The curtain has just gone down on a triple bill that contains two world premieres. Here is a first look at the Bernstein Centenary programme. The Royal Ballet celebrates the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth with an all-Bernstein programme from the Company’s three associate choreographers: Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett and Christopher Wheeldon. This mixed programme is part […]
West Side Story
Cecilia Bartoli to sing Maria in West Side Story
At next year’s Salzburg Whitsun Festival, Cecilia Bartoli will sing Maria in West Side Story! The exclamation mark is my surprise at the announcement, though I have no doubt that hers will be a lively and touching performance. And talking of lively… Gustavo Dudamel will be conducting the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. (No exclamation […]
Rebecca Caine answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start singing? As a professional at 19 thanks to being chucked out of the Guildhall. I always sang as a child. Why did you start singing? I simply loved it. I grew up with no tv and only classical music played at home. My parents were wonderful at taking us to […]
Rita Moreno, as she approaches her 80th birthday
The effervescent Rita will be 80 in December. She’s still going strong with stage and television commitments. We’ve seen her go from the singing and dancing black-haired Anita in the film of West Side Story, to the gritty realism of strong-willed grey-haired Sister Pete in tv’s Oz. A remarkable career, a remarkable woman, who tonight opens in an autobiographical show Rita Moreno: […]
Remembering Arthur Laurents
Playbill’s Kenneth Jonesand Adam Hetrick have complied a list of some of the tributes to Arthur Laurents – here are some: Terrence McNally: Arthur always told you what he thought, whether you wanted to hear it or not. This made being his friend challenging. When Arthur liked something, which was not often, his praise was genuine, […]
Arthur Laurents, playwright and director, dies at 93
Arthur Laurents, the playwright, screenwriter and director who wrote and ultimately transformed two of Broadway’s landmark shows, Gypsy and West Side Story, and created one of Hollywood’s most well-known romances, The Way We Were, died yesterday in his home in Manhattan. He was 93. Laurents once described writers as “the chosen people” and said he […]
‘It’s alarming how charming I feel.’ – Stephen Sondheim calls his ‘West Side Story’ lyrics ’embarrassing’
Stephen Sondheim appeared on ABC’s ‘Nightline’ on Tuesday night, and during the interview, the theater legend disclosed that he found the words to his 1957 masterpiece ‘West Side Story’, written with Arthur Laurents and Leonard Bernstein — are you ready for this? — “embarrassing.” What? Most of the lyrics were sort of … they were very […]
