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Post by cartoonman on May 13, 2022 12:19:22 GMT
I think I saw John Reid? in about 1973? at Sadlers Wells he was a good comic singer.
As a new bronze friend I have just booked for dress rehersals of It's a Wonderful Life and Akhnaten by phone. I tried to do it on the eno.org site but couldn't access the right bit.
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Post by alece10 on May 13, 2022 16:15:57 GMT
I think I saw John Reid? in about 1973? at Sadlers Wells he was a good comic singer. As a new bronze friend I have just booked for dress rehersals of It's a Wonderful Life and Akhnaten by phone. I tried to do it on the eno.org site but couldn't access the right bit. I'm hoping to book for both of those when bookings open on Monday.
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Post by alece10 on May 16, 2022 14:45:49 GMT
Booked today for the Philip Glass. Had an issue trying to pay on the website but used their online chat and they kindly booked the seats for me and told me to call the box office to pay in the next few days when it's quieter. Will also book for It's A Wondeful Life but I'll wait a bit as my credit card has taken a bashing recently.
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Post by cartoonman on Sept 12, 2022 9:57:53 GMT
Does anyone know what ENO will be staging in 2023/24? I would love to see Porgy & Bess back. I saw it pre-covid with a secret seat. Great show, great seat. I hope both might return.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 5, 2022 11:35:56 GMT
I am a bit disconcerted by the reviews of Yeomen.
There is no need to cut Rapture, Rapture and then replace it with a quartet arrangement of the Ruddigore Matter trio.
I don't think the director gets the tone of the piece from all I have read and seen.
Not selling well either
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 5, 2022 18:47:10 GMT
I was waiting for the reviews to decide whether or not to book. They're not inclining me to do so, which is a pity given I've enjoyed several of the director's productions for ON.
I don't understand why the updating is to the 1950s. If they're determined to set it in the 20th centuury & want Colonel Fairfax to be under a death sentence for being a spy then why not set it during WWII, when it would be more plausible for a spy to be executed at the Tower, rather than a decade later?
I was completely baffled that one review said something along the line of Rapture, Rapture being unacceptable to perform nowadays. Why? If it's objected to as being either ageist or sexist then ENO's going to have to cut chunks out of their Mikado proudction because there's far more ageism & sexism against Katisha than against Dame Carruthers.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 6, 2022 8:39:22 GMT
So after this season how much if any ENO will we get in London?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 6, 2022 9:47:52 GMT
I was waiting for the reviews to decide whether or not to book. They're not inclining me to do so, which is a pity given I've enjoyed several of the director's productions for ON. I don't understand why the updating is to the 1950s. If they're determined to set it in the 20th centuury & want Colonel Fairfax to be under a death sentence for being a spy then why not set it during WWII, when it would be more plausible for a spy to be executed at the Tower, rather than a decade later? I was completely baffled that one review said something along the line of Rapture, Rapture being unacceptable to perform nowadays. Why? If it's objected to as being either ageist or sexist then ENO's going to have to cut chunks out of their Mikado proudction because there's far more ageism & sexism against Katisha than against Dame Carruthers. There has been a change in setting between the early marketing and the final run up. So initially the Yeomen were wearing GR tunics (and indeed still are in a lot of online advertising) but this was updated to ER as opening night got closer. So a slightly earlier setting was envisaged. Rapture, Rapture really isn't unacceptable compared to the overwhelming majority of operas staged round the world. We need to stop this hyper sensitivity and focus on real issues of concern.
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Post by londonpostie on Nov 6, 2022 10:14:09 GMT
So after this season how much if any ENO will we get in London?
I believe you, me and at least one other in this thread also visit other ballet/opera discussion opportunities so I'll just abbreviate my comments here; I think this might be a blessing for ENO in so much as the Coli is a magnificent venue but perhaps too inappropriate for opera and ballet, yet something the West End can really make use of in the current climate - so ENO to rent that out, income paying for upkeep, providing a profit, allowing ENO to utilise flexibly existing venues as well as others currently being built.
Sadler's Wells will shortly have three sites (1,500, 1,000, 550) plus the Lillian Baylis studio. Also, that new-build 1.550 theatre going in at West Ken/Olympia.
I do think ballet esp but also opera, needs modern backstage facilities (read; HUGE) and, actually, good seating (as opposed to Victorian-sized).
It must also be beneficial for ENO to not only and always think on a massive scale - how will we sell enough of 2,350 seats .. All the time.
Trying to feel positive, won't know for 5-10 years ..
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Post by cartoonman on Nov 6, 2022 10:27:29 GMT
It looks like the ENO are being encouraged/forced to leave London. A great shame. If they go to Manchester they will tread on the toes of Opera North. Perhaps Opera North could move to the Coliseum. I can't afford a decent seat at the ROH but can at the ENO. They also encourage youngsters and community groups with cheap/free tickets. I can't see the ROH taking up this baton if the ENO go. I have seen some great ENO shows but also some poor ones but at least they try new works. I seem to recall that the ENO own the Coliseum. Does anyone know if its possible to go to a matinee at the Paris Opera, from London, by Eurostar and be back the same day?
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 6, 2022 14:04:03 GMT
There has been a change in setting between the early marketing and the final run up. So initially the Yeomen were wearing GR tunics (and indeed still are in a lot of online advertising) but this was updated to ER as opening night got closer. So a slightly earlier setting was envisaged. Pre-NHS would also have been a good idea. Why would Elsie be desparate enough to get married for a hundred crowns (presumably updated to pounds in this production) to provide treatment for her mother if her mother was getting free healthcare anyway?!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 6, 2022 14:06:27 GMT
I have read in one of the reviews that the great Act 2 trio and quartet have been edited to remove Point.
That is a serious problem for me. If they have cast a Point who can't sing that, they made a big, big mistake
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 6, 2022 15:58:46 GMT
The below is from Slipped disc. I truly hope they ditch the language policy. Longterm, i hope they perform in Manchester and London - a lot of folk in the south east still need access to culture
Whatever happens to English National Opera after 2024 – and that’s an open question – there is little doubt that its founding purpose of performing opera in English is over.
It was Lilian Baylis’s dream – her religion, almost – that opera should be sung in the language of the land, so that everyone could understand.
This was a worthy and viable ambition on the original small stage at Sadlers Wells, but once ENO moved to the huge Coliseum the words emerged as a general blur, especially when sung by imported soloists from the Baltic Sea. The advent of above-stage surtitles killed off the rest of the need for English yet ENO persisted with singing in the vernacular as if its life depended on it, as in some sense it did. Singing in English was its last USP. How ironic that a Brexit regime should make that its death sentence.
ENO cannot survive in London without state funding. Its plan to move to Manchester is flimsy, to say the least. The next year may be the last for ENO. It is certainly the end of the line for singing in English such immortal lines (from Onegin) as ‘balls in the country/make us very jolly’.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 6, 2022 21:21:10 GMT
I have read in one of the reviews that the great Act 2 trio and quartet have been edited to remove Point. That is a serious problem for me. If they have cast a Point who can't sing that, they made a big, big mistake Does that mean they're now a duet & a trio or have they got another character singing Point's parts instead? It seems completely baffling to cast someone who can't sing the role when ENO must have plenty of baritones on their books who can. (I still think they should have cast Simon Butteriss.)
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 6, 2022 21:22:48 GMT
I think now duet and trio. But the review (which I now can't find again) wasn't that clear
Either way it is a major mis-step
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 6, 2022 21:42:56 GMT
It's almost making me want to see it to see how bad it can be! Not sure I can fit it in among the rather a lot of RB Mayerlings I have booked this month though. Plus the ticket prices for anything remotely near the stage are a bit on the eye-watering side & I don't think I want to see a piece with dialogue from the Coli's balcony.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 6, 2022 22:28:13 GMT
It's almost making me want to see it to see how bad it can be! Not sure I can fit it in among the rather a lot of RB Mayerlings I have booked this month though. Plus the ticket prices for anything remotely near the stage are a bit on the eye-watering side & I don't think I want to see a piece with dialogue from the Coli's balcony. Try TKTS online. Tickets for the next day go live at midnight. I got brilliant seats for Pinafore and Tosca that way
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 8, 2022 10:04:21 GMT
I have read in one of the reviews that the great Act 2 trio and quartet have been edited to remove Point. That is a serious problem for me. If they have cast a Point who can't sing that, they made a big, big mistake Does that mean they're now a duet & a trio or have they got another character singing Point's parts instead? It seems completely baffling to cast someone who can't sing the role when ENO must have plenty of baritones on their books who can. (I still think they should have cast Simon Butteriss.) I read a review which said Jack Point was played by Richard McCabe, an actor I admire greatly. I thought to myself "I didn't know he could sing" but it didn't altogether surprise me as many actors are excellent singers too (eg. Roger Allam). Now to read that they've cut his singing...I think I read he does "I have a song to sing, o" so maybe just the ensemble work he can't cope with. In any event, seems bizarre and/or wilful.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 8, 2022 12:47:26 GMT
I suppose "I Have A Song To Sing, O" is one of the easiest numbers in the piece in terms of singing it, because it covers such a limited vocal range. Presumably the numbers they've cut, or cut Point from, are those that are harder technically for a non-singer to sing.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 8, 2022 14:15:46 GMT
McCabe reportedly accompanies I have a Song on the accordion
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 8, 2022 19:27:57 GMT
I suppose that makes sense from the strolling player point of view but I'm not sure I'd want to hear it!
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 9, 2022 10:59:42 GMT
I suppose "I Have A Song To Sing, O" is one of the easiest numbers in the piece in terms of singing it, because it covers such a limited vocal range. Presumably the numbers they've cut, or cut Point from, are those that are harder technically for a non-singer to sing. Maybe the easiest, but it's my all time favourite from the G&S catalogue. The melody seems dreamily timeless to me. If that went so would I. Think I will be buying tickets to this and Rheingold and its time I saw a Glass and a Korngold opera. So that's more than the last few seasons. Seems like ENO has been in "crisis" the past 20 years or more. I have a deep, as in first, love for it but I seem to go less and less. (Have similar thoughts about the National) I just don't see anyone with vision for the Arts speaking up. I hope I don't look back and think I lived through some kind of golden age.... FWIW I would have no objection to dropping English for all productions. Staging smaller works outside the Coliseum. Making it English, as in not just London based. In fact less, better productions, in appropriate venues would strongly appeal.
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Post by Jan on Nov 10, 2022 7:37:44 GMT
McCabe reportedly accompanies I have a Song on the accordion No surprise, he played accordion in the band Tenpole Tudor in the 1980s and I can remember him playing it in several RSC Shakespeare productions too. It's like Billy Connolly's observation on how speciality acts used to be shoe-horned into pantomimes: "Now that we are all alone, I think I'll play my xylophone".
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Post by tmesis on Nov 10, 2022 17:14:51 GMT
According to Norman Lebrecht there is a Whitehall leak that the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport is in talks with RAH to run The Coliseum. It will not own it, just manage it. The Coliseum will be a subsidiary venue where it can transfer successful shows.
Can’t quite see how this will work but see slippedisc.com.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 11, 2022 12:23:16 GMT
Yeoman - this was a huge snoozefest for me. G&S without the mega topsy turvy plot is just just dull. I have read that score is one of his finest, didnt seem like this to me. Orchestra and singers all sounded great though.
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