Still Standing (in honour of one year since the shutdown). Click here to watch Yes, yes, we know it’s been a year. Everybody keeps saying that, in tones of wonder, amazement, fury, horror, and a deeply held sadness that so many artists and entertainment professionals haven’t been able to perform for us since last March. Here is a video celebrating the amazing professional artists, on and off stage, who are anxiously awaiting the day when the lights of Broadway will once again be lit and audiences around the world can come back to the theatre. Frick – Rembrandt Self-Portrait Click here to watch My favourite art series, the Frick’s Cocktails with a Curator, today displays one of the 50 or so self-portraits by Rembrandt, a huge painting with details so delicious that I had to watch it twice so I didn’t miss anything. Chief Curator Xavier Salomon never disappoints me, analysing and examining a painting in forensic detail but never forgetting to tell us where it comes from, where it fits into the painter’s oeuvre, what was happening in his life and society when he painted it, and even what others thought of it. It’s pure academic art history, beautifully presented, perfectly disguised to give the impression of a jolly jaunt through the Frick Museum, stopping briefly at a favourite painting. Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) – Monty Python reunion Click here for tickets And, as the Pythons were fond of saying, “Now for something completely different”. There was nothing, before or since, like Monty Python’s Flying Circus. If you’ve been missing them for the past 30 years, this is the show for you. Not the Messiah is a comic oratorio from Eric Idle and John Du Prez, inspired, of course, by Monty Python's Life of Brian. It was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2009, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Monty Python television series, featuring a reunion of Python members including my old friend, the irrepressible, but now sadly late, Terry Jones in several roles. Idle narrates, Michael Palin reprises his role as Pontius Pilate from the film, Terry Gilliam is, as always, himself, and Python regulars Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes join in along with guest stars Shannon Mercer, Rosalind Plowright, William Ferguson, Christopher Purves, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes, and Sanjeev Bhaskar. This is an absolute must for Python fans everywhere. From Mar 11 Inside/Outside - Orange Tree Theatre Click here for tickets Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre is producing Inside/Outside; a collection of world première short plays by six emerging and established writers, performed and livestreamed from the Orange Tree Theatre’s auditorium. The first three plays are Deborah Bruce's Guidesky and I, starring Samantha Spiro, Joel Tan's When the Daffodils, and Joe White's Ursa Major. They all focus on the theme of Inside, and will be streamed live 25–27 March. The Orange Tree says the plays cover stories of estrangement and loneliness; of connection and redemption; of despair in confinement to hope found in life outdoors. Good to know there’s hope somewhere. If you enjoy these, check out the final three plays which are by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Zoe Cooper and Kalungi Ssebandeke and explore the theme of Outside., They will be streamed live 15 – 17 April 2021. Greg Hines – Tap in America Click here to watch If you love tap-dancing, as I do, here’s the best tap programme ever made. This special is hosted by Gregory Hines, one of the greatest tap dancers of all time, who invited tap dancers from all over the world to strut their stuff on Dance in America. If you know your tap you’ll have heard of Sandman Sims, Honi Coles, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, and the rest of the Copasetics, the old Black pioneers who invented the form. In the middle generation is Hines himself, the exemplar of all that is best about the art form with other established dancers such as Hinton Battle, Brenda Buffalino, Greg Burge and Tommy Tune. At the other end of the age spectrum is a very young Savion Glover, already a phenomenon at 11 years old, and several other amazing kids, learning from their elders and betters and occasionally showing them a trick or two. This is how tap has always been passed on, from generation to generation, and all the generations are in this show. Pure joy, tempered only by the knowledge that many of those who delight us here, including Greg Hines himself, are no longer with us. But I would argue, who saw them all live, that they are, in a way, still with us and aren’t we lucky to be able to keep them with us, if only via the camera. The Great Divas of Broadway – Ann Hampton Callaway Click here for tickets Next Sunday, my dear friend Ann Hampton Callaway, jazz and cabaret diva, will be celebrating those Broadway divas who have thrilled us with signature songs from their shows and she’s soliciting your requests. She says she’ll sing as many