THE story of the Little Mermaid is complicated enough, but when the denouement happens at the same time as 22 small children decide to stand pressed to the front of the stage, jumping up and down and shouting instructions, it takes a good deal of skill and volume from the actors to keep a play…

MOST lovers of the 2007 film Waitress – and there are millions of them throughout the world – will be happy with Jessie Nelson’s adaptation and Sara Bareilles music and lyrics. Between them they have captured the quirky humour and distinct Southern States of America atmosphere. The music, which for the most part works almost…

IT used to be common for popular books or plays to be adapted into films – now, it’s films being made into plays. In recent years we have had Billy Elliot, The Lion King, Hairspray and The Girl on the Train. Just last week, Bath had the disappointing stage version of Dan Brown’s The Da…

AFTER the deprivations and difficulties of lockdowns, furloughs and closed theatres, dance fans at Frome were delighted to welcome the resident Mark Bruce Company back on stage for the triple bill of new works, Phantoms. Once again the multi-talented creator has turned his dark imagination to interpreting stories through dance, set to powerful music, against…

WHEN a 30-year-old production , even one which was enormously successful in its original presentation, is revived and sent out once again to face the public, more often than not it has the look and feel of an antique piece of furniture tarted up with a fresh coat of paint. When however, the show has…

DAN Brown’s 2004 novel The Da Vinci Code was, and still is, hugely successful with readers around the globe, brought to even greater public attention by the furore it caused among Catholics for its storyline of Jesus and Mary Magdalen being married and having a child. Two years later a film, starring Tom Hanks, Audrey…

AFTER months of lockdowns and cancellations, it’s a joy to see local dramatic society members back on stage doing their thing, and this is the time that the amateurs start their pantomimes. At their Bell Street home in Shaftesbury the company has chosen a new mash-up version of Little Red Riding Hood, written by Tracy…

WHEN you see the name Disney above the title, and original music and lyrics come from Richard M and Robert B Sherman, the brothers responsible for the music in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a long list of Disney classics including Mary Poppins, your mind almost automatically registers a big, spectacularly staged musical. While Michael…

MARK Rylance first came across the story of the Hungarian Dr Semmelweis many years ago, and before the outbreak of Covid-19 he and his friend, Bristol Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris, were working on bringing his life to the stage. It didn’t seem likely that Rylance would be declaiming the diktats of Boris –…

Borodin        In the Steppes of Central Asia Rachmaninov    Piano Concerto No 2 Rimsky-Korsakov    Symphonic Suite / Symphony No 2 ‘Antar’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits:  Conductor     Alexander Malofeev  Piano THIS was my second sampling of the BSO’s admirable streaming service, on which you are able to watch concerts live at home…