MacMillan Triple bill info

[Blossom]

To me, it’s little wonder that ROH are struggling to sell as they are saying very little other than ‘it is ballet by MacMillan’. The studio rehearsal on 14 March may get people to the cinema but it’s a bit late for the ballet run. 

 

I’ve booked tickets but having not seen the ballets before, I would love some more info to help sell in to some friends!

 

For each ballet,

 

What is the theme/narrative?
Is it classical/lyrical/contemporary etc?
What is the music like to listen to?

What are the costumes like?

What should the audience look out for in the performance?

You will like this ballet if you like xxxx

 

There is content on the MacMillan site of course but would love to hear from the audience or at least be pointed to some old but relevant reviews.

[Mary]

There is a dedicated website - KennethMacmillan.com which has all the ballets alphabetically with quite a lot of information, which might be helpful.

 

I agree RB is not always very good at selling the less familiar repertoire - contrast ENB for example who really do try.

 

 

[Mary]

Sorry I see you noted the website Blossom-silly me

but it does tell you  a lot about the ballets.

[Peanut68]

I am horrified to be offered via email tickets at 40% off…. I’d be completely angry had I already purchased at full price & then hear there are these discounts direct marketed to former audience goers. 
I too agree there is not enough hype or marketing info on this triple bill of MacMillan ballets…maybe they need to have the odd guest turn? I confess Bolle with Nunez in Manon got me pulling out every stop to get there - at whatever the cost (gulp - thank you Hubbie for great Xmas present!). I despair at how rubbish ROH frankly is at marketing/PR/pricing & it’s terrible use of surveys…. These plentiful online surveys ask pointless questions & really do not get any relevant or useful customer feedback from me….or many others I suspect too

Edited March 1 by Peanut68

[alison]

Yes, ROH, stop just sending us "Did you enjoy Manon? Then maybe you'll like the MacMillan bill" emails and tell us WHY we should go!  What's so marvellous about them?

[alison]

2 hours ago, Blossom said:

What is the theme/narrative?
Is it classical/lyrical/contemporary etc?
What is the music like to listen to?

What are the costumes like?

What should the audience look out for in the performance?

You will like this ballet if you like xxxx

 

Wow, what a list?!  Okay: Requiem and Danses Concertantes are plotless.  Requiem was created as a response to the horribly early death of John Cranko.  Different Drummer is a retelling of the story of Woyzeck, so not exactly joyful - and a bit Expressionistic. DC's choreography, as far as I can remember, is a bit "spikey" in response to Stravinsky's music.  The Fauré Requiem and Transfigured Night (DD) are gorgeous, in my opinion.  (You can of course find all these online somewhere).

 

Costumes: Requiem here:

Unsure which set of costumes we're having for DC - Geordiadis, probably.  Does Different Drummer really pre-date this forum?  Eek - yes, 2008, apparently.  Where HAS the time gone?!  Several photos of Requiem and DD here:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&sca_esv=e600f8fb9a9a9143&sxsrf=ACQVn0_7GlF8AKrlnP-gMSHAjNTpK31YeA:1709321274191&q="different+drummer"+costumes+macmillan&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6rOv65dOEAxV1WUEAHTwQAw0Q0pQJegQICBAB&biw=1280&bih=558&dpr=1

Some photos of the Geordiadis DC:

https://www.dancelog.nyc/expressionism-classicism-ashton-and-macmillan/ It is a very early work!

[Roberta]

4 hours ago, alison said:

Unsure which set of costumes we're having for DC - Geordiadis, probably.

 

I assume so too, though who knows?

More about MacMillan and his designers here  https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/new-page-2  including Danses Concertantes, which went through several redesigns, including by Georgiadis,  until 

 

" In 2003 Georgiadis’s original designs were restored; after fifty years the original concept seemed as chic, fresh and perfectly suited to the ballet as it had in 1955"

 

In recent times Sarasota Ballet has performed Danses Concertantes 

 

 

 

[TSR101]

6 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

I am horrified to be offered via email tickets at 40% off…. I’d be completely angry had I already purchased at full price & then hear there are these discounts direct marketed to former audience goers. 
I too agree there is not enough hype or marketing info on this triple bill of MacMillan ballets…maybe they need to have the odd guest turn? I confess Bolle with Nunez in Manon got me pulling out every stop to get there - at whatever the cost (gulp - thank you Hubbie for great Xmas present!). I despair at how rubbish ROH frankly is at marketing/PR/pricing & it’s terrible use of surveys…. These plentiful online surveys ask pointless questions & really do not get any relevant or useful customer feedback from me….or many others I suspect too

Are they actually doing this now for the Macmillan Triple?

