barton22 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Note that there seems to be some confusion as to the dates for two of the Springboard events in the Linbury in the first week of June. Ballet Central is scheduled for June 1 on the website but is June 3rd in the ROH Magazine, and Rambert School is scheduled for June 3rd on the website but is June 1st in the ROH Magazine. I think this is an error in the ROH Magazine but am waiting on confirmation from the box office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynette H Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 An email from the Friends states that online booking for summer 2015 on 3 March will now begin at 8am instead of 10am. The Box Office telephones will not be staffed till 10am. Views ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I've just seen this Email, it's really a test of the system isn't it, they want as many Friends as possible to do online booking, and nobody can phone about errors until 10am. I like the 8am start actually, being an early person, and luckily there's not much to book, one thing I noticed is that opening night of Woolf Works on 11 May is students only for the amphitheatre and no casting is up anyway, so can't book for too many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I'm sure all the Friends who commute will really *love* the 8 am start As will the people who have to be at their stations to ensure the system is working at that hour of the morning (and presumably much earlier?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynette H Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 More about the change on the ROH web site here http://www.roh.org.uk/news/online-booking-why-we-have-changed-friends-online-booking-opening-times-to-8am-rather-than-10am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) I am all for 8am as I am at work 8.15. It would be better though to do as ABT do and release tickets for sale on a Sunday then everyone gets a fair crack at the whip. Better still just put the whole year on sale in one go just like SB Berlin so much less bun fighting. Edited February 25, 2015 by Don Q Fan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
occasionalballetgoer Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Ironic that after all those years of being told that you MUST NOT login before the appointed time we are now being advised to do just that! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummykool Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) I was bewildered to see the entire Amphi blocked out for the opening night of Woolf Works. Only seats available are in the slips and lower down the house. I have called the box office and apparently they have designated that night a student performance and so there will not be amphitheatre seats for sale. Oh and the email confirmation isn't working......... Thought those of you booking tomorrow would like to know. Edited March 2, 2015 by Mummykool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I was bewildered to see the entire Amphi blocked out for the opening night of Woolf Works. Only seats available are in the slips and lower down the house. I have called the box office and apparently they have designated that night a student performance and so there will not be amphitheatre seats for sale. Hmm, this sounds like a canny piece of marketing. I wonder whether it says anything about the quality of the finished product? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Hmm, this sounds like a canny piece of marketing. I wonder whether it says anything about the quality of the finished product? It says everything about the desire for a particular kind of audience reception for Woolf Works. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I'm not convinced of their marketing strategy. If they want to gain 'new' audiences for classic dance, a Wayne McGregor show might not be the right vehicle. If they are trying to turn themselves into a contemporary troupe to fit in with their desired 'cool, young' audience, they'd lose the essence of what makes them interesting - a classic ballet company with its own flair and the ability ( at least in previous eras) to make classical ballet relevant to current viewers. The obsession with having a young audiences and the apparent disregard for the existing audience is startlingly similar to the way banks or broadband companies treat new customers (have it for free, we throw in a pen and a coffeemaker) whilst putting loyal existing customers on the worst possible tariff. Personally, I was otherwise busy in my student days, and like many of my friends only started going to theatres / performances more regularly in my mid-thirties. Now in my mid-forties with a decent amount of grey hair, I start feeling as if I were persona non grata. Hrmph. Anyway, I do wonder whether Mr O'Hare asked Mr Holten what it feels like to get your recent productions booed on stage, and they started musing what it would be like if only they could have a young audience who'd clearly totally admire anything they see and welcome pseudo-intellectualism with whooping and hollering to avoid appearing like, not smart or something. [/rant] Now imagine how long that rant would have been if I'd actually wanted tickets for the premier instead of seeing it a little later in the run when things might be a bit smoother. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPD444 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) Taking up Coated's well made point regarding the treatment of new customers at the expense of "old" customers. I have been a sky subscriber since it started and every time I have to threaten to close my subscription to get any deals from them. Every time. They throw all the deals at new younger members but people like me who have been loyal for 20+years, forget about them. Could the ROH be now making the same mistake. Personally I would not sit in the Amphitheatre, I would rather not go than sit their, but for many it is the only way they can afford it so to close it to them on a first night, is a great shame. They are happy for their money every other night so why not this night or are we on a slippery slope to this being the "norm" Can I just add that my problem with the amphitheatre is vertigo, sorry if that came out wrong. Edited March 2, 2015 by SPD444 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) I was bewildered to see the entire Amphi blocked out for the opening night of Woolf Works. Only seats available are in the slips and lower down the house. I have called the box office and apparently they have designated that night a student performance and so there will not be amphitheatre seats for sale. Oh and the email confirmation isn't working......... Thought those of you booking tomorrow would like to know. Didn't the RB do the same thing - i.e., block off the amphitheatre for students - for a triple bill performance not so long ago which included McGregor's Carbon Life? Perhaps the RB Management felt some of those same students would like to return for more of that same, i.e, the McGregor? Perhaps the students at that time felt that they were most enthusiastic with/drawn to McGregor's work? Does anyone know if they did research in terms of those students' response? Please know this notation is naught but a metaphysical speculation and as such it is not based on any authoritative knowledge whatsoever. It is but a series of questions. Edited March 3, 2015 by Bruce Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Before everyone gets too excited about students taking the amphi for Woolf Works, let's remember there's an upcoming Swan Lake which has the amphi reserved for students (18 March) and there are two operas this season where the amphi is/was reserved for students and one where the whole house was so reserved. I've been in attendance on such evenings before and the place is thronging with young, excited people. Let's also remember that schemes such as this are a requirement of the ACE funding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I was bewildered to see the entire Amphi blocked out for the opening night of Woolf Works. Only seats available are in the slips and lower down the house. I have called the box office and apparently they have designated that night a student performance and so there will not be amphitheatre seats for sale. How odd. There were Amphi seats on sale today for us common-or-garden Friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargaretN7 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 How odd. There were Amphi seats on sale today for us common-or-garden Friends. I suspected you were a perennial student (of life?), John. Or were you referring to the Amphi slips area, which has always shown as available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I suspected you were a perennial student (of life?), John. Or were you referring to the Amphi slips area, which has always shown as available? Oh, you're right, it's only Slips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I do not think that anyone would be complaining, or at least they would not be so vociferous, if the Amphitheatre were exclusively allocated to students on any night other than the first night of a new full length ballet.It suggests that the management lack confidence in Woolf Works and are trying to engineer a suitably enthusiastic response to it. I hope that it is better than that. But we shall see what we shall see. The ballet company's search for a "new audience" has been an ongoing quest since at least MacMillan's directorship. I recall some long term ballet goers back then muttering darkly that " He wants to get rid of us and get a new audience". But strangely the old timers did not disappear as a result of management machinations nor was there an influx of new young ballet enthusiasts. Management has probably been anxious to find a new, young audience since the 1950's when the company acquired establishment status with its royal charter. Perhaps someone just noticed one day that the audience had got that bit older or someone expressed concern that the company's creativity was being stifled by the audiences' preference for the nineteenth century classics and their indifference to new works. And that was a period when many major choreographers were actively engaged in creating new works. It will be fascinating to see what Woolf Works turns out like. If it is a roaring success will O'Hare try to convert the company into one even more suited to that style of performance? If it is a failure like MacMillan's Isadora will McGregor still be as highly regarded as he is now. Will he be able to command the share of the company's resources that he does at present? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I do not think that anyone would be complaining, or at least they would not be so vociferous, if the Amphitheatre were exclusively allocated to students on any night other than the first night of a new full length ballet.It suggests that the management lack confidence in Woolf Works and are trying to engineer a suitably enthusiastic response to it. I hope that it is better than that. But we shall see what we shall see. The ballet company's search for a "new audience" has been an ongoing quest since at least MacMillan's directorship. I recall some long term ballet goers back then muttering darkly that " He wants to get rid of us and get a new audience". But strangely the old timers did not disappear as a result of management machinations nor was there an influx of new young ballet enthusiasts. Well, your first paragraph was my reaction entirely. I've normally not much objection to them giving the amphi over to students for one performance - unless it's for a cast I really wanted to see and it's seriously hampering my opportunity to get at the small number of tickets still within my price range - it was just that they chose to do it for the first night which set me wondering. Anyway, as someone else pointed out, at least any teething problems should be out of the way by the time I come to see it, and who knows? If they don't find enough students, presumably they'll open up sales to undesirables like the rest of us. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletyas Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Just have to rant over the extraordinary dearth of tickets for Whelan/Watson. I tried to buy at precisely 8am and there were two seats left in the whole run and as I added them they got snatched. When I complained to the ROH they just said Oh sorry, it's a hot ticket! Surely its very unfair not to allocate a few more seats on Friends Booking Day? Anyway if anyone realises they can't use their tickets please please DM me! Thanks, rant over.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Can someone tell me: is there no system of returns for performances other than those of the RB and the Royal Opera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 An email from the Friends states that online booking for summer 2015 on 3 March will now begin at 8am instead of 10am. The Box Office telephones will not be staffed till 10am. Views ? Unfortunately, they're doing precisely the same thing for public booking on the 31st . Since I shan't be at work by then, that means I shall be stuck here at home on a lousy broadband connection trying to book and hoping that the connection doesn't conk out on me. Not impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulcinella Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Unlike Alison, and others, I'm pleased with the change to 8am as it means I can book at home before going to work. I'm not allowed to use work computers for personal use and although I've used my iPad previously our work Wifi isn't working at the moment so that isn't an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Unfortunately, they're doing precisely the same thing for public booking on the 31st . Where did you find this out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 According the the ROH Summer booking days chart, the general booking on 31st March is still 10.00 am. Source: http://www.roh.org.uk/seasons/2014-15/summer Assume they may change it depending on the response to the 'regular Friends' - (sorry; don't know what else to call them now) - 8am experience. It seems that the responses after (as opposed to before) that experience appears to have been positive for those who cared to respond to their article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrylights Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I am such a newcomer so please excuse my silly questions but will anymore tickets be released for general booking for Whelan/Watson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I am such a newcomer so please excuse my silly questions but will anymore tickets be released for general booking for Whelan/Watson? They have to hold - by their ACE funding stipulations - 20% back for the general booking period throughout ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPD444 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I have just noticed that they are doing Song of the Earth in both of the Mixed Bills. Is that usual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Where did you find this out? The mailshot sent out with the booking brochure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 The mailshot sent out with the booking brochure. That's interesting; it still says 10 a.m. on the ROH website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I must admit, I was surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 SPD444. It is unusual to see a ballet performed in two mixed programmes only a few months apart but the company are taking two mixed bills to New York rather than Don Q.One mixed bill is made up of new works including The Age of Anxiety the other is made up of The Dream and The Song of the Earth.So we will probably get a mixed bill including The Dream fairly early on next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I hope so. That and Dances at a Gathering would do very nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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