|
Post by Coated on Mar 24, 2016 0:09:06 GMT
I'm quite enjoying the fact that he's caller Danny MOAR
I realise people like to think that they are worth 100k+, but I truly doubt it. Particularly when it comes to vice chancellors, but the same goes for pretty much any job. Is that person ten times more capable than someone on 34k? Really? And whilst I'm at it, top pay in an organisation ought to be linked to the lowest wages by a factor of no more than 10. I suspect that would lead to some interesting wage redistribution. But sadly this would require a reorganisation of society that ain't forthcoming any time soon so I go back and quietly mumble in my corner about the ridiculousness of below minimum wage for some and giant piles of money to burn for others.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 23, 2016 12:31:06 GMT
Argh, what is it with young woman and stinky hair? I really don't get what's so difficult about clean, non dog-smelling hair when you go to the theatre where some poor sod will have your mop near their nostrils all evening. Just wash it. If you haven't washed your hair for more than 2-3 days, it probably stinks. Yes, even if it's long hair. Wash it. Just do it.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 23, 2016 1:12:35 GMT
I'm off to see it next week (though for a tiny fraction of £240) and can't wait - I like to see one proper russian opera per year. Russian operas are entirely bonkers in my estimation, mainly one person singing. Stopping. Next person singing. Louder. Most likely about guilt. Or misery. Maybe some mythical creature. And then there's the chorus of which I can't ever get enough, and the orchestra going wild. I finish night with vodka, and then I'm good for another year.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 22, 2016 23:41:31 GMT
Things aren't getting any better at the ENO. The Music Director has resigned due to management decisions. The tweet by Jack Malvern posts a copy of an email send to staff explaining why.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 13, 2016 14:33:34 GMT
I've read (ok - skimmed, not really up to indulge that much drivel) the rest of the article now and really think she shot way off the mark. It reads like an emotional and entitled response against any form of non-positive criticism.
It's a shame that her valid points about speculative slander get lost amongst the point scoring against the apparently evil unwashed masses that frequent the Internet.
The fact that she is asking BWW to do a whatsonstage on their forum shows a level of intolerance that rivals and possibly exceeds that of the BWW trolls she condemns. Asking for decent moderation would be a positive thing for board that goes a bit over the top
Makes we very happy that we're a free forum for actual discussion instead of pre-approved fan-girling.
I saw a tweet when the closure of the WOS board was announced, saying something along the lines of 'Oh, dear, where will they go now to eviscerate us'. Looks like online discussion is seen as a bit of a nuisance in parts of the actorly fraternity
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 13, 2016 1:31:46 GMT
Seeing Warhorse for the first time in the Olivier remains one of my favourite theatrical experiences. I couldn't believe how quickly I forgot that there were puppets on stage.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 13, 2016 1:17:29 GMT
Ouch. I don't think that a blog post demanding love, adoration and unicorns, followed by some snark about stoopid posters is the best way to deal with snarky "chat boards".
I generally don't care for slander and malicious gossip, but I sure don't see it as my responsibility to "spread positivity"
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 9, 2016 0:02:47 GMT
Also currently on iplayer are Bolshoi Babylon (documentary about the Bolshoi), Dancing In the Blitz (documentary about the early days of British ballet) and a Sleeping Beauty from 1959 with Fonteyn.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 8, 2016 0:20:49 GMT
Sniffling. Stop it. I get it, the show is sad. That doesn't mean I have to listen to your teary snot travelling up and down your nasal passage. Get a tissue or let it run free. Quietly. Make sure to wipe your face thoroughly before the lights go on and we'll all be happy.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Mar 2, 2016 1:46:45 GMT
Thanks for reminding me how much I dislike the groundling malarkey. Particularly since there is always that one (usually not short) person who decides to stand in front of you 2 seconds before the performance starts. And with in front I mean about 1.5 inches away from your gritted teeth.
Spatially unaware patrons would ideally be encouraged to avoid all theatres, but should be outlawed for unreserved standing....
