PRESS RELEASE: BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCES 2024 - 25 SEASON

[San Perregrino]

There are still some 900+ seats unsold (out of a total of approximately 1650 originally available [full capacity is 1850]), for opening night of La Fille tomorrow. 

Unless a call is made to Herr Drosselmeyer to magic bums onto seats, it is going to feel somewhat empty in the auditorium.

Edited Tuesday at 12:34 by San Perregrino

[alison]

Not simply that performance, either.  How much marketing have they done?  I haven't been keeping tabs.

 

This is why I'm still hoping for some sort of discount so I can actually go and see the beginning at least of it ... that is, if Avanti are back up and running properly by then.

[Emeralds]

On 23/09/2024 at 13:57, alison said:

I wonder whether the lack of a suitably trained pony might have been partly responsible for the absence of Fille from the UK's stages?  Probably not.

 

I do hope BRB hurry up with casting for Sadler's Wells.  I currently have two options for Birmingham, but might prefer to see different casts from the London ones.

 

Casting for Fille in Sadler's Wells is now up, folks! Just found it! 

 

Parma/Bejarano Vidal on Friday

Kurihara/Hodelin Bello on Sat afternoon 

Linares/Monaghan on Sat night

 

With the usual casting subject to changes caveat as always. For Alain and Widow Simone casting see brb.org.uk 

 

[Emeralds]

*Sorry, no advance casting for Alain- just Lise/Colas/Widow Simone.  However, tomorrow's cast list for the opening night is already up- Gus Payne is dancing Alain, alongside Beatrice Parma as Lise, Enrique Bejarano Vidal as Colas and Rory Mackay as Widow Simone.

 

As @San Perregrinohas noted, a lot of empty seats still - which is highly unusual for first night. The central seats are taken (a number will be seats for critics); it is mostly sides and back rows which are still unsold, which means the lowest price points are too steep for their usual audiences.

 

They'll have to email offers of significant discounts (like 40% off all seats) to Friends and audience members who have booked before. I'm not sure even a last minute school trip for Elmhurst students would fill all the seats (they have around 190 students so with accompanying staff that's still fewer than 210 seats) although that would be very educational and beneficial for the students and I hope they do organise one. Having an auditorium that's only half full is sad to see for Fille. Conversely all the matinées for Birmingham and London are selling much, much better. 

[Jan McNulty]

24 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

 

 

The central seats are taken (a number will be seats for critics); it is mostly sides and back rows which are still unsold, which means the lowest price points are too steep for their usual audiences.

 

 

Probably not too many London-based critics - they seem to come to matinees these days to save on travelling expenses.

[alison]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

 

Casting for Fille in Sadler's Wells is now up, folks! Just found it! 

 

Parma/Bejarano Vidal on Friday

Kurihara/Hodelin Bello on Sat afternoon 

Linares/Monaghan on Sat night

 

With the usual casting subject to changes caveat as always. For Alain and Widow Simone casting see brb.org.uk 

 

 

Okay, no overlap with my Birmingham performances, then.  Thanks!

[Emeralds]

11 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Probably not too many London-based critics - they seem to come to matinees these days to save on travelling expenses.

Wow, even price rises are hitting critics' reviews. That could be another reason why the matinées are the ones selling the fastest. That's a bit worrying. BRB have to ask why more locals from Birmingham and near Birmingham (those who don't need to stay overnight in a hotel after an evening performance) aren't going/can't go. 

Edited Tuesday at 18:48 by Emeralds

[alison]

When I went to a sleeping beauty matinee earlier this year, there was some conversation going on near me along the lines of the evening performance finishing too late. And the people were relatively local, too.

[Dawnstar]

4 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Casting for Fille in Sadler's Wells is now up, folks! Just found it! 

 

Parma/Bejarano Vidal on Friday

Kurihara/Hodelin Bello on Sat afternoon 

Linares/Monaghan on Sat night

 

With the usual casting subject to changes caveat as always. For Alain and Widow Simone casting see brb.org.uk 

 

Thank you. I'm very pleased Linares & Monaghan are getting a Sadler's Wells performance as they're the cast I most want to see. Unfortunately my phone is refusing to let me look at BRB's website right now but I'm hoping Mackay will be Widow Simone as he is for their Birmingham performances.

