Wow what a performance.  Love love loved this evening’s performance of West Side Story at Sadlers Wells.  Such energy, colour and spirit.

It’s been many years since I’ve seen West Side Story and I was excited to see what this production had made of it.  The choreography was fabulous.  The band brilliant.  The dancers sooo in time and in tune with each other as well as the beat.  The story zipped along at a pace with the dance telling the story as well as the words.

The stage setting was simple but effective.  The lighting enhanced the stage and story further.

I thoroughly recommend this production.  I believe it’s being taken on a national tour after the run in London draws to a close.  Go…

Michael Billington’s review in the Guardian
Charles Spencer’s review in the Telegraph
Paul Taylor’s review in the Independent

I’m truly dreadful. I live a bus ride and short walk away from the Albert Hall. I have no reason not to, every year, attend more of the Proms season. Yet, in reality it creeps up and escapes before I’ve had time to devour the programme.

This year in February, at a party in Winchester, a friend promised that he’d let me know when he and his wife reviewed he programme and considered which concert(s) to attend. In May and true to his word, I received an email inviting me to join a party of Promenaders.

We started at the Cadogan Hall with a concert of Chamber Music and Saturday Matinees.

Britten – Simple Symphony (17 mins)
Tippett – Little Music for Strings (11 mins)
Britten – Elegy for strings (8 mins)
 World Premiere
Britten – Lachrymae (15 mins)
Walton – Sonata for Strings (27 mins)

The pieces were played by the extraordinary musicians of Camerata Nordica. Incredible, energetic performance from them all but with particular admiration to the violin/director Terje Tønnesen. We also all commented how the energy was perhaps enhanced as the musicians remained on their feet for the whole performance. Wonderful.

I also think a special mention should be made for Cadogan Hall. I must have walked around with my eyes closed for 20+ years as I’d never noticed this stunning building nestling behind Sloane Square. Truly impressive and worth a visit .

We then chatted and walked to Beauchamp Place where a reservation for an early supper had been made at Maroush. We chose to all have the set menu of hot mezze dishes together with Lebanese wines. Hummus, aubergine dip, spicy sausages, tabbouleh, vine leaves and lamb parcels, were eaten first. All very fresh and delicious. Then followed some grilled meats and the most succulent lamb and rice. Seriously the lamb was just falling off the bone.. sooo good! Followed by a plate of fresh exotic fruits and a few pieces of sticky baklava. Just the perfect meal to keep us going for our evening ahead.

A brisk 15 minute walk to the Albert Hall to carry on with our day of Promenading.

The evening’s programme, Prom 65, was a programme very much of two parts. The first being made up of pieces from War films. Through a number of the pieces I remembered rainy afternoons as a child watching these films with my Dad.

Addinsell – Warsaw Concerto (from ‘Dangerous Moonlight’) (10 mins)
Alwyn – The True Glory – March (3 mins)
Bennett – Lady Caroline Lamb – suite (17 mins)
Lucas – Ice Cold in Alex – March (3 mins)
Walton – Battle of Britain – excerpts (11 mins)

The second part of the programme was ‘The Sound of Outer Space” with music from space and science-fiction titles, including ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Alien’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Superman’

The whole day was truly fabulous. So very grateful for friends that do the organising for me!

A week ago I answered my phone to a very excited Godmother.  She had read Charles Spencer’s review in the Telegraph of a new ‘show’ called The Drowned Man.  One of the reasons she stated she was excited was that Charles Spencer rarely rates a play with five stars or is so exuberant in his praise.  After attempting to tell me about the show – ‘it’s immersive theatre’, ‘story in a Hollywood studio’, ‘you wander through the story’, ‘there’s murder and intrigue’ etc etc, I thought better of trying to understand it and said we should go.

We did.  Yesterday evening.

My review however will read somewhat differently to that of Mr Spencer.  We arrived punctually at 5pm and were handed a white plastic ghost mask which we were told to wear throughout our ‘experience’.  As the weather was warm and close, soon I would feel sweat dripping down the inside of my mask – nice!

I led the way into the venue (the old GPO building at Paddington).  With every step forward the light got dimmer and the black walls more imposing.  The music grew louder – although perhaps we should call it noise.  Within seconds I felt my Godmother reach for my hand.  It was more than a little unnerving not being able to see and to choose to walk forward into the darkness, unsure of what was next.

After being herded into a lift and then deposited on another floor, we spend the next 3 hours wandering round semi-lit floors.  There were Western bars, old caravans, cars, wig and prosthetic rooms, a bath with a naked man in it, deserts, fountains, dressing rooms and so much more.  Some of the sets were filled with suitable smells ie antiseptic in the medical room, oil around the car, stale cigarettes in bars etc.  Certainly the set design team must be given huge credit for their work.

