Opened with it as a standalone piece, I’m guessing about 4 minutes. (I have no idea how long the full piece normally is)
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the whole thing is about four times that!
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There’s a whole lot of arranging going on to get as many in as they can.
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Went to a classical guitar concert at the Melbourne Uni site behind the recital centre on the weekend. The guitarist was Gabriel Bianco, and it was very good
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What did he play?
About 15-20 from memory. The funny thing is that the only part of it that you ever hear is that opening clarinet slide, but the piece is actually a sort of piano concerto.
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Just copying from the website, so not 100% sure if this is totally accurate. He also played an encore at the end…
First Part
Napoléon Coste (1805–1883) – Boléro
Manuel María Ponce (1882–1948) – Sonate Romántica (en hommage à Franz Schubert)
1 Allegro moderato
2 Andante espressivo
3 Allegro non troppo
4 Tempo de minueto
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) – Prélude, BWV 997
Luys de Narváez (fl. 1526–1549) – Canción del Emperador (after “Mille Regretz” by Josquin des Prés)
Thomas Viloteau (b. 1985) – Night in Bastille
Second Part
Fernando Sor (1778–1839) – Variations sur un thème de Mozart (after “O cara armonia” from The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Abel Carlevaro (1916–2001) – Campo
Alexander Tansman (1897–1986) – Variations sur un thème de Scriabine
Orestis Kalampalikis (b. 1981) – Ará (2018–2019)
1 Rumeur
2 Le Concours
3 Némésis
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went to see ‘Here You Come Again’ at the Comedy Theatre today. Story is set during COVID, about a massive Dolly Parton fan, Kevin, who has moved back in with his parents in Bendigo, safely distanced in their attic. He has just been dumped by his boyfriend, and in his hour of need, Dolly appears and helps him get through the rough patch and gain his self esteem again.
While I’m a fan of Dolly personally (her efforts with children’s literature are incredible) I can’t say I’ve been a fan of her music, and i didn’t know half the songs. But it didn’t matter - most of the time when you see a new musical you don’t know the songs then either!
And the songs were used really well. Along with excellent choreography and use of band/additional singers on stage. Lots of laughs and local references. The guy who played Kevin had a good voice and brought a good blend of humour and self depreciation to the role, and the woman who played Dolly was amazing - her voice was spot on.
It’s on till Nov 15.
Recently I saw a couple of performances while overseas. First was ‘Rusalka’ at the Oslo Opera House. Not one of my favourite operas, but the setting was amazing! and second was ‘Rock of Ages’ at Kings Theatre in Glasgow. It was a bit more of an amateur performance compared to when i saw it here, and judging from the reactions from various audience members, there were LOTS of friends and families there! but it was good fun and great music!
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Mrs 10 and I saw the Australian Opera’s Barber of Seville at the Regent on Tuesday night. We just went on a whim, but were glad we did. The Regent is grotesque, there’s no other word for it, and there were a lot of empty seats, but the seats are big and very comfortable.
It’s a comic opera. I find most operatic attempts at comedy about as funny as having a tooth extracted, but this was really well done and made the audience, including me, laugh. Very inventive staging and the performers were all having a ball.
Unfortunately it’s finished now. The AO has been very disappointing for years and we had stopped going, but there have been changes in the management and perhaps they’re bearing fruit. They’ve got Orpheus and Eurydice coming up (the latter somehow incorporating circus performers) and I might give them a go. You can eat across the road at Bistro d’Orsay, but you need to book well ahead of time. We were too late for that.
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I was there too. One of the principals is a childhood friend so we naturally went along.
I like the Regent theatre. But it’s not ideal for opera without the orchestra pit and at times , perhaps partially due to the compartment style set, it also drowned out the vocals briefly.
Barber has finished but Carmen is now on iirc.
I agree about operatic comedy. A large problem is that all these things have been done a bazillion times so my impression is that people have either preordained that they will laugh , or not. Gilbert and Sullivan in particular I find excruciatingly formulaic and I’ve seen way too many in support of my friend , lol. But I enjoyed the Barber on Tuesday. The terrace house scenes with the miniature puppets was amusing.
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Does the MSO have a suggestion box ?
If so, I’m imploring them to do James Horner’s terrific score from ‘The Perfect Storm’.