Edited Tuesday at 19:35 by Dawnstar

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, alison said:

When I went to a sleeping beauty matinee earlier this year, there was some conversation going on near me along the lines of the evening performance finishing too late. And the people were relatively local, too.

SB is indeed a long one like Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. Fille is shorter than SB though, but maybe BRB should consider early starts for ballets in Birmingham or shorter intervals. Good point, @alison.  

 

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Thank you. I'm very pleased Linares & Monaghan are getting a Sadler's Wells performance as they're the cast I most want to see. Unfortunately my phone is refusing to let me look at BRB's website right now but I'm hoping Mackay will be Widow Simone as he is for their Birmingham performances.

Dawnstar, the casting has Max Maslen down as Sofia Linares' mum at Sadler's Wells! Am sure I'm not the only one quietly grumbling about why he can't be Colas in London and let someone else do Widow Simone instead. Rory Mackay is Widow Simone on Friday and the Sat matinee.

 

This is strange casting indeed. Surely Jonathan Payn and Kit Holder could have taken on some of the Widow Simone performances (or are they injured?) and alternated Farmer Thomas among the three of them. Currently they have cast only Mackay and two of their Colases, Maslen and Monaghan to do Widow Simone.  Rather concerned this might risk injuries to Maslen and Monaghan. Fingers crossed they will be OK. 

[Jan McNulty]

28 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

SB is indeed a long one like Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. Fille is shorter than SB though, but maybe BRB should consider early starts for ballets in Birmingham or shorter intervals. Good point, @alison.  

 

Dawnstar, the casting has Max Maslen down as Sofia Linares' mum at Sadler's Wells! Am sure I'm not the only one quietly grumbling about why he can't be Colas in London and let someone else do Widow Simone instead. Rory Mackay is Widow Simone on Friday and the Sat matinee.

 

This is strange casting indeed. Surely Jonathan Payn and Kit Holder could have taken on some of the Widow Simone performances (or are they injured?) and alternated Farmer Thomas among the three of them. Currently they have cast only Mackay and two of their Colases, Maslen and Monaghan to do Widow Simone.  Rather concerned this might risk injuries to Maslen and Monaghan. Fingers crossed they will be OK. 

 

 

BRB's intervals tend to be considerably shorter than those at Covent Garden - usually 15 or 20 minutes.

 

Kit has transitioned onto the ballet staff.  I don't know why Jonathan Payn hasn't been cast as the widow.  I must say I am looking forward to seeing both Max and Lachlan as the widow.

[Emeralds]

17 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

BRB's intervals tend to be considerably shorter than those at Covent Garden - usually 15 or 20 minutes.

 

Kit has transitioned onto the ballet staff.  I don't know why Jonathan Payn hasn't been cast as the widow.  I must say I am looking forward to seeing both Max and Lachlan as the widow.

I couldn't see Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham this year due to unforseen circumstances but did you feel it finished very late, Jan? (I looked through yours and a few others but aside from the Southampton performances running late when they had the awakening pas de deux, the finish time of 10.25pm in one report doesn't seem that long by London standards eg Swan Lake, Manon, (MacMillan's) R&J etc.

 

Fille is listed as 2 hours 20 minutes, with two 20-minute intervals,  so considerably shorter than SB. Does Birmingham have issues with public transport or parking at night nonowadays?  Whatever the cause of the low sales for the evening performances, I hope they manage to find out why. 

[Jan McNulty]

7 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I couldn't see Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham this year due to unforseen circumstances but did you feel it finished very late, Jan? (I looked through yours and a few others but aside from the Southampton performances running late when they had the awakening pas de deux, the finish time of 10.25pm in one report doesn't seem that long by London standards eg Swan Lake, Manon, (MacMillan's) R&J etc.

 

Fille is listed as 2 hours 20 minutes, with two 20-minute intervals,  so considerably shorter than SB. Does Birmingham have issues with public transport or parking at night nonowadays?  Whatever the cause of the low sales for the evening performances, I hope they manage to find out why. 

 

I don’t know about RB but AFAIAA the other British companies try not to go over 3 hours due to the issue of orchestra overtime.

 

Birmingham’s ongoing road system changes are a pain but there seems to be plenty of public transport locally and the roads are much busier than Liverpool in the late evening.

[zxDaveM]

9 hours ago, Emeralds said:

 

Fille is listed as 2 hours 20 minutes, with two 20-minute intervals...

