices were added this morning.

[San Perregrino]

the RBS Summer Show tickets were flying out the window this morning. every time I had one in my basket someone had beaten me to it.

[JNC]

1 minute ago, San Perregrino said:

yes definitely more tickets at all prices were added this morning.

 

Kudos to ROH, I know I moan about them a lot re ticket pricing but I'm pleased they did take on board feedback, and or had the sensibility to do this for Linbury works. I did actually email them a few months ago asking if they would hold back tickets for this for general booking but they gave me a very vague opaque answer which didn't inspire much hope, but glad that for whatever reason they did do it!

 

I hope others who were keen to see the Sarasota have managed to secure tickets also.

[Dawnstar]

I suppose that went okay. Oddly I had to queue to sign in before 9am but not once booking opened at 9am. I got tickets for 2 of the 4 Winter's Tale dates I wanted (1 each side) but not the other 2. Couldn't get the single SL I wanted but that didn't surprise me given it was the same for most of the SLs in the previous booking period. I booked for 1 performance each of the 2 Ashton triples but given there's still no casting I may well end up having to swap those.

 

Really my problem this season is that given I can only afford the side stalls circle bench seats for the majority of the productions I have a perpetual dilemma as to whether to book when booking opens & have the advanced planning peace of mind or wait for the Friday rush tickets which, being the next bench along, give a better view but are more stressful to get because it's last minute.

[alison]

Well, that was rather disappointing.  I prioritised Sarasota, and got a couple of tickets I wouldn't usually have bothered paying for because of the restricted views, but that's the Linbury for you , and needs must ...

 

Struggled to get tickets for the Ashton bill because The Dream is nearly an hour long, which restricts which seats I can be comfortable in, and most of the ones I was targeting had already gone.  No standing whatsoever by then, surprise, surprise.

 

No standing left by then for either Swan Lake or Winter's Tale on dates that I could manage, so I haven't booked anything for WT.  Will have to wait and hope I can get standing nearer the time, and/or that there's a decent offer for WT, because I certainly can't pay £49 just to have a seat, thank you very much.

 

Oh, and depending on where I was on the screens (I only had the one screen open), I allegedly either had 5 or 14 minutes left in which to pay.  I decided to play it safe, and just finished my booking with the Ashtons.

[Rob S]

Queued at 0850.10 and had an 11 minute sit on the sofa....to be confronted with an almost entirely booked RBS performance. Had a row M aisle seat in the amphi...but tried the trick of waiting until 30 mins after booking opened to get a ticket that had sat in someones basket while they ummed and arrrhed and managed to get an SC.

 

I guess I must have been incredibly lucky to get an SCS on non booking day two years ago 

[CCL]

I had completely forgotten about booking for RBS this morning until I saw an email from the school at 9.30. I managed to bag more or less the last half-decent amphi seat. Phew!