If you have time for it: please take a look on my pictures.
I have an account on Flickr and now a wordpress-website.
Here are the links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69248448@N06/sets/
(I hope it works)
The blog can be find here:
Auf den 2.Blick
Enjoy and let me know what you think !
Samstag, 10. November 2012
Changes at Victory Gardens (again)
Chris Jones was reporting it : Jan Kallish will leave VG at the end of the november. He was the first one.
A slightly different view has Hedy Weiss from the "Sun-Times":
A slightly different view has Hedy Weiss from the "Sun-Times":
Jan Kallish exiting Victory Gardens Theater
Last Modified: Oct 26, 2012 11:14AM
Jan Kallish, who has served as executive director of the Victory Gardens Theater since 2009, and helped oversee a major period of transition at the organization, will be leaving her position at the end of November. General manager Chris Mannelli will assume her duties while the board conducts a search for her successor.
“It is just time for me to think about the next 20 years of my career,” said Kallish, who, before arriving at Victory Gardens held many major posts. She served as executive director of Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre (1997-2003), where she oversaw a major renovation of the landmark building, created a home for the Joffrey Ballet and an international roster of dance companies, and launched the Ovations! Concert Celebrations of Great American Musicals series. Kallish also has credits as a theatrical producer (“The Color Purple,” both on Broadway and in its first North American tour, and “A Catered Affair,” also on Broadway). She also served as a consultant to Matthew Bourne’s NewAdventures (U.S. tours of “Edward Scissorhands” and “Car Man”), and, from 2006 to 2007, was CEO of the Nederlander Broadway venture in Beijing, where she oversaw operations for the first licensed performing arts joint venture in China, and oversaw renovations plans for Shanghai Majestic Theatre.
At Victory Gardens (where Kallish acknowledged things were sometimes “bumpy” during the transition), she welcomed a new artistic director, Chay Yew (who took over following the retirement of Dennis Zacek), opened and dedicated the Richard Christiansen Studio Theater at the company’s home in The Biograph, and produced the world premiere of “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist play that grew out of Sandy Shinner’s Ignition series, and eventually moved to New York.
Under Kallish’s leadership, Victory Gardens acquired significant new funding and increased corporate, foundation and individual giving, and it built many new initiatives to attract young and diverse audiences to the theater.
“I don’t have any specific ‘next job’ yet,” said Kallish. “But I know that whatever I do will be both creative and entrepeneurial. That’s what I like to do; grow things. And as that line in ‘The Color Purple’ puts it: ‘When one door closes another opens’.”
Copyright © 2012 — Sun-Times Media, LLC
Dienstag, 23. Oktober 2012
Update
I'M so sorry about the lack of my postings. Maybe you interested in this website:
http://mytheatermusings.blogspot.de/
Click here
http://mytheatermusings.blogspot.de/
Click here
Sonntag, 2. September 2012
Chicago - 2008
THEATER REVIEW: "Eurydice" (★★★) runs through Nov. 9 at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.; Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes; Tickets: $20-$48 at 773-871-3000 and www.victorygardens.org. Lee Stark is Eurydice, left, and Jamie Abelson is Orpheus.
If you are getting married any time soon, you might want to take in Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” at the Victory Gardens Theater. And not just for its heroine’s shrewd observation that a wedding is just for a father and a daughter, and will inevitably leave all other parties adrift and afraid.
This beguiling little play manages, all at once, to be a love story, a reckoning of the tough choices love always demands, and a primer on how to deal with the loss of someone you loved so terribly much—be they lover, parent or child.
Unlike some other updated dramatic takes on classical mythology, this 90-minute retelling of the Orpheus myth obeys its own quirky rules, keeps its metaphors manageable and effects a very delightful simplicity. The sourcing myth helps.
Imagine that someone close to you has died. Imagine further that someone has offered to return that person to you, on the condition that you do not look back as you walk away from the afterlife from which you’re pulling her. Would you be able to stop yourself from checking she is there? Doesn’t the very existence of your love require you make sure she’s safe?
