A cast change announcement from the Royal Opera House

 

If the Royal Opera House's redesigned website is to be believed, bass legend Sir Willard White will be performing the soprano role of Liù in Turandot next year.

And believe me there's plenty more where that came from - I simply picked the most egregious photoshopportunity.

I was looking forward to more and better content on the new website, but what I've seen so far has been a major disappointment. Nothing of any consequence has been added yet. Useful content like the 'view from seat' feature has disappeared. It now rivals this blog for errors, omissions, misspellings and assorted cockups.

And do Covent Garden operagoers really need to know which Norwegian cinemas are screening Un ballo in maschera this weekend? (live from Madrid, not Covent Garden, by the way, though the website omits that key detail).

Not only is roh.org.uk the Royal Opera House's 'shop window' in the literal sense of selling tickets. It's also the most immediate and far-reaching way to communicate with the public at large. But this new website looks like a prematurely launched work-in-progress.

 According to the Charity Commission, the objects of the Royal Opera House are TO PROMOTE AND ASSIST IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION SO FAR AS SUCH PROMOTION AND ASSISTANCE SHALL BE OF A CHARITABLE NATURE AND IN PARTICULAR, TO RAISE THE ARTISTIC TASTE OF THE COUNTRY, AND TO PROCURE AND INCREASE THE APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE MUSICAL ART IN ALL ITS FORMS.

Education starts with getting the facts right. "We hope that the relaunched site provides a stimulating and dynamic online environment," said ROH chief executive Tony Hall.

Yup. But not in the way you think.

Comments

[mostly opera]

As a foreigner, the worst thing about the ROH website is, that you cannot actually get it to show the entire season schedule - as of now, only the autumn and winter schedules pop up. For those wishing to plan a bit further ahead this is immensely irritating. Unless, there is some trick to get the entire season schedule to appear that I am not aware of?

[inter mezzo]

until a couple of weeks ago, you couldn't even see the Nov-Jan schedules! Not very helpful.

The secret info can however be found on the press release "The Royal Opera 08/09" which gives all the performance dates and casting. It's hidden on this page:
http://www.roh.org.uk/pressandmedia/pressreleases.aspx
and is generally more accurate than the main website, but bear in mind some of the info may be out of date, especially if there have been any cast changes.

[mostly opera]

Aha! Thanks, I´d never have found this link myself. Almost gave up on the dates and full cast for that Dutchman in March...