2018/2019 Royal Ballet cinema in USA?

[SandyMcKean]

Say it isn't so! I can only find these broadcasts in 1 theater in the whole of the USA (NYC of course). If I can't see Steven McRae in Mayerling I'll going to kill. 

Is this some sort of British punishment for our crassness in electing a fool as President??

Edited September 26, 2018 by SandyMcKean

[pherank]

1 hour ago, SandyMcKean said:

Say it isn't so! I can only find these broadcasts in 1 theater in the whole of the USA (NYC of course). If I can't see Steven McRae in Mayerling I'll going to kill. 

Is this some sort of British punishment for our crassness in electing a fool as President??

There's a bigger problem - few people show up for these theater events.

Some statistics:

• Approximately 665 postsecondary institutions offer dance minor and major programs in the United States.
• 3.5 million children receive dance instruction from dance specialists (of 50m total in US K-12 education).
• There are approximately 32,000 studios in the United States.

And yet, a handful of theaters can't even fill the seats for these major company presentations.

[DanielBenton]

Pherank said it.  For example, in Iowa City there are several K-12 dance schools (two of which have sent students to SAB, NYCB and Boston Ballet) and a university with a "major" dance program.  Yet when the Bolshoi (or rarely the Royal) comes to the local cinema, none of the students show up, because their teachers did not tell them about them.

[FPF]

7 hours ago, SandyMcKean said:

Say it isn't so! I can only find these broadcasts in 1 theater in the whole of the USA (NYC of course). If I can't see Steven McRae in Mayerling I'll going to kill. 

Is this some sort of British punishment for our crassness in electing a fool as President??

The theater near me that screened the Royal Ballet last year didn't list the showings on their website very much ahead of the screening dates. So I think there is still hope.

[FPF]

3 hours ago, DanielBenton said:

Pherank said it.  For example, in Iowa City there are several K-12 dance schools (two of which have sent students to SAB, NYCB and Boston Ballet) and a university with a "major" dance program.  Yet when the Bolshoi (or rarely the Royal) comes to the local cinema, none of the students show up, because their teachers did not tell them about them.

I only found out about the RB screenings when I was searching the coming attractions on the local artsy movie theater's website and saw them listed. They aren't promoted well.

[vendangeuse]

Even in NYC, I don't see any theaters offering Mayerling. The only thing I can find is a cinema in Queens broadcasting a previously recorded performance of Swan Lake on September 30th.

[SandyMcKean]

All is well.......

FPF called it.  I searched the web and found a name, and after a couple of calls, tracked down the guy who represents the Royal screening effort here in America. I just got off the phone with him.  He assured me that the Royal will be doing both opera and ballet screening for the 2018/2019 season. I was worried that with the Mayerling live screening scheduled in just 2 weeks, it was too late for the Royal to get it together. He pointed out that the Royal makes no effort in the USA to schedule its screenings near the live date. Indeed, they are usually 6 to 12 weeks out.  He said they were very close to announcing the USA program.  So stay tuned!

We had quite a conversation. There was good news and some not so good news. The good news is that the Royal is committed to continue screening in the USA. The bad news is that there is a lot of debate within that part of the company as to how much effort and resources should be expended in the USA.  He didn't say it exactly, but I'm sure it's about butts in the seats. He did say that the company is analyzing what titles play best in the USA. I asked that please, please, please don't do just Sleeping Beauties, and that the ballet art form needs to support lesser known pieces to keep the art alive and vibrant. He totally agreed, and assured me that the Royal will never abandon screenings of new and unusual pieces.

I asked about the complaint I hear here on Ballet Alert a lot; namely, why don't they do a better job of "getting the word out".  He admitted there is much to improve on that front, and that they (or at least he) are working on it. He felt the websites are not easy to use, and that there is no consistency in the screening dates so launching a media blitz is impossible because the screening date can be months apart in different locations around the USA.

Finally, one little tid-bit. He said for the Royal they get better attendance at the ballet screenings than at the opera screenings. I found that pleasing since I am first and foremost a ballet fan. But I do go to lots of opera screenings too (probably more than ballet since opera more available in my area), and I find larger audiences for opera than ballet. He thought the reason ballet out performed opera for the Royal was the competition from the Met Opera screenings which dominate the market.

[later edit......BTW, this guy lives and works in New York]

Edited September 27, 2018 by SandyMcKean

[volcanohunter]

A few years ago sandik (I hope I'm not misattributing this) made the important point that when it comes to promoting movies, it's the film studios that do the bulk of the work, not the cinemas. So it would be up to the distributors of these transmissions to do the advertising campaign, and they obviously do a terrible job of promoting the screenings to dance schools.

