RB SEASON 24/25 Announced

[Jan McNulty]

41 minutes ago, Naomi M said:

So the article came out on Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/apr/30/royal-ballet-and-opera-announces-ambitious-new-season-and-name-change-2024-25

 

And, of course, is included in Today's Links:

 

 

Has anyone picked up on the theatre's name change too?

[Bruce Wall]

Thought the 24/25 Royal season is as good as we could have expected given the backdrop of the country's own economic challenges.  Indeed, a fairly healthy core of the rep had already been leaked; not least the highlight of the McGregor centrepiece.  The Balanchine rep is a happy addition.  I'm so pleased they are doing Prodigal as it is a piece which is best suited to the Royal's contemporary gifts as so ravishingly displayed in their core MacMillian and McGregor outings.  I wish they would have focused on smaller Balanchine works which would look more apt on the ROH's intimate stage.  (Prodigal definitely fits that remit.)  Here I'm thinking of joyful things like Square Dance, Allegro Brillante, Donizetti Variations, etc.  They give a chance to key principals to shine and a lot of the opportunities to younger dancers to best build balletic skills.  Think the Wheeldon triple will be fun - and again well sourced in terms of the Royal's current capacities.  Glad the American in Paris ballet from the second act of the musical will be featured ensuring a future life and the Two of Us PDD (made originally for the then dedicated couple from NYCB, Joe Gordon and Adrian Danchig-Waring, for a programme at NYC's City Center) is most evocative.  

 

 

Edited April 30 by Bruce Wall

[bridiem]

Bizarre that it's now also all on the website, including Linbury events, when it still hasn't been 'announced'. 

 

The Royal Ballet and Opera - really? Why not be honest and call it the Royal Opera and Ballet?? And an 'ambitious' season? Well not from a ballet point of view, certainly.

 

And no, I'm not complaining for the sake of complaining. I'm complaining because I care about the Royal Ballet - its past, present and future - and because I don't like manipulation or sleight of hand in public presentation. And, I know art has to be aware of current trends but I generally prefer it to err on the side of being counter-cultural and looking for long-term truth and quality rather than surrendering to the zeitgeist. 

 

Also, it seems to me that in terms of triple bills KOH simply doesn't seem able or willing to put together varied, interesting bills of older works - he increasingly seems to prefer to programme all works by one choreographer. Which can be enjoyable, but indicates a dearth of imagination and leaves a lot of works and choreographers simply not being performed. And yet we get plenty of turgid bills of new or very recent works of distinctly varying quality.

 

Right, so I've got that off my chest. And just to reiterate - I'm greatly looking forward to the Balanchine bill, and to Onegin, and I will be pleased to see Cinderella again (although seen so recently) and R&J again (although seen about a million times).

 

[Sophoife]

15 hours ago, Sim said:

How I envy you, seeing Onegin for the first time!!  🥰

 

Me too!! It's worth a trip over, given the possible castings IMHO...but Cinderella AGAIN??

[bangorballetboy]

Here is the short form press release, which includes reasoning behind the name change.

 

 

Royal-Ballet-and-Opera-2024-25-Season.pdf

[lady emily]

I’m not really sure what the significance of “The Royal Ballet and Opera” rebrand is? Especially to then immediately separate them out in the press release. Is anything actually changing? 
 

So pleased to see such a long run of Onegin. I hope we will see many debuts! 
 

I am probably the only one but I really don’t like non-Nutcracker Christmases. It is such a tradition for me. 

[bangorballetboy]

1 minute ago, lady emily said:

I’m not really sure what the significance of “The Royal Ballet and Opera” rebrand is? Especially to then immediately separate them out in the press release. Is anything actually changing? 

 

I think the gist of it is that there's no mention of ballet in "The Royal Opera House".

[lady emily]

6 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

I think the gist of it is that there's no mention of ballet in "The Royal Opera House".

Fair enough. But much like the rebranding of “Twitter” to “X” I wonder how much it will catch on. 
 

I do hope the font they have chosen for the new logo is not the final one! 