Ah, the paradoxes of antiquity. They still give you shivers.
“Eurydice,” the object of a series of rapturous, career-making, East Coast reviews in 2006 following a production at Yale Rep, was seen very early in its life at Piven Theatre, on the then-unknown playwright’s native North Shore. I damned it with faint praise. And while I have various excuses for that review, I surely missed the nascent power of the play. I figured that out a couple of years ago, but the new production at Victory Gardens convinced me again of this play’s honest beauty.
That’s not to say that this is a perfect production. This is one of those shows that need a whimsical environment and the kind of fluid staging that Lookingglass Theatre or the Goodman are known for. There’s certainly the attempt here, in a production team-directed by Sandy Shinner and Jessica Thebus and designed by Dan Ostling. Some of the time it works beautifully. Other times it feels like you’re watching the work of two directors who aren’t quite on the same page. And while I’m generally a huge fan of Ostling’s designs, the appeal of the ugly, brown, pock-marked walls eluded me.
On opening, the show seemed overly jittery and jumpy. Even after a year at the Biograph, Victory Gardens still doesn’t look comfortable from a production management standpoint. That needs fixing, pronto.
But the best scenes here are very powerful. The most emotionally reachable performance comes from the terrific Joe D. Lauck, who plays Eurydice’s father and whose love for his daughter seems to flow out into the theater in great waves. Once she settles down after an overly cutesy first scene, Lee Stark is very appealing in the title role—and has a quirky, Ruhl-like quality that helps when you’re starring in a Ruhl play. Jamie Abelson is an honest, likable Orpheus, albeit one needing a bit more fight. And character actors like Beau O’Reilly and William J. Norris are in fine fettle.
Clearly, everybody in the production understands the play. They just need to settle down and unlock the raw emotions of the text. I’d give it a week or two before you go, but if you’ve not seen “Eurydice,” I wouldn’t miss the chance.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2008/10/ponder-the-impo.html
Samstag, 25. August 2012
Demnächst in Berlin
In der nächsten Zeit gibt es in Berlin zwei Stücke, die ich bereits in London gesehen habe.
Beide waren mehr als toll und ich bin nicht sicher, ob ich mir in deutsch ansehen will.
Das erste Stück wäre "War Horse". Ich muss zugeben, dass ich nicht alle Dialoge verstanden habe, ein Grund also das Stück anzusehen.
Wer das Stück nicht kennt, hier gibt es ein paar Infos.
War Horse
Auf unserer Silvester-Reise nach London haben Marja und ich in diesem Jahr "End of the Rainbow" gesehen.
Gestern habe ich nun ein Plakat zu diesem Stück gesehen. Ehrlich gesagt, in London war es einfach perfekt. Es geht um Judy Garland und das in deutsch? Ich weiß nicht so Recht?
Infos zum Stück hier
Mal sehen was ich machen werde ?
Beide waren mehr als toll und ich bin nicht sicher, ob ich mir in deutsch ansehen will.
Das erste Stück wäre "War Horse". Ich muss zugeben, dass ich nicht alle Dialoge verstanden habe, ein Grund also das Stück anzusehen.
Wer das Stück nicht kennt, hier gibt es ein paar Infos.
War Horse
Auf unserer Silvester-Reise nach London haben Marja und ich in diesem Jahr "End of the Rainbow" gesehen.
Gestern habe ich nun ein Plakat zu diesem Stück gesehen. Ehrlich gesagt, in London war es einfach perfekt. Es geht um Judy Garland und das in deutsch? Ich weiß nicht so Recht?
Infos zum Stück hier
Mal sehen was ich machen werde ?
Sonntag, 22. Juli 2012
"Sister Act" in Hamburg
Ab und zu muss es auch einmal ein Musical sein. Schade nur, dass es so teuer ist.