 

Surely that's wrong - there is only one interval when the RB perform it (though the total time sounds about right). Unless they insert an interval between the farmyard shenanigans and the  harvest celebration scene...

[JNC]

13 hours ago, Emeralds said:

BRB have to ask why more locals from Birmingham and near Birmingham (those who don't need to stay overnight in a hotel after an evening performance) aren't going/can't go. 

I’m not a Birmingham local but I would guess it’s priced too high at the lower end. And given it’s not a well known ballet like Swan Lake, or a well known story like Cinderella/ Romeo & Juliet without good marketing I imagine people wouldn’t know / wouldn’t give it a chance at these prices. 

[Tango Dancer]

10 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Fille is listed as 2 hours 20 minutes, with two 20-minute intervals,  so considerably shorter than SB. Does Birmingham have issues with public transport or parking at night nonowadays?  Whatever the cause of the low sales for the evening performances, I hope they manage to find out why. 

 

I don't know about parking but I visit Birmingham and the surroundings regularly for work and the public transport seems pretty decent and I've never had problems getting around, the tram system is efficient and there are plenty of buses.  

 

I think it's the cost as others have said.  The tickets for Birmingham are on the more expensive side for the cheap seats.  I mean it works for me but I think a lot of people might find it too pricy.  

Edited Wednesday at 08:22 by Tango Dancer

[Bluebird]

58 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Surely that's wrong - there is only one interval when the RB perform it (though the total time sounds about right). Unless they insert an interval between the farmyard shenanigans and the  harvest celebration scene...

The BRB production has an interval between the first and second scenes. 

[alison]

Yes, and if anyone could post the splits before tomorrow that would be greatly appreciated  Are the cast sheets available online still?

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Surely that's wrong - there is only one interval when the RB perform it (though the total time sounds about right). Unless they insert an interval between the farmyard shenanigans and the  harvest celebration scene...

Must admit I was puzzled by the 2 intervals also, but that's from the most recent Fille announcement available, from both Theatre Royal Plymouth and Sadler's Wells. Birmingham Hippodrome and BRB haven't put up their running times yet. 

 

I guess, as @Bluebird recalls, BRB routinely has two intervals instead of one. I remember the last BRB one at Sadler's Wells having two but Peregrine had just done a number two (which my family found hilarious) so it was unclear if the curtain down was planned or due to needing extra time to clean up!

 

So it seems the low sales are not because the evening performances will finish too late for locals in Birmingham. The Saturday matinee is selling out the fastest for Sadler's Wells but I've always found that weekend matinées sell fastest for Fille because a lot of families attend those together. What's unusual is how well the weekday matinee for Fille is selling which would be unusual in London except for school holidays (and this week isn't school holidays), even if one counts critics from outside Birmingham attending that performance. 

Edited Wednesday at 11:50 by Emeralds

[Jane S]

The smaller RB company did Fille with two intervals right from the start - a review (Clive Barnes D&D 1/63) of their first performance (Bristol, 11/62) says 'The  difficulties of scene changing in provincial theatres necessitates the introduction of an interval between the two scenes of Act 1, which is a pity as it robs the admittedly long first act of some of its cumulative excitement.... The audience doted on the  ballet... but most local managements still feel that its obscure title is a severe disadvantage.'

[San Perregrino]

23 hours ago, San Perregrino said:

There are still some 900+ seats unsold (out of a total of approximately 1650 originally available [full capacity is 1850]), for opening night of La Fille tomorrow. 

Unless a call is made to Herr Drosselmeyer to magic bums onto seats, it is going to feel somewhat empty in the auditorium.

There seem to be even more centre stalls/circle seats onsale this morning rather than less. The house seats and those held back for patrons must have been released. 
I can’t help but wonder how different sales might have been if this was “Disney’s La Fille Mal Gardée”.

Without a good audience this outing, I fear that it will be a long time before Fille returns to Birmingham. 

Edited Wednesday at 12:31 by San Perregrino

[Emeralds]

18 hours ago, alison said:

When I went to a sleeping beauty matinee earlier this year, there was some conversation going on near me along the lines of the evening performance finishing too late. And the people were relatively local, too.

Looks like it isn't a late finish that's putting people off, Alison- since it finishes before 10pm. Of course, the fact that Birmingham Hippodrome hasn't published the running times means most people won't know they will be finish by 9.55pm! 