The cinemas often incentivise these screenings with kids in mind. For example, for Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, Canada's Cineplex chain charges $28 for adults, $27 for seniors and $27 for children. On the other hand, for ballet presentations it charges $20 for adults, $19 for seniors and $13 for kids up to 13. (Ditto for National Theatre and West End presentations). But the only time I ever saw a group of bunheads at a ballet broadcast was when I attended one far from home in Kalispell, MT (pop. 22,000). It was a beautiful, enormous auditorium, much too large for the crowd present, but about half of the audience was a group of adolescent dance students with their teacher. I'm sure it was entirely her own initiative. 

On the other hand, when I attended in downtown Toronto, in an auditorium that seated about 125 people, the place was pretty much full, but the audience was made up mostly of seniors.

Perhaps the problem faced by the ROH is that it's trying to convince cinemas to take on both opera and ballet broadcasts, and the opera market is already saturated by the Met. I'm sorry that the only RB screening scheduled by Cineplex was last spring's Swan Lake, albeit with the more screenings than any other presentation, whereas it's presenting the entire Bolshoi slate. In my experience, when Cineplex presented both the Royal Ballet and the Bolshoi, the companies drew audiences of equal size. If anything, locally the audiences for the Royal Ballet seemed to be a bit larger.

[seattle_dancer]

22 hours ago, SandyMcKean said:

Say it isn't so! I can only find these broadcasts in 1 theater in the whole of the USA (NYC of course). If I can't see Steven McRae in Mayerling I'll going to kill. 

Is this some sort of British punishment for our crassness in electing a fool as President??

Super funny post Sandy!  But seriously, please keep us posted.  I really want to see Mayerling.  Is it not showing up in Vancouver?

[kbarber]

In Toronto, HotDocs cinema, which has been showing the Royal Ballet broadcasts for a couple of years now, has announced Mayerling for November 17.  Of course this conflicts with the NBOC's run of The Dream, but whatever, at least they're showing it. When I say "announced", it popped up in their schedule and you have to go looking for it. I am pretty sure I do more publicity for these showings to my mailing list than they do! The promotion people there tell me they have plans for the remaining RB broadcasts as well.

Mayerling in Toronto is in fact showing up on the ROH's ballet in cinema page, (a miracle), the only apparent showing in North America.

[FPF]

Mayerling is listed now for a couple of Landmark Theaters for 11/13 on the individual theater websites, but not on the ROH website. I expect that more theaters will be added as we get closer to the date. My local Landmark  doesn't show it yet.

[kbarber]

11 hours ago, FPF said:

Mayerling is listed now for a couple of Landmark Theaters for 11/13 on the individual theater websites, but not on the ROH website. I expect that more theaters will be added as we get closer to the date. My local Landmark  doesn't show it yet.

could you tell us which ones they are? The Landmark website is far from intuitive and doesn't seem to have a search function.

[FPF]

18 minutes ago, kbarber said:

could you tell us which ones they are? The Landmark website is far from intuitive and doesn't seem to have a search function.

I actually saw it mentioned on a blog as being at the Manhattan Landmark on 57th St , and then searched for my local Landmark and didn't find anything. I then searched on Google for Mayerling and Landmark Theatre and a few others came up.  If you have a local Landmark, it's probably easiest to look at their website at the coming attractions or call and ask. My local theater, the Spectrum in Albany doesn't have it listed yet, but my recollection is that they were only listed last year a week or two before the showing, so it is probably a good idea to check back if your theater isn't listed.

Theaters where I did see it listed--this is by changing the regions and theaters and looking at the coming attractions for each individually (note that I did not check the dates):

Midtown Art Cinema in Atlanta, GA

Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park, IL

The Magnolia in Dallas, TX

Chez Artiste Theater in Denver, CO

River Oaks Theater in Houston, TX

Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis, IN

Downer Theater in Milwaukee, WI

Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis, MN

Landmark at 57 West in NY, NY

Ritz 5 in Philadelphia, PA

Clay Theater in San Francisco, CA

Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, CA

Nickelodeon in Santa Cruz, CA

E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C.

Bethesda Row Cinema in Bethesda, MD

 

[kbarber]

wow thanks for doing all that work.

[FPF]

Happy to add that the Albany, NY Landmark Spectrum (my local theater)  has added it since I posted earlier (11/13 at 7 pm). 

[FPF]

Also added since this morning:

Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline, WA 

Main Art Theater in Royal Oak, MI

[Ashton Fan]

A friend has told me that he thinks that the Royal Ballet's difficulties with streaming its performances in the US may well be connected to the fact that the Met has a virtual monopoly as far as streaming opera performances in the US is concerned. By the way while you may have missed a great deal in not being able to access the Royal Ballet's performances you have not missed much by not being able to watch the Royal Opera's performances. Nearly all of the Opera's recent offerings have been "Eurotrash" productions. Just to give you an indication of how silly things have become it is said that  the operatic powers that be at Bow Street were none too pleased when  David McVicker production of Andrea Chenier turned out to be very place and time specific as far its sets and costumes are concerned and were not that impressed by the director's argument that it was rather difficult to transpose the action of the opera to another place and time when there were so many references to well known historical figures in the libretto.

