By Phil Willmott Monday, October 31 2016, 08:15
Some acclaimed plays don’t stand the test of time but whenever I see a production of Peter Shaffer’s play AMADEUS it becomes harder and harder to dispute its masterpiece status.
The story begins with the old, crazy, suicidal and largely forgotten composer Salieri crying out to confess the murder of his one time rival, Mozart.
By Phil Willmott Monday, October 31 2016, 08:08
The National Theatre’s repertoire is a mixed bag at the moment.
Having, in recent weeks, endured the abysmal A PACIFIST’S GUIDE TO THE WAR ON CANCER and enjoyed a striking, memorable and audacious revival of AMADEUS, the current show in the venue’s conventional, proscenium arch space, the Lyttleton, is a bit of a puzzlement.
By Kit Benjamin Tuesday, October 25 2016, 14:29
For most of us, all we know of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is the act 1 “friendship” duet, a regular favourite on Classic FM and a frequent choice for film soundtracks and TV advertising. There’s a reason for this: Pearl Fishers is a slight, immature piece, with a daft libretto (it is reported that after the first performance the librettists apologized and said that if they had known Bizet was any good they would have tried harder) but it has its moments, and we see glimpses of the mature music-dramatist who would later compose Carmen.
By Kit Benjamin Tuesday, October 25 2016, 10:57
Aditi Mangaldas and her company practise a style of dance drawn from the classical Indian form, Kathak, which traditionally combines acting, storytelling and singing alongside dance, employing rhythmic, percussive footwork and dizzyingly fast whirling and spinning.
By Phil Willmott Tuesday, October 25 2016, 09:52
The first thing to note is that this isn’t a sincere musicalisation of Herman Melville's classic novel of man and beast in mortal combat on the high seas.
It’s the first revival of LES MIS producer, Cameron Macintosh’s first flop, in which a gang of cartoon-like school girls and their teachers are shown putting on a musical. In this current incarnation it’s to improve their OFSTED rating.
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