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The Secret Theatre - Scottish Ballet Click here for tickets In a deserted city, a young boy stumbles into a theatre. He wanders through the auditorium, where rows of velvet chairs, draping curtains and chandeliers seem to lie in lonely wait for audiences to return. The theatre may be empty, but the show will go on. Starring characters from Scottish Ballet’s most popular festive ballets, the worlds of the Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy collide when the theatre bursts into life. In this charming feature-length ballet film, audiences are treated to a show filled with acrobats, snowflakes, clowns, princes, and – of course – beautiful ballerinas. This is another ballet treat from Christopher Hampson’s innovative Scottish Ballet, this one a Christmas special. It’s a bit messy and not very well thought-through, but there’s some good dancing and it’s a lot of fun with some familiar set-pieces you will recognise from more famous ballets. It's really just a series of divertissments in a very loose frame. The music is a delightful mish-mash from Tchaikowsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and several lesser mortals. Directed by Christopher Hampson & Lez Brotherston. Ladies Who Lunch – Elaine Stritch Click here to watch As a lifelong musical theatre lover, one of the best ways to cheer myself up on the bad days is to watch some of the great numbers, the perfect moments, of the past. These are the times when it all came together – the show, the song, the performer. With all that’s going on at the moment, I’ve decided to share my favourites with you in the hope that you’ll share your favourites with me. Here's the incomparable Elaine Stritch, with her solo from the original production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. There are several later versions of her performing Ladies Who Lunch but this, grainy and growly though it is, is our best chance to see what a fabulous performer can do with a fabulous song, just by sitting there and doing it. I'm Still Here - Elaine Stritch Click here to watch I can’t count how many times I’ve watched this clip. Elaine Stritch again, then aged 86, and the centrepiece of Stephen Sondheim's 80th Birthday Concert with the New York Philharmonic in 2010. Behind her are ranged the then leading ladies of Broadway, Patti Lupone, Audra Macdonald, Marin Mazzie, Bernadette Peters, but this old lady raised the roof of Lincoln Center with 'I'm Still Here' from Follies, and showed them how it’s done. Here's how. A Splinter of Ice – Ben Brown Click here for tickets Moscow, 1987. As the cold war begins to thaw, an extraordinary reunion takes place between one of the great novelists of the twentieth century, Graham Greene, and his old MI6 boss, the notorious Soviet spy, Kim Philby. It’s taken thirty years and the beginnings of a new world order. As the two men raise their vodka glasses under the watchful eye of Philby’s last wife, Rufa, the Russian memoirist, Ben Brown’s coruscating political drama asks whether Philby betrayed his friend as well as his country, and how much the writer of The Third Man knew about Philby’s secret life. Ben Brown’s compelling political drama explores an unlikely friendship. Yet a friendship woven of deceit as well as loyalty. A Splinter of Ice stars Oliver Ford Davies as Greene, Stephen Boxer as Philby and Sara Crowe as Rufa Philby, directed by Alastair Whatley with Alan Strachan. Available until Jan 30 £20 Mozart’s Prague – Australian Haydn Ensemble Click here for tickets You have to pedal fast if you want to catch this one. It’s only available until Wednesday. It looks like it might well be worth it. It’s the Australian Haydn Ensemble livestreamed from City Recital Hall in Sydney. I particularly like the AHE’s programme notes which are very informative: “AHE presents an orchestral programme featuring Mozart’s Prague Symphony, his stunning Piano Concerto No. 21, 'Elvira Madigan', and Haydn's Symphony No. 38. Mozart’s life was tragically cut short in 1791 at the tender age of just 35. In stark contrast, this was the same year that Haydn travelled to London, where he was viewed as a celebrity with his performances drawing huge crowds, and rose to the peak of his fame. Meanwhile, Mozart died in relative poverty in Vienna, a poignant juxtaposition of the lives of the two men. One wonders what Mozart would have achieved had he lived as long as Haydn. This final programme for 2021 brings together one of Mozart’s most loved late piano concertos No. 21, made famous by the film Elvira Madigan, with his beautiful Prague Symphony and a powerful C minor symphony of Haydn. The Prague Symphony, composed in late 1785, was premiered in Prague on Mozart's first visit, from which came the work's nickname. The programme opens with Haydn’s powerful C minor Symphony No. 95 completed in 1791, the tragic year of Mozart's death and during Haydn's first visit to London. During that trip Haydn composed his set of twelve famous London Symphonies, of which this is the fourth. It is the only symphony of the set that the composer wrote in a minor key and without a slow introduction. The dramatic opening of the work in the powerful key of C minor sets the tone for a dramatic programme.” Sunday, Dec 18 and thereafter for 72 hours, that’s Australian time. $24 AUD. Thank you, Mr Sondheim – Puppets Click here to watch Did you think you were through with Stephen Sondheim tributes? Not at all. Here’s one of the many I’ve been sent this week and it’s one of the most sensitive, knowledgeable and innovative. Animation by Professor Amy Lawrence at Dartmouth College. Sondheim freaks will recognise which of his shows are being featured by the puppets but, if you can’t immediately identify them, don’t worry, at the end there’s a little key to help. Juan Carlos Heredia – LA Opera Click here to watch From LA Opera, here’s a lovely concert of much-loved Spanish-language songs from composers such as María Grever and Consuelo Velazquez, beautifully sung by Mexican baritone Juan Carlos Heredia. This fine artist performs a dazzling song programme accompanied by pianist Andrés Sarre. I am less familiar with the Spanish art song repertoire than I should be so this collection of lovely songs is mostly new to me and all the more welcome for that. Amidst the madness of this time of the year, I, at least, need a quiet musical moment with no external drama and Heredia provides this can't-miss operatic moment in full measure. To cut out the rest of the world for 40 minutes, I recommend you just click on Full Screen and turn off your phone. Worth it, I promise. Pocket Review Habeas Corpus – Menier Chocolate Factory Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus is an English farce. Except it’s not. Well, not entirely. What it is is a very funny comedy with tragic undertones on the subject of uncontrollable libidos. Sex, the stock-in-trade of every English farce and not a few French ones, drives the stock English characters all of whom are driven by lust, except for the Welsh charlady, who runs the action with her Hoover. It was Bennett’s genius to write a farce which, if you listen closely, is also, between the jokes, a serious play about England and the English. There are plenty of laughs, and although several of the characters do lose their trousers – it wouldn’t be a farce unless somebody did – they are balanced by a pair of pneumatic breasts that appear and disappear. What makes this farce bearable, at least in this production by Patrick Marber, is the absence of doors, furniture, or staircases, the stuff of traditional farce, which always slows up the action but not here, where they are replaced by a handsome coffin. The Welsh charlady who is both narrator and a sort of Greek chorus, is wonderfully played by an unrecognisable Ria Jones alongside Jasper Britton as a world-weary doctor in the role originated by Alec Guiness. The rest of Marber’s large cast is equally strong and brilliantly marshalled into a coherent whole. Some of the jokes will mean little to a youthful audience but the oldies will love them.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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