Category: Theatre
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Agatha Christie’s ‘Verdict’
After a holiday of Agatha Christie goodness, it was very exciting to return to the now annual visit of the Agatha Christie Theatre Company to Leeds Grand Theatre. Verdict is not the typical Christie ‘whodunnit’ but more of a psychological study into the effects of a murder and the relationships between the characters. This is…
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Wagner–Das Rheingold–Saturday 18th June 2011
It’s taken a while to get a review written of this since last Saturday, been rather a busy week! Anyway, Das Rheingold is the ‘preliminary evening’ to the three much longer operas in the Ring Cycle. A bit like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the Ring Cycle involves a golden ring which holds magical powers…
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Opera North: From the House of the Dead
A title which does not particularly seem that cheerful! Well ironically there is a sort of happy ending! The opera, the last by Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) hangs loosely around a political prisoner Goryanshikov being sent to a Siberian prison in which the rest of the opera is set, and he goes free at the end.…
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Fidelio–Opera North–Leeds Grand–16th April 2011
Well, I’ve been waiting nearly 20 years for this! When studying my A Level music we delved deeply into Ludwig Van Beethoven’s symphonies, and thus started a great appreciation of his music and I’ve listened to much of his work since then. However, his only opera, Fidelio, was something I’ve always wanted to experience live…
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The Portrait, Leeds Grand, 2nd February 2011
Last night we had the privilege of being at the British premiere of The Portrait by Weinberg. It was written in 1980, but Weinberg has been forgotten very quickly with the political turmoil of the Soviet Union in the Eighties going into the Nineties. The Portrait is the tale of a penniless artist who has…
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Carmen, Opera North, 22nd January 2011
Not quite sure where to start with this review!! We knew in advance that this very popular and well known opera had been given a bit of a twist by director Daniel Kramer, and turning Seville, Spain in the 19th century to Seville, USA in 1950/60s was on the cards. He had also decided to…
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The King’s Speech
On Wednesday evening we went to Cineworld in Castleford to watch the well reviewed The King’s Speech. Sometimes when a film is in the media a lot it turns out to be quite a disappointment. This though is not! The cinema was sold out and afterwards there were many comments around about how brilliant the…
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Rusalka – Leeds – 22nd May 2010
A cracking evening at the opera (and also very warm!) Didn’t really know much about Rusalka before going to see it, apart from the famous Song to the Moon. Had listened to the Renee Fleming version (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dvorák-Rusalka-Antonín/dp/B00000DBUP/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1274631893&sr=8-6) which is quite outstanding. So after listening to that I was really looking forward to see the Opera…
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La Boheme, Opera North, Leeds
It’s been over a week since going to see this revival production, but here’s a review! The setting was 1950s Paris instead of 1830s Paris. The advantage of La Boheme is that it would fit in any era from 1830 to the present day. However the 1950s seems so appropriate. A group of young artists,…
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The Sound of Music – Live!!!!!
Last night was a treat – the national tour of The Sound of Music (web site) at the Bradford Alhambra. The cast included Connie Fisher who of course won the role on TV and the full Andrew Lloyd Webber production straight from the West End of London. The chap playing the Captain also played the…