[San Perregrino]

There’s also a revival of Pite’s Light of Passage included in the season. 

[JNC]

so the building remains  “Royal Opera House” (ROH)? But before the Royal Ballet was part of a wider company called ROH which has now been rebranded as Royal Ballet and Opera? 

 

Whilst I’m happy to see ballet reflected I presume there will still be two separate companies/entities within the wider company - so it will still be referred to as “the Royal Ballet production of…” or the “royal ballet company”…not the royal ballet and opera production of etc…? 

Unless there are bigger structural changes (only one orchestra?)? 

Edited April 30 by JNC

[Missfrankiecat]

45 minutes ago, lady emily said:

I’m not really sure what the significance of “The Royal Ballet and Opera” rebrand is? Especially to then immediately separate them out in the press release. Is anything actually changing? 
 

So pleased to see such a long run of Onegin. I hope we will see many debuts! 
 

I am probably the only one but I really don’t like non-Nutcracker Christmases. It is such a tradition for me. 

No, you're not the only one.  I love Nutcracker and I prefer Peter Wright's version to all others.

[Elodie]

I think that its not a bad season, but not a great one either. I would have loved a Tchaikovsky ballet, perhaps The Sleeping Beauty as its such a classic. I really hoped that Giselle, Coppelia or La Fille Mal Gardee would have come back, seeing as it has been at least a few years for some of them. I'm not a huge fan of Alice in wonderland as there is not as much dancing. 

 

Onegin should be interesting as I have never seen it before, and I would love to see Marianela Nuñez in it.  

 

I saw Cinderella on opening night last season, which I quite enjoyed but do feel like it is too soon to have it back, seeing as It was only a year ago. I also don't know how I feel about no Nutcracker but Cinderella instead- it's not a very festive ballet.

[Sim]

For those who are going to miss the RB Nut this Christmas, don't forget that ENB are going to present a new version.  I can only hope it's a vast improvement on the current one (just my own opinion, of course).

[Missfrankiecat]

It's hard to please everyone and, overall, I greatly enjoyed this year's offerings.  SL, DQ and Manon were all multiple viewings for me, as was the MacMillan triple and the coming Ashton.  I suspect next season I will be spending much of my dance budget elsewhere because only R and J and, possibly, Onegin will be multiples for me.  Cinderella is charming but I saw several casts last time and it seems like only yesterday.  The season does feel classic light.  

[The Sitter In]

Frankly, this is one of the worst seasons by the Royal Ballet since I started going in 1983. The company’s riches of the repertoire are all but ignored and replaced with Pite, Wheeldon and, God help us, McGregor, Abrahams and Toonga…hardly de Valois, MacMillan and Ashton! Where too are the classical and Diaghilev works?  The idea that Les Noces is “too expensive” is self-justifying cant given the vast amounts of money spent on some real humdingers in recent years.

Thank goodness for the Balanchine bill, Onegin and Cinderella - three evenings by serious choreographers. R&J is a superb work but…not again!

VERY slim pickings indeed next season.

I simply cannot understand KOH’s preference for ‘un-mixed’ bills.

As for the ‘contemporary evening’, given the choreographers, I am sounding the alarm and will steer well clear. Yuk. A whole evening of Wheeldon titbits does not stimulate the balletic appetite while, having read material about Maddaddam in Canada, I am looking forward to that about as much as a bout of norovirus.

So depressed.

[lady emily]

5 minutes ago, Missfrankiecat said:

Cinderella is charming but I saw several casts last time and it seems like only yesterday.

 

I totally agree, I saw so many casts as it was the new production I still feel weary from it! Ah well, at least I will be saving some money... 

[zxDaveM]

57 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

There’s also a revival of Pite’s Light of Passage included in the season. 

 

oh yes, shouldn't have forgotten that. Loved it first time round so will definitely be revisting a few times

[JNC]

My delight at the Balanchine triple has been dampened the fact there is not a single matinee performance. They did this with the MacMillan triple recently and also more oddly a Winter’s Tale. 

aside from the much shorter run of ballet to broadway it is the only thing scheduled to not have a single matinee. 
 

