The Bodyguard, Adelphi Theatre (Review)
It starts with the gunshot. It had to. Legions of Bodyguard aficionados who know the movie frame by frame will have cried blue murder if it hadn’t. So there it is – the opening scene of the…
Lehar “The Merry Widow”, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilson, Royal Festival Hall (Review)
Lehar’s Merry Widow has been been spreading enchantment across the globe for well over a century. She’s the vintage champagne of operettas and the prospect of John Wilson popping her cork was more than a little enticing.…
Sondheim/Furth “Merrily We Roll Along”, Menier Chocolate Factory (Review)
It seems inexplicable now that Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along should have bombed so ignominiously on its first Broadway outing in 1981. But then again what is clearer than ever from Maria Friedman’s…
London Symphony Orchestra, Gardiner, Barbican Hall (Review)
Any young composer who finds himself at the opposite end of a programme from Walton’s First Symphony had better be good. Edward Nesbit – whose piece Parallels was commissioned by the LSO Panufnik Young Composer’s Scheme –…
Britten Sinfonia, Alice Coote, Wigmore Hall
The Britten Centenary began here, on his 99th birthday, on Saint Cecilia Day, at Wigmore Hall, and it seemed only fitting that the composer who gave him so much inspiration should have the first word – or…
Bizet “Carmen”, English National Opera, London Coliseum
There are few directors who can realise the potential of bodies on stage as dramatically as Calixto Bieito. Toilet cubicles aside (and it says something of our national press that this has become the image most associated…
“Victor/Victoria” jinxed?
Blake Edwards’ adaptation of his own movie Victor/Victoria would seem to be stalked by a dark star. Henry Mancini fell ill and died whilst trying to complete the much-augmented score, Julie Andrews’ vocal woes began in the…
Hamlisch’s “Sweet Smell of Success” gets feisty UK premiere at the Arcola Theatre
It’s well known that a composer’s latest “baby” is always his favourite but when I met with Marvin Hamlisch a few days after the Broadway opening back in 2002 he really was full of The Sweet Smell…
Vaughan Williams “Pilgrim’s Progress”, English National Opera, London Coliseum
Not for nothing did Vaughan Williams frame his “Morality” The Pilgim’s Progress with scenes of John Bunyan imprisoned. Bunyan would not conform to Church of England doctrines and neither, in his way, would Vaughan Williams. The Pilgrim’s…
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tetzlaff, Vänskä, Royal Festival Hall (Review)
Some symphonies are natural curtain-raisers: Sibelius’ Third is one. Music began with rhythm and in this piece the cellos are the distant drummers who bring us back to basics with their curt opening measures. Osmo Vänskä clipped…