And for her part, despite the pre-performance pain, Ms. North showed no discernible strain in her dancing.
The ROH's director of opera, Kasper Holten, has said that the pre-performance warning for Guillaume Tell will be reviewed so audiences are more prepared for the scene.
The pre-performance adrenalin that kicks in when you go for an interview can all too quickly slide into a wretched post-match analysis if you don't get the job.
The perfect event to share with family and friends, nothing beats the fairy-lit ambiance of the Open Air Theatre, so arrive early to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the pre-performance food and drink on offer.
And Tora Woloshin, the platinum blonde with the nose jewelry, sounded great but loses points in my book for fretting, in the pre-performance video, about remembering her lyrics.
But this loose dramatisation of real events that took place in the Yorkshire village of Goldthorpe was equally memorable for the pre-performance installation by designer Max Jones, which took you as close to a pit face as you are likely to come without being penned in a cage and plummeting 250 feet underground.
In contrast with Mr. Ouramdane's white setting, the other solo, "With my own hands," a work by Mr. Rambert presented in Performance Space 122's intimate first-floor theater, begins in pitch black (an experience that would have been more powerful without the pre-performance warning).
Most recently, when I tried to quiet some people behind me who were conducting their own critique of the performance while it was going on, I was met with, "What's your problem?" Perhaps, in addition to the pre-performance announcements about cell phones, beepers and candy wrappers, there could be a request that the audience maintain silence.
It starts with the pre-performance interview showing a small-town, homely 40-something woman, mentioning that she's never been kissed--Susan Boyle.
There is something unusual about the pre-performance talk for the brand-new "Nutcracker" that has just arrived at the Performing Arts Center of George Mason University in this affluent, mostly white suburb of Washington.
Elysa Gardner of USA Today lauded Clarkson's performance and ranked it as one of the three best performances, writing, "The pre-performance clip of a girlish-looking Clarkson emphasized how little Kelly has matured.
