Cast: Emma Watson (Pauline Fossil), Yasmin Paige (Petrova Fossil), Lucy Boynton (Posy Fossil), Emilia Fox (Sylvia Brown)
For complete information, see IMDb's Ballet Shoes page.
I loved all the books by Noel Streatfield when I was younger and I enjoyed the TV adaptation of Ballet Shoes. Clearly, it's mostly geared towards children (as is the original novel), but if you loved the books, I definitely recommend taking a look at this TV movie. The cast is great and the story is followed well.
Grade: B
Labels: 2007, ballet, dancing, drama, Emma Watson, family, movie, TV
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Gillian Murphy (Princess Aurora), Ethan Stiefel (Prince Desire), Stella Abrera (The Lilac Fairy), Gelsey Kirkland (The Fairy Carabosse)
For complete info, see the Orange County Performing Arts Center The Sleeping Beauty page.
The American Ballet Theatre did an amazing job, as always. The sets, costumes, make-up, special effects, and ballet in The Sleeping Beauty were amazing. It was great to see Gillian Murphy again. I'm also happy that I finally got to see Ethan Stiefel perform live. I had hoped once he took over at the Irvine Barclay Theatre that he would do more performances there, but I hadn't been able to catch him in anything yet. It was nice to see Gelsey Kirkland, too. I had amazing luck with these tickets. The cast was fabulous.
I highly recommend any American Ballet Theatre production. The only issue with this one is that the float they used to take Princess Aurora around during Prince Desire's dream and Prince Desire & The Lilac Fairy in another scene was very jerky in one spot on stage. It was pretty distracting.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2007, American Ballet Theatre, ballet, Ethan Stiefel, Gillian Murphy
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:30 PM show | 0 screams
Unfortunately, they did not make it clear which of the main stars were actually performing in each show, but I've listed those on the tour...
Cast: José Tirado/Alan Vincent (The Swan/Stranger), Neil Penlington/Simon Wakefield (The Prince), Saranne Curtin/Oxana Panchenko/Nina Goldman (The Queen), Leigh Daniels/Agnes Vandrepote (The Girlfriend), Alan Mosley/Peter Furness (The Private Secretary), and an amazing ensemble
Note: Alan Vincent, Neil Penlington, Saranne Curtin, & Nina Goldman were all part of the original Broadway cast, whose info can be found at the IBDb's Swan Lake page.
Before I begin my review, I'd like to clear up a few misconceptions both Renee (my sister-in-law, who I saw the show with) and I had read online about Matthew Bourne's version of Swan Lake.
First of all, his Swan Lake is NOT performed with an all male cast. All the swans are male, but that's a different statement entirely and not the one I had read about this Swan Lake.
Secondly, the roll of Odette does not exist. It is NOT played by a man as I had seen reported.
Now that those items are cleared up, I can get on with my thoughts.
I was so happy that Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake was a part of the Ahmanson Theatre season this year. I had heard many great things about it, and knew that it won three Tony awards. For a ballet to win that many awards (and be nominated for 5) was impressive enough, since the Tony awards tend to shy away from ballets.
The touring production of this show is truly amazing. The cast we saw (whoever they were) really did a fantastic job. I don't think I've ever seen a standing ovation so fast in the Ahmanson Theatre (a location that does not give standing ovations for every performance regardless of the quality).
In spite of all I had read before going to the theatre, I was very happy that I read the summary of Swan Lake, since it was very different from the standard Swan Lake ballet I know well. It was so interesting to see an entirely different story (including some pretty contemporary locations) with the same beloved Tchaikovsky score.
I expected to be impressed with Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, since I really enjoyed The Car Man and Play Without Words. However, I really did not expect it to be so funny. The audience was laughing throughout the show and it was really amazing how many things were going on at a time. I clearly missed a few things, since there were times when many people were laughing and I had missed the joke.
As always, Matthew Bourne impressed me with his study of movement. The choreography of the swans was absolutely amazing. It was very clear that they were swans from the movements. Renee and I would both like to see the tapes that he studied, since it would be interesting background information.