[Peanut68]

Yep

[Emeralds]

Now, see, if RB finance and marketing departments had actually offered us the old subscription system of 5%- 15% off the MacMillan triple together with other ballets (they can always exclude Nutcracker and Swan Lake from the subscription as they've done in the past) they would have sold off the top price seats more easily and not have to offer the whopping 40% they're doing now.

 

I would have paid more than 40% off for those seats they're now desperate to offload as part of a 15% off package but even if they'd sent me the offer (and they haven't bothered to email it to me nor the cast change) I wouldn't budge from my undiscounted 27 March tickets and pay more as I've found seats I like and I'm not moving. 

 

Of course if partial casting had been announced sooner and if they'd marketed it better with photos of Viviana Durante and Bruce Sansom from Danses Concertantes and Alessandra Ferri and Wayne Eagling or Stephen Jefferies (or Edward Watson and Leanne Benjamin from the last run) in Different Drummer were included in the publicity along with recent photos of Requiem, and social media coverage instead of blankness, more people would have booked. It doesn't matter if it's old designs and a cast who are not with the company any more or another company altogether- they do it for opera regularly and it works.

Edited March 2 by Emeralds

[Tattin]

Infuriatingly for me the triple bill is only being streamed in cinemas in the UK.

[alison]

I'm assuming it will appear on stream in due course.

[zxDaveM]

On 01/03/2024 at 16:55, Mary said:

 

I agree RB is not always very good at selling the less familiar repertoire - contrast ENB for example who really do try.

 

 

...and the more familiar rep (your Tchaikpvskys, R&J etc) pretty much sell themselves

[Blossom]

18 hours ago, Roberta said:

 

I assume so too, though who knows?

More about MacMillan and his designers here  https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/new-page-2  including Danses Concertantes, which went through several redesigns, including by Georgiadis,  until 

 

" In 2003 Georgiadis’s original designs were restored; after fifty years the original concept seemed as chic, fresh and perfectly suited to the ballet as it had in 1955"

 

In recent times Sarasota Ballet has performed Danses Concertantes 

 

 

 

I assume we will get the Georgiadis designs, in which case why is there no focus on this as part of his big anniversary which is being trumpeted around the display areas of the ROH?

 

Really what I would expect rather than more paid advertising is a PR push to drive some previews content to help support the MacMillan legacy.

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Tattin said:

Infuriatingly for me the triple bill is only being streamed in cinemas in the UK.

Tattin, are you signed up for the ROH Streaming service? (There is currently no plan to put the MacMillan triple bill on it yet, but if they do and the £1 offer is still available, it could be  cheaper to watch it online with the ROH Streaming service). One of us here will post the info if we hear that it is going to be added- you can subscribe and watch it anywhere in the world. I have to say that I'm surprised though, that they are not relaying the first night cast with Vadim Muntagirov, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Luca Acri though. 

[Blossom]

Back to my original question, I've drafted the following after doing a bit of reading up!

I wonder if we as a group can try to lobby for some preview articles?

 

Mixed bills are the ballet equivalent of a tasting menu – a chance to see a range of shorter works in one evening, with a mix of different styles of ballet, music and costume and set design. The first in this year’s mixed offerings from the Royal Ballet is set to be a corker, showcasing a range of works by leading 20th Century choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan, creator of ballets now performed across the world, including Manon, which is just finishing its current run on the Royal Opera House stage.

 

The 3 offerings being shown draw on a range of his choreographic styles and music, from purely orchestral offerings to the choral.  

 

The bill opens with Danses Concertantes, MacMillan’s first commission for the Royal Ballet at the young age of 26, with designs by Nicholas Giorgiadis, who became his long term collaborator, working together on ballets including Romeo & Juliet and Manon. The choreography mirrors the brittle and fractured sounds of Stravinsky’s score of the same name with sharp, abrupt movements and spiky fingers.  The structure of the ballet fits with the traditional steps and hierarchical structure of classical ballet, but is said to have hints of jive, revue, cinema, and the circus.

