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Post by AddisonMizner on Apr 5, 2022 20:23:10 GMT
As per their twitter, the Royal Opera House 2022/23 season is due to be announced tomorrow (Wednesday). What are we all hoping to see, or does anyone have any insight into what the new season involves?
I’m hoping to see Benjamin Bernheim and Piotr Beczala in a production. I would also love to see Ramon Vargas back so that I can finally see him live, but am thinking that this is more of a long shot!
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 5, 2022 21:16:14 GMT
I suspect we might get MacMillan's Manon or maybe even Mayerling.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 6, 2022 10:04:58 GMT
"This Season, The Royal Ballet offers a diverse range of classic and contemporary choreography, showcasing the artistry and virtuosity of its acclaimed dancers and emerging talent. Eight world premieres – including a new work by Olivier Award-winning choreographer Crystal Pite; a piece by New York-based choreographer Pam Tanowitz, set to music by Grammy-nominated composer Anna Clyne; a new production by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, featuring designs by the late Carmen Herrera; and his Dark Crystal: Odyssey – join beloved works from the Company’s heritage. Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling is revived at the start of the Season, marking the 30th anniversary of the choreographer’s death. And the genius of Royal Ballet founding choreographer Frederick Ashton is celebrated with a new production of Cinderella, 75 years after its premiere with Moira Shearer and Michael Somes, now completely redesigned by a world-class creative team that includes set designer Tom Pye, Oscar-winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne and lighting designer David Finn.
In November, to mark 60 years of the Friends of the Royal Opera House, a stunning roster of Principals perform in The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration – an evening that comprises three world premieres, George Balanchine’s Diamonds, and the Company’s first performance of For Four by Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon. Other revivals across the Season include Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty, Peter Wright’s enduringly popular The Nutcracker, and Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, for which he was awarded the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography and an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.
In December, Ben Duke’s Lost Dog present a world premiere in the Linbury Theatre, co-produced by The Royal Ballet and designed as an alternative for the Christmas Season. Three major UK dance companies, working at the choreographic cutting-edge, showcase work there too. Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black bring Black Sun and Say It Loud; Carlos Acosta’s acclaimed Acosta Danza share six, short works encompassing classical, contemporary and Cuban influences; and Northern Ballet perform a family-friendly fairytale, Ugly Duckling, and a triple bill by three contemporary choreographers: Dickson Mbi, Stina Quagebeur, and Olivier Award-winner Mthuthuzeli November. In his second year as Royal Ballet Emerging Choreographer, Joseph Toonga creates his first new Main Stage work for the Company, and up-and-coming talent shine in both International Draft Works and Next Generation"
Happy to see Mayerling and Woolf Works back, I'm very curious to see who they'll cast in place of Ferri and Watson
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Post by AddisonMizner on Apr 6, 2022 10:22:02 GMT
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 6, 2022 10:29:11 GMT
They're doing the Rape of Lucretia at the Linbury |
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 6, 2022 10:47:21 GMT
Wow, that’s a pretty impressive season! One of the most exciting in years for me. I’ll be first in the queue to see Lisette Oropesa in the new Alcina and the several starry names in the new Rusalka. Pleased to get the opportunity to finally see Turandot and Don Carlo as well.
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 6, 2022 15:54:43 GMT
I'm afraid I went through the opera season with an increasing feeling of disappointment. There's not a single opera/production/cast combination that's a must-see for me. So many productions seem to be described as "contemporary", "modern", "new take", etc. whereas what I want to see are productions that are beautiful, lavish & traditional. Long-stnading productions that I do like have casting that I find fairly uninspiring. In fact most of the casting I find fairly uninspiring; too many singers that my reaction is either just okay or that I simply haven't heard of. Why does the ROH persisit in casting so many never-heard-of-them foreign singers & so few British singers? Among singers I have heard of, I find it deeply depressing to see Ailish Tynan cast as Berta in Barbiere di Siviglia & Dorothea Roschmann as Marcellina in Nozze di Figaro. They were up-and-coming singers when I got into opera & now they're getting cast as the older women character roles. I'm feeling I'm too old for the ROH both production & casting wise & I'm 36, not 86!
The ballet season at least has 2 pieces I really want to see: Mayerling, which I've only seen live once before, and Ashton's Cinderella, which I've never seen before. Sleeping Beauty & Nutcracker, fine, as expected. The rest of the ballet season I find disappointingly contemporary. I've not seen Jewels live so I wish they were doing it in full rather than just Diamonds alongside 4 modern works, 2 of which I'm sure won't be to my taste. Likewise only the short version of Anastasia along with 2 modern works. There's not much point paying for a mixed bill if I'm going to dislike 2 thirds of it! As for the full length Pite, well, when I saw Flight Pattern in 2019 I was bored rigid within 2 minutes so the thought of a full length version...I'd probably be suicidal by the end of Act I! I find it pretty depressing that nearly half the RB season will be made up with modern works. There are lots of companies that do nothing but contemporary work so I would much prefer the RB to focus primarily on classical works. (This does not preclude new work, it's a distinction of style rather than date choreographed.)
