Birmingham Royal Ballet really know how to put on a gala evening and this triple bill – far from being a run of the mill programme for a Wednesday night – was a masterful showcase for everything that has gone over the last quarter century towards making this company world class.
In director Roxana Silbert’s expert hands, drama and dance come together as Georg Buchner’s original drama is here powerfully revitalised from its early 19th Century origin and brought firmly up to date – this could be anywhere in the world, now.
Tony Christie’s Amarillo entered the public consciousness permanently with Comic Relief and as a seasoned performer with a self-deprecating sense of humour he himself quips “most people think Peter Kay recorded it.”
A new production by Oliver Rowe and his team is always a much anticipated event – and even more so with Les Miserables which has perhaps become their signature work.
The balance of superb players is absolutely right without the tiniest glitch in this Rolls Royce of a show where every word and gesture is fresh as paint, and as a result this exquisite revival does every aspect of the play full justice.
Matthew Bourne, whose Swan Lake famously rewrote the ballet rulebook, has turned his sights on this other archetypal tale, and the result is quite simply stunning.
This subtly powerful drama is the real thing, and frankly I wish some of our local heavily-subsidised theatres could sponsor anything nearly as good.
Theatrically there’s one season I really do look forward to all year and that’s right, it’s panto time. Did I hear you say, “Oh no it isn’t”? Well, oh yes it is!
Well it’s that delightful time of year again when even the most dedicated culture vultures have the chance to stop being so posh, cosy up and start channelling their inner child – in other words, the fun starts here because it’s panto time again.
The classic panto at the Lichfield Garrick with the most traditional yet most modern of twists never puts a foot wrong.
I have to hand it to the Lichfield Players – in all the years I’ve been watching them their knack of finding just the right play has never faltered.
Well, it’s only the start of October but I already feel as if I’ve had a Christmas treat with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s wonderful newly-mounted production of its Director David Bintley’s Aladdin.