[Mashinka]

There can be little argument regarding the awful productions that the Royal Opera inflicts on it's audiences, but I dislike this word 'Eurotrash' intensely and believe it is highly misleading.  So far I've seen nine operas in continental houses this year and although one production was dull and unimaginative, it wasn't  thoroughly unpleasant in the way so many are in Bow Street.  The problem seems to be with whoever commissions these monstrosities, not the nationalities of the directors.

On the plus side the RO's recent Salome looked very good in a straight comparison to the bilge currently on offer at ENO, apparently a feminist interpretation by one Adena Jacobs, not European but Aussie.  My pal at the Coliseum tells me around a dozen walk out in disgust every night.  On Friday night when I saw it, three people behind me called it a day when the giant headless pink horse made its appearance.  I notice it's the subsidised houses that present these horrors, the hits to misses ratio is far more positive in places like Garsington and Glyndebourne.

[Drew]

I have found these near(ish) where I live and would love to attend, but they are always scheduled during the work week making it very hard. Since it is not live anyway I wish they would opt for weekends 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Drew

[FPF]

1 hour ago, Drew said:

I have found these near(ish) where I live and would love to attend, but they are always scheduled during the work week making it very hard. Since it is not live anyway I wish they would opt for weekends 

At my local theater that shows the RB, Tuesday is always a bargain day for the other movies, so I wonder if Landmark chose it specifically because it's a lower attendance day, and they won't lose money if there are empty seats because the price is higher. When I saw Swan Lake this summer, for example, I don't think there were even 20 people in the theater. 

But I'd also prefer the weekend--I haven't gone to these much either because of the weeknight scheduling.

[seattle_dancer]

On 10/15/2018 at 7:33 PM, FPF said:

Also added since this morning:

Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline, WA 

Main Art Theater in Royal Oak, MI

Thank you so much FPF!!!  I had given up hope of seeing Mayerling in cinema.  You have totally made my day!

[FPF]

13 hours ago, seattle_dancer said:

Thank you so much FPF!!!  I had given up hope of seeing Mayerling in cinema.  You have totally made my day!

Happy to have helped!

[SandyMcKean]

I am thrilled that my local "art" cinema finally posted its dates for the ROH season. This theater doesn't do them on the "official" dates, but does them later and always on Sundays late mornings (which works really well for me).  Here's a few they posted:

- Kenneth MacMillan: Mayerling -  at Pickford 11/18/18 @ 11:00am
- La Bayadère (production by Natalia Makarova) -  at Pickford 12/30/18 @ 11:00am

- Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades -  at Pickford 3/3/19 @ 11:00am
- MacMillan: Romeo and Juliet - at Pickford 7/21/19 @ 11:00am

No Nutcracker or Die Walküre though

.

 

[Ashton Fan]

The first night cast of Nunez, Muntagirov and Osipova  are due to dance in the streamed performance of La Bayadere . If last night is anything to go by it will have an exceptionally strong supporting cast with the  Shades  danced by Choe, Naghdi and Takada and the First Soloists out in force in the betrothal scene. All of which suggests that a DVD may be in the offing.

The cast for the streamed Romeo and Juliet is due to be led by Naghdi and Ball. No other casting for this streamed performance is available at present, Here there are rumours of a studio shot film.

The streamed performance of Mayerling was danced by a cast led by McRae and Takada and quite a few people here don't understand why it was not the Bonelli, Morera cast who were recorded. 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Ashton Fan

[Colette]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:12 AM, Ashton Fan said:

quite a few people here don't understand why it was not the Bonelli, Morera cast who were recorded. 

It seems that for O'Hare the only dancers that can be filmed are Nuñez, Osipova, Muntagirov, Mcrae and Lamb. I don't know why Ed Watson wasn't scheduled to be filmed again, Nuñez's subpar Giselle got filmed twice so why don't film the greatest Crown Prince Rudolph a second time? Anyway, Ed got injured so Bonelli (and I'm not a fan) would have been a good second choice, much better than Mcrae, Morera is in my opinion the best Ashtonian and Macmillaner dancer on earth, also my favorite classical dancer in the whole company, WHY has she not been filmed as Mary is beyond me, Lamb was amazing as Mary but the world needs a recording of Morera's remarkable Mary. We should have recordings of her in Song of the Earth, Symphonic Variations, La Fille, Elite Syncopations, The Nutcracker and La Bayadère.....But she's so very underused☹.