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Winterreise – Ballett Zurich Click here for tickets After last week’s beautiful but traditional Swan Lake from English National Ballet, here’s something completely different, Christian Spuck’s ballet, Winterreise, which, depending on your point of view, is a creative reimagining of Schubert’s beloved song cycle, or a mistake. Set to the poems of Wilhelm Muller, the Winter Journey cycle tells the chilling story of lost love. For his piece, choreographer Christian Spuck chose to use the ultra-expressive 1933 orchestration by Hans Zender for tenor and small orchestra conducted by Benjamin Schneider. Set inside a pale grey box, Ballett Zürich dancers meander through a sparse wood while tenor Mauro Peter sings just out of sight. The piece portrays a journey into the innermost self, exploring timeless themes of love, longing, alienation, and abandonment. It’s no wonder this piece won the 2019 Prix Benois de la Danse. Cry Me a River – Barbra Streisand Click here to watch It’s such a cliché to say that a star is born. Yeah, yeah, I hear you say, there’s a star born every minute. But if I tell you that 60 years ago, in a little club on the West Side of Manhattan, a star was indeed discovered. Her name was Barbra Streisand and she was 18 years old. She had been engaged for two weeks. That engagement was extended to eleven weeks and it became a ‘don’t miss’ event. This week the songs she sang at that first engagement at the Bon Soir are being released for the first time in a brand new restored recording Live at the Bon Soir. It was recorded live in the club at the time but her new record company decided that her first recording should be made in the studio instead. If I say “the rest is history” I know all of you will abandon me for someone less addicted to cliché but, again, it’s true, which is the fate of so many useful cliches. Check out this, the original recording of Cry Me a River, one of the greatest of all torch songs sung by one of the world’s greatest singers when she was just 18 years old. Of course there was no video at the time but the record company has made this clever teaser to give us a sense of what it was like in 1960 when, okay, I’ll say it again, a star was born. John Cage documentary Click here for tickets A Zen master or an expert on chance? A specialist in mushrooms or a performance artist? The inventor of new sounds or a cook? An author or an anarchist? John Cage was all of these things. This 2012 documentary by Oscar-winner Allan Miller and Emmy-winner Paul Smaczny pays tribute to the most fascinating American avant-garde composer John Cage. Shot in America, Germany and Japan, the program presents rare archival footage and features interviews with Yoko Ono, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Steffen Schleiermacher, Irvine Arditti, Toshio Hosokawa, Mayumi Miyata, Calvin Tomkins and many others. Aspen Stage - Behzod Abduraimov AMFS Virtual Stage This young pianist was a revelation to me when I heard this 2020 recital from Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall. The programme includes Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, the “Moonlight,” Debussy's Children's Corner, and Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. This performance is now available to view on demand and free of charge until April 2023 on the AMFS Virtual Stage. Here's another in my occasional series of PERFORMANCES TO KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF A Moon for the Misbegotten – Eugene O’Neill Click here for tickets "The definitive realization of O’Neill’s play." Not me saying that, although I subscribe to this judgement 100%, but the New York Times at the time of this 1973 revival. This production had such a profound effect on me that I’ve never forgotten it. It was my first experience of Eugene O’Neill’s plays. I wasn’t a critic at the time, just a stagestruck visitor to New York, but I knew I was seeing something extraordinary and no production of this great play I’ve seen since in all these 50 years has held a candle to it. Theatrical sparks flew when veteran O’Neill interpreters Jason Robards, Jr. and Colleen Dewhurst joined forces in this celebrated revival of Eugene O’Neill’s tender semi-autobiographical drama. Under the inspired direction of José Quintero, they helped transform the neglected 1947 work into a now-recognized modern masterpiece. In a towering performance, the late, great Jason Robards portrays a cynical, self-hating alcoholic actor based on O’Neill’s elder brother, Jamie. The majestic Colleen Dewhurst plays the earthy, gruff daughter of his scheming Irish tenant farmer (Ed Flanders) with whom the failed actor spends a soul-baring night of guilt-ridden confessions, tenderness, and absolution. Both Dewhurst and Flanders won Tony Awards for their performances. Some Like It Hot – title song Click here to watch When a new show opens everyone wants to know in advance “Is it going to be good? Worth seeing? Worth spending real money for?” And, of course, there’s almost no way to know in advance. One of the most anticipated openings of this Broadway season is Some Like It Hot, an upcoming musical based on the 1959 film Some Like It Hot, with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman & Shaiman, and a book by Matthew López & Amber Ruffin. The musical, like the film, follows the story of jazz age musicians struggling during Prohibition. The producers are promising, “a fast-paced, sassy, brassy cross-country romp, as two best friends run for their lives – and find true love where they least expect it.” On the basis of what I’ve seen so far on Broadway this season, it would be great if the blurb turns out to be true. Here’s what I can tell you, it’s got a terrifically talented cast and a smasher of a title song which the producers have released ahead of time. See what you think.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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