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The Memory of Water – Hampstead Theatre Click here for tickets I have started, very tentatively, going to the theatre again. In many ways it is thrilling to be part of a live audience again. To experience a performance as it is happening, to know that what you are watching is unique, unrepeatable, will never happen again in exactly the same way, is yours alone but shared with those who are in the same theatre, at the same time, is exciting beyond words. We’ve had a horrible time, this past 17 months, and our confidence in our ability to share space with others has been rocked. But we still need the company of others in the audience for the full appreciation of the theatre. Some of the West End theatres, delighted to have reopened, have thrown caution to the winds and already have crowded lobbies and bars, no masks and no requirement to prove vaccination. I have been finding these uncomfortable and I’m shocked to find myself uncomfortable in a theatre, my natural habitat. Others, such as Hampstead Theatre, have got it exactly right. Not only did I enjoy their new production of Shelagh Stephenson’s wonderful play The Memory of Water this week, I felt completely at home in their distanced seating and sense of care for the customers. I hope they continue like this and that others will follow their lead. And do see the play. Excellent actors and great insights. A Jam Session For Troubling Times – Alvin Ailey All Access Click here to watch Alvin Ailey is famous for having said that “dance came from the people, and it should always be delivered back to the people.” In this upbeat, quirky, and accessible new work, Resident Choreographer and Company member Jamar Roberts holds fast to that mission. During the centennial year of the birth of jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie “Bird” Parker, at a time in our world rife with chaos and uncertainty, A Jam Session For Troubling Times uses the energy, nuance, and virtuosity of the ‘bebop’ sound as a vehicle to lift our spirits and demonstrate that we are stronger than our circumstances. Roles We’ll Never Play - Vaudeville Theatre Click here for tickets I love this idea. It originated, of course, in New York, among singers who complained that there were songs they were desperate to sing but they come from shows in which they would never be cast. Roles for which they are completely unsuitable. Either the song is written for a man and they’re a woman, or they’re too tall, too short, too old, too young, anyway, wrong in one way or another, and they know they could never persuade a director to let them play the role. So they started an annual gala called Miscast. Here, it's Roles We'll Never Play. But that song. They really want to sing that song. Here are two concerts full of those songs filmed live from The Vaudeville Theatre. West End performers choose a song they really want to sing from a role they’ll never play and perform it here, backed by a 6-piece band. We are told to expect jaw dropping performances and power house vocals throughout. This is just plain fun for lovers of showtunes and cabaret. Concert 1: 24-26 Sept; Concert 2: 1–3 Oct £15 +£3 transaction fee Instruments of the orchestra – Sir Malcolm Sargent Click here to watch How things have changed. And, sometimes, for the better. Here’s a look back to what arts programming used to be and, thank goodness, is no longer. Its intentions were good, I’m sure, as this was an earnest attempt to introduce the orchestra to children who, presumably, hadn’t seen one before. Sir Malcolm Sargent presents, and conducts, the London Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of Benjamin Britten's Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. The music was commissioned from Britten by the Crown Film Unit, specifically for this film. It was made in 1946, and the players were those who had sustained the orchestra through the war years: the younger musicians, men and women, were still in the armed forces and were yet to be demobbed. What we actually see, though, is an endless sea of miserable-looking white middle-aged and elderly men and one equally depressed-looking woman stuck in the middle of the violas, without a smile between them. The only other woman in the entire orchestra is, of course, the harpist – men only played the harp in Ireland and then they were called harpers, not harpists. Any child forced to sit through the entire programme (and they would have to have been forced, no child or indeed sentient adult would sit through it from choice) would have been turned off orchestral music and musicians for life. Pity, because it’s wonderful music. Stupid Kids – Broadways Best Shows Click here to watch This play, by John C. Russell, follows four students at Joe McCarthy High School as they make their way from first through eighth period and beyond, struggling with the fears, frustrations, and longings peculiar to youth. With his magical touch, John C. Russell turns these familiar stereotypes into moving and provocative archetypes of adolescence whose lingo takes on a lyricism that is both true to its source and revelatory of the hearts and minds of contemporary youth. It is directed by Michael Mayber with a starry cast of John Clay III, Lauren Patten, Ali Stroker and Taylor Trensch with Stage Directions by Christian Borle Premieres Sept 22 and then available to stream on demand through Sept 25. Tickets are free but all donations will benefit The Actors Fund. The Litton Trees – Fuel Digital Click here to watch When they had nothing better to do, during lockdown, 8 top lighting designers with no theatre work were asked to see what they could do with trees. They each chose a tree or trees in their own neighbourhood and filled them with lighting artistry, light sculptures in public settings. The Litton Trees were filmed by Hugo Glendinning. You should know that this film, only 17 minutes long, while very beautiful, is very very slooooooow and should preferably be screened just before bedtime. RIDE: A New Musical Click here for tickets Hurry. You’ve only got a couple of days to watch this workshop production of a new musical. One woman. One bicycle. One hell of a story. It’s 1895 and Annie Londonderry has returned victorious to America, hailed as the first woman to ever cycle around the world. She’s pioneering, she’s plucky, and she's pitching her story to the New York World. But she can't do it alone. Joined at the eleventh hour by unwitting secretary Martha Smith, the two begin to share Annie’s unbelievable adventures. But before long, the cracks begin to show, and Annie is forced to confront a past she'd rather leave unexplored. The incredible true story of a young woman with big plans, and an even bigger imagination bursts into life in this new musical. Written by Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams, it stars Gemma Sutton and Bronte Barbe and is directed by Adam Lensen and Freya Catrin Smith. On Demand through 21 Sept. £10 +£3 transaction fee. International Fiddler - Sabbath Prayer Click here to watch As Broadway and theatres around the globe begin to reopen, international stars of Fiddler on the Roof pause to offer this “Sabbath Prayer” for our collective safe return to live entertainment.
This video clip is dedicated to all those who make, and continue to make, live theatre. I hope I’m not the only one who finds this almost unbearably moving and hopeful.
1 Comment
Tully Potter
24/9/2021 12:42:02 am
The item on the Malcolm Sargent film about the Instruments of the Orchestra shows how silly it is to look back seven decades and judge Then as if it were Now. The air of superiority is completely at odds with the facts. I have met a number of people who, as children, were greatly entertained and informed by the film
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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