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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 6, 2017 7:57:14 GMT
Bruno Tonioli gushing like a schoolgirl over anyone involved with the film. Who was the woman doing dome of the interviews? I believe it is Suzy Klein? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzy_KleinI will watch this on my own as Mrs Snow has started observing me very closely each time Ms. Klein appears.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 5, 2017 11:13:54 GMT
This is exciting, although I think Tarantino wasn't wrong when he said that after a certain age, creatives tend to lose their streak. Maybe Steve will prove us all wrong. I think this 'rule' is less applicable to musicians. Joe Green was considered retired when he produced two absolute masterpieces. They were innovative and the second one was a light hearted and fleet of foot as a young man might dream of. He was 74 when Otello premiered and 80 for Falstaff. With all the advances in medical science today, Sondheim’s 87 years might seem to be at least as young. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi Fingers crossed that this is a) great and b) not his swansong. PS the Ades Opera is at the Royla Opera House this spring. Tickets are heavily discounted on their normal prices. On sale soon For those tempted to try, but put off by the cost and 'Royal' thing; the acoustics in the Slips are great and its a lively group up there. Expect to pay £15 a ticket, You can see most of the tops of the heads on stage! One of the great bargains in London. www.roh.org.uk/productions/the-exterminating-angel-by-tom-cairns
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 4, 2017 15:37:49 GMT
I really do think theatres need to start doing firmer announcements at the start of the show. The days of the 'Please refrain from using your phone during the performance' are gone. Instead what's needed is an assertive 'Turn off your blooming phones, sit still, be quiet and don't you dare sing along.' - preferably with bouncers on standby to forcibly remove/taser any offenders. Stop pussying around!! We need a law similar to that on Airlines, "Philistine behaviour wil be dealt with by strapping your hands and feet to the sides of your chairs and your mouth will be securely gagged. The keys to your shackles will be provided to the morning cleaners. Now we hope you ALL enjoy the show."
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 4, 2017 7:50:51 GMT
OK you got me intrigued.
Wiki looks interesting.
One of the benefits of this board, making me aware. Thanks.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 18, 2016 17:39:02 GMT
Not theatre but great drama and very funny to boot. Bill Nighy playing Bill Nighy. Well Charles Paris in the latest mystery. Tomorrow is episode 3 of 4 but all still on radio iplayer. I still think he's the best Bill Nighy but sometimes Hugh Grant is comes close and Tom Hollander is showing early promiss...
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 18, 2016 11:14:36 GMT
Haven't read all this thread but I'm surprised no one has commented on ...you see someone in the theatre who looks familiar and you start to make your way over only to realise how you 'know' them. It's happened to me several times and I think part of it is they are usually dressed down, i.e. not showbissy. (I find that a little disspointing - "its the Stars that have gotten smaller")
Last summer I turned around and recognised the chap next to me wearing a suit and flat cap and was within a heartbeat of saying "Hello". Well you don't expect to bump into Jools Holland in the Foyer of the ROH before a perfomance of Tannhauser, do you?
PS a few years ago Sophie Ellis Bextor was stalking me at the Theatre...but thats for another thread.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 15, 2016 14:24:44 GMT
I never saw a D’Oyly Carte production but it’s an interesting thought.
I understood Gilbert to be fanatical about the actors following direction so I’m not so sure he’d agree with the updates. Opera seemed to be late to the 20C theatrical revolution in staging and by the end D’Oyly Carte must have seemed terribly old hat, redeemed only by the quality of singers it had who can be found on CD’s e.g. Valerie Masterson. These singers probably kept it going when the umpteenth revival had otherwise lost all its verve. But the company and their productions were such a part of being British, like going to a Panto, that it survived until 1982!
In the 60s there was an audience for nostalgia e.g. Oh What a Lovely War or the old Players Theatre (Which I visited several times) nightly performing Music Hall and Variety in the old styles and costumes – or rather a pastiche as currently seen on BBC 4 reviving The Good Old Days. When they were shown first time I hated them and wasn’t attracted to G&S at all. IN Absolute Beginners by Colin McCinnes, the lead character goes to an annual Savoy production as a sort of contrast to the modern London all around him. He had one foot in both camps the old and the new. That was the late 50’s and during the 60’s I think they were seen as part of what Rock! was rebelling against. During my coming of age decade, the 70’s, I saw them as irrelevant to the young. Frankly I was a little surprised to check that final date of 1982.
