Packed in to the New Theatre on Saturday night to see English National Ballet’s newly downsized Strictly Gershwin. This glitzy extravaganza, originally made for in the round presentation in the Royal Albert Hall, has now entered ENB’s standard repertoire in reduced scale for proscenium arch presentation, and it will be relentlessly touring regional venues for the next few months. And by the look of it, contributing staunchly to ENB’s coffers, badly depleted in this time of cuts. With sell-out shows this production seems to have reversed a trend of disappointing audiences for visiting ballet companies in Oxford.
I am intrigued to know exactly what it is that brought Oxford audiences in to this show in such numbers. This was the premiere of the reduced version, so not a production already known and loved; yet it was booked out before local word of mouth recommendation might operate to increase ticket sales. Nor did it boast the fail-safe name of the Nutcracker or other famous and universally recognised fairytale ballets. Nor can it be the appeal of the New Theatre as a venue, hot and cramped, worryingly congested and lacking in gangway access for a full house, and with ticket prices irritatingly inflated by additional booking charges.
Yet there were canny ingredients which may have attracted more than the ballet faithful. The inclusion on stage of a big band and singers; that word “Strictly” in the title (although the night we were there ENB was in direct competition with its namesake on BBC1); a flyer image of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; or perhaps a higher profile for ENB and the production’s director and choreographer Derek Deane following their Agony and Ecstasy TV programmes? At a time when dance needs to maximise its box office appeal as a buttress against funding cuts, what do you think it is that made people buy tickets for this show? If you saw it, what do you think was particularly appealing about it?
Answers on a posting please…
Oxford Dance Writers 
October 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm
I enjoyed the show very much … so far as it went. I was frustrated that the dancers had only such a small part of the stage, and felt that I was being given a tantalising glimpse of something that might have worked so much better at a much larger venue, where the stage would have seemed less congested. The dancers were delightful, and I particularly liked Daria Klimentova in Summertime, but I felt they all deserved far more space. It was a sell out, and I hope very much that the audience will have heeded Wayne Eagling’s suggestion in the programme that if this was their first visit, and they enjoyed it, they should try one of ENB’s full length ballets another time. I have no suggestions about why it was so very successful at the box office, but of course I’m glad that it went so very well.
October 11, 2011 at 3:24 pm
My dance teacher recommended this show, and through I was already going to see the Featherstonehaughs at the Playhouse on the Friday (terrific, by the way), I thought funds and time might just stretch for Gershwin. I got as far as finding an affordable ticket for the Sunday afternoon, and was about to commit to buy when the dreaded additional booking charge appeared. I was so incensed at this quite significant percentage uplift in the price that I clicked away. Sorry I missed the show but I loathe that kind of underhand business ethics.
October 11, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I’m afraid that I didn’t manage to see the ballet but I was talking to a colleague, not normally a ballet-goer, who said that she went because she loves the music of Gershwin…
October 11, 2011 at 5:00 pm
I’m an avid ballet-goer, but often don’t manage it due to the lack of someone to accompany me (boyfriends are rubbish), but on this occasion we organised a group of us from ballet class. A number of us had watched the Agony & Ecstasy series, which has definately raised their profile. I loved it.
Interestingly, my father & partner also attended. My father has never been to see any ballet before (unless I was in it of course, but not sure that counts), but is heavily into musicals and amateur dramatics. I think the Gerswhin name definately made it seem much more acessible to him. Even with his arm twisted I don’t think he would ever go to see a full length ballet. He loved Gershwin, and whilst he was impressed by the ballet it was the music, singing and big tap numbers which he enjoyed the most.
Regarding ticket prices, online site prices (for all shows and events) are rediculous. If you can, the trick is to pop into the box office personally and pay by cash or cheque, and you can usually get it free or with a hugely reduced fee. My father got their (restricted view) circle tickets on Saturday night for £10 each by sending them a cheque in the post.
October 12, 2011 at 10:09 am
I went both because it was in Oxford – usually I go all the way to Covent Garden – and because it was Gershwin. I’ve danced to Gershwin before and it’s just a lot of fun! I had no idea what to expect, but I really enjoyed the full orchestra on stage, the live singing, the tap and then the ballet worked in amongst all of it. It was more of an extravaganza than a ballet, and I wouldn’t want to see that sort of thing all the time, but given I usually attend only the more traditional ballets it was a lovely change!
October 12, 2011 at 4:07 pm
I booked up for this show way back in the spring because the combination of Gerschwin’s music and The English National Ballet appealed to me. I really enjoyed the show and thought it was very good “value” for the £25 that my ticket cost: it was lively, varied, well performed by both musicians, singers and dancers, had lovely costumes and there was never a dull moment. In short, a great night’s entertainment. I was amazed at the number of performers squeezed onto the New Theatre stage and marvelled at the fact that the dancers managed to avoid injury to one another – yes, it would have been even better from the point of view of the dance, had they had the whole stage to themselves. But the music was a very important part of the concept and the magic and for this reason, it did seem right that the orchestra was visible and present on stage.
And there we have – I believe – the main two reasons why this show is a sell-out: Gerschwin’s music is known and loved by many and the canny “Strictly” in the show’s title immediately gave it an accessible profile to those who are not normally “high-brow” ballet lovers.
Having said that, I can report that I received at least 5 promotional emails from the New Theatre’s marketing website, encouraging me to buy a ticket (a waste of their time, as I had already done so!) so the marketing of this show has obviously been quite “proactive”.
October 19, 2011 at 3:15 pm
It was definitely the Gershwin bit that attracted my attention, probably even more than the Ballet bit. Ballet & Gershwin it was bound to be an enchanting evening. I’d seen it advertised in the previous brochure and promised myself I would book and of course I never did so thought I’d missed the boat so when I saw it again in the next brochure I thought it was returning and I was even more determined not to miss out this time. I now realise that this was the première but it shows that the advanced marketing works. It puts the seed in the brain and my brain seems to need a lot of time to germinate these days…
I wasn’t sure what to expect, Classical Ballet or as the image suggested a more Ginger & Fred affair. I was treated to both and a whole lot more with the magnificent live orchestra, the singers and the Tap routines (did all those ballet dancers really do that Tap number??? I can never do tap without turning my feet out which isn’t quite right!) It was interesting to observe that despite it being an ENB production the biggest applause were for the tap numbers… I was up in the GODS (boy its steep up there but cooler I discovered) I did a walk about at half time and was amazed at the very different perspective from the dress circle and stalls and also that there was a screen projecting images! On the one hand I felt a bit deprived but actually you don’t miss what you cant see. I did wonder if it added to the performance or maybe it was a distraction after all there was already a lot going on. All in all a wonderful entertaining production with so much variety you could recommend it to anyone.