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Forgot to post that I went to see ‘Hair’ at the Athenaeum a few weeks back. Really high quality production - voices were amazing, and great choreography. Was amusing looking around at the appearance of people in the audience and thinking how many of them could have seamlessly blended with the people on stage 
Lined up next is the Love Actually parody. If you like the movie, and get the chance, head along to see this - it’s hilarious! but a lot of it would be lost to people that don’t know the movie.
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We went to Hair a few weeks back also. Great show, but different to when I first saw it in 1971 when it came to Melbourne having never seen many or maybe any full frontal naked girls before, especially remember Marcia Hines From back then ! Great voice and lovely attributes !
Singing as as good as ever, maybe more polished than 54 years ago. Also had better seats closer to the front, helping my old eyes to view more.
Worth seeing before it disappears again.
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took in a couple of shows on Sunday.
Started with A Christmas Carol at the Comedy Theatre. This was a really lovely production, with Lachy Hulme playing the part of Scrooge - he was amazing, and the rest of the cast were excellent too. The set design was terrific, and there was some really fun audience interaction with the set up of a Christmas feast.
They’ve also raised $750,000 for families in need over the past four years, this year supporting FareShare - https://www.fareshare.net.au/
If you’re going to head along (and I totally recommend you do!) it’s worth rocking up a little early for the pre-show antics!
A few hours later I was at the Athenaeum for the Love Actually parody. Saw this last year, cried laughing during a lot of it, so was happy to head back and watch it again. And it didn’t disappoint! It’s not Oscar worthy acting, but it’s not meant to be - there are lots of puns based on the actors playing the roles as well as the characters within the movie. Quite a few NSFW moments - wouldn’t be taking young kids along! but if you like the movie, it’s a few hours of fun 
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today we went to the Princess Theatre to see The Nutcracker. It was a BIG Live production - this company aims to tour world class ballet shows around the world, focussing on Australia and New Zealand.
was an excellent production, great set design, wonderful costumes, and the dancing was fantastic.
Added bonus - we sat beside Alice Zaslavsky, host of the ABC cooking show ‘A Bite To Eat’. I showed her a photo of the rainbow ratatouille i made last Christmas using her recipe - she seemed really chuffed and took a pic of it! She suggested this year I adapt the terrine she posted recently in The Guardian - she said it should be easy to make it suitable for my vegan bros - so I might have to have a go
second added bonus for the day - after the show I was walking back to the car park, which is just up from the Comedy Theatre, and A Christmas Carol had just finished. I was able to have a quick chat with Lachy Hulme and let him know how much I’d enjoyed his performance - and that I’d rung my parentals and told them they had to go, so they were seeing him on Tuesday. Excellent timing!
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He doesn’t do much wrong as a composer, the ol’ PIT. I really love his 5th and 6th Symphonies and his ballet music is amazing, There is a a YouTube channel called “The Music Professor “. Usually he has an analysis of various pieces of music. Lately he has been reading from Tchaikovsky’s diary. He relates a story where Tchaikovsky and Brahms meet. Whereupon PIT tells Brahms that he thinks his compositions are high quality and original. He just can’t bring himself to like them.
At the same event he also meets Grieg and loves his music.
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Tchaikovsky wrote melodies. Watch any of his “Big 3” ballets and they are full of tunes that anyone will recognise instantly.
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went to see ‘Shrek The Musical’ last weekend at the Playhouse. Such good fun!! the way they did the dragon was awesome - they had a large puppet at the back, worked by a few people, but also had the lady that was doing the voice dressed in a matching outfit at the side of the stage. Followed the same basic storyline with some details changed for ease of staging, I’m guessing! Nice little addition of parental details for Lord Farquaard too!
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For any Blitzers who have been interested in checking out a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert, they have a new initiative where people who haven’t bought tickets before have a chance to access $20 tickets and try it out!
I think this is a wonderful idea - a lot of people I’ve spoken to have said they’d like to see what it’s like, but the price puts them off. This gives them a chance to experience it without breaking the budget!
More info: https://www.mso.com.au/first-look-seats
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For the regulars at Hamer Hall (cough @Koala), is the front row (middle) of the Balcony the best seats in the house ?
Last time seeing Empire Strikes Back, I was envious of those people.Looks the perfect vantage point.
Wanted to book Jurassic Park, but alas, most good seating is gone for all 3 shows 
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