At Night at the Opera

Well the Ballet actually, but at the Royal Opera House. We went to see Sleeping Beauty at the ROH last week. Mary's first ever ballet, so she might as well start at the top (or so we presume). I have only been to the ballet a couple of times before but we have both seen plenty of modern dance (London Comtempory Dance, Ballet Rambert, etc).

As a result I wouldn't be able to give a review but took it on its own merits and used it to calibrate my assessment of future ballets. The papers seemed to think it was OK [Observer, Guardian, Independent, The Stage].

After modern dance it seemed to me a bit stuck in nostalgia-ville, "It's not the same as the 1946 production". So? And how many in the audience are in a position to make that comparison? Still it was all very pretty in pastels and Tchaikovsky writes a mean tune. We agreed with the reviewers - the guy dancing the Bluebird seemed to know his stuff.

In an effort to overcome its elitist image the ROH are doing lots of student specials and internet offers. We got our tickets for a mere 20 quid each, not bad value at all for front row of the amphitheatre.