Royal Opera House Reviews 53

I went on a backstage tour with a focus on Callas. It was a wonderful experience. The woman who took us round was so well-informed and very interesting. Having listened to Callas for nearly fifty years, it was terrible to realise that Callas stopped performing on the operatic stage when she was only 41. Younger than Elvis when he died, aged 42, a month to the day before Callas. We were lucky enough to see two costumes from the film, Maria, loaned by Netflix and were given plenty of time to view them up close. A really enjoyable tour which did La Divina proud.

Cafe is a disaster. Prices are exorbitant for sub standard product and poor service. They were under staffed and served two hot drinks in tiny takeaway cups because they had run out of mugs. Two slices of cake were dry. All for nearly twenty pounds. Will not return.

We really enjoy the RHO

We watched Hansel and Gretal from the Upper Slips. These seats should be illegal. They are incredibly dangerous. Children should not be allowed up there. There are no safety barriers and there is a huge drop down.

I have had an extremely disappointing experience with my tickets, and an even more disappointing one with the ROH customer service.

Quick moral of the story if you don't have time for details: if you book restricted-view seats, make sure that you know whether or not in order to get the view, restricted though it may be, you need to be leaning forward and craning your neck all throughout the performance, and prepare accordingly!

Now for the detailed version:

On the website, you can book restricted view seats on the side-balconies. These are by no means cheap, as they go for about £50. On the website, there is a photo of the alleged view from these seats, which is, of course, restricted, but still allows you to see just over half the stage. We considered this a somewhat decent price-quality balance, and booked two of those seats for a much-awaited performance of La Traviata, which we were extremely excited about seeing.

The show sounded great, because LISTEN TO IT IS PRETTY MUCH ALL WE COULD DO from those seats. Turns out, you only get the restricted view if you lean forward and crane your neck to the side all throughout the performance, otherwise you see absolutely nothing, not even the surtitles. While I sacrificed my physical comfort for some scenes which I desperately wanted to see, my partner (whom I was hoping this trip would convert to being an opera lover), could see nothing, as he has issues with his back.

Let me be absolutely clear again: WE KNEW WE HAD BOOKED RESTRICTED-VIEW SEATS - this was not the issue! The issue is that the view advertised could only be obtained by sitting in a terribly uncomfortable position, otherwise there was NO VIEW AT ALL! This was NOT MENTIONED on the website.

I gets worse.

At certain KEY POINTS in the performance, I mean key plot-advancing lines that were spoken, not sung, and never repeated themselves (not long passages or choruses that were sung for the fifth time), the surtitles were simply not there, and I had to explain to my partner what I remembered the lines to be, from having watched the opera a while ago on TV.

Now for the horrible Customer Service experience.

I wrote to them explaining all of the above in as detailed a manner as I could. I received what I could only assume was a copy+pasted response from their handy database of "use this for crazy people who don't like restricted view seats" and "use this for stupid people who don't understand how surtitles work". I was reminded that I had booked restricted view seats, which mean that you don't get a full view of the stage (I KNEW THAT ALREADY AND HAD EXPLAINED THAT THE ISSUE WAS NOT THE RESTRICTED VIEW, IT WAS HAVING NO VIEW AT ALL IF SAT PROPERLY), and that sometimes certain opera passages are long and repeat themselves, therefore surtitles are turned off to let people enjoy the music (I HAD ALL BUT QUOTED THE LINES THAT WERE MISSING, AND THEY WERE SHORT, NON-REPETITIVE, SPOKEN, KEY PLOT POINTS).

Having felt ignored and gaslit by this response, I replied explaining (again) roughly the above, and telling them to not bother replying if they're only going o come back with more generic, infantilising attempts at placating me without even having read my complaint, AND SO THEY DID. I received no more reply.

The worse thing is that they ruined La Traviata for me, which used to be my favourite opera. Now, every time I try to listen to songs from it, I remember this experience and feel angry and frustrated at this injustice and this missed opportunity for my partner to enjoy an opera show, and for myself to see a performance that I'd been dying to see. We don't have unlimited funds, so a £50 opera ticket is not something we can frequently afford, and in addition to the experience being ruined by the constant physical pain, the ROH added insult to injury by dismissing my complaint without having even read it.

Long story short, go elsewhere unless you are rich and can afford the best seats.

I have been to many productions over the years, and it is consistently a good experience. The ushers are usually very helpful and the productions are great. They often have very good value seats too.

Afternoon Tea & Tour for £80 not worth it. The Tour is 5* but get your afternoon tea elsewhere. Poor service, paltry offerings, no food content provided for mundane sandwiches and under cooked teeny scone and not asked for tea preference or given a menu to select from. Teabags in pots. Cling filmed sandwiches. If you want to feel like a valued customer, go elsewhere for the tea and then do the tour.

Attended a performance Professor Brian Cox and Daniel Harding Symphonic Horizons with the Britten Symphonia on 30/07/2024. Paid £100 for a ticket which was advertised with no restricted view whatsoever. However, 5 members of the orchestra were either stood right in front of my seat or sat on very high bar stools with their Double Bass, the one nearest me even apologised for blocking my view. On this occasion they raised the orchestra floor to the same level as the stage. The Royal Opera House were sent photographic evidence of the blockage but they have decided to totally ignore my complaint and have not acknowledged that the view was totally blocked. The people as sat next to me in the front row decided not to return for the second half as their view was so badly blocked.