"Sister Act" liegt in Hamburg in den Endzügen, im August macht man hier Schluß.
Es war unterhaltsam, nicht zu lang.
Am Tag danach habe ich eine Henry Moore Plastik "gefunden". Sie steht in einem kleinen Park in der Rothenbaumchausee.
"Sister Act" liegt in Hamburg in den Endzügen, im August macht man hier Schluß.
Es war unterhaltsam, nicht zu lang.
Am Tag danach habe ich eine Henry Moore Plastik "gefunden". Sie steht in einem kleinen Park in der Rothenbaumchausee.
"Frau Müller muss weg" in Dresden
Hier eine Inhaltsangabe:
Frau Müller muss weg
Frau Müller muss weg
Komödie von Lutz Hübner, Mitarbeit: Sarah Nemitz | Regie: Barbara Bürk | Uraufführung am 22. Januar 2010 | Kleines Haus 1
Die besorgte Elternschaft der Klasse 4 b hat die Klassenlehrerin Frau Müller um einen Termin gebeten, offenbar scheint es Probleme in der Klasse zu geben. Die Kleinen stehen gerade an einem entscheidenden Punkt ihrer schulischen Karriere, wird sich doch am Schuljahresende zeigen, wer den Sprung ins Gymnasium schafft – und wer eben nicht. Und so sitzen fünf entschlossene Erwachsene auf Kinderstühlchen zwischen Kastanienmännchen, Laubgirlanden und Kuschelecken, bereit, dem Feind ins Auge zu sehen. Denn für die Eltern ist längst klar, wer die Schuld an der Misere trägt – die erfahrene Lehrerin Sabine Müller scheint den pädagogischen Anforderungen seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr gewachsen zu sein. Dass das Problem nicht bei den Schülern zu suchen ist, davon ist jeder der Anwesenden überzeugt. Ihre Kinder sind alle ganz besondere kleine Persönlichkeiten, die ab und an spezieller Förderung bedürfen und die nicht etwa einfach Spätzünder, faul, unkonzentriert oder einfach mathematisch unbegabt sind. Die Fronten in diesem Kampf sind klar.
Lutz Hübner: „Am Elternabend zeigt sich, wie solidarisch eine Gesellschaft wirklich ist und wie sie mit Erfolg und Niederlagen umgeht. Da werden keine Gefangenen gemacht und keine Konzessionen. Wessis haben was gegen die Lehrerin aus dem Osten, Ossis finden die Westkinder völlig verzogen, soziale Vermischung schön und gut, aber doch nicht in der Klasse meines Kindes! Und weil an Elternabenden nicht nur Eltern um ihre Kinder kämpfen, sondern auch immer die Eltern für sich selbst, ist man sich im Vorfeld des Treffens einig geworden: Es geht darum, die blöden Bälger irgendwie durchzukriegen! Frau Müller muss weg!“
Lutz Hübner ist einer der meistgespielten deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsdramatiker, seine mehrfach preisgekrönten Stücke werden international gespielt. In seinen Jugend- und Familienstücken zeichnet er mit großem Gespür für Komik lebensnahe Figuren, die den Abgründen des Alltäglichen ausgeliefert sind. Die meisten seiner Stücke wurden in der Regie von Barbara Bürk uraufgeführt, die auch „Frau Müller muss weg“ im Kleinen Haus auf die Bühne bringen wird.