Does ROH not want ballet lovers outside of London/SE to see Balanchine without spending a near fortune on hotel rooms? At least Onegin has a few matinees. R&J has loads but I’m discounting half of them as with them being on bank holiday weekends hotel prices will be a premium and there’s always issues with rail it seems around those days!

[Sim]

13 minutes ago, The Sitter In said:

Frankly, this is one of the worst seasons by the Royal Ballet since I started going in 1983. The company’s riches of the repertoire are all but ignored and replaced with Pite, Wheeldon and, God help us, McGregor, Abrahams and Toonga…hardly de Valois, MacMillan and Ashton! Where too are the classical and Diaghilev works?  The idea that Les Noces is “too expensive” is self-justifying cant given the vast amounts of money spent on some real humdingers in recent years.

Thank goodness for the Balanchine bill, Onegin and Cinderella - three evenings by serious choreographers. R&J is a superb work but…not again!

VERY slim pickings indeed next season.

I simply cannot understand KOH’s preference for ‘un-mixed’ bills.

As for the ‘contemporary evening’, given the choreographers, I am sounding the alarm and will steer well clear. Yuk. A whole evening of Wheeldon titbits does not stimulate the balletic appetite while, having read material about Maddaddam in Canada, I am looking forward to that about as much as a bout of norovirus.

So depressed.

Yes, this.  But as I said above somewhere, I am trying to see the positives in that I will be saving a lot of money so will hopefully be able to afford to go to Zurich and Amsterdam, long held dreams of mine.  I have been to both cities, but have never seen their ballet companies.  

 

Having thought about it long and hard, next season will consist of one or two Cinderellas, and a few viewings each of Onegin, R&J and the Balanchine triple.  Very sad....out of a whole season there are only three and a half (meaning just one or maybe two Cinderellas) productions that I want to see.  Oh well, I hope for the future of the company that if this is the direction they are going in, that they sell tickets.  I just won't be buying many anymore if this is how the seasons are going to look.  But that's just me.  

[Dawnstar]

I see that next year's cinema season includes only 4 live ballet performances: Alice, Cinderella, R&J and the Wheeldon mixed bill, whilr being re-shown are this season's Nutcracker and Swan Lake. That feels as though it shows a lack of faith in the season of live performances having enough appeal to the general (cinema) public. Also if they want to re-screen some of the classics then why not pick performances from a few seasons ago rather than repeating ones we have only just seen?

[Rob S]

For me I think the new season has been saved by Onegin and Symphony in C

[zxDaveM]

Well, I can understand some of the programming. When we plead for more Ashton, and the tickets for the Ashton bill hardly fly out, against sell outs for the long runs of the 'war-horses' at premium prices, it must be a no brainer to put on long runs of said war-horses. And the likes of Cinderella and Alice, and R&J, will probably sell out as they are known names to the more casual ballet punter. So not satisfying for the die-hard fans maybe, but coffer-filling for the company. And of course, plenty of opportunities for up and coming dancers in lead roles.

[Silke H]

20 hours ago, hephaistion03 said:

A Balanchine Triple Bill 

 

Serenade / Prodigal Son / Symphony in C 

 

28th March to the 8th April 25

I like Serenade and adore Symphony in C 💛  I just wish I didn't have to sit through Prodigal Son

[zxDaveM]

1 minute ago, Silke H said:

I like Serenade and adore Symphony in C 💛  I just wish I didn't have to sit through Prodigal Son

 

There's always the option of a book in the Floral Hall (or having a chat with me there, during it)

[Mary]

What's yours Dave?

😀

[Silke H]

Just now, zxDaveM said:

 

There's always the option of a book in the Floral Hall (or having a chat with me there, during it)

I've already been lining up my reading material and conversation topics with you, @zxDaveM

 

And this time round Prodigal Son won't even have the incentive for me to see Claire Calvert and Alexander Campbell finally paired up (other than Mistress/Lescaut, Lilac Fairy/Prince of course)

[Richard LH]

57 minutes ago, Elodie said:

I would have loved a Tchaikovsky ballet

Well at least Onegin and Serenade are set to Tchaikovsky's music!