 

Following this is MacMillan’s 1984  take on Buchner’s Woyzeck, a story of a soldier’s physical and mental decline as he is subjected to menial jobs and degrading medical experiments, resulting in him murdering his mistress and then taking his own life. The ballet was described by eminent critic Clement Crisp as ‘uncomfortable, haunting, brave’. It’s apt that  Guardian critic Mary Clarke at the time wrote that ‘it should be seen especially by those who think that ballet is Swan Lake’ as the MacMillan programme coincides with this ballet.

 

The final piece, to Faure’s Requiem, was first performed in 1976 by the Stuttgart Ballet and is dedicated to the memory of their artistic director, choreographer and friend of MacMillan, John Cranko. The piece is a portrait of the ballet company mourning his loss – in places, the dancers’ fists are raised in anger and their mouths are open with silent howls of grief. This beautiful expression of grief, danced to both orchestra and voice and was met with great critical acclaim, rated as MacMillan’s best ballet to date.

 

This triple bill opens on 20th March with only 6 performances. Tickets at roh.org.uk

 

[jmhopton]

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I have to say that I'm surprised though, that they are not relaying the first night cast with Vadim Muntagirov, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Luca Acri though. 

So am I,  and very put out. I'm not coming to see it as they haven't seen fit to schedule any matinées and I can't afford an overnight, especially for a triple I don't really know anything about. Also, Vadim isn't being filmed in A Winter's Tale. Must be one of the very few years (if not the only one) he hasn't been filmed in any cinema relay. Not a great way for the RB to celebrate his 10th anniversary. 

[Tango Dancer]

Thanks for the description @Blossom. This is really helpful as I've been in 2 minds whether to book for it in the cinema relay or not as there wasn't so much information to help me decide if it's worth going. Your commentary is very informative.

[MildConcern]

2 hours ago, jmhopton said:

So am I,  and very put out. I'm not coming to see it as they haven't seen fit to schedule any matinées and I can't afford an overnight, especially for a triple I don't really know anything about. Also, Vadim isn't being filmed in A Winter's Tale. Must be one of the very few years (if not the only one) he hasn't been filmed in any cinema relay. Not a great way for the RB to celebrate his 10th anniversary. 

While I also think Vadim is a very special dancer, a real jewel in the RB’s crown, I don’t think he should have an undisputed right to cinema relays.

 

He has, together with Nunez, had the lion’s share of both first nights (with accompanying reviews in broadsheets) and cinema relays. While it is great for him, it really leaves slim pickings for the rest of the RB’s very talented stars. For instance, the small amount of footage that exists of Morera and Campbell in principal roles (not a secondary type character such as Mistress or Lescaut) is a real shame.

 

We all have our favourites but I encourage the RB to share the unique exposure that cinema relays bring. 
 

Moreover, I’m not sure it’s even in Vadim’s best interests. I noted in the Manon thread that I thought his Des Grieux was much improved from previous runs. But it is unlikely his interpretation of this role will be filmed again, given already filmed in 2018 run. So in the case of Winter’s Tale where he is making a debut, it really makes sense to see how he develops the role first.

[alison]

I've thought in so many cases that if dancer A had been given another run before being filmed in ballet B they would have given a better/more developed performance to be recorded for posterity.

 

Blossom, the ROH ought to pay you for that!

[capybara]

8 hours ago, alison said:

I've thought in so many cases that if dancer A had been given another run before being filmed in ballet B they would have given a better/more developed performance to be recorded for posterity.

I think that the cinema relays (and first nights) are now being shared among the RB’s dancers more evenly than used to be the case.
Where Triple Bills are concerned, the choice must become more difficult but, if mainly for commercial reasons, I would have fielded the first cast for Danses Concertantes. 

[Fonty]

On 01/03/2024 at 18:41, Peanut68 said:

I am horrified to be offered via email tickets at 40% off…. I’d be completely angry had I already purchased at full price & then hear there are these discounts direct marketed to former audience goers. 
I too agree there is not enough hype or marketing info on this triple bill of MacMillan ballets…maybe they need to have the odd guest turn? I confess Bolle with Nunez in Manon got me pulling out every stop to get there - at whatever the cost (gulp - thank you Hubbie for great Xmas present!). I despair at how rubbish ROH frankly is at marketing/PR/pricing & it’s terrible use of surveys…. These plentiful online surveys ask pointless questions & really do not get any relevant or useful customer feedback from me….or many others I suspect too

  Where??   Is it with an agency?  I get emails from the ROH, and religiously fill in their surveys, but I haven't seen any cut price ticket offer.