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 27, 2016 15:28:29 GMT
I vaguely remember some fairy tale like story as a Christmas play when I was a kid, which probably was my first play. A touring group visiting school with a play about King Arthur (at least I assume it was since I remember a song about King Arthur and his friends...)
A Carmen Jones and something with mimes I was forced to go to as teenager - made me hate anything theatre related for a decade or so.
The first play that grabbed me as adult was Stoppard's Arcadia, some time last century. I loved it, but theatre visits remained occasional one offs though the frequency increased somewhat.
This lasted until about 2006, when SRB's Galileo and Goold's Tempest convinced me that theatre might be the best thing since things started. Saint Joan at the National a year later confirmed that suspicion and I haven't looked back since
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 27, 2016 14:56:08 GMT
Bonnie La Nuit. I'll only appear in murder mysteries, whispering 'Good Night, Sweetheart' in my victims' ears as they lie dying, my maniacal cackle the last earthly sound they hear...
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 27, 2016 14:22:40 GMT
Phew, glad I read this thread today and remembered that I booked a ticket for this which I'd forgotten to add to my calendar - would have been exceedingly cross if I missed this especially after forking out good money.
I saw Cymbeline as my first Sam Wanamaker Playhouse candle-lit Shakespeare and rather enjoyed it despite the miserable seating, so I ended up booking all 4 plays.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 26, 2016 9:11:27 GMT
Flames of Paris is a delightfully bonkers revolutionary romp. Music stolen from anywhere and everyone, a ballet within a ballet danced by butterfly-like creatures, barricades and the storming of the Bastille....
youTube clip of Osipova/Vassiliev in Flames of Paris
Taming of the shrew is modern. Lots of dancing, slightly thin story, marginally less sexist than some other Shrews apparently
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 26, 2016 0:12:13 GMT
Come back from the intermission at the Puccini triple at the ROH and two women sit in our end-of-aisle seats about 5 min before the second act starts. When asked to kindly vacate, one of them informed us that there hadn't been anyone sitting in our seats for the last few minutes.
If only we'd realised that you're not meant to leave your seats during a half hour break, we could have saved the poor dears the bother of having to clear out from our just about decent-ish upper slip seats and then make half the row behind us get up to slink back to their less decent-ish seats - from which they would have seen us sitting in the end of the aisle through the entire first act...
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 25, 2016 16:22:14 GMT
Some of the Stalls Circle tickets close to the stage with decent enough views (missing stage but so close to the action that you do see) are fairly cheap, and there ought to some standing tickets left for a Swan Lake or two - def worth it at £15.
The side-amphi seats can be pretty good too and at £34 they ain't too bad.
If you don't like standing, best deal in my opinion are the 'restricted by pillar but you just have to lean a little backwards for the perfect view' stalls circle seats C36 & C77 at £55. A bit more expensive than usual, but nice to know that neighbouring seats are either 105 or 77 - and some of those have worse views.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 14, 2016 23:50:11 GMT
Just to be slightly pedantic, Matthew Bourne pieces aren't ballet, more modern dance theatre - and he is very good at that. I really enjoyed Sleeping Beauty when I first saw it, though watching it a second time shortly after having just watched the ballet a few times it didn't hold up well for me. Mainly because of expectations to see spectacular dancing to some musical sequences that are used differently in the Bourne version. If you expect to see someone dancing their heart out to certain passages, and instead they are just lounging around in a nightclub, it does feel like something is missing, so I can understand why Jelly Bean's friend isn't that keen on Bourne's Beauty.
I don't think anyone can beat Bourne's showmanship when it comes to dance, and Sleeping Beauty is no exception. Though it would be a bonus if he could lay off his cheesy nightclub scenes (can't remember whether there is one in Edward Scissorhands, but he certainly has them in Car Men, Beauty and Swanlake).
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 14, 2016 23:27:40 GMT
Ouch. Strapless really missed the mark for me, wobbly narrative, dancing not exactly inspired and way too long for what it is. Though they did go all out on the costume budget.
It felt like a musical without the singing. Not that anyone could have come up with songs to work with the forgettable and slightly annoying Turnage score.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 9, 2016 11:55:26 GMT
Around 10.10 pm, running time is 2h 35
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 4, 2016 21:31:21 GMT
Well, you should have been here earlier if you wanted an aisle seat
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 4, 2016 21:25:28 GMT
I'm a bit surprised that people interrupt their favourite activity to respond to a ping. "Sorry darling, gotta get this. Let me just rate how this session of now interrupted coitus affects my happiness levels"
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 4, 2016 21:08:51 GMT
If I'm not on an aisle I get panicky and start wanting to punch people in the face. But that's probs just me Nope, not just you - and you'll probably be wanting to punch me, already sitting immovably in the last available aisle seat...
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 4, 2016 1:56:49 GMT
I quite enjoyed it. Delightfully bonkers in parts (unless you don't like that sort of bonkers in which case the giggling part of the audience will really get on your nerves) and the additional narrator worked for me. Yes, he interrupts the flow sometimes a bit, but it's nice to see opera poking fun at itself.
The second half started to drag on a bit compared to the first, but it kept my interest for most of the time.
There was a fair bit of grumbling on Twitter - too frothy too please the music buffs, and the production is probably something you either like or not, with not a large amount of middle ground. I'm going back for more in a couple of weeks for more frothy February fun.
And it was the first first night in what feels like aaaages where there was no booing. Very refreshing for a change.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 4, 2016 1:26:50 GMT
Sing-alongs are definitely frowned upon. If you're a reasonably housetrained theatre goer, you won't have any issues with opera etiquette. Sinfini has nice quick comic strip plot summaries of popular operas. Can't get more succinct. www.sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/series/opera-stripPersonally I'd avoid Carmen, 2 good tunes and a lot of incidental muzak - it took me 20 years to see another opera after an enforced Carmen. Don't spend a fortune on a ticket, make sure you book for a decent cast and youtube is your friend to test the waters before deciding what you like. Traviata or Boheme are pretty good choices as starter operas I think, or maybe some fluffy Donezetti like L'Elisir D'Amour. If you like your music a bit more hardcore and a tad dissonant, Elektra can be a fab tour de force. The ROH recently asked what the best first timer opera is, so you've got another 50 or so opinions right here www.roh.org.uk/news/which-opera-would-you-recommend-to-a-first-timer
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Feb 2, 2016 0:34:49 GMT
And this is the Donmar, previously the last bastion of good manners. Or so I thought. Abandon all hope and buy a cattle prod. Or a bottle of chloroform.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Jan 30, 2016 21:45:09 GMT
Finally! I've been waiting for some fowl misbehaviour for the entire run of the Royal Ballet's Two Pigeons, and about 40 seconds before the final curtain one of them gave in to its base pigeon nature and delicately pooped right behind the heads of the tenderly embracing ballet's protagonists.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Jan 30, 2016 21:30:51 GMT
This was the first time I came across Simon Butteriss - great stage presence and if his productions are like this in general, I'm joining that fan club.
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Jan 30, 2016 10:37:35 GMT
This is a rather charming semi staged production of Offenbach's Orpheus. Opera Danube is a vehicle for young and upcoming opera singers to perform in professional quality productions, and the current ensemble was quite impressive. I particularly liked Jan Capinski, fab Baritone and a nice comedic touch to his acting.
By the time they were playing Infernal Galop (aka that can-can song) half the audience was in stitches
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Jan 28, 2016 16:25:48 GMT
I have been very reticent and only got one ticket per cast...
|
|
|
Post by Coated on Jan 28, 2016 16:23:50 GMT
I think the casts might not have been the most awesome in recent runs, but I quite like the production itself. Sure, after x-amount of viewings, everything gets a bit boring but the production let's the opera tell the story.
I'm pretty excited about Andrea Luisotti conducting later on in the run. If that man can't squeeze passion and richness out of an Italian Opera, no one can.
|
|