Dauer der Aufführung: 1 ½ Stunden, keine Pause
Die besorgte Elternschaft der Klasse 4 b hat die Klassenlehrerin Frau Müller um einen Termin gebeten, offenbar scheint es Probleme in der Klasse zu geben. Die Kleinen stehen gerade an einem entscheidenden Punkt ihrer schulischen Karriere, wird sich doch am Schuljahresende zeigen, wer den Sprung ins Gymnasium schafft – und wer eben nicht. Und so sitzen fünf entschlossene Erwachsene auf Kinderstühlchen zwischen Kastanienmännchen, Laubgirlanden und Kuschelecken, bereit, dem Feind ins Auge zu sehen. Denn für die Eltern ist längst klar, wer die Schuld an der Misere trägt – die erfahrene Lehrerin Sabine Müller scheint den pädagogischen Anforderungen seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr gewachsen zu sein. Dass das Problem nicht bei den Schülern zu suchen ist, davon ist jeder der Anwesenden überzeugt. Ihre Kinder sind alle ganz besondere kleine Persönlichkeiten, die ab und an spezieller Förderung bedürfen und die nicht etwa einfach Spätzünder, faul, unkonzentriert oder einfach mathematisch unbegabt sind. Die Fronten in diesem Kampf sind klar.
Lutz Hübner: „Am Elternabend zeigt sich, wie solidarisch eine Gesellschaft wirklich ist und wie sie mit Erfolg und Niederlagen umgeht. Da werden keine Gefangenen gemacht und keine Konzessionen. Wessis haben was gegen die Lehrerin aus dem Osten, Ossis finden die Westkinder völlig verzogen, soziale Vermischung schön und gut, aber doch nicht in der Klasse meines Kindes! Und weil an Elternabenden nicht nur Eltern um ihre Kinder kämpfen, sondern auch immer die Eltern für sich selbst, ist man sich im Vorfeld des Treffens einig geworden: Es geht darum, die blöden Bälger irgendwie durchzukriegen! Frau Müller muss weg!“
Lutz Hübner ist einer der meistgespielten deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsdramatiker, seine mehrfach preisgekrönten Stücke werden international gespielt. In seinen Jugend- und Familienstücken zeichnet er mit großem Gespür für Komik lebensnahe Figuren, die den Abgründen des Alltäglichen ausgeliefert sind. Die meisten seiner Stücke wurden in der Regie von Barbara Bürk uraufgeführt, die auch „Frau Müller muss weg“ im Kleinen Haus auf die Bühne bringen wird.
Dauer der Aufführung: 1 ½ Stunden, keine Pause
Source: http://www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de/home/frau_mueller_muss_weg/
Absolut sehenswert. Das Stück wird in vielen Städten Deutschlands aufgeführt, aber nun ist ja erst einmal Sommerpause.
Wir hatten außer dem Theater noch Zeit für die Stadt Dresden und was soll ich sagen, sie lohnt mehr als einen Besuch.
Hier ein paar Impression von einem verregneten Wochenende im Juli 2012.
Hier ein paar Impression von einem verregneten Wochenende im Juli 2012.
Dienstag, 7. Februar 2012
Alex Jennings in "Collaborators" and "The Art of Habit"
I'm watching "Whitechappell" right now and Alex Jennings was in it.
You can find more fotos on Facebook. Everybody seems to have fb these days :)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150367633373857.350975.107334993856&type=1
I saw him during my London trip 2012 in this play.
Collaborators
A new play by John Hodge (screenwriter of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, The Beach).
4 STARS 'Dream casting of Alex Jennings as Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale as Stalin... A truly tremendous double act which thrills, chills and makes you laugh out loud - even though you know you shouldn't.' Daily Telegraph
4 STARS ‘Collaborators is fresh and energetic, with a thick, throbbing vein of grotesque humour.’ Evening Standard
4 STARS ‘Rare and special… An absurdly fantastic view of Stalin, and it’s seriously funny.’ The Times
I really like it. Very interesting play, alot of information about Bulgakow, Stalin and the Soviet Union in the "old" days.
Here is waht the National Theatre website says:
Moscow, 1938. A dangerous place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.
Inspired by historical fact, Collaborators embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama.
Killing my enemies is easy. The challenge is to change the way they think, to control their minds. And I think I controlled yours pretty well. In years to come, I’ll be able to say: Bulgakov? Yeah, we even trained him. He gave up. He saw the light. We broke him, we can break anybody. It’s man versus monster, Mikhail. And the monster always wins.
John Hodge’s blistering new play depicts a lethal game of cat and mouse through which the appalling compromises and humiliations inflicted on any artist by those with power are held up to scrutiny.
Alex Jennings (The Habit of Art) plays Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale (London Assurance), Stalin.
You can find more fotos on Facebook. Everybody seems to have fb these days :)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150367633373857.350975.107334993856&type=1
Anyway back to Alex Jennings. He was great in a great play.
Second play I saw with him. The first one was "Te Art of Habit". Very different from this one but also good. "The Art of Habit" was on the big stage, "Collaborators" was in "The Olivier". Small theatre, the stage was kinda in the middle so everybody had a good look :)
This is a good blog about Alex Jennings - http://alexjennings.blogspot.com/2011/11/collaborators-pictures.html
Mittwoch, 11. Januar 2012
Three Days in May
I think this one was very good and very interesting history wise.
I just read this article more about my own opinion later.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTJANUARY 11, 2012
True, or False?
By GRAHAM STEWART
London
When in 2002 the BBC organized a viewers' poll to find the "Greatest Briton," there was some surprise that William Shakespeare managed only fifth place but none that Winston Churchill came out on top. The legacy of the British Empire, which at its peak stretched over a quarter of the world, went unrecognized: None of the soldiers and governors that created it made the top 100.
Keith Pattison
Warren Clarke as Winston Churchill in 'Three Days in May.'
It may seem contradictory that Britons appear to regard their country's imperial legacy with indifference while lauding the memory of a 20th-century statesman who believed so passionately in it. Yet enduring admiration for Churchill is based not on a balanced assessment of his 62-year parliamentary career. Rather, it rests primarily upon his determination for Britain to fight on against Nazi Germany in May 1940. With France on the verge of capitulation, Italy joining the fray on Germany's side, Stalin honoring his nonaggression pact with Hitler and no sign or even likelihood that the U.S. might enter the conflict, the chips were hardly stacked in Britain's favor when Churchill made one of the greatest gambles in history. The result was incontrovertibly his country's "finest hour," and by prolonging the conflict made the eventual Allied victory over Nazism possible.
Now London's theatergoers are being treated to a dramatic exploration of the making of that fateful decision, Ben Brown's "Three Days in May," which is billed as revealing the extent to which there was actually a "wobble" at the top. Did Churchill and his colleagues fleetingly consider a negotiated peace with Hitler? Might this be the moment that theater finally succeeds in reversing Churchill's "V for victory" hand gesture, rudely flicking it back at the great man in the British equivalent of the American single-finger salute?
Thus far, deference-free dramatists intent on toppling Britain's wartime prime minister from his pedestal have met with little success. There was a minor fuss in 1967 when the National Theatre's production of Rolf Hochhuth's "Soldiers" was canceled, though it ultimately made it to the London stage the following year. Mr. Hochhuth's efforts to indict Churchill for permitting the bombing of German cities got lost amid the play's absurd contention that the 1943 plane crash that killed Gen. Władysław Sikorski, the Free Polish leader, was actually a hit job ordered by Churchill. Mr. Hochhuth was influenced in peddling this nonsense by his friend David Irving, the sometime historian and now prominent Holocaust denier. Liberals who supported the "Soldiers" production in 1967 would probably be less keen to be seen promoting Mr. Irving's conspiracy theories nowadays.
It may also be doubted whether there is much demand for a revival of Howard Brenton's "The Churchill Play" (1974). In it, Mr. Brenton sought to pin his perception that Britain was heading toward a police state on what he regarded as the invidious myth of Churchill's greatness and the lie of British wartime unity.
The creator of "Three Days in May," Mr. Brown, shows himself to be very different from Messrs. Hochhuth and Brenton. Rather than treat a dead statesman as a useful dummy with which to practice the ventriloquism of modern discontents, the playwright has limited himself to bringing dramatic illumination to past events he has troubled himself to properly research.
Some may wonder whether the effort to accurately portray five aging men sitting around the War Cabinet table makes for great theater, though the reviews have generally been favorable. For the most part, this attempt to render truth rather than make-believe on a West End stage certainly deserves to be applauded. The accusation that the playwright has revealed nothing of substance about the political power-play between Churchill and the senior members of his cross-party coalition government that could not have been gleaned from the work of any serious historian writing on the subject during the past 30 years misses the point. The fact that the play's depiction of events has surprised critics and public alike ably demonstrates how good drama reaches audiences that even excellent historians struggle to touch.
At the heart of those War Cabinet discussions and of Mr. Brown's script is the divide between the resilient prime minister and his foreign secretary, Lord Halifax. The latter—seeing the peril Britain is in if it fights on without allies—argues that an appeal should be sent to Mussolini to see if he can broker an agreement with Hitler that would allow Britain to extract itself from the war—which had started in September 1939—on terms that would not compromise its fundamental sovereignty.
The seeming prospect of almost the entire British Expeditionary Force being wiped out or taken prisoner as the German Army advances toward the English Channel weighs in Halifax's favor. With the two Labour Party members of the War Cabinet prepared to fight on but politically out of their depth, Churchill realizes that he has to appear to take seriously his foreign secretary's proposal not only to prevent Halifax's damaging resignation but also that of Churchill's predecessor as prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, who is still in the War Cabinet and as leader of the Conservative Party could bring the government down and sue for peace.
Having read the critical War Cabinet minutes and also the private papers of its participants, I can verify the basic accuracy of Mr. Brown's portrayal. Necessarily, he has had to invent the dialogue in two tête-à-têtes Churchill has with Halifax and Chamberlain. I was not convinced that in reality Chamberlain would have conceded to Churchill that signing the Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938 was an error—a point upon which Chamberlain remained stubborn in his diary and family correspondence despite the policy's ultimate failure.
Elsewhere, however, Mr. Brown presents an authentically nuanced picture of Halifax's not dishonorable reasoning for seeking the soft option. Most compellingly paradoxical of all, this play demonstrates how it was that the old appeaser, Chamberlain, ended up playing such a pivotal role in supporting Churchill's insistence that "nations which went down fighting rose again, but those which surrendered tamely were finished."
Not only does "Three Days in May" end up showing, once again, Churchill's greatness in the moment of deadliest peril, but it even demonstrates how those among his colleagues who wobbled were far more complex than the well-worn caricatures would have us believe. Given the constraints of dramatic representation, that is no small achievement.
Mr. Stewart is the author of "Burying Caesar: The Churchill-Chamberlain Rivalry"(Overlook).
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com
I just read this article more about my own opinion later.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTJANUARY 11, 2012
True, or False?
By GRAHAM STEWART
London
When in 2002 the BBC organized a viewers' poll to find the "Greatest Briton," there was some surprise that William Shakespeare managed only fifth place but none that Winston Churchill came out on top. The legacy of the British Empire, which at its peak stretched over a quarter of the world, went unrecognized: None of the soldiers and governors that created it made the top 100.
Keith Pattison
Warren Clarke as Winston Churchill in 'Three Days in May.'
It may seem contradictory that Britons appear to regard their country's imperial legacy with indifference while lauding the memory of a 20th-century statesman who believed so passionately in it. Yet enduring admiration for Churchill is based not on a balanced assessment of his 62-year parliamentary career. Rather, it rests primarily upon his determination for Britain to fight on against Nazi Germany in May 1940. With France on the verge of capitulation, Italy joining the fray on Germany's side, Stalin honoring his nonaggression pact with Hitler and no sign or even likelihood that the U.S. might enter the conflict, the chips were hardly stacked in Britain's favor when Churchill made one of the greatest gambles in history. The result was incontrovertibly his country's "finest hour," and by prolonging the conflict made the eventual Allied victory over Nazism possible.
