The London Handel Players, after touring Northern Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Canada and America, have returned to base for the 2023 – 2024 season. The ensemble specialises in Baroque chamber music.
music
MUSIC AND POLITICS: John Lucas reviews Gail Holst-Warhaft’s invaluable study of the life of Mikis Theodorakis
Pacific Overtures. Review by Barbara Lewis. Pacific Overtures is Stephen Sondheim’s ironic take on events that began when in 1853 four American warships arrived in Tokyo Bay and set about forcing a nation that had sealed itself off from the world into a trading relationship.
Bluebeard’s Castle. Review by Alan Price. Bluebeard’s Castle is one of Michael Powell’s striking music films. And he’s made quite a few of them. Powell directs the opera’s singers / actors with a purposeful intensity.
Last Night of The Proms 2023. Review by Julia Pascal. It was the presence of the hundreds of blue EU flags which made me realise that the Last Night of the Proms is not just a xeno-fest. It is a testimony to the international element of art and music.
Death Note, The Musical in Concert. Review by Barbara Lewis. The Japanese manga Death Note has sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of the best-selling mangas yet. Whether the musical version can be as successful in our straitened times remains to be seen. Judging by the London run, it’s conceivable.
Prom 55. Review by Julia Pascal. Nelsons led his orchestra in such a way as to suggest that this was also the premiere for Stravinsky, Gershwin and Ravel.
Poetry review – LET HIM BRING A SHRUBBE: Edmund Prestwich takes a close and appreciative look at Katharine Towers’ collection which draws on the life & music of composer Gerald Finzi
Trouble in Tahiti. Review by Barbara Lewis. Opera typically is the medium for extraordinary emotion on a grand scale. The great straddler of genres Bernstein makes it the vehicle to explore the depressing ordinariness of the countless millions who can’t find their way back to the extraordinary emotion they once felt.
Annie Get Your Gun. Review by Barbara Lewis. Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business” is the perfect opening for a show and especially for the inaugural show at the Lavender Theatre on Epsom Downs.
Candide, WNO. Review by Barbara Lewis. Too messy, too long, too anti-Semitic, too misogynistic: there are many reasons to avoid Bernstein’s Candide. And yet, director James Bonas and the Welsh National Opera bravely make a powerful case for staging this attack on the depravity of those in power and the futility of war.
New York City Ballet at Sadlers Wells. Review by Julia Pascal. George Balanchine founded New York City Ballet and gave us classical technique without classical narratives. His work is described as neo-classic or even anti-classic. But since his death in 1983 the Company has been looking at other creatives to provide Company identity.
By Julia Pascal • dance, music, performance, theatre, year 2024 • Tags: dance, Julia Pascal, music, performance, theatre