Romeo and Juliet – National Theatre UK Sky Arts, US PBS The National Theatre have been making a great to-do about their new film of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, starring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor, but those of us in the UK had better be quick about it because it’s only going to be shown twice, on Sky Arts tonight, Monday, April 5th at 9.30 and on Thursday, April 8th at 10pm. Over the other side of the Atlantic you get a little more notice. It’s going to be shown there on April 23rd at 9pm ET on PBS. The film has a stunning supporting cast in the august persons of Tamsin Greig, Fisayo Akinade, Adrian Lester, Lucian Msamati, Deborah Findlay. We are told that ‘This new film brings to life the remarkable backstage spaces of the National Theatre in which desire, dreams and destiny collide to make Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy sing in an entirely new way.’ We’ll see. Astor Piazzolla at 100: A Musical Portrait Click here for tickets In this centennial celebration of the Argentinian master musician Astor Piazzolla, the most significant musician in the history of tango, multi-Grammy-nominated violinist Philippe Quint performs some of the iconic tango pieces in a multi-media program that uses music, narration and visuals to showcase the music and movement that define this historical dance. Quint’s narration leads the audience through a celebration of Piazzolla’s life in the centennial year of his birth through visual and musical depictions of the composer’s musical influences and personal relationships with figures such as Alberto Ginastera, Duke Ellington, Igor Stravinsky, Nadia Boulanger, and J.S. Bach. Breaking boundaries and revolutionizing traditional tango, Piazzolla introduced Tango Nuevo: a fusion of tango, jazz, klezmer, and classical music. This defined him as the single most important figure in the history of the genre. Apr 6 for one week. $20 Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous Click here for tickets Here’s a new play that sounds like fun. A spectacular cast including Debbie Allen, her sister Phylicia Rashad, and Alicia Stith take on Pearl Cleage’s “funny and hopeful” comedy about aging gracefully and gorgeously. Anna Campbell, now 65, sparked controversy when she bared it all on stage years ago. When a theatre festival asks to re-stage the work with a younger actress in her role, dramatic and comic fireworks ensue. Apr. 8 at 9pm ET and at 1am GMT, but you can watch for 96 hours following the initial broadcast which is easier for us in Europe. $10 Christ Mocked – National Gallery Click here to watch Art History for Easter. The National Gallery has found someone new and fresh to talk about their paintings. Emma Capron, Associate Curator of Renaissance Paintings, looks at something a little different by Hieronymus Bosch: an episode from the Easter story, arranged in a striking new way. This painting combines two episodes from Christ’s Passion: the mocking and the crowning with thorns. Bosch drew on all four Gospel accounts of Christ’s humiliation as well as contemporary devotional literature which tells how Christ was first insulted and spat at in the houses of the priests. Then, after his trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, he was dressed in 'rich' clothes by Roman soldiers, who plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They mocked him, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’, and spat on, and struck him. Finally, they removed the cloak and led him away to be crucified. This is not me having acquired a degree in Art History in the last week, I got all this and more from the excellent Emma Capron. Met - From Page to Stage Click here to watch This week’s Met Opera Nightly Streams are all literary masterpieces transferred to the stage. We’ve got Faust, Eugene Onegin, Francesca da Rimini, Dante’s story made operatic by Ricardo Zanonai and starring Renata Scotto and Plácido Domingo, Shostakovich’s The Nose, adapted from the classic short story by Nikolai Gogol and . the famous Rigoletto with Luciano Pavarotti, believed by many to be the Met’s best ever. There’s also Gounod's Romeo et Juliette with Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna, both, alas, a little too old for the star-crossed lovers, and a delightful Elijah Moshinsky production of Luisa Miller starring Sonia Yoncheva and Placido Domingo. John Cullum: An Accidental Star Click here for tickets This is a one-man show from John Cullum aged, gulp, 91. Go behind the scenes with a Broadway leading man -- from his 1960 debut in Camelot and Tony Award-winning performances in Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century, to starring roles in On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Urinetown and The Scottsboro Boys. John can still sing the songs from the Golden Age of the American Musical and tells never-before-heard stories of working with friends Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Goulet, Julie Andrews, and more. An Accidental Star is a rare opportunity to revisit the making of some of Broadway's greatest shows, and the funny, moving and fascinating encounters John had along the way. I’m a sucker for Broadway memories and his go back a very long way. Apr 8-22 $15 The Magic Flute – Chorus of the Royal Opera Click here to watch Only in England. It’s freezing cold, blowing a gale, the stage is dark, there are still no operas playing in the Opera House, but the singers of the Chorus of the Royal Opera are still singing, bless them. They’re on the roof of the Royal Opera House singing their hearts out. This is the final chorus from Mozart’s Magic Flute. It’s a triumph of hope over experience, perhaps, but I honour them for their talent, their energy, and their belief that there will be operas in their future. Hopefully, indoors.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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