[annamk]

23 minutes ago, Sim said:

Having thought about it long and hard, next season will consist of one or two Cinderellas, and a few viewings each of Onegin, R&J and the Balanchine triple.  Very sad....out of a whole season there are only three and a half (meaning just one or maybe two Cinderellas) productions that I want to see.  Oh well, I hope for the future of the company that if this is the direction they are going in, that they sell tickets.  I just won't be buying many anymore if this is how the seasons are going to look.  But that's just me.  

Me and other ballet friends feel the same. I doubt I’ll buy more than 10 tickets for the entire 24/25 season but since they’re SCS I don’t suppose the coffers of the RoH will miss me much. It will be interesting to see how it all sells. 

[zxDaveM]

1 minute ago, Mary said:

What's yours Dave?

😀

 

I usually read sci-fi nonsense 🙂

(currently getting through 'The Three-Body Problem' trilogy by Cixin Liu, a recent Netflix success for the first book)

[ChrisG]

I'll stick my head above the parapet and say this is one of the most interesting seasons since I started going to Covent Garden in 2012. The only thing I'm not so sure about is Maddaddam, not because it's by Wayne McGregor (whose work I usually either really like or really dislike!) but because I've read the trilogy by Margaret Attwood (whose work I always like) and I can't at the moment see how her dystopian vision can be brought to life on stage. Having said that, I'm especially keen to see the following:

• Onegin - one of the first full length ballets I saw at Covent Garden back in 2013, with Marianela Nunez making her debut (I think) as Tatiana
• The return of Light of Passage and The Statement
• The Balanchine mixed bill - Symphony in C is such a tour de force, Prodigal Son is, like Les Noces, a heritage ballet I've long wanted to see, and is there a ballet with a more beautiful opening than Serenade?
• The Wheeldon mixed bill - I missed An American in Paris when it was on in the West End so it will be great to see the ballet section, I first saw the Us pas de deux in the unlikely setting of Storyhouse in Chester, and The Two of Us sounds extremely intriguing (a ballet to the music of Joni Mitchell? - count me in!)
• The Joseph Sissens-curated event in the Linbury - I'm guessing last week's Insight was in the way of a taster for this

 

[zxDaveM]

9 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Well at least Onegin and Serenade are set to Tchaikovsky's music!

 

There is plenty of interesting music: the Gorecki for 'Light of Passage', I love Max Richter's work so Maddaddam should be a winner (my favourite Wayne pieces are set to Richter). And Joni Mitchell for one of Wheeldon's shorties (Blue is an album I reckon EVERYONE should own! 🙂 )

 

Plus there are some things of interest (to me at least) in the Linbury - Ballet Black, Northern Ballet, for example.

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

For those who are going to miss the RB Nut this Christmas, don't forget that ENB are going to present a new version.  I can only hope it's a vast improvement on the current one (just my own opinion, of course).

 

Well, it can't be worse surely (unless it takes a lead from their recent Les Noces playbook!!)

And I'll be missing Nutcracker for sure - the SPF solo variation, the growing tree, the Snowflakes - and Gary's cape! For me, it IS Christmas!

[Missfrankiecat]

18 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

Well, I can understand some of the programming. When we plead for more Ashton, and the tickets for the Ashton bill hardly fly out, against sell outs for the long runs of the 'war-horses' at premium prices, it must be a no brainer to put on long runs of said war-horses. And the likes of Cinderella and Alice, and R&J, will probably sell out as they are known names to the more casual ballet punter. So not satisfying for the die-hard fans maybe, but coffer-filling for the company. And of course, plenty of opportunities for up and coming dancers in lead roles.

I think it will be really interesting to see how much sells without fairly obvious discounting.  Cinderella for sure will do well but I'm not so sure about Alice.  Attractive to families perhaps?  But I'm pretty sure warhorses like Giselle would be better sellers.  Even Fille for family fun is better known to non-fanatics but also attractive to enthusiasts.