of them as she can - so when you send a request, please specify the singer and the show. Please send your requests for Great Divas of Broadway to [email protected]. A Zoom link for the show will be emailed to you within 24 hours. Ticket buyers get the special bonus of a private YouTube link to the show the following afternoon to enjoy at your leisure - nice for those of us who live around the world in different time zones. Mar 28 7pm ET $25 The Picture of Dorian Gray https://www.pictureofdoriangray.com/ A contemporary online version of the Oscar Wilde fantasy, with a cast to die for, wait, that’s rather bad taste in view of the subject matter, is currently on offer. In this adaptation by Henry Filloux-Bennett, Dorian is an online influencer who has made a deal that the perfect self he broadcasts to the world will never change. But as his mental health starts to decline, as corruption and murderous depravity start to creep into his world, the true and horrific cost of his deal will soon need to be met.It’s a clever juxtaposition from the original and holds the attention as few Zoom online productions do. It stars Joanna Lumley, Russell Tovey and Stephen Fry, amongst others, and is directed by Tamara Harvey. Until Mar 31 £12. Metropolitan Opera Nightly Streams: Myths and Legends Click here to watch From ancient Greece to steamy Seville to a ghoulish ship on the high seas, this week of free Nightly Opera Streams draws from the annals of myth and legend. It starts on Monday with Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, the Orpheus myth, and then runs through Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust, back to Gluck for Iphigenie et Tauride, then on to Strauss for Electra, Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander, Mozart’s Idomeneo and then a blissful production of Don Giovanni. I’m not sure how either of the Mozart operas fit into the week’s theme of Myths and Legends but any chance to hear Don Giovanni is fine by me. BKLYn the Musical www.Stream.theatre/season/51 Here’s a brand new musical, a first collaboration by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. It’s a story within a story about a troupe of street performers who enact a plot about a young singer who is hoping that her missing father will hear her sing and return to her. Dean Johnson directs five talented singers - Sejal Keshwala, Emma Kingston, Newtion Matthews, Jamie Muscato and Marisha Wallace, with eyes, I should imagine, chasing the Rent audience. BKLYN-The Musical has some good songs and heartfelt performances. It just could capture a young audience. Mar 22-Apr 4 Night of the Iguana – Tennessee Williams Click here for tickets Tennessee Williams’ flawed but hugely enjoyable drama is being streamed this week with a smashing cast – Dylan McDermott and Phylicia Rashad – in the roles played in the 1954 movie by Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. Originally a short story, Williams adapted it into a short play and then expanded it to its current full-evening length. Which is what’s wrong with it. It’s a terrific story, that of a disgraced but charming clergyman turning up at his old friend’s remote Mexican hotel and seducing his widow. Shannon’s a drunk and a ne-er-do-well who can’t keep his hands off any nearby bottle or woman of any age and can’t stay away from trouble. Tennessee Williams tried to stuff just too much into Night of the Iguana, too many characters, too many ideas, too many flaws, and some of them were never properly worked out. But this new film remake may have solved some of the production difficulties. This is a benefit and tickets are therefore available at all price points from $15, depending on how much you want to contribute to the Actors Fund. Mar 25-28 Storm - Vivaldi - Four Seasons - B&B Project Click here to watch Here’s one of the world’s best known pieces of music as you’ve never heard it before played by two young musicians on a bandura and a button accordion. I love this. It was shot amid the stunning scenery of the Korostyshev Canyon in the Ukraine. I’ve never seen a bandura before – sort of a cross between a lute and a balalaika – a haunting sound. This video is the remarkable fulfilment of a dream for these two serious young musicians. I can’t do better than to reproduce their touching accompanying note, “A lot of time we dreamed play this composition, because Storm by Antonio Vivaldi this one of hard classical composition in the world. We learned this cover about half year, and we will be very grateful of you share this video.” So here it is. I can’t tell you their names, their website identifies them only as the B&B Project, and everything else is in Russian, not one of my languages. But I’ve fallen in love with these two and I’ll bring you more of their music when I find it.
1 Comment
Annette Lawson
23/3/2021 12:07:17 am
Love I'm still standing. Oh! They are so clever.... and beautiful and it's wonderful.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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