Andy Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Tickets are still in very plentiful supply, some seats that were sold have come back on for sale. Is it normal for a world premiere starting in less than a month, to be so selling so poorly? Perhaps it will pick up nearer the time. I am beginning to wish I had held out a bit longer. Is there any clue as to the running time? I imagine as it is full length - what does that mean exactly, does a ballet have to be a certain length to be considered full length or do they pad out what is essentially a short piece, with as many intervals as they think they can get away with? I am guessing that if it is 'full length', the programme notes will run into several volumes! MacGregor said on 15th (Insights) it will be aprox. 95 min + interval, so around 2 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I think that it depends on the choreographer. Ashton and MacMillan tickets sold quickly. Perhaps people are holding back until they have some idea about what it is like from reliable sources. After all opinion was divided over Raven Girl between those who thought it was a masterpiece and those who thought it was evidence that McGregor had no talent as a story teller and that his choreographic style did not lend itself to ballets with any element of narrative. The tickets for Woolf works are being sold at "popular prices" which makes the lack of enthusiasm even more unusual. It will be interesting to see how well the Connectome Raven Girl programme sells next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Can anyone who attended the Insight last night give us some more information about this ballet, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Manon tickets had to be discounted for several performances and until quite recently there were many unsold tickets for Fille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 MacGregor said on 15th (Insights) it will be aprox. 95 min + interval, so around 2 hours Thanks for that, sounds like I will be free from 2pm then, may as well get the early coach home! Can anyone who attended the Insight last night give us some more information about this ballet, please? You beat me to it! Yes, can we have any insights from the Insight please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 it was being filmed, so will be up on ROH website soon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Does anyone know what time the first act will finish? I would like to see it but can't get a train home any later than 9pm so was considering getting a cheap ticket and leaving during the interval to get back to the station on time.... (Or is that not the "done thing" so to speak?!?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I think they said that the 3 'acts', were each separated by an interval - so 3 acts of about 30mins each, intervals 25mins? Each act is a separate entity really, inspired by the different novels, with 'hints' of interconnections (the 'style' of Virginia Woolf) connecting them. At least, that's what I think they said, I'm not that well versed in that arty chat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 I now realise that my comments about ticket sales were ambiguous.I should have made it clear that I was talking about ticket sales for performances of new ballets by Ashton and MacMillan not about ticket sales for recent revivals of their works. It must be at least thirty five years since we had a premier of a new Ashton ballet and nearly as long since we had a premier of a new work by MacMillan. My recollection is that there was a real sense of anticipation when there was an announcement of a new work by either man and that tickets for their new works sold pretty rapidly.Both men had a real following based in large part on their high rate of success in ballets of varied genres.There was a general interest in their works even by people who were not their fans.But then a new work by an acknowledged master choreographer is a very different thing from a new work by a choreographer whose works appeal to a niche audience and about whose capacity the general run of ballet goers have doubts.It is a big step to move from abstract ballet to a ballet with narrative elements and from one act to three acts and the public knows it. The period from 1945 to the late 1980's was a time of great excitement in the world of dance because of the number of major choreographers who were making ballets. The fact that there was so much work being produced and that so much of it was good maintained the public's interest in the art form.Remember it was a time when art was thought to be good for you rather than elitist(it was pre-Murdoch)and ballet performances and documentaries were shown on both BBC and ITV. Ballet was taken seriously, serious people spoke about it and discussed it and serious programmes were made about it. Ballet was available outside London on a far wider scale than is true now.Far more people had access to ballet performances than now and a much wider range of repertory was toured.All this helped generate and maintain interest in dance while generous subsidy made it accessible.Ballet did not have to be a once a year Christmas treat for the family.But none of this guaranteed full houses every night for mixed bills that were not interesting,A premier or an initial run of performances made them interesting. The ROH booking periods covered about two months and tickets went on sale at a date considerably closer to the date of the performance than is the case now. This meant that you knew who was dancing in the new work when buying the tickets which encouraged sales.I think the short booking periods also helped ticket sales because the ballet goer was more conscious of spending comparatively small sums regularly than of the overall cost of their theatre going.Someone interested in ballet felt they could afford to be adventurous because ballet tickets were relatively cheap. Booking cheap tickets for a new work by someone whose works you have seen and enjoyed does not seem that much of a gamble and if the work is a failure you are less likely to write the choreographer off than if the tickets are expensive.Spending a lot to see an unsuccessful new work is likely to make the ballet goer increasingly risk averse and less inclined to try the new. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", quite a few people going by the ticket sales, though I suppose it's more Wayne MacGregor, I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't appear to be a biographical ballet, have yet to read a 900 page book I bought and now I don't think it will help anyway, but that does explain why there are so many dancers in the cast, 3 separate ballets, although surely Alessandra Ferri will portray Virginia Woolf in each part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Did he say what works it was based on/refers to? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves, but it was emphasised several times that it is not going to be a narrative work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Okay, well, one out of 3 ain't bad. Thanks, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves, but it was emphasised several times that it is not going to be a narrative work. Thank goodness for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Oh yay, one of my worst theatrical experiences was based on The Waves. Took me the better part of a decade to forgive Katie Mitchell for that, so I guess I'm ready to watch another Wave inspired stage work with expectations so low that I can only be pleasantly surprised. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Oh yay, one of my worst theatrical experiences was based on The Waves. Took me the better part of a decade to forgive Katie Mitchell for that… But I just loved it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrise Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) Oh yay, one of my worst theatrical experiences was based on The Waves. Took me the better part of a decade to forgive Katie Mitchell for that, so I guess I'm ready to watch another Wave inspired stage work with expectations so low that I can only be pleasantly surprised. Ah...I used to usher on The Waves. I thought it was funny, inventive and excruciating to sit through, often head in hands. I can't that say multiple viewings improved my opinion of it either! Edited April 19, 2015 by Sunrise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves, but it was emphasised several times that it is not going to be a narrative work. But doesn't that somehow defeat the purpose of the overall proposed ten year plan for original narrative works? Or does it merely take 'looseness' to a new height? Sometimes I just think I'm TOO OLD ... and that - ultimately - is the answer. Edited April 19, 2015 by Bruce Wall 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I have just found an article on the recent Woolf Works Insight Evening on the web. http://bachtrack.com/article-insights-woolfworks-mcgregor-ferri-bonelli-watson-royal-ballet-apil-2015 (this really reads "apil" rather than april" in the link) While I was in the audience, I kept quiet earlier in the week as I wasn't sure how to translate what I saw into words. And reading the article by Carla Escoda, she does this so much better than I could have done . A few words on the solo for Edward Watson, in addition to what has been written in the article. The solo was a combination of extreme shapes and fast classical turns. At one point, Edward Watson did, if I observed this correctly, a grand battement on demi point. The leg went up to 180 degrees and he held on to that leg in front of him, all while being on demi point on the other leg. And then he just remained in exactly that position. It was just incredible, and there were gasps in the audience. The Pas de Deux for Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli was fluid and beautiful to watch. Wayne McGregor was hugely appreciative of the dancers throughout. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Wayne McGregor was hugely appreciative of the dancers throughout. No wonder: they seem to do a lot of his choreographing for him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 No wonder: they seem to do a lot of his choreographing for him! I am not close enough to be able to know. Based on the Insight Evening, it was very much a collaborative process between the choreographer and the dancers. Wayne McGregor gave a number of precise corrections to the dancers' movements, and in other situations spontaneously adopted into the choreography the movement form that the dancers had chosen (e.g., going into a plié before a turn rather than just doing the turn). He also explained that he was constantly on the move during the rehearsal so that he'd be able to see how the dancing looked from different angles and thus would be able to adjust a dancer's position towards to audience where required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I saw a YouTube clip of McG rehearsing with some dancers (it might have been at the POB) and I thought that he had a very nice way about him in his interaction with them. I think that many dancers welcome the opportunity of being able to contribute to the creation of new choreography and that, within reason, this is to be encouraged. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billboyd Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 But, he gets to keep all the money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Do you think Ashton or MacMillan shared their income with their dancers, Bill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billboyd Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 No. Nor, Balanchine. But, maybe, Cranko should have had some of MacMillan's R&J cash. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barton22 Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) I find the wax candle in the form of Osipova rather disturbing. They have used it as the image for the work on the ROH webpage and I have heard it will "burn" in the background through some or all of the piece. Looks creepy to me. Edited April 23, 2015 by barton22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 The wax candle is also featuring on the Underground posters. Seeing it yesterday, I remarked to myself that needing to use Osipova on the promotion material spoke volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Oh, so that's Osipova is it, with the old guttering candle cliché? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 First cast change, Nunez is now out and Hamilton is in. Only just noticed so sorry if this is old news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) First cast change, Nunez is now out and Hamilton is in. Only just noticed so sorry if this is old news. Hamilton was already in the first night cast. Interestingly, the third named female dancer seems to have disappeared from both casts - Nuñez from the first cast and Calvert from the second cast. I wonder if this is a website error. http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/woolf-works-by-wayne-mcgregor Edited to add link to ROH website Edited April 23, 2015 by Bluebird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Hamilton was already in the first night cast. Interestingly the third named female dancer seems to have disappeared from both casts - Nuñez from the first cast and Calvert from the second cast. I wonder if this is a website error. Oh, was she? sorry, I had forgotten. I mainly just noticed, to my disappointment, Nunez was missing. It may be a website error as you say. Maybe the ticket sales are also an error and it is in fact, completely sold out 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Hamilton was already in the first night cast. Interestingly, the third named female dancer seems to have disappeared from both casts - Nuñez from the first cast and Calvert from the second cast. I wonder if this is a website error. http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/woolf-works-by-wayne-mcgregor Edited to add link to ROH website Calvert has now reappeared at one performance only (May 14) Something very strange going on with the website! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 The wax candle is also featuring on the Underground posters. Seeing it yesterday, I remarked to myself that needing to use Osipova on the promotion material spoke volumes. Oh, I don't know - I hadn't even realised it was supposed to be anyone in particular, so I doubt anyone will be looking at those posters and going "OMG, it's Osipova! I must go and see it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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