However, things have since looked up and G&S’s future seems relatively secure to me, as Directors reinvent them e.g. The Mikado and Pirates at the ENO. Those two and Pinafore will continue to be revived and I think all the others will become curios. I doubt an ‘original’ production could find an audience today.
(One doomy note is how long will The ENO continue. It does seem like the new London home for these.)
Long may they continue to entertain and be performed.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 15, 2016 10:07:58 GMT
My my she does seem to be entirely made of marmite.
In her defence the only comment below suggests that she doesn’t claim to be an Opera singer, but that didn’t stop someone compiling this…
(Sorry Katherine, next time I’m in a charity shop I promise not to overlook your CD’s in the secondhand rails. I’ll leave her alone now.)
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 15, 2016 7:02:05 GMT
Dec 14, 2016 22:50:54 GMT londonmzfitz said: Katie Melua does a stunning, stinking number with a Georgian choir. Not sure we'll get the full effect of this on the wireless.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 13, 2016 13:32:22 GMT
Don’t like commercial Christmas Music at all. There’s no escape it’s the same tunes everywhere and even if I did like it once I’m sick of it now. Bah Humbug? Fine.
However, I have to thank Robert Elms who every year plays this as Christmas approaches. Amazing music with an amazing story. This one does make me reflect.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 13, 2016 12:57:50 GMT
Oh, and does anyone else feel the need to celebrate with theatre tickets to mark family birthdays right out to your third cousin and all pets (including individual goldfish), royals down to Duchess of Kent level, anniversaries of starting and leaving school and university, passing driving test, purchase of TV set, expiry of extended guarantee on TV set etc, etc, etc? Haven't thought of those. But whenever possible I do like to attend special events on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays AND Saturdays. I tend to have Sunday's off. After all I need to remind myself, I'm not a complete lunatic.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 13, 2016 12:51:48 GMT
For those who are curious about Opera, this Christmas there’s a treat.
BBC 4 at 8pm on Sunday the 18th The Barber of Seville – Filmed at Glyndebourne. This small British Opera house features the highest standards and the Opera itself is a comic treat. Definitely worth a look if you haven’t seen it before.
Preceded by an hour long documentary of Danielle de Niese preparing for her role as Despina. Its then followed by another documentary about Mozart’s time in London.
Thank you BBC. Merry Christmas to Tristram’s everywhere. (AAG RIP).
Who can resist?
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 12, 2016 14:02:10 GMT
Where will it all end, a new film adaptation of the forthcoming Groundhog Day musical?
On seeing Sideshow what stuck home was how it was such a good topic for a stage show/musical. I very much doubt the sisters could have ever been so real on screen. Now it could have been better handled but the point remains. Some subjects are more suited to stage and some to film. Otherwise why not just ask Stephen Sondheim to adapt Avatar?
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 10, 2016 11:06:30 GMT
I'm meeting friends who are attending todays matinee. Any idea what time it might finish?
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 10, 2016 10:50:23 GMT
I have a question after reading it in another thread. What is a libretto? The libretto is another word for the 'book' of a musical, so all the dialogue and spoken word/structure Well maybe. It's Italian meaning booklet or small book. Use in the theatre comes from Opera which has no or very limited spoken word, pretty much everything is sung. In a musical you have Book, Music and Lyrics. So I would include the Book and the Lyrics in the meaning?
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 9, 2016 17:10:14 GMT
Two Sundays ago as mentioned on another thread, I collected Christmas Tree that had been used as a prop, from the stage of the LP. This was my first time on a famous stage so maybe they are all like this but I was astounded by how ‘intimate’ it seemed. The lights were up but nothing seemed that far from the stage. But behind the back cloth, you are outside straight away, there’s a ramp and then you’re straight out onto Great Marlborough Street. Being a complete idiot I forgot to take a picture but it was totally thrilling. Flashback 35 years to my birthday, "I'm standing where they once stood" …. www.everafterguide.com/ella-fitzgerald-oscar-peterson-london-palladium-14th-19th-april-1981-framed-and-mounted-print-20x18cm-e618e30474d9691e.html
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 8, 2016 13:04:51 GMT
Well there's the 1985 (!!!!) concert veriosn of Follies.
