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Post by londonpostie on Apr 24, 2019 9:46:30 GMT
aaaaaannd breathe Secret seats a go-go
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Post by cartoonman on Apr 24, 2019 9:57:55 GMT
Yes, I have just had secret seats booked for Madam Butterfly and the Mikado. I know they are not very adventurous but my chum is new to opera so best to stick with old favourites. I have seen both before so know they are good. I thought the booking site was good as I only had a few minutes wait. I was then told the site was too busy. In the end it took about 40 mins to book, I had also forgotten my password. As secret seats are a bit of a ballot as long as they have them available I don't suppose it matters when you book. I would not have booked if it wasn't for secret seats.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Apr 24, 2019 10:25:47 GMT
Got secret seats for Orphee and Mask of Orpheus although still annoyed about the lack of weekend performances! Looked like initially they hadn't made the secret seats available (they only go on sale with public booking).
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Post by londonpostie on Apr 24, 2019 11:00:03 GMT
SS weren't there until maybe 10:20-10:30. ENO apologised on Twitter citing technical issues. A *fraught* few minutes there ...
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 24, 2019 11:10:38 GMT
I made it through in 30 ish minutes and got 4 lots of secret seats. Last year it took me the best part of the day so today I am a happy operfrau
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Post by cartoonman on Apr 25, 2019 15:15:51 GMT
Drat, just found out that I can't go to see the Mikado on the day I booked Secret Seats. Phoned the box office but secret seats are not transferrable. Still my friends can go and will no doubt tell me about it the next day. I saw this production in 1988 so know its good fun. This is a small price to pay for a good seat at a bargain price. I may watch it on youtube. I am able to see Madam Butterfly and Orpheus in the Underworld so will look forward to them.
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Post by asfound on Apr 28, 2019 8:20:16 GMT
First time booking a season as part of the AAA student scheme. Mask of Orpheus, Orphee, Luisa Miller, Madam Butterfly, Figaro and Rusalka. Really great value but a bit shocked to pay over £20 in booking fees. I really wish I'd taken more advantage of this kind of thing as a young person/student. When I finish my degree my job is really not going to be well paid enough to afford full price for this stuff, it's going to be a culturally barren few years.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Apr 28, 2019 9:12:13 GMT
When I finish my degree my job is really not going to be well paid enough to afford full price for this stuff, it's going to be a culturally barren few years. Secret seats are your friend - £30 + booking fee. I've only ever been in the stalls or dress circle with these so far.
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4,590 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Aug 11, 2019 8:46:22 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Aug 11, 2019 13:00:27 GMT
Interestingly he produces a lot of (admittedly very positive) statistics to criticize the use of the word "beleaguered" but doesn't address the key point in the offending paragraph that a lot of key staff have quit and they don't have an artistic director at the moment. Plus the achievements he lists were accomplished under the recently departed Daniel Kramer. www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/04/work-begins-on-pavarotti-musical-after-rare-support-from-widowI'd question that this musical is "just the sort of extraordinary production the company would need" although I guess it would be an improvement on "Man of La Mancha"!
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Post by cartoonman on Aug 29, 2019 20:02:48 GMT
Lucia Lucus is singing the role of public option in Orpheus in the Underworld. She is transgender and has a fine baritone voive. I can recall Sally Burgess singing it in the 80s in a Maggie Thatcher voice. It was quite funny but not very musical. Sally has a fine voice normally. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Sept 28, 2019 15:41:40 GMT
Orpheus and Eurydice - Dress rehearsal.
Musically this is top notch. Alice Coote = brilliance. The chorus are also great.
I'm not a fan if WM but he appears to have softened a bit with age and his style is not as cold and isolating as I remember it to be. However very little attempts are made to integrate singers and dancers and I can't help thinking it would work better without the dancers. If you like strobes, jarring images on a Led screen and illuminious costumes then the first half is perfect for you. Thankfully the second half has very little dance and technical gimmicks and it works wonders.
If you are wanting to leave at the interval, don't as the second half is so much stronger and enjoyable. the final tableau has stayed with me in a positive way.
