OUR diaries, like those of many thousands (millions) of people, have been empty for weeks. Suddenly, we had not one but two events to go to, both on the same day – a private view at The Art Stable and a sale and tasting at preserve maker Ajar Of’s “Jammery” at Hazelbury Bryan. Small steps, but…
THE story of Nicholas McCarthy’s young life so far has been one of challenge, determination, tenacity and success. He shot to fame in 2012 at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games in London where he joined the likes of the band Coldplay. It was apt that a pianist of just 23 years and born…
THE description in the programme of Les Vepres Siciliennes is that it is a Grand Opera in five acts, and this production direction by Sir David Pountney is befitting of that description. Virtually everything about it is on the grand scale, not least of course Giuseppe Verdi’s towering score varying from the highly dramatic to…
FRIDAY 13th and the world in chaos – what better antidote than an Austrian evening of classic Rodgers and Hammerstein with Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society? This is the third time that the hugely versatile and talented company has produced the musical, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, and the first time that renowned choreographer…
CONTINUING their theme of revenge, which runs through the three productions WNO are touring this spring, Mozart’s delightful comic opera followed the dramatic Carmen into the Bristol Hippodrome. Presented and costumed on much more traditional lines than Carmen, director Max Hoehn’s The Marriage of Figaro (recreating Tobias Richter’s original) sets out to explore and exploit…
CHRIS Bush’s new gender-swapping take on Marlowe’s Faustus, on at Bristol Old Vic until 21st March, is a play for anyone who has inexplicably real, vivid and terrifying dreams, is worried about a global pandemic or has seen their computer freeze, and in its icy state eat up all their work and throw it who…
PINK is the colour that dominates this show, and “In the Pink” are the words that describe Steve Blackmore’s silky smooth production for Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society. Not only do costume coordinators John Cousins and Anna Fraenkel pick up the colour in the costumes, the sets and accessories on view are equally colour coordinated…
MANY words of praise – fantastic, great and legendary amongst them – have become devalued because they are now too often applied to people and events that do not deserve such a description. It was only after much thought that I decided to declare that director/choreographer Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes left me…
REVENGE, we are told, is a dish best served cold. That may be a truth in life, but it is not a good description of the three operas, all of which have revenge at their hearts in very differing forms, which make up the Welsh National Opera’s Spring tour programme. There is certainly nothing cold…
ONCE upon a time (in 2007, actually) there was a low budget Irish film that charted the unusual relationship of two musicians, one Irish and one Czech. It became an international hit, with its charm, its music mixing Irish standards, new songs and Eastern European Klezmer and its unpredictable story line. Four years later it…