Short vignettes played out over the four floors of sets or studios.  The background noises were so loud we were unable to hear any of the spoken word from the actors and we wondered if there was a story to the ‘show’ at all?  We saw a murder, we saw rows and fights, we saw a birthday party and jealous rages, we saw line dancing and love, we heard laughter and screaming and we saw nudity and sexuality. We felt at times voyeuristic and at other times like it was purely for the hype.  We followed noise or light.  We followed actors between sets.  We also saw other spectators read scripts, notes, letters, posters, ‘clues’ throughout the four floors and disappointingly we saw spectators pocket items from the sets or examine contents of prop purses a little too closely!

It was interesting.  I’m pleased to have done it.  It was quirky and perhaps it will become, as Charles Spencer says, a ‘cult hit’ but I’m not really sure why it should.

I wouldn’t go again nor would I recommend it to others.  I felt the ticket price, at £47.50, was too much and the information too little about what to expect.

The London Philharmonic often host concerts at reasonable prices and it’s worth keeping an eye out on their ‘what’s on’ or registering for email updates.

This evening we were treated to a concert at the Royal Festival Hall.  The ticket price was £12.  As we met on the balcony before the concert overlooking the Thames, glass of bubbles in hand and looking out at the twinkling lights of Londontown opposite, the week seemed already like a long way away.  What a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening.

Faultless performance that kept us all enthralled with every note.

17 May 2013 7:30pm

JTI Friday Series

Stravinsky Jeu de Cartes
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2
Shostakovich Symphony No. 6

Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin

Prokofiev’s second Violin Concerto is said to represent the composer’s focus on a ‘new simplicity’, but it’s a warm, heartfelt piece nonetheless as the composer’s long-breathed melodies mingle with moments of haunting stillness and thought. Shostakovich, too, had to alter course with his Sixth Symphony. After the Soviet authorities accepted the masked rebellion of his Fifth, Shostakovich felt compelled to be more honest and open; under the surface of the Sixth – first brooding and then bustling – emerges a grotesque picture of persecution ending in a gallop that portrayed, for one commentator, ‘a brazen display of vulgarity.’

Stravinsky: Jeu de Cartes (Card Game) [Ballet in 3 Deals] – Premiere donne (First Deal): Alla breve – Moderato assai – Tranquillo
Stravinsky: Jeu de Cartes (Card Game) [Ballet in 3 Deals] – Deuxieme donne (Second Deal): Alla breve – Marcia – Variazioni 1-5 – Coda – Marcia
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 – I. Allegro moderato
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 – II. Andante assai – Allegretto – Andante assai
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 – I. Largo
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 – III. Presto

I just love love loved reading this book.  I remember quite a lot of media out and about when it was first published.  Lots of excitement and chatter.   Mostly to ask if Mark Haddon had actually written the book himself or if it was written by someone else without being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome!  This spurred me on to read the book and find out more.  Just because someone has a disability doesn’t meant that they can’t function.

So when I read and loved the book I was completely in awe of Mark Haddon.  Firstly his ability to write a book when so many of us ‘have a book inside us’ but never actually concentrate long enough to write it down!  Secondly, his telling a story that was so personal and yet making us all understand, just a little bit more, about what it is to live with Asperger Syndrome.

Mum read it too and I remember lengthy conversations about the book for a long time after we both read it.

So a few days ago I was listening to the radio in the car.  The Olivier Awards were being broadcast and I heard that a play of this book was up for an award.  Obviously I’ve completely missed that this play even existed until I heard this.  Why had I not seen it yet?  What do they mean it’s nearing the end of the run?  Importantly, Mark Haddon was also involved in the stage production as well which spoke volumes about its authenticity to the book.

They won an award too… well actually they won all 7 awards that they’d been nominated for.  Wowza. (Guardian)

I had to see it before it closed.  First thing I did when I got back home was book two tickets.  The only two tickets remaining!  We’re up in the Gods in the back row but who cares.

Today I saw the play.  Incredible.  The set is truly quite something.  It’s fast paced and frenetic in parts.  The actors are mindblowingly brilliant.  How they remember all the lines.. particularly the lead played by Luke Treadaway.

It’s an absolute must to see.  It truly will make you think.  Rumours are the run is to be extended… let’s hope so.

Did you see it? What did you think?

Wikipedia

Never fails to lift the spirit.  Love the piano.  Love Rachmaninoff.  Love it played beautifully.  Reminded me of listening to Mum play many years ago (although even she’d not think that she played ‘beautifully’!).