I am looking forward to the Edward Scissorhands at the Ahmanson even more now than I was before seeing Swan Lake. The 2006 Ahmanson season really has some interesting offerings from what I've heard already.
If you enjoy dacing, you should definitely see this if you can. Matthew Bourne even manages to incorporate other kids of dance into his version of the classic ballet. Swan Lake is not all ballet, which is even more interesting if you know the original ballet pretty well.
This would even be a good intro ballet to those who tend not to be interested in the genre, since it isn't "just" ballet, though ballet would have been plenty for me.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2006, ballet, dancing, Matthew Bourne, musical, tour
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Gerard Butler (The Phantom), Emmy Rossum (Christine), Patrick Wilson (Raoul)
For complete cast info, see The Phantom of the Opera page.
As someone who loved the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in high school, I was very excited to hear that the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera was finally happening.
Fortunately, I was not disappointed by this version. I was confused by the moving of the crash of the chandelier, but I guess they did it to make the end of the movie seem more dramatic. I was bummed that some of my favorite interludes are now spoken, but I anticipated this in the move to screen and it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.
Emmy Rossum does an amazing job as Christine. Her opera background was very apparent. On a whole, I'm just so happy to see movie musicals coming back as a genre. I hope this trend continues.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2004, adventure, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, drama, Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler, movie, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 1:15 PM show | 1 screams
Cast: Brad Little (The Phantom of the Opera), Lisa Vroman (Christine Daae), Tim Martin Gleason (Raul), Kate Wray (Meg Giry), and many other talented performers
Like almost everyone who loves theatre, I went through a The Phantom of the Opera phase. Mine took place in high school (which still seems to be when most people hit it even now).
Although The Phantom of the Opera isn't the best show and definitely relys on too much spectacle, it is entertaining. I hope that this will be the last time I see it, since two times was more than enough and this was my third. However, it's definitely a show everyone should see if they like musical theatre and my boyfriend had never seen it.
The cast of the touring company is very good and the music is still good, though I prefer Evita or Song & Dance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's.
Grade: B-
Labels: 2003, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom, romance
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Colm Wilkinson (The Phantom of the Opera), Susan Cuthbert (Christine Daae, understudy), Gillian Saunders (Meg Giry, understudy), and many other talented cast members (including Neve Campbell in the Ballet Chorus)
It was a bit strange seeing a man I associate so strongly with Jean Valjean from Les Miserables as the Phantom. It took me a while to get used to it, but he did a wonderful job. It was also odd initially to be thinking that Meg was singing Christine's lines and visa versa. This is probably because of the understudies performing, but I had never seen even a picture of a blonde Christine or a Meg who wasn't blonde, so it just took me by surprise.
The cast was very good and the music and dancing were amazing. Not nearly as big of a fan of The Phantom of the Opera as I was when I first saw it, but it's still an enjoyable show.
Unfortunately, in the production we saw, the trap door didn't work, so the ending was messed up. Apparently, The Phantom of the Opera has at least a minor technical problem in almost every performance, due to the number of special effects. It was still sad for all my friends who hadn't seen the show before, though.
Grade: B
Labels: 1991, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Michael Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Dale Kristien (Christine Daae), Elisabeth Stringer (Meg Giry), and many other talented performers
Since I'm writing this later, it's a bit hard to find the enthusiasm I know I had for The Phantom of the Opera when I first saw it in person, but I'll try.
I had been waiting to see The Phantom of the Opera ever since I got the recording. Although I know Michael Crawford doesn't have the best voice in the world, I understand after seeing him why he will probably always be the best Phantom for this show. He is an amazing actor and that combined with his good singing voice make him the perfect Phantom. He, Dale Kristien, Joseph Dellger (Raul), and the rest of the cast did an amazing job with this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Andrew Lloyd Webber is definitely good at writing musicals that appeal to the masses. The spectacle in them appeals to almost everyone and makes the shows seem larger than life.
Note: I really saw this in the summer of '89, but it won't allow me to back date the post that far.
Grade: B+
Labels: Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams