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Herbert Blomstedt and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall review *****
Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt (conductor) Royal Festival Hall, 14th April 2019 Mozart – Symphony No 40 K550 Beethoven – Symphony No 3 “Eroica” Bernard Haitink is 90. Herbert Blomstedt is closing in on his 92nd birthday. Unsurprisingly perhaps neither of them is particularly animated on the conductor’s podium. Mind you…
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The Price at the Wyndham’s Theatre review ****
The Price Wyndham’s Theatre, 10th April 2019 Pretty pleased with myself here. Played chicken with Delfont Mackintosh Theatres and won, eventually getting a cheap, in a known, if not entirely comfortable, berth at the Wyndham’s near the end of the run. Arthur Miller, David Suchet, Brendan Coyle and some very…
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Wolfie at Theatre503 review ****
Wolfie Theatre503, 10th April 2019 I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Ross Willis is a double espresso with extra shot man. How else to explain the blast of wild energy that is his debut play Wolfie. For sure it is hard to imagine two more vibrant actors…
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The Rubenstein Kiss at the Southwark Playhouse review ****
The Rubinstein Kiss Southwark Playhouse, 9th April 2019 I liked this. A lot. Certainly more than I might have expected given the string of lukewarm reviews. I liked the way the important story was told, the structure, a later generation revisits and is shaped by its shared history, the three…
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Top Girls at the National Theatre review ****
Top Girls National Theatre Lyttleton, 4th April 2019 OK. So I might have oversold this one. It is still Caryl Churchill. With that extraordinary opening act. And that carefully calibrated feminist message, as relevant now as it was when it first appeared in 1982, of how to balance “success” in…
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The Magic Flute at the ENO review *****
The Magic Flute English National Opera, 28th March 2019 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When opera works there is no other art form to touch. But when it doesn’t it can be mystifyingly dull. What’s more it can be the very same opera which is both…
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Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre review *****
Betrayal Harold Pinter Theatre, 1st April 2019 The Tourist never had a great deal of confidence in his ability in his chosen career. Unfortunate in a world where self-belief is everything, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that it was misplaced. Still many of those he had cause to…