London Philharmonic – find out what’s on

15 February 2013 7:30pm

JTI Friday Series

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
Simon Trpčeski piano

Rachmaninoff’s finest piano concerto meets his most enduringly popular symphony. The undulating melody of the Third Piano Concerto weaves its way into one of the most heartstopping musical narratives of the 20th century – a lone virtuoso thundering and eulogising against a surging, soaring orchestra. The Second Symphony contains the very best of Rachmaninoff: powered by melody, richly orchestrated, moving from momentary infernal whirlwinds to passionate declarations of love and still reflections of peace and tranquility, it was the piece that gave its composer his symphonic credentials. Heart-on-sleeve music brought to life by the matchless talent of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Free pre-concert performance | 6.00pm–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall
Pianist Dimitri Mayboroda performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 1.

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 – I. Allegro
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 – II. Intermezzo: Adagio
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 – I. Largo – Allegro moderato
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 – III. Adagio
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 – IV. Allegro vivace

The Royal Academy in London’s West End is within an amazing architectural building that houses and displays some fantastic works of art all year round. I particularly love (and have mentioned before) their Summer Exhibition.

Tonight though they hosted the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert in their wonderful courtyard.  The programme was a good mixture of orchestral and vocal performances.  Ravel, Dukas, Dupac and Chausson – French Impressionists to accompany the artwork currently on display in their exhibition “From Paris: A Taste of Impressionism”.

Fortunately the weather was kind to us and there was no need for the poncho which was provided (along with a bar of Lindt chocolate) with our programme.

Truly a magical night. The setting was stunning. The acoustics fabulous. The performance incredible.

For a limited time you can see and hear the concert (click here) – I have to confess to having done so a number of times since it’s upload!

I really hope they do more than just this one off concert in the future. It was a joy to see the LPO perform in these surroundings AND the ticket price was affordable to all at £12 per seat.

I’ve been tempted by this play for a while.  Tempted more when friends saw it and raved about it saying they laughed throughout.  But I’ve not managed to create the time to see it or organise myself to get tickets.

So, how utterly fabulous when I receive a text this morning from a friend I’ve not seen in quite a while, saying they’ve a spare ticket for this evening and did I want to join them?  Doh, of course!

Also a jolly good excuse for a catch up, so a few texts later we’ve organised to meet outside the theatre at 7pm. That’ll be enough time for a quick drink and hello in the bar before the play starts and then dinner and a gossip afterward.

Firstly, I just loved the set.  The furniture, lighting, shagpile carpet, wallpaper, oooh everything, just took me back to my youth.  I can remember visiting friends who’s parents had houses with the latest furnishings and thinking how super cool it was.  I remember the Ercol furniture particularly with the soft lines and curved designs.  The colouring that was perhaps a little garish in oranges and greens but always tinged with a ‘smokers’ brown colouring.

Seriously the set designers must have had a field day recreating this set… go on click on the image and look at the detail!  I bet you can find at least one thing that pulls you back to a time past…

The play was brilliantly funny.  The timing of the actors impeccable.  The storyline hysterical.  Loved it and laughed a great deal, whilst cringing at parts too!

The Independent’s review – Must see: Abigail’s Party, Wyndham’s Theatre, London WC2
and London Theatre review

This run at Wyndham’s Theatre is only until 1st September so only a few days left… but I’m quite sure it’ll go on to another theatre as it’s utterly fabulous.  Do, if you have the chance, get along to see it.

PS  Love last minute escapes.  Love catching up with friends.  Love going out and doing something surprising.  Actually, I think I quite like surprises… though don’t tell anyone!

In line with the season of goodness showing at Sadlers Wells in London, I ventured across town to meet up with a friend this evening.

Matthew Bourne’s “Play without Words”.   A play that draws you in from the first moment, the 60s music compelling and vibrant and for the most part you feel as if you’ve stepped into the swinging 60s…. just wishing we had figures to wear the amazing outfits too!

My friend and I both said afterward that we weren’t sure how we would describe the storyline to others… but here I go, I’m going to try!  With the help of a review – “Play Without Words is full of tensions — sexual, social, class — but they’re balanced out with comedy, visual flair, a slinky jazz score and a readable narrative that make this one of Bourne’s strongest works.”

The play is running until 5^th August.  Definitely worth going along to however not for those a little sensitive in nature.  Book here

The Guardian’s review
The Independent’s review
The Telegraph’s review – “Play Without Words at Sadler’s wells remains a whirl of sex, style and cigarette smoke by which it is impossible not to be seduced.”