News: VE Day - Mit a bang, mit a boom

Sunday night was the BBC extravaganza in Trafalgar Square to commemorate VE Day 60th anniversary. As big extravaganzas go it was entertaining, although jumping in the fountains was not re-enacted - it was too cold. Meanwhile the German ambassador has suggested the country is obsessed with Nazis. Well at least West End producers and members of the Royal Family perhaps... Of course the impact of the war still looms large in the city. I walk past two bomb shelters on the way to the tube...

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Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

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David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House.

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The other path: The Unbuilt City @kingsheadthtr

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The Will Young show: Strictly Ballroom @TeamPiccadilly

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Love is in the air in Strictly Ballroom, currently playing at The Piccadilly Theatre. It’s the musical based on Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 movie about a boy daring to dance his own steps in the cut-throat world of amateur ballroom dancing. The movie was full of irony and light-heartedness with its corny follow your heart and ugly duckling storylines. Here the musicalisation hits this message over your head as if you’re watching the fall of communism.
Jonny Labey and Zizi Strallen in the lead roles as the unlikely dance couple give the show style and pizazz. He’s a rebel, she’s an ugly duckling. There is also a thrilling paso doble dance sequence to close the first act. They even get to sing two lines and sound terriffic. But the show is superfluously narrated by Will Young. He’s also the band leader singing all the songs. While this isn’t necessarily a bad idea, here it gives the impression you’re watching the Will Young musical. And often his light vocals are lost in the theatre. The decisi…
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