Doesn't get any more live than this.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 8, 2016 7:46:37 GMT
Pleased to see some action in the Opera Forum.
A couple of comments. I have been told and my own experience backs up, that the sound at the front of the Amphitheatre is excellent and less so the further up you go. If possible stick to the first 5 rows. Higher up I've not enjoyed productions much at all and will avoid those tickets in future.
But I love the whole Slips trip and find the sound good and value unsurpassed. It really does feel like "Les enfants du paradis."
Il Trovatore. Now I really do love Verdi but I have couple of blindspots. Macbeth and this. It's brilliant on CD- start with Karajan/Callas -but in the Theatre it’s just too nuts! I enjoyed it more before surtitles arrived. Saw this production in the summer run and it looks great, but IMO it couldn’t overcome the plot. I've seen a new production every one of the last 4 decades and I think I'm done with this Opera. Its popularity suggests I'm very much in a minority here.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 8, 2016 7:36:14 GMT
I was a Friend for many years and found the best value seats were the "Semi restricted views" at the sides of the stalls circle. The sound was good and most of the'big no's' are delivered from the front of the stage.
Last year I rejoined as a basic Friend and find there are now several levels and those seats are now snapped up before I can apply.
Am considering upgrading as renewal must be soon, but hoping to secure cheaper tickets. It's a strange world.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 8, 2016 7:16:25 GMT
Its impossible not to sound old thinking this out loud…but for around 15 years after C4 arrived, Christmas was a golden time on TV for ‘people like us’. Jeremy Issacs and the BBC seemed to compete to surprise and delight us. Every year - a couple of Fred and Ginger movies and maybe a series of Minelli or Busby Berkely films. - Documentaries on theatre and musicals were plentiful. E.G. I recall one by Claud Chabrol on Gershwin - TV films of US shows. EG Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods, the great Joe Papp, Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt. - There would always be at least one Opera and One Ballet.
I still have the VHS evidence!
These day’s niche audiences (like us) are deemed to be catered for by DVD, but it really did expand your horizon when something unfamiliar but ‘interesting’ was broadcast.
…excuse me while I go back to my recliner, it’s time for my nap.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 7, 2016 13:32:34 GMT
Tonight I shall be Hedda-ing to the South Bank to see 'Hedda Gabbler' (I thank you). It's been a miserable morning so far so I'm hoping for a few laughs to brighten the day. I've been watching the Bad Behaviour at a Show thread, expecting a complaint of somone laughing during Hedda Gabbler.
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 6, 2016 12:36:13 GMT
So pleased to find I’m not alone. Sometimes I wander out of Theatres feeling like I’m mad while polite voices all around say “Challenging” and “Wasn’t she marvellous.” I want to shout out “Well I was challenged to stay awake and only if you think her character today should be just like the part she plays on TV”.
To think they had the audacity to charge money for this. Thank you Phantom Nov 30, 2016 15:37:11 GMT Phantom of London said: Those ones that cannot get expunged from your memory, I mean you grimace everytime you think of it, for me:
Million Dollar Quartet
Oh Dreah! Addicted you are correct. Dec 1, 2016 3:54:32 GMT addictedtotheatre said: Shopping and F***ing - not challenging, just ridiculous and vile (it didn't help that very early in the show a piece of 'fake' vomit landed on my head).
At last. Eldermillan don’t be afraid to say it like it was. Dec 1, 2016 17:45:18 GMT eldermillan said: This is gonna be unpopular, but I hated War Horse. I wanted to shoot myself in the theatre and end that nightmare.
And the one that mystified me most
People, Places and Things.
I’d rather watch reality TV, at least their naffness is part of the fun.
Back to my darkened room….
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 2, 2016 13:05:45 GMT
It's our local and we walk there. 1250(?) seats but it still feels small to me. Even Panto from the very top row didn't seem that bad and the seats aren't as cramped as the average west end joint. One of Frank Mathams incomparable and beautiful theatres.
What are you thinking of seeing?
PS The Royal Academy of Music are presenting Opheus in the Underworld there next Feb. I've seen several of their shows and enjoyed them all. Students working with a professinal director and conductor etc.
Also it's a great fun Operetta - Offenbach came before G&S and you can see his influence.
It has one of the best theatre moments ever.
The Devil offers a choice. We are shown dancing to a minuet - in heaven - most tasteful
or the Devil suggests perhaps you might prefer the music at his gaff. Cue "The Gallop Infernal" better known as the CAnCAn.
