North West Archives - Page 118 of 174

<strong>A Double Helping of Talent – Melrose Hall</strong>

27Nov

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

A Double Helping of Talent – Melrose Hall

Both drama and music were on the bill at Melrose Hall, Hoylake tonight, Friday 25th November. Presented by the multi-talented Calli Hughes, this was a showcase of first, her directing talent and then her well-known talent as a local singer. The first half of the evening gave us an award-winning drama and in the second half Calli was joined by her equally talented husband Mark for a ‘Songbirds’ session – the music of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie. Melrose Hall is a bijou venue seating around 80-100 in the heart of the Hoylake community. On this occasion it was set cabaret style and the audience could bring their own drinks. The first Act, a three-hander ‘Effie’s Burning’ originally directed by Calli for the Leverhulme Drama Festival last year. This powerful drama was written as a ...

<strong>Mozart’s Requiem – Liverpool Empire</strong>

27Nov

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Mozart’s Requiem – Liverpool Empire

Two composers, two very different backgrounds, yet both with stories swirling with intrigue and rumour. As the Glyndebourne returns to the Empire for its annual residence, tonight is an interesting showcase of arias from composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, sometimes nick-named the ‘Black Mozart’ alongside the legendary Requiem of the main man himself. Part one focuses on Bologna, who may not have reached the heights of fame that Mozart would eventually achieve but still impressed many of his contemporaries with his abilities (Beethoven was reportedly a particular fan). Director Simone Ibbett-Brown has cleverly combined elements of Bologne’s remarkable story – a Creole sone of a slave-woman Nanon and her Plantation owning master who travels to France to make his ma...

<strong>Puccini’s Messa di Gloria – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall</strong>

27Nov

By Johanna RobertsNo Comments

North West

Puccini’s Messa di Gloria – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

I’ve often wondered what factors go into the decision of programming classical music concerts. Apart from the logistical decisions, on an artistic level, there must be well-known and well-loved pieces to attract the audience’s attention and guarantee ticket-sales, while also drawing in audiences by offering something new and/or challenging. Last night’s concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic managed to resolve this conundrum by a combination of two well-known and one far less well-known piece while triumphing in all three. That said, Debussy’s symphonic Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and what he called the "three symphonic sketches” that form La Mer, now familiar to and much loved by audiences around the world, were new and challenging for the audiences that first heard them in ...

<strong>The Marriage of Figaro – Liverpool Empire</strong>

25Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Marriage of Figaro – Liverpool Empire

Mozart’s classic four-act comic opera, an adaptation with Da Ponte of Beaumarchais’ banned 1778 play about warring masters and servants, is delightfully brought to life as Glyndebourne’s 2022 tour reaches the Liverpool Empire with this satirical and deeply human drama. As the day of Figaro (Alexander Miminoshvili) and Susanna’s (Soraya Mafi) wedding arrives, it becomes clear that their master, Count Almaviva (George Humphreys), is keen to exercise his ‘droit du seigneur’ – his right to bed a servant girl on her wedding night – and they conspire with the forsaken Countess, Rosina (Nardus Williams), to outwit her husband and teach him a lesson in fidelity. Plans however are thrown awry when Bartolo (Henry Waddington), seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his own earlier plans to m...

<strong>Oppenheimer – Manchester School of Theatre</strong>

25Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Oppenheimer – Manchester School of Theatre

The genesis of the 'Manhattan' project, to develop a nuclear bomb ahead of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II, is an irresistible subject for dramatists with film Director Christopher Nolan bringing his version of the story to the cinema screen next year. Writers have always found its chief architect, J. Robert Oppenheimer, a fascinating study and in 2015 Tom Morton-Smith succeeded where many of his illustrious predecessors (Arthur Miller amongst them) have failed, bringing him to life on stage. Manchester School of Theatre has further burnished its reputation with this excellent production, which manages to weave together the scientific, personal and political threads of the story into a wholly convincing tapestry that is Shakespearean in its breadth and illustration of both personal...