 

 

[MJW]

46 minutes ago, Fonty said:

  Where??   Is it with an agency?  I get emails from the ROH, and religiously fill in their surveys, but I haven't seen any cut price ticket offer.

 

 

 

Have you booked for the MacMillan triple? If so I suspect you won't get the offer. I have booked and didn't receive anything.

[Fonty]

5 minutes ago, MJW said:

 

Have you booked for the MacMillan triple? If so I suspect you won't get the offer. I have booked and didn't receive anything.

 No I haven't, not yet.  I was hoping there would be an offer.  

[MJW]

39 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 No I haven't, not yet.  I was hoping there would be an offer.  

 

In which case it makes no sense why you wouldn't receive the offer!

 

[Peanut68]

It’s the very first time I’ve ever received an offer for discounted tickets!! It does seem bizarre that the first time I get any offer is only after the very first time I’d paid for top tier seats (£140 tickets to Manon - gulp) So if that’s their marketing decision it seems bonkers & unfair. Why market discounts to people who have clearly shown they can afford expensive seats…. (Though I stress my expensive sears were a one off Xmas gift… back to way up to top of amphi for me next time!) 

[Fonty]

46 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

It’s the very first time I’ve ever received an offer for discounted tickets!! It does seem bizarre that the first time I get any offer is only after the very first time I’d paid for top tier seats (£140 tickets to Manon - gulp) So if that’s their marketing decision it seems bonkers & unfair. Why market discounts to people who have clearly shown they can afford expensive seats…. (Though I stress my expensive sears were a one off Xmas gift… back to way up to top of amphi for me next time!) 

 

Is there a promotion code?  And if so, what is it??  

[bridiem]

14 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Is there a promotion code?  And if so, what is it??  

 

A moderator has said upthread that the code should not be shared publicly on the forum.

[Tattin]

Thank you, Emeralds, for your suggestion. No, I haven't signed up for the ROH streaming service as I haven't thought it worth it so far, but I will keep an eye on it to see whether the Macmillan triple bill appears as there are ballets I've never seen having left the UK many, many years ago.

[Fonty]

9 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

A moderator has said upthread that the code should not be shared publicly on the forum.

 

Did they?  I've just scrolled back and I can't see anything like that.  But even so, I don't see why on earth not.  Could someone who knows it PM me?  And if even that is not allowed, then if someone who knows it sends me a message, I will give them my email address.  

Edited to add that I have just received an email from the ROH.  Alas, it doesn't mention any ticket reductions, it is another wretched survey.  Which I will dutifully fill in.  

Edited March 3 by Fonty

[Peanut68]

I. I stately fill out ROH surveys but they ask no useful questions nor less anywhere that I can see!

I actually had deleted the email as knew I wouldn’t be able to attend the 2 dates that the discounts were for so couldn’t help anyhow…. But still feel it’s crazy to offer some discounts & not to all & how they must target these too. But am mostly disappointed that there should ever be a need to offer such discounts or gift so many as they seem to do to RBS students & ROH staff to fill seats. I say again, if programming was what audiences wanted to see & prices at what audiences are prepared & can afford to pay then there would be no need. To add, I am not saying the MacMillan wrong choice / just I think in general there should be more lower priced seats available for all productions. So tickets may sell out super quick & tgat may make the powers that be think ‘wait, we could’ve charged more’… well surely that’s way better than finding poor sales mean they say ‘help, we need to reduce prices’ 

Why do they not ‘read the room’??

[Jan McNulty]

If not everyone has received an emailed discount code then it is obviously targeted and not for sharing on a public forum.

 

We are more than aware that the companies do keep an eye on the Forum and we would not want to be censured by them.  Hence no discount sharing unless it is in the public domain eg on the likes of Travel Zoo etc.

[TSR101]

I see no reason why the code shouldn’t be shared - if ROH wanted they could make the code single use - like most discount codes are - to prevent sharing. The fact they haven’t done this is on them, they haven’t asked for it not the be shared and I have limited sympathy given the way they have distributed this one. The fact they haven’t provided it to all paying supporters is disgraceful treatment of their dedicated supporter base imo. 
 

I don’t see why moderators are essentially compounding this by acting as unpaid guardians of the ROH, enforcing a moral code not even required by the institution itself.