Suggest you don’t trust their pictures of the view on their booking site.

Would have liked to have attached a photo

We recently went to see Madame Butterfly and were very excited. We were told that we would have a restricted view when we got there. We realise that we had no view. The actors decided to act on one side of the stage which was under the balcony of the restricted view so we were left staring at a empty stage when we asked for a refund we were told we should’ve told them on the night, not very impressed those tickets were not cheap. I don’t think I’ll be visiting again soon.

Just walked out of Tosca .
Tonight's Scarpia was dreadful
Wooden, voice didn't Project. No character.
Orchestra fine bit worst Scarpia I've ever seen anywhere.
Apparently he shares the role. Guess I was just unlucky
Other characters fine

Went to a recent staging of Ashton's triple bill - Rendevous/ The Dream/ Rhapsody. Wonderful dancing, with the added bonus of Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley appearing on stage at the end. Ashton created The Dream for them in the 1960's
A word about getting tickets. I do carp a bit about the cost of tickets, but trying to go to the theatre in London can cost you the same.
I reluctantly paid to become a member at the lowest level, which is still over £100. There are 3 levels of membership reaching £500. These give you advance booking, and actually it does pay to do this. In addition you get a lot of reading material as well.
It irritates me that no cast list is available on the night. It's on the phone.
There are still very cheap tickets in the back of the amphitheatre and slips, but check them out first. However limited the seating, it is still worth the experience.

So I was there at the end of May for Carmen. It was a contemporary production and whilst the singing was fabulous, the contemporary scenes and dress seemed to take away a lot of the magic of opera. I talked to several people in the interval who were rather disappointed as well, I understand why this happens.there is a feeling that young people are not Interested in an old traditional setting, but it just ends up a bit incongruous that you have this traditional plot and language in a modern setting. It doesn’t seem to work
I usually buy my tickets as soon as they are available so I can get the best seats, but I will not be doing this anymore. I will wait for it to open and read the reviews And take my chances on a good seat.
I think at least the Royal Opera House could tell us whether it was a traditional or contemporary setting upfront, but I guess that would affect sales
So if you like a traditional opera this is definitely to be missed

Always a pleasure. Highly recommend the tour if you can fit it in on your visit too. Disabled friendly which is always a bonus. Customer service very helpful when we needed to change something prior to our visit. All in all a great experience.

A sincere thank you to the customer service of Royal Opera House for their support and interaction earlier today by email. Especially to Rocco who made it possible for me to purchase tickets to an otherwise completely sold out range of concerts by returning my call and help me. I WILL come back for more events in future.

I can't believe ROH does not have more reviews. The ushers have been extremely helpful in guiding me (a disabled woman) in navigating around the theatre. I couldn't have found my seat if it wasn't for the help of the lovely usher Mike!
Thank you

We went to a showing of Tosca yesterday, not impressed. The sets were dark and drab, the last so dark that we could barely see what was happening. I have only been to a couple of operas prior to this, so am no expert but the singing did not give one the usual 'tingle'. I have been to the ballet here also and it was STUNNING. Unfortunately, we sat near a couple of grey permed womens institute types up from the country who did nothing but moan. Why do people go out if they are so unwilling to enjoy themselves? We later saw them haranguing another lady as she spent a few seconds longer than they would have liked in the disabled toilet. They looked no more disabled than she so can only think they were caught very short. Nasty entitled people who thoroughly overshadowed an otherwise ok evening.

Booked to eat before the performance. Arrived early so had a lovely treat of sitting in a cold and wind blown seat in the bar then a miserable meal in the restaurant. The food is beyond a rip off. You really should address this. It left me feeling that this once amazing venue had turned into a New York style rip off.

going to the ROH should be an experice - let alone the show being great, and for a venue with such a high turnover of people, they manage to have a calm decorum and it rubs off on to the thousands of theatre goers, from the busy tube and covent garden everyone seems to suddenly become nice! Ive been here lots and the staff are always polite and charming and obviously, the shows are first class.

** NO COMMS WHATSOEVER **

We had booked transportation for ROH Ballet organised by Nicole Patton with my company called Anything For Hire. We specialize in organizing transport for different events for different types of vehicles. In this case, we booked a Coach and a Minibus for ROH however my Coach Suppliers are still yet to be paid for the service carried out. Service was carried out on 11th July and Nicole has not completed payment, instead has not responded to any calls or emails sent to request an update on payments.

PLEASE CAN MANAGEMENT / FINANCE TEAM ENSURE ALL PAYMENTS ARE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THE WEEK AS SUPPLIERS ARE ESCALATING THE MATTER FOR FAILURE TO MAKE PAYMENT IN THE ADVISED TIMEFRAME.

Great stage and auditorium. Wonderful performance of La Traviata. Friendly and helpful staff. The only thing stopping me from giving 5 stars is the fact that there is no option to take your drinks from the bar in with you and during the interval we weren't sure whether to order a bottle of wine or just a glass. The lady at the bar said that if we ordered a bottle and weren't able to finish it then we could keep it behind to bar to enjoy after the show. We chose this option only to find that after the show they gave us the remaining wine in a disposable plastic tumbler which is not how I like to enjoy wine - Also not great for the environment. We had to drink it by the front door as the bar area was closed. A small thing I know but when you pay £50 for a bottle of wine you really don't expect to have to drink it from a plastic cup.