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Belters and bohemians: Opera Locos @Sadlers_wells

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At the start of the Opera Locos performance, the announcement says that they really are singing. You could be forgiven for wondering that, given the amplification turns up the backing track and the voices so loud that you can't always tell what's real. But this is a mostly harmless and slightly eccentric blend of opera classics fused with the occasional pop classic. However, recognising the pop tunes would help if you were over a certain age. The most recent of them dates back twenty years. It's currently playing at the Peacock Theatre .  Five performers play out a variety of archetype opera characters. There's the worn-out tenor (Jesús Álvarez), the macho baritone (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos), the eccentric counter-tenor (Michaël Kone), the dreamy soprano (María Rey-Joly) and the wild mezzo-soprano (Mayca Teba). Since my singing days, I haven't recognised these types of performers. However, once, I recall a conductor saying he wanted no mezzo-sopranos singing with the s

Theatre: Two Gentlemen of Verona

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source:http://www.newstatesman.com It was a long and fascinating story as to why I found myself at the Barbican Friday evening to see Nos do Morro's production of Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona . For the purposes of the blog I can attribute it to Dame Fortune and the fact that when I saw AfroReggae with Felicity she had a go at all those white men in the audience trying to dance which turned out to be a source of cheap laughs. After reading my blog, Paul suggested I should go and see this production. I should point out that Paul is another Paul and I am not writing about myself in the third person. It's not that kind of blog... Anyway, Nos do Morro's production of Two Gentlemen of Verona is a real treat and full of so much energy that you can't help but like it. It is in Portuguese as well which means that I had no idea what they were saying (and the surtitles weren't a direct translation but rather the original Shakespeare text). But I wasn't going

Scenes on Clapham High Street Saturday

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A sure sign the economy is tanking... You can get a table at lunchtime at Breads Etcetera ... Without waiting 15 minutes... Now I have never seen that before... The coffee and food is great and so is the view usually (except when I was taking the pictures at this point, what was I thinking?)... Posted by email from paulinlondon's posterous

Scenes from a Rehearsal

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The view from the back row... Again... Posted by email from paulinlondon's posterous

Technology: iPhone

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I now have an iPhone which means that I can take more photos like this and in a very obvious way. No more sneaking a photo when people aren't looking. Taking a photo with the iPhone is a very obvious act... Still the best thing about it everyone is telling me is that they can see me at a party and then go home and see themselves on the internet... Well that's web 2.0 for you. One can take a photo and upload it via Posterous , Pixelpipe or Shozu so fast that you can totally disturb your friends and unnerve acquaintances... Of course I will miss my Nokia n95 . Sure it was even slower than the iPhone and had a rubbish web browser, awful mp3 player and did odd things with your contacts, calendar and task list, but over my last 18 month contract we learned to get along... After using it for a week I think the iPhone has an average phone, average camera, but an amazing browser and is afterall an iPod mp3 player... It could be the begining of a blurred but beautiful friendship...

Comedy: Tina C Tick My Box

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source: http://www.tinac.net/ Not content to see just one show this week at the Leicester Square Theatre , on Wednesday night I was back there with Richard to see Tina C's show Tick My Box . Having seen Dina Martina with Richard, I think he is becoming my drag act buddy. Well since neither of us are English we don't get so uptight about seeing men dressed up as women as much as some of the young gays on the scene seem to do... Anyway Richard is a bit of a Tina C fan and couldn't believe that as a gay man in London I had not seen her show before. Fortunately for me rather than suggest I should have my pink card revoked, he got me a ticket to her show. The premise of this show is that Tina C - a self declared country music icon - is running for President of the United States of America and is after your vote. She isn't red (Republican) and she isn't blue (Democrat) but purple, and she want's everyone to vote purple. Hmmm... Sprinkled through the act are a smatte

Hot news this week in London

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Global Warming meets Toxic Debt , originally uploaded by Andy Beez . This time Literally... Well at least the Circle Line will be chilled...

Comedy: The Kransky Sisters

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The Kransky Sisters tea towel , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . I went to see the Kransky Sisters Tuesday evening at the Leicester Square theatre and all I got was a lousy tea towel. Well actually... Being a boy from Brisbane I couldn't resist the cultural references. I'm sure growing up I saw that sign countless times on those long (and driving anywhere in Brisbane was long) family drives to dams. Of course you don't have to be from Brisbane to get their weird act, it only helps at the margins... Such as I saw the show with Stephen who is from Glasgow, and I had to explain that it was Wivenhoe Dam not Wife and Hoe Dam. He's going to Australia in a few weeks for a holiday so I figured the Kransky's were a good way to get him used to the place. The Kransky's act starts with a montage of photos to take the audience on a journey to the place where they are from... Esk to be precisely (which is best described as a few hours west of Brisbane rather than a

Rehearsal: Week four

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It helps to pull ones weight... Sent from my iPhone Posted by email from paulinlondon's posterous