The second of six programmes brought to London by the Mariinsky was a triple bill of Mikhail Fokine's choreography: Chopiniana, The Firebird and Scheherazade. The Times explained the programming: In … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Homage to Fokine
Guardian
Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Swan Lake
The Mariinsky kicked off their 3-week stay at the Royal Opera House with Swan Lake. An obvious, and right, choice, Immutable is the Mariinsky’s root foundation in classical tradition. Everything they … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Swan Lake
Vasiliev ‘lays his pain on the line’ as Le Jeune Homme, writes Luke Jennings
Vasiliev, his eyes wild and his muscled body quivering with barely controlled rage, compels the attention from the first. His physical acting is huge and raw, his expressions silent-era cinematic. And … [Read more...] about Vasiliev ‘lays his pain on the line’ as Le Jeune Homme, writes Luke Jennings
Critics’ Roundup: the Mariinsky in London, Swan Lake
In a splattering of mainly four and five-star reviews it was, perhaps surprisingly, the Financial Times's Clement Crisp, maybe the hardest critic to please, who showered compliments over the company … [Read more...] about Critics’ Roundup: the Mariinsky in London, Swan Lake
Critics round-up: Romeo & Juliet… Osipova, Vasiliev, Lendorf & Ashton
Her Osipova's Juliet starts out as a hyper teenager, whirling on brilliantly fast feet. There's an immediate abandon to her dancing, movement sweeping through her small frame. As an actress, she … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Romeo & Juliet… Osipova, Vasiliev, Lendorf & Ashton
Opera North’s Beached goes on: “The good news is that it happened at all”
The Lee Hall/Opera North community opera has finally had its showing. The Guardian, commented on the viral storm that surrounded it: Though there are traces of Britten in the score, it's not the … [Read more...] about Opera North’s Beached goes on: “The good news is that it happened at all”
Critics round-up: Sylvie Guillem at Sadler’s Wells – “Dancers have a cruelly curt use-by date. They’re better fresh. Or are they?”
She's done it again, and everyone's delighted that Guillem still has the possibility to enchant, astonish and all those other adjectives that the press have been hurling around in the last 24 hours. … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Sylvie Guillem at Sadler’s Wells – “Dancers have a cruelly curt use-by date. They’re better fresh. Or are they?”
Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel, The Stranger’s Child: “an extraordinary achievement”
Lovers of Hollinghurst's writing have been waiting a long time for the end of June 2011 and the publication of his new novel. In fact, the wait has been seven years, but now we know that it was worth … [Read more...] about Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel, The Stranger’s Child: “an extraordinary achievement”
Critics round-up: Richard III with Kevin Spacey
Well the critics loved much, if not all, of the Bridge Project's much anticipated swan song production of Richard III with Kevin Spacey. The production is now at London's Old Vic theatre before going … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Richard III with Kevin Spacey
Daniel Barenboim at the Wigmore Hall: ‘an interpretation that reached for the stars and at times touched them’
The hush was devout, the expectation electrifying. Daniel Barenboim playing at the Wiggy! Not for 40 years has it been possible to write that. If Salome had suddenly appeared, plus veils, to dance at … [Read more...] about Daniel Barenboim at the Wigmore Hall: ‘an interpretation that reached for the stars and at times touched them’