Now London's theatergoers are being treated to a dramatic exploration of the making of that fateful decision, Ben Brown's "Three Days in May," which is billed as revealing the extent to which there was actually a "wobble" at the top. Did Churchill and his colleagues fleetingly consider a negotiated peace with Hitler? Might this be the moment that theater finally succeeds in reversing Churchill's "V for victory" hand gesture, rudely flicking it back at the great man in the British equivalent of the American single-finger salute?
Thus far, deference-free dramatists intent on toppling Britain's wartime prime minister from his pedestal have met with little success. There was a minor fuss in 1967 when the National Theatre's production of Rolf Hochhuth's "Soldiers" was canceled, though it ultimately made it to the London stage the following year. Mr. Hochhuth's efforts to indict Churchill for permitting the bombing of German cities got lost amid the play's absurd contention that the 1943 plane crash that killed Gen. Władysław Sikorski, the Free Polish leader, was actually a hit job ordered by Churchill. Mr. Hochhuth was influenced in peddling this nonsense by his friend David Irving, the sometime historian and now prominent Holocaust denier. Liberals who supported the "Soldiers" production in 1967 would probably be less keen to be seen promoting Mr. Irving's conspiracy theories nowadays.
It may also be doubted whether there is much demand for a revival of Howard Brenton's "The Churchill Play" (1974). In it, Mr. Brenton sought to pin his perception that Britain was heading toward a police state on what he regarded as the invidious myth of Churchill's greatness and the lie of British wartime unity.
The creator of "Three Days in May," Mr. Brown, shows himself to be very different from Messrs. Hochhuth and Brenton. Rather than treat a dead statesman as a useful dummy with which to practice the ventriloquism of modern discontents, the playwright has limited himself to bringing dramatic illumination to past events he has troubled himself to properly research.
Some may wonder whether the effort to accurately portray five aging men sitting around the War Cabinet table makes for great theater, though the reviews have generally been favorable. For the most part, this attempt to render truth rather than make-believe on a West End stage certainly deserves to be applauded. The accusation that the playwright has revealed nothing of substance about the political power-play between Churchill and the senior members of his cross-party coalition government that could not have been gleaned from the work of any serious historian writing on the subject during the past 30 years misses the point. The fact that the play's depiction of events has surprised critics and public alike ably demonstrates how good drama reaches audiences that even excellent historians struggle to touch.
At the heart of those War Cabinet discussions and of Mr. Brown's script is the divide between the resilient prime minister and his foreign secretary, Lord Halifax. The latter—seeing the peril Britain is in if it fights on without allies—argues that an appeal should be sent to Mussolini to see if he can broker an agreement with Hitler that would allow Britain to extract itself from the war—which had started in September 1939—on terms that would not compromise its fundamental sovereignty.
The seeming prospect of almost the entire British Expeditionary Force being wiped out or taken prisoner as the German Army advances toward the English Channel weighs in Halifax's favor. With the two Labour Party members of the War Cabinet prepared to fight on but politically out of their depth, Churchill realizes that he has to appear to take seriously his foreign secretary's proposal not only to prevent Halifax's damaging resignation but also that of Churchill's predecessor as prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, who is still in the War Cabinet and as leader of the Conservative Party could bring the government down and sue for peace.
Having read the critical War Cabinet minutes and also the private papers of its participants, I can verify the basic accuracy of Mr. Brown's portrayal. Necessarily, he has had to invent the dialogue in two tête-à-têtes Churchill has with Halifax and Chamberlain. I was not convinced that in reality Chamberlain would have conceded to Churchill that signing the Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938 was an error—a point upon which Chamberlain remained stubborn in his diary and family correspondence despite the policy's ultimate failure.
