Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

July - Aug 2014 at the Royal Opera House


Recommended Posts

Full details of the programmes for this are available from the Hochhauser web site

http://www.victorhochhauser.co.uk/

In summary:

Romeo & Juliet

Swan Lake

Cinderella (Ratmansky)

Firebird / Marguerite & Armand / Concerto DCSH

Apollo / Midsummer Nights Dream

Casting is available on the ROH Web site. Start from here

http://www.roh.org.uk/about/mariinsky

- casting for each programme is then available if you click through. I was surprised Lopatkina does not get the opening night of Swan Lake.

Link to comment

If I were casting for a tour, I would know that te opener would be reviewed, regardless of the dancer, and I would consider casting a star a little later in the run, on a night less popular, when he or she wasn't coming right off travel and could get feedback from colleagues about the quirks of the stage and the theater and after the wrinkles of the first live performance were ironed out.

Link to comment

If I were casting for a tour, I would know that te opener would be reviewed, regardless of the dancer, and I would consider casting a star a little later in the run, on a night less popular, when he or she wasn't coming right off travel and could get feedback from colleagues about the quirks of the stage and the theater and after the wrinkles of the first live performance were ironed out.

I can understand not opening with a star but to start to the SL run with Skorik defies my imagination. Why would you want to put this insecure, unreliable (and often very bad) dancer in the critics' line of fire? Fateyev really is an incomprehensible AD at times. (Then again, he is giving the much beloved Stepanova 1SL).

Link to comment

Stepanova had her first Swan lake in March. The next Swan lake Yulia will be dancing this Sunday. At Covent Garden she will be dancing it for the third time.

Her debut in March generated many positive comments from people whose opinions Fateev is wise to take into account. One such opinion is that Stepanova's interpretation of Odette/Odile promisses to be the most interesting at Mariinsky in a very long time, it is mellow, poetic and nuanced, without as much as a hint of vulgarity that so often taints interpretations especially of the Odile part, every movement properly articulated and reaching completion. Such opinions are hard to ignore, so less than 10 days after her debut it was announced she would be dancing Swan Lake in London. Other developments followed as well: she was cast in the recent Mariinsky premiere of Ashton's Sylvia, and a month ago she had the privilege to open with it the White Nights Festival at Mariinsky.

I expect the informed London critics to be attending her performances in August (at Covent Garden she will be also dancing the Firebird).

Regarding your scurrilous remarks about Skoryk — when was the last time you saw her on stage? I saw her several times in large scale productions. There was no insecurity in evidence or anything I could qualify as "bad dancing". On the other hand, looking at her with an unbiased eye one cannot but admire her perfectly formed body. I suppose Fateev, like Vaziev before him, apparently has a strong predilection for a certain type of "ideally formed" ballerina and likes to push such a girl in her early development irrespective of whether she is ready for certain things or not. On its own I don't find this particularly objectionable. Regretfully, this is often accompanied by holding back other, no less capable dancers. I don't accept that — however, this occurs in other companies too.

Link to comment

I've just been looking at the casting on the ROH web site. I had been convinced that Vishneva was down to appear in Marguerite and Armand on 11 Aug in the original announcement, but it seems that casting for this work is currently listed as TBA. (Vishneva is still listed for R&J).

Link to comment

IMHO, Fateev is trying to make his own world star out of Skorik. Alas at a cost of the audience and Mariinsky's (old times) reputation. I've seen enough of Skorik, several times in SL, where i saw a great flexible body with great lines, but i wish better technique, reliability, the "personality", "wise thinking head" and "good spiritual heart and soul" accompanied that body - imho... I have been and will try to AVOID seeing her cast in ballets (life is too short)

Link to comment

Things change. Dancers improve. While their "natural data" do not. There was time I could not watch Alina Somova. Now I do this with pleasure. Skoryk improved tremendously over the last two years and the criticisms heard earlier among Petersburg ballet goers abated. I heard a number of complimentary comments about her performances this Spring from those who criticised her earlier.

Link to comment

For anyone going to London to see the Mariinsky, Kondaurova is again off the schedule. For her Swan Lakes, the first one (for which I have tickets), she has been replaced by Skorik. The second Swan Lake shows Matvienko as the replacement. I've been told the Royal Opera House is very good about both returning and exchanging tickets. Since I really don't want to see Skorik (Mathilde K notwithstanding) I plan to call first thing tomorrow to see about exchanging tickets for that night.

Link to comment

I've been told the Royal Opera House is very good about both returning and exchanging tickets. Since I really don't want to see Skorik (Mathilde K notwithstanding) I plan to call first thing tomorrow to see about exchanging tickets for that night.

I was amazed to learn that the Royal Opera House will take your unwanted ticket on consignment at the ticket desk and resell it for you, taking only a small commission of 2 pounds. They credit your credit card if it sells, which it probably will if the performance is almost sold out. You can mail in the ticket if there is enough time, or take it to the ticket desk yourself. The details are here, under "Can you sell a ticket for me...": http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tickets

I had two tickets to one of the (cancelled) Osipova Sleeping Beauty's last spring and wanted to sell one of them. I assumed a lot of people would have the same idea when her cancellation was announced, but it sold and I received the credit on my credit card just a few days later. They even sent me an e-mail to let me know it had sold. I've never heard of an American theater doing such a thing, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Link to comment

Go see Stepanova then. In my opinion that is going to be the event of the whole tour.

I knew how singularly gifted she was before yet her last «Swan Lake» showed something I did not expect and wasn't ready for, something we haven't been seeing on the ballet stages for ages, not in terms of "pyrotechnics" — in terms of the profundity of feeling expressed in the utmost delicate and nuanced manner entirely within the idiom of classical dance. Last Sunday she embodied the unhappiness and fragility of Odette as I can't recall ever seeing. Her "white acts" were not about "beautiful lines" but about vulnerable nobility of feeling and suffering. I still can't find proper words for what I saw on Sunday, the experience was so overwhelming and transforming. Now I would risk saying, it affected me more than seeing Ulyana Lopatkina at the height of her artistic powers in the same role.

Link to comment

I was amazed to learn that the Royal Opera House will take your unwanted ticket on consignment at the ticket desk and resell it for you, taking only a small commission of 2 pounds. They credit your credit card if it sells, which it probably will if the performance is almost sold out. You can mail in the ticket if there is enough time, or take it to the ticket desk yourself. The details are here, under "Can you sell a ticket for me...": http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tickets

I had two tickets to one of the (cancelled) Osipova Sleeping Beauty's last spring and wanted to sell one of them. I assumed a lot of people would have the same idea when her cancellation was announced, but it sold and I received the credit on my credit card just a few days later. They even sent me an e-mail to let me know it had sold. I've never heard of an American theater doing such a thing, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Yes, I, too, love this policy and have on several occasions returned tickets on the day of the performance and re-sold them successfully. It's a very reassuring thing to approach the ROH box office and see a queue of people waiting to purchase returned tickets--as is very likely to be the case during a Mariinsky tour--because you know there's a buyer already waiting for your ticket.

If you decide to return your ticket and find yourself with a free night and in search of a (far less expensive) entertainment alternative, you could try "day promming" at Royal Albert Hall instead. http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/features/how-to-prom

Link to comment

I don't think it's got anything to do with British kindness and good manners; it's got to do with the fact that the ROH finds it fairly easy to resell tickets, especially for something like the Mariinsky. A lot of tourists in London go to CoventGarden just to say they've been to Covent Garden; they may not even be ballet fans.

Link to comment

I think the Royal Opera House is trying to keep a lid on price speculation and scalpers. http://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-real-cost-of-buying-roh-tickets-through-unofficial-channels The alternative is some of the craziness that takes place on StubHub. It makes life much easier for everyone, and I wish more opera houses would adopt the practice. I wonder how much they really make by reselling donated tickets anyway. I'm guessing it's not a whole lot. Besides, the ROH re-sale policy applies to sold-out shows. In other words, it would be a moot point for most ABT or Metropolitan Opera performances.

I doubt many tourists stand on line for returned tickets at the Royal Opera House. It requires a significant investment of time, the tickets aren't cheap, and there isn't much tourist-worthiness in the plain white wall next to the returns queue. Sadly I'm not a frequent visitor to the Royal Opera House, but I haven't witnessed the telltale half-time exodus of casual tourists during my visits to Covent Garden.

Link to comment

I doubt many tourists stand on line for returned tickets at the Royal Opera House. It requires a significant investment of time, the tickets aren't cheap, and there isn't much tourist-worthiness in the plain white wall next to the returns queue.

I think the ROH simply put the tickets back up on their website so, as I did, tourists can simply select their tickets online, no investment of time necessary (although I do wonder whether the online prices are higher).

Link to comment

I was thinking more of the people who line up the morning of a show in the hopes of getting a returned ticket. Some of them will stand there for hours, and tourists don't have the time to spend on that. In my case I was holding on to all of my tickets in case of cast changes and returned a few of them on the performance day. I doubt those tickets went back on sale online (because when I asked how I'd be able to learn whether the tickets had resold, I wasn't told to go online to check the seats), but it's very likely they were bought by the people lined up at the box office.

Truly, had I liked all the casts, I would have gone to see all the shows.

Link to comment

I returned a Bayadere ticket to ROH on the day of a show last year and the box office guy said when he took it, essentially, "let's get this right back into our inventory so that people can buy it online". So a ticket that is returned goes back on sale both online and in person at the box office. My comment about tourists was in reference to how easy the ROH finds it to sell out. They have a tourist market in addition to the ballet lover market. Vienna, Paris, Sydney, and of course the Bolshoi and Mariinsky enjoy the same phenomenon. The Birmingham Hippodrome,e.g. does not!

Link to comment

Esina seems to be out of the tour. Yulia Stepanova takes her place for the sold-out performance with Xander Parish. Stepanova's performance on the 5th of August has been changed to Alina Somova.

Finally it has been announced. I have been worrying for the last several days why the change has not been announced yet. In a characteristic move Fateev took away Stepanova's own «Swan Lake» from her. It is obvious that that was going to be a hit after her «Lake» with Parish. According to what I heard London critics are literally anxious to see Stepanova on stage. In London you will see 33 of those Swans on stage at once.

A few days ago I was able to buy a lonely returned ticket for the Parish (and as I already knew, Stepanova) «Swan Lake». A God sent gift.

Link to comment

These casting changes are getting ridiculous. I deliberately bought a SL for Steoanova and now I have to see Somova (who I don't hate but don't love, either). I won't be in town for the SL with Parrish and except for returns (lucky you, Mathilde) it's sold out. I guess I'll just have to resign myself to seeing whoever they put on stage (I expect these changes to keep coming). I think we are lucky here that there seem to be few changes in the Bolshoi casting with the exception of one principal (Shipulina out). However, with Shapran and Bondareva now at the Mariinsky and Osipova essentially double booked with the ROH, the Mikhailovsky tour casting is in grave doubt.

Link to comment

With Mariinsky's «Swan Lake» I would go to every single show, whoever dances the principal parts. Those 32 Swans are one of the most gorgeous sights you can have on the ballet stage. Unless you have really good seats I am not sure how much of the finesse Stepanova brings with her uniquely expressive upper body you would be able to see anyway.

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...