After two failed attempts to get to the Coliseum last year (Porgy and Bess, La Boheme), I finally got there this evening for La Boheme, thereby fulfilling an ambition to go to an opera. It must have worked out as one of the costliest tickets of all time. It didn't start out well. I was ill last night; the ticket was booked a week ago but did not arrive in time via the post; and I lost my way at Trafalgar Square so it was a mad dash to make it for 7.30pm. But the seat was fantastic. Front row, stalls, end of the row left side of aisle towards centre; and I loved every minute of the production although in my naivety I had expected it to be in Italian and was I rather surprised to find that it was in English.
Really beautiful music, great scenery and a terrific cast including the magnificient Nadine Benjemin. The orchestration was crisp. I was especially impressed by the brass. Obviously the Coliseum is an impressive building. But beware the coffee arrangements in the interval. Nice woman but it was so slow and elaborate it was totally ludcirous. I was the last to get anything to drink and only nine people had gone before me. By person seven they were already trying to shoo us away and back into our seats. On returning I spotted a man standing at his seat to my right, about six rows up from the front. Quietly spoken but I did manage to hear enough of it to have it confirmed. Roy Hodgson.
A couple of other things.
One, in the announcement beforehand they made a point of saying that the ENO at the Coliseum is the people's opera. They try to make the tickets as cheap as possible. You can get a very fair price at the back of the building. Had I been thirty years younger and without the wide range of comfort needs I have now, I would have been content there although many people are quite a long way back. The price I paid was worth it but I wouldn't be paying it on a regular basis. Couldn't do. But we applauded when they said that they had made a thousand free tickets available for under 18s at the remaining matinee. Note for relatives in this age bracket that some of these are still available.
We also applauded talk of a separate initiative which is aimed at getting more people from ethnic backgrounds interested and involved. Two, not for the first time I came home thinking that the news media live in a different world. With all of the stories of knife crime and worse, I was not at all looking forward to the journey or being on the streets of London. But the trains in both directions, while packed, were full of normal people - one had been to Follies which is mentioned on another thread and another to the stage production of the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" - while loads at 10pm appear to be just coming home from work. I also walked back to Victoria on an elongated route along the Thames and back inward to dear old Parliament. The number of homeless is frightening - much of the centre is tent city - but no hint of trouble anywhere.
Really beautiful music, great scenery and a terrific cast including the magnificient Nadine Benjemin. The orchestration was crisp. I was especially impressed by the brass. Obviously the Coliseum is an impressive building. But beware the coffee arrangements in the interval. Nice woman but it was so slow and elaborate it was totally ludcirous. I was the last to get anything to drink and only nine people had gone before me. By person seven they were already trying to shoo us away and back into our seats. On returning I spotted a man standing at his seat to my right, about six rows up from the front. Quietly spoken but I did manage to hear enough of it to have it confirmed. Roy Hodgson.
A couple of other things.
One, in the announcement beforehand they made a point of saying that the ENO at the Coliseum is the people's opera. They try to make the tickets as cheap as possible. You can get a very fair price at the back of the building. Had I been thirty years younger and without the wide range of comfort needs I have now, I would have been content there although many people are quite a long way back. The price I paid was worth it but I wouldn't be paying it on a regular basis. Couldn't do. But we applauded when they said that they had made a thousand free tickets available for under 18s at the remaining matinee. Note for relatives in this age bracket that some of these are still available.
We also applauded talk of a separate initiative which is aimed at getting more people from ethnic backgrounds interested and involved. Two, not for the first time I came home thinking that the news media live in a different world. With all of the stories of knife crime and worse, I was not at all looking forward to the journey or being on the streets of London. But the trains in both directions, while packed, were full of normal people - one had been to Follies which is mentioned on another thread and another to the stage production of the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" - while loads at 10pm appear to be just coming home from work. I also walked back to Victoria on an elongated route along the Thames and back inward to dear old Parliament. The number of homeless is frightening - much of the centre is tent city - but no hint of trouble anywhere.
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