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Post by Mr Snow on Oct 1, 2019 19:57:47 GMT
Have I gone mad or have they dropped the discount for multiple bookings?
I must admit I find this season much more interesting than for a long time.
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Post by Mr Snow on Oct 1, 2019 20:00:11 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 19, 2019 14:24:51 GMT
Mask of Orpheus is just under 4 hours apparently
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 19, 2019 19:06:33 GMT
Mask of Orpheus is just under 4 hours apparently I tried listening to it on Spotify. I didn't last long!
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 19, 2019 21:12:25 GMT
Mask of Orpheus is just under 4 hours apparently I tried listening to it on Spotify. I didn't last long!
I had a similar reaction when attempting to listen to a couple of Birtwistle's operas, Gawain & The Second Mrs Kong, because singers I like were in the csts of the recordings. I was also subjected to considerably more of The Minotaur that I wanted to be when I saw Sir John Tomlinson interviewed a few years ago & quite a few exerpts were shown. The thought of 4 hours of Birtwistle makes me want to run in the opposite direction!
Looking at ENO's website I am unsurprised to see that there are still hundreds of tickets available for each performance. It also seems pretty ridiculous that the entirety of the stalls is priced at £100+. While I've not been to any modern operas at the ROH I've seen that the prices are lowered considerably compared to repertory operas to shift seats, for instance I see that Alice's Adventures Under Ground next February has a top price of £60 & there are stalls seats priced as low as £37. Should I decide I wanted to give something modern a go (admittedly unlikely!) I'd be a lot more likely to take a punt on something at £37 than at £100 & I imagine most people would feel the same way.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 20, 2019 7:16:16 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 20, 2019 7:48:35 GMT
To be fair they are quoting some of the reviews out of context .. for instance they quote the Telegraph review opening with
"Over three hours long, often fiercely cacophonous, with a preposterously arcane text lacking any narrative coherence, The Mask of Orpheus makes no effort to be loved."
but not the next sentence which is
"But something of incontrovertible magnificence is presented here: using a battery of electronic sound as well as more conventional instrumental forces, Harrison Birtwistle has hewn a score of unique imaginative complexity and aesthetic integrity"
Seeing it on Friday, wish me luck!
I think Kramer has already left as AD, hasn't he?
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Post by theatrefan77 on Oct 20, 2019 14:10:19 GMT
I say The Mask of Orpheus on Friday and I've never seen so many people leaving early. It was more or less full in the Dress Circle and Stalls, not sure about the other levels. Most of the tickets were complimentary, I guess they wanted a decent house on opening night.
It lasted nearly four hours including two intervals and it was dull and boring beyond belief. Some of the visuals were stunning if a tad pretentious, but once you've seen Act I, the other two become just a repetition of previous visuals. I wasn't familiar with the music and let's just say that it wasn't my cup of tea.
People started leaving before the end of Act I and at least 30% of the audience didn't comeback for Act II. By the beginning of Act II only about 50% of the audience remained in the Dress Circle and the applause at the end was very lukewarm.
On a positive note I enjoyed Orpheus in the Underworld the previous week. I thought Emma Rice did a decent enough job and the music was of course glorious.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 20, 2019 17:47:56 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 20, 2019 17:52:31 GMT
While I've not been to any modern operas at the ROH I've seen that the prices are lowered considerably compared to repertory operas to shift seats, for instance I see that Alice's Adventures Under Ground next February has a top price of £60 & there are stalls seats priced as low as £37. Should I decide I wanted to give something modern a go (admittedly unlikely!) I'd be a lot more likely to take a punt on something at £37 than at £100 & I imagine most people would feel the same way. Yes, and I think (although I may be misremembering) that the ENO used to do similarly for modern opera. Although "Mask" does need huge resources as I understand it. Thanks for pointing out the pricing on "Alice's Adventures Underground", hadn't checked pricing for this and there are some bargains there! I enjoyed Barry's "Importance of Being Earnest" so will probably go for this at those prices.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 20, 2019 18:56:54 GMT
Yes, and I think (although I may be misremembering) that the ENO used to do similarly for modern opera. Although "Mask" does need huge resources as I understand it. Thanks for pointing out the pricing on "Alice's Adventures Underground", hadn't checked pricing for this and there are some bargains there! I enjoyed Barry's "Importance of Being Earnest" so will probably go for this at those prices. Better to get money from seats sold in advance at £60 rather than unsold at £100 then discounted to £30 on TKTS on the day though, I would think.