 

6 hours ago, JNC said:

... given it’s not a well known ballet like Swan Lake, or a well known story like Cinderella/ Romeo & Juliet without good marketing I imagine people wouldn’t know / wouldn’t give it a chance at these prices. 

La Fille mal gardée used to be well known among people who visited the theatre regularly- it was shown on tv regularly (or even just snippets like the clog dance and pas de deux). Classic FM fans voted the clog dance music one of their favourite pieces so we used to hear it on the radio a lot. Families and fans alike would frequent it as it was the one ballet that people who avoided ballet/opera/musicals found "not boring", "hilarious and I can understand what's going on", and - admittedly - lots of kids (and grown up kids!) loved the little pony. If you had told any fan or critic in 1995 or 2005 that Manon and a ballet called Black Sabbath would sell out and Fille would only be half sold, nobody would believe it...yet here we are, sadly. And Cinderella didn't sell well in March when the new production was first staged either (thankfully it picked up at the end and the last performances in late April and May did sell out). 

 

5 hours ago, Tango Dancer said:

The tickets for Birmingham are on the more expensive side for the cheap seats.  I mean it works for me but I think a lot of people might find it too pricy.  

I think they could make the boxes (which often seem to be the first to sell out- there are not many but some people are obviously very keen on them- especially at a fraction of ROH and Coliseum prices) and the seats with the best views in stalls and circle £70(weekdays) and £80 (weekends) each. Currently they are £60 and £70 respectively which are bargains compared to ROH. They can afford to bump the price best rows up as people who buy "the best" can easily afford that (especially compared to ROH). 

 

The lowest prices are £25 (weekdays) and £35 (weekends). The next price points are £35 and £45 respectively....there's no way they will sell well priced like that. Starting at £15 (weekdays) and £20 (weekends) would be more realistic and would have sold well.  The next price up should be £25 (weekdays) and £30 (weekends) instead of £35 and £45. It may have been hoped that high prices could help make some money  after performances were cancelled by COVID restrictions and the council went bankrupt, but if they remain unsold those tickets earn zero and will make the deficit in funding worse.

[Pulcinella]

16 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Does Birmingham have issues with public transport or parking at night nonowadays?  

I used to live a twenty-thirty minute drive from the Hippodrome (in an evening) but I was in Worcestershire with no bus service after 6.30 and an hourly train service with a half hour walk or short drive to the nearest station. Consequently I always drove into B'ham and parked for free in the street. Then the city council extended the parking charges until 7.30pm and now there is an £8 clean air zone charge to pay. I think this is putting a lot of people off from driving into the city centre. I now just attend either the mid week or Saturday matinee and use the train.

[Jan McNulty]

8 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Surely that's wrong - there is only one interval when the RB perform it (though the total time sounds about right). Unless they insert an interval between the farmyard shenanigans and the  harvest celebration scene...

 

BRB has always run with 2 intervals Dave.

[Lynette H]

I think I remember that in times past at BRB the pony would be brought round into the front of house in the first interval so that audience members could give him a stroke or feed him a sugar lump.  This was quite a long time ago.....maybe someone else also remembers. 

[Dawnstar]

On 24/09/2024 at 21:49, Emeralds said:

Dawnstar, the casting has Max Maslen down as Sofia Linares' mum at Sadler's Wells! Am sure I'm not the only one quietly grumbling about why he can't be Colas in London and let someone else do Widow Simone instead. Rory Mackay is Widow Simone on Friday and the Sat matinee.

 

This is strange casting indeed. Surely Jonathan Payn and Kit Holder could have taken on some of the Widow Simone performances (or are they injured?) and alternated Farmer Thomas among the three of them. Currently they have cast only Mackay and two of their Colases, Maslen and Monaghan to do Widow Simone.  Rather concerned this might risk injuries to Maslen and Monaghan. Fingers crossed they will be OK. 

 

I've now managed to look at the casts properly & I think I might have to go both Friday night & Saturday night, though that's not ideal with travelling down to London 2 days in a row when one of them includes rail replacement buses. I'm also rather disappointed that Mizutani/Dingman haven't got a London performance as I would have liked to see them.

 

I was expecting Payn to be cast as Widow Simone before any of the casting was announced so I too am surprised by his omission.

[San Perregrino]

12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I was expecting Payn to be cast as Widow Simone

Payn danced Thomas in tonight’s opening night cast.