<strong>Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – The Lowry</strong>

24Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – The Lowry

Wow! For the awesome stage set and evocative costumes (such creativity from Lez Brotherton). Wow! For the hauntingly beautiful music (composed by Tchaikovsky) Wow! To the director, choreography and scenario concept (the incredible Sir Matthew Bourne) Wow! To the amazing talent of all the company for their performance, of this sublime version of this well-known fairy tale of deception, passion and devotion. That could be the full scope of my review for the performance at the Lowry – WOW! but I want to share more …… Matthew Bourne is an advocate of the astonishingly beautiful works of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky, having already directed and created the ballets The Nutcracker! (Composed in 1891) and Swan Lake (1877) and now his latest gothic take on the masterpiece S...

<strong>Noughts and Crosses – Liverpool Playhouse</strong>

23Nov

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

Noughts and Crosses – Liverpool Playhouse

A new baby signals hope, as does an unopened letter. Hope that things will be better. Fans of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series are sure to love the stage adaptation of the book, which was also turned into a BBC series a couple of years ago. Sephy Hadley is a Cross, and her father is also the Home Secretary, Callum McGregor is a Nought, and his mother was the housekeeper to Sephy’s family, until she refused to lie for Sephy’s mother and got sacked. Having grown up together, Callum and Sephy continue their friendship in secret as in their world Crosses can’t be seen to be mixing with Noughts, especially not one from a high-profiled family. Things appear to be changing when Callum is one of three Noughts who have won a scholarship to be allowed to go to the same school as Seph...

<strong>Opera North: Orpheus – The Lowry</strong>

20Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Orpheus – The Lowry

Opera North’s latest venture into Orpheus is a collaboration with Leeds-based South Asian Arts as their respective musical directors’ fuse Monteverdi’s operatic masterpiece, led by Laurence Cummings, with original compositions composed by Jasdeep Singh Degun reflecting the Indian classical tradition. Whilst the individual parts entertained and demonstrated some great musicianship and singing, it didn’t really add up to a satisfying whole which was often confusing on the eye and ear with its interrupted flow. Whilst billed as a reimagining, the story of Orpheus (Nicholas Watts) the musician trying to retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice (Ashnaa Sasikaran), from the underworld remains the same as does the devastating conclusion when he looks back too soon and loses her forever. The interpreta...

<strong>Variations – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall</strong>

20Nov

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Variations – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

This concert performance by one of Europe’s leading orchestra’s The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by the recently appointed Domingo Hindoyan. Hindoyan exudes a great deal of passion throughout tonight’s eclectic and varied programme of classical music. The programme consisted of four pieces of exquisite music from three of the most outstanding composers of their generation – Bartok, Dohnanyi and Dvorak. Dvorak’s Slavic Dance op.72 no 2 is performed as a heartfelt tribute to former principal conductor Libor Pesek (1987 until 1997.) This is a short but sweet piece of melodious classical dance with sweeping strings and delicate lightness of touch. It is performed to perfection by the orchestra. Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune is a delightful and wi...

<strong>Stuffed – unity Theatre</strong>

19Nov

By Andrew LeeNo Comments

North West

Stuffed – unity Theatre

‘Stuffed’ is a fantastic piece of theatre, there is absolutely no doubt about that. A series of coherent physical theatre and clown sketches serving to highlight food poverty in this country, social attitudes to it, and the regime’s lack of meaningful action. A concept that seems so important, and something we expect the viewing public to be aware of but told in a way that changes everything we think we know about food poverty and the use of food banks. Every bit of the piece made sense and felt meaningful. There were moments where laughter was closely followed by guilt - how can we as an audience make light of such a dire situation? However, when the piece was ready to get serious you could hear a pin drop in the furthest corner of the room. ‘Stuffed’ is very well choreographed and ...