Sadly we're away I'd love to hear from someone who goes.
IN June next year they are doing Die Dreigroschenoper in Shoreditch Town Hall. Not far for Mack the Knife to travel to.
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 28, 2016 15:37:54 GMT
I thought it was a sweet, pleasant show. I enjoyed watching it, but it did feel a bit dated. I didn't realise that "You've Got Mail" was based on it. Its a little more complicated than that. Wiki You've Got Mail is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László and its adaptations.[2] Parfumerie was later remade as The Shop Around the Corner, a 1940 film by Ernst Lubitsch, which in 1949 was adapted as a movie musical, In the Good Old Summertime by Robert Z. Leonard starring Judy Garland, and finally in 1963 as a Broadway musical with She Loves Me by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (composer and lyricist, respectively, of Fiddler on the Roof). You've Got Mail updates that concept with the use of e-mail.[3] Influences from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice can also be seen in the relationship between Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly — a reference pointed out by these characters actually discussing Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet in the film.
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Castro
Nov 28, 2016 11:50:53 GMT
Post by Mr Snow on Nov 28, 2016 11:50:53 GMT
Evidence for what? I said he was a HUGE world figure - and he was. And, btw, I love your disclaimer. You said he "played a HUGE role". Yes he got a lot of press, but history will only remember him for the bay of pigs and Cubans will want to forget him ASAP. His influence on others is Zero. So unless I've missed it please tell me what this HUGE role involved. It’s also amusing to note that the style of music that Ry Cooder drew our attention to is from the early part of the 20th C. The actual Buena Vista Social Club closed in the 1940’s. i.e. What everyone thinks of a Cuban Music was brought to us by an American. God knows how many tourists have been there because of it and the people are thankful for them. I would wager that most young Cubans listen to Gloria Estefan and her ilk.
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 28, 2016 11:33:17 GMT
Castro is the most important world figure to die since... I don't know who. Whatever you think of him, the man played a huge role in the 20th century. There's nothing cynical about making it a big deal - it IS a big deal. I love Cuba and the Cubans so on their behalf I ask where is the evidence for what you say? The main international role he played was to bring us closer to all out nuclear war than at any other time and urged Khruschev to be the first to push the button. Cuba was a corrupt dictatorship that killed and tortured their people when he took over from Battista and it remained so when he died. The rest of the world improved their living standards immeasurably more than Cuba managed during that same period. HE relied on handouts from Russia and Venezuela. He was a windbag and exploiter of women too. The youth of the country, including his Children, have looked abroad to live. He has not built a legacy that is sustainable by anything other than keeping the strict police state that exists today. RIP
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 28, 2016 9:38:40 GMT
Have been to Paris Garnier but Bastille is very much on my hit list.
I do wish more people would comment on the productins they've seen.
I'll make a start soon.
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 28, 2016 9:35:53 GMT
Any of Bobby Short’s recordings from the Café Carlyle, New York. After rock steamrollered all other forms of popular music he kept alive the flame of the American Popular Song. Saw him once at The Green Room, Café Royal. Such power, such diction, such style. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Short
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 27, 2016 14:50:09 GMT
She only has a career because she is pretty. Her voice is horrible- like Andrea Boccelli, it's 'opera lite' for people who wouldn't know a good operatic voice if it slapped them round the face. I don't have any views on Katherine Jenkins other than that she does have a pretty face. I'm not sure I've ever heard her sing. I listen to lots of Opera and funily enough regret that there aren't more like her. Music Hall and even TV variety shows always had a good looking lass or a tenor with a twinkle in his eye and they sang a mixture of repertoire including 'light' Opera. The benefit to me is that it spread the music far and wide accross the land. Who cares if they claiemd to be stars from the Opera. She's going to get up on stage and sing and act and maybe then the critics on this thread will have something valid to say. Miss Jenkins doesn't offend me in any way. What's all the fuss?
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 27, 2016 10:42:15 GMT
Going to the Palladium Sunday Night. Late. Will be providing Personal Security to ensure the Christmas Tree gets safely home. (Best not to ask really.) I'm asking....? It's just one of the things we do to pay the bills. You'd be surprised how often I've been asked when delivering a Christmas Tree, "Do you get the rest of the year off?"
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