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Post by frappuccino on Jul 4, 2022 16:46:08 GMT
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Post by showoff on Jul 13, 2022 11:09:30 GMT
Those two, just always stunning! |
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Aug 2, 2022 18:42:04 GMT
I’d be interested to know what operas we’d like to see (slightly off topic but related). It’s been so long since Parsifal and I’d love to see Das Liebesverbot. Leaving Wagner aside (as a brain dump) how about Fedora, Fanciulla del West, Stiffelio, Ernani, Turn of the Screw and Les Hugenots? 😀
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 2, 2022 19:03:39 GMT
I would love to see one production each year exploring operetta/opera comique. There are so many wonderful scores out there to explore and people do respond to the humour and melodic invention.
A Haydn opera every now and again would be worth considering.
Some Lully perhaps or similar.
I would also love to see The Ghosts of Versailles. Other titles on my wish list would include Der Vampyr by Marschner which is full of drama and stirring music. Zar und Zimmerman by Lortzing deserves an outing. The Love for Three Oranges is a piece that I would also be keen to see on stage.
I know Verdi, Puccini et al sell well. But let's use the subsidy and sponsorship to support a less obvious set of choices.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 2, 2022 20:08:50 GMT
I’d be interested to know what operas we’d like to see (slightly off topic but related). It’s been so long since Parsifal and I’d love to see Das Liebesverbot. Leaving Wagner aside (as a brain dump) how about Fedora, Fanciulla del West, Stiffelio, Ernani, Turn of the Screw and Les Hugenots? 😀 I see Parsifal had a new production in 2013 & that hasn't been revived, so presumably it was yet another ghastly production. I don't honestly think I want to see Parsifal, as no modern Wagner staging is ever going to look how I want it to look. I imagine the best you could hope for for Das Liebesverbot would be that they give it a couple of concert performances as I can't see them staging it. I wouldn't mind seeing Fedora again, having seen it at OHP in 2006, but the ROH & the Met only seem to have done it as a star vehicle & is there a suitable soprano at the moment? I only want Fanciulla del West if they bring back the Ken Adam production, which I deeply regret never having seen live. I see their last Stiffelio production was Moshinsky so again if they could dust that off I'd be interested. To be honest, having seen a Met Ernani during their 2020 lockdown streamings I didn't find it the most dramatically plausible opera. Maybe another one for a concert, like they did Attila this year (which I thought about going to but eventually didn't with the cast changes & the heat) The ROH may not have done TotS for a while but it seems to get done pretty frequently in the UK in general so I don't feel the ROH particularly needs to do it. Also it's not the sort of piece that needs a big cast & production, while Les Hugenots is the sort of piece that probably needs a company the size of the ROH to stage it. Though as I see they have never done it, I suspect they won't be starting any time soon. I also think it's a piece that I'd want to see done in period & fear the current ROH preference for almost all new productions to be set in modern times wouldn't do it any favours. I would love to see one production each year exploring operetta/opera comique. There are so many wonderful scores out there to explore and people do respond to the humour and melodic invention. A Haydn opera every now and again would be worth considering. Some Lully perhaps or similar. I would also love to see The Ghosts of Versailles. Other titles on my wish list would include Der Vampyr by Marschner which is full of drama and stirring music. Zar und Zimmerman by Lortzing deserves an outing. The Love for Three Oranges is a piece that I would also be keen to see on stage. I know Verdi, Puccini et al sell well. But let's use the subsidy and sponsorship to support a less obvious set of choices. They did L'Etoile in 2016 but I'm struggling to think of anything else they've done recently that fits into the operetta/opera comique category. I think anything like Haydn or Lully might be better in the Linbury - and with a the performance run that is long enough that it's not almost impossible to get tickets - as the main house is probably too big. In fact any operettas might be better in the Libury too, then they wouldn't have the issue about do you or don't you mike the dialogue. Having finally seen The Ghosts of Versailles, another of the Met's 2020 lockdown streamings, I'm not sure I'd run to see it live. I found it pretty odd! My top choice for the ROH would certainly be Arabella. It's one of my favourite operas but I've never seen it live. The ROH did it in 2004 but mere weeks after my first ever ROH visit, for Rosenkavalier, so by the time I'd stopped reeling from Rosenkavalier & started exploring other Strauss operas I was too late. Since then none of the main UK opera companies have staged it. Indeed I believe the only staging of it in the UK in last 18 years had been at Garsington which, like all the country house opera venues, I can neither afford to get to nor physically get to. Although if the ROH does ever do it again I do not want them to revive the previous production as I've seen a video of it from Le Chatelet & thought it was pretty ghastly. I'd want an attarctive production set preferably when intended in the 1860s but if not then at least early enough that the plot is plausible, which in a modern setting it is not. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 2, 2022 20:27:42 GMT
Rarer Strauss is well worth exploring. Die Schweigsame Frau would be top of my list.