I only looked it up to get a comparison with at ENO's prices, I hadn't look at it before. In fact I assumed it was the Alice opera by Usuk Chin (sp?) that I remember reading reviews of a few years ago & hadn't realised it was a different one by Barry. Not that that makes me any more likely to see it! I wonder why a composer would choose to write an opera on a subject when another composer did the same subject a few years ago? I know it happened in the past with e.g. Barbiere, Manon, Boheme but those were before recording technology so the earlier versions would not have necessarily been accessible to the intended audience for the new versions but nowadays, with new operas recorded, they are. I likewise wonder why ENB is doing a new Frankenstein piece next year when the RB recently did one.
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Post by cartoonman on Oct 23, 2019 10:18:33 GMT
There is a free short course on opera on the featureless website. I know this should have its own thread.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 27, 2019 11:21:11 GMT
Saw "Mask of Orpheus" on Friday, enjoyed it! More so for the music than the visuals. If you've listened to bits of Birtwhistle and not liked it, this isn't going to change your mind!
The production was a gaudy mess, strangely visually reminiscent of Colin Baker-era Doctor Who (which was from around the time this opera was originally performed, suspect that is coincidence!), and didn't help in explaining the somewhat enigmatic plot - basically you're seeing multiple versions of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth reanacted by three of each character.
About 3.5 hours with two intervals. Stalls were fairly full, all levels seemed to be open, and I didn't notice a huge number of people leaving at the intervals.
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Post by joem on Nov 8, 2019 15:43:13 GMT
My goodness, this was awful. Although the ENO has pulled out all the stops for the first revival since it's premier at the ENO 33 years ago of Birtwistle's opera - very loosely based on the Orpheus myth - this is a real chore.
A brash production gives plenty to look at - projections, mime, dance, extravagant costumes and colourful props - the opera itself is a cerebral exercise which does not come to life because the composer did not mean it to. Which is all very well but when you are sitting at the Coliseum for four hours and pay over £100 for a ticket maybe you're entitled to expect more?
The libretto was apparently disliked by Birtwistle himself and I can see why. Obscure, esoteric and not geared to inspire any wonderful tunes. Having said that, Birtwistle wasn't looking to write wonderful tunes here. The work was partly recycled from an unfinished commission for a Faust opera and that pretty much tells you something, there is no heart or intention in this opera other than to doodle with some musical experiments. An orchestra with no strings, all percussion and woodwind, but (pretentiously) TWO conductors ends up producing farty noises to accompany the wordless wailing of some of the singing. There was more declamation than singing even when there was something to be sung. Some may find this deep, I found it deeply boring and pointless. I thought Birtwistle's Gawain was a decent opera with a good use of myth, not this.
Two knowledgeable members of the audience were agreeing they wouldn't be able to tell if there was a wrong note played. I doubt they were the only ones. I even doubt whether this is really an opera.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 8, 2019 17:10:04 GMT
I can only say that I'm deeply glad not to be seeing this!
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 9, 2019 11:03:32 GMT
Fascinating to hear about the librettist and its links to Faust.
The more I read about this the happier I am that I didn't book
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 16, 2019 8:50:08 GMT
Orphee (opening night)
On the plus side the staging was really good and made sense of what is a complicated plot (very wordy libretto). It was much clearer than the production at the Linbury 15 ish years ago.
Orchestra and Nicky Spence was wonderful. But some of the singers were really poor and they spolit the evening for me - You know when someone walks onto the stage and you dread it because they can't sing?
I love this opera, ENO's decision to cast multiple singers who cooukdnt deliver has really pished me off.
Its a big thumbs down from me. I think the Orpheus season was a disaster
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 16, 2019 9:01:00 GMT
In my book his tenure was a disaster
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