Featured Post

You can’t stop the boats: Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea @ParkTheatre

Image
Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea by Italian playwright Emanuele Aldrovandi and translated by Marco Young, has made a topical return to London at the Park Theatre after playing earlier this summer at the Seven Dials Playhouse. In a week when leaders and leaders in waiting were talking about illegal immigration, it seemed like a topical choice . It also has one hell of an evocative title. The piece opens with Adriano Celantano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol , which sets the scene for what we are about to see. After all, a song about communication barriers seems perfect for a play about people trafficking and illegal immigration. One side doesn’t understand why they happen, and the other still comes regardless of the latest government announcement / slogan .  However, the twist here is that the crossing is undertaken the other way. People are fleeing Europe instead of escaping war or poverty in Africa or the Middle East. It’s set sometime in the not-too-distant future. There is a crisis causing p

Scenes from Covent Garden Saturday 21:24


Scenes from Covent Garden Saturday 21:24
Originally uploaded by Pauly_.

A haze across the city from the Royal Opera House balcony with the market below in view...

I Was at the Opera House to see two short operas Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung (by Bartók and Schoenberg respectively), which as to be expected was a great production beautifully performed and sung.

Bluebeard's Castle struck me as a polygamists opera but there were so many pschchological layers to the opera such as "why this woman would be interested in some grumpy old man with a mouldy castle?" to keep you on the edge of your seat. Erwartung which was nicely linked through set design and costumes was more one woman's battle with her mind. It wasn't really my cup of tea. At 45 minutes however it didn't really matter...

All the opera talk this weekend has been on the Royal Opera's new production of Tosca, which is the first new production they have mounted since Maria Callas was performing in 1960s. It opened this week and was to be the performance people would talk about for years with a star turn by Angela Gheorghiu. It wasn't to be. While Bryn Tyrfel (also appearing) was fabulous the general feeling was that Georghiou's voice is not hefty enough for the role.

Even worse is her acting. The papers were too polite to call it as it is but I gather most of the time she waves her arms about like an old drag queen in a silent movie. I am going on the night she isn't appearing so I wonder if I will be missing anything...

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...