And yes, the Corigliano is a curiosity but I enjoyed it when I watched it on VHS decades ago.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 2, 2022 20:37:10 GMT
Yes, I'd be intersted in seeing that one too but I suspect it's even less likely to be done than Arabella. I'd also like to see Intermezzo but again, it's not likely.
I'd been curious about it for years, having read a bit about it when I first got into opera, so I was pleased to finally see it to assuage my curiosity. It was definitely a lot odder than I was expecting it to be. Of course the Met threw everything & the kitchen sink at it, including a very starry cast, so how a more minimal modern prodcution would work could be interesting.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 2, 2022 20:41:07 GMT
Die ägyptische Helena would be an even bolder choice. I have always been amused by the idea of the Omniscient Mollusc as a character.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 2, 2022 21:28:56 GMT
I would definitely want to see a "realistic" costume design for her/it, not a cop out of an offstage voice or suchlike. Just had a look at the Wikipedia article & it says "It remains the only major opera in the repertory with a role for an omniscient sea-shell." I'm not sure that really needs to be spelt out!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 2, 2022 21:39:19 GMT
You need to go full shell for it otherwise what's the point?
La Wally hasn't been done for a long time. Though staging the avalanche is always a challenge!
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Post by Mr Snow on Aug 3, 2022 10:07:14 GMT
My Christmas wish list
Candide Bernstein
Dialogues des Carmelites Poulenc
Die Fledermaus Strauss
La Belle Helene Offenbach
La Favourite Donizetti
Trouble in Tahiti Bernstein
All of the above (possibly not La Favourite) are probably best in the Lindbury.
For the main house I echo the calls for more Strauss plus:
Just about any French (grand) Opera (OK not Carmen - if it qualifies).
And it seems to me Bellini has dropped in popularity internationally in last couple of decades? Time to bring him back.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 3, 2022 17:43:14 GMT
I would expect Dialogues des Carmelites to be done in the main house & Fledermaus is probably the only operetta they could get a big enough audience for to do it in the main house, especially if they could get some star casting lined up. ENO have done Candide & Belle Helene in the Coliseum but I agree I can't really see the ROH doing them in the main house.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 3, 2022 17:51:52 GMT
Merry Widow has certainly been in the main house and I see no reason why a strongly cast but lesser known operetta wouldn't sell well enough.
There is a rather dismissive attitude from many programmers/artistic directors towards lighter repertoire. And that means UK audiences don't get to see some real gems.
There has been quite a resurgence in Offenbach productions in France over recent years. I recently discovered La Voyage Sur La Lune and it is full of melody and spectacle. There are many such hidden gems that deserve a chance to be seen.
The Linbury would be a great space for an evening of 1 act operettas but I would love to see the bigger pieces given their rightful place on a huge stage with lots of resources.
No gimmicks like the recent ENO Orpheus in the Underworld. Just honest productions with good casts.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 3, 2022 19:54:38 GMT
I'd say Opera North has been the best of the UK companies in recent years at doing lighter repertoire but it has mostly been musicals rather than operetta, with the exception of The Merry Widow in 2018. I'm afraid I've avoided ENO's recent attempts at lighter repertoire as they've had directors who I'm not keen on (I'm never going to forgive Cal McCrystal for the Il Mondo della Luna he did for ETO). In terms of Offenbach, I regret that ENO didn't bring over the Pelly Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein production after they mounted the same director's Belle Helene, which I thought was a fabulous production (probably helped by it starring one of my favourite sopranos).
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 3, 2022 20:19:01 GMT
ENO can get it right (Iolanthe springs to mind for a truly sumptuous and innovative yet still traditional revival)
But they can also get it horribly wrong as happened with the infamous Princess Ida and recent Orpheus
You are right in saying there are some fabulous productions in Europe that could be brought over to great acclaim.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 4, 2022 16:22:17 GMT
I hope ENO get it right for Yeomen of the Guard this season. I have high hopes, as I've enjoyed Jo Davies' productions for ON.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 4, 2022 17:08:41 GMT
I hope ENO get it right for Yeomen of the Guard this season. I have high hopes, as I've enjoyed Jo Davies' productions for ON. I have played Fairfax twice! I am a little worried that they have yet to announce who is playing Point as that is the key to the tone of the piece. The other concern I have is that the synopsis on the website is just wrong. So I am hoping they aren't rewriting the script... |
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 4, 2022 18:04:14 GMT
Oh, I didn't bothered to read the synopsis so I hadn't noticed that. The director didn't re-write any of the 5 ON productions that I've seen, though she did change the time period for some, so hopefully this one will have the original plot. I probably won't be booking until after the first night reviews though, just in case!
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