Elsewhere, however, Mr. Brown presents an authentically nuanced picture of Halifax's not dishonorable reasoning for seeking the soft option. Most compellingly paradoxical of all, this play demonstrates how it was that the old appeaser, Chamberlain, ended up playing such a pivotal role in supporting Churchill's insistence that "nations which went down fighting rose again, but those which surrendered tamely were finished."
Not only does "Three Days in May" end up showing, once again, Churchill's greatness in the moment of deadliest peril, but it even demonstrates how those among his colleagues who wobbled were far more complex than the well-worn caricatures would have us believe. Given the constraints of dramatic representation, that is no small achievement.
Mr. Stewart is the author of "Burying Caesar: The Churchill-Chamberlain Rivalry"(Overlook).
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com
Samstag, 7. Januar 2012
"Legally Blonde" in London - 2012
Finally back in London. Last play of the trip was the musical "Legally Blonde". You might ask why ? We attended the Olivier Awards 2011 and this musical won - awards and the sympathy of the people. It was so great to see the winning actress.
I thought it would be a good end to see something funny and entertaining - so Legally Blonde was in the schedule.
The half price tickets costs still 40 euro.
everybody in the audience was excited , specially the young girls. Of course everybody knows the story and so he fun began.
Instead from the original actress (she won the Olivier Award) is now a other girl Elle. In my experience is she too old - sorry.
ans I guess not so energetic but after while you get use to her and the musical.
Looking back I cant remember a hit song. Some songs are more fun than the others, but no - no real hit here.
ANway here is a review from Michael Billington (The Guardian) - but from 2010
Legally Blonde the Musical
Savoy, London
3 / 5
It is, of course, preposterous: an LA fashion student conquers Harvard law school and becomes a courtroom star. But, for all its absurdity, I found this Broadway musical infinitely more enjoyable than the 2001 Hollywood movie on which it is based.
Legally Blonde the Musical
Savoy,
London
Until 23 May
Box office:
0844 871 7687
It is a piece of pure pop-kitsch that, in Jerry Mitchell's production, exists on a level of bubble-headed fantasy that has no connection with reality.
For those who have missed the movie franchise, the premise is simple enough. Elle Woods is a fashion merchandising major suddenly dumped by her beau who wants someone more "serious".
So, clutching her little chihuahua, she gains entrance to Harvard law school, where she is initially mocked for her pink outfits and ditzy style.
But, after reading a book or two, she's accepted as an intern by a top lawyer who's defending a fitness guru in a murder trial.
Using her fashion expertise to crack the prosecution case, Elle is transformed into an American equivalent of George Carman.
Even allowing for the goofiness of the story, there are things that stick in the craw.
Although the score by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin improves as it goes along, it begins with a screeching evocation of sorority life that made me think back wistfully to the seductive choric opening of a 60s show like Bye Bye Birdie.
Heather Hach's book also patronisingly assumes that Harvard professors are gullible jerks and its students militant snobs.
And the story's fashion fetish is pushed to ridiculous lengths: there's a bizarre moment when Elle's one postgrad friend is given a makeover in which his perfectly decent cords are swapped for a trendy, loose-fitting suit that makes him look like the skeleton in someone's closet.
That's unintentionally absurd. But where the musical succeeds is in heightening the story's comedy.
The sub-plot, in which Elle comes to the aid of a lovelorn manicurist, is much sparkier than in the movie: partly because the hand-merchant is turned into a woozy Celtic romantic and partly because her stud-like rescuer, who show-stoppingly announces: "I've got a package", is sufficiently Irish to justify an outbreak of Riverdance.
Even the silliness of the courtroom scene is enhanced by having the sexual preferences of the defendant's pool guy turned into a big production number with everyone inquiring: "Is he gay or European?"
Sheridan Smith as Elle is also far more vivacious than Reese Witherspoon. Smith is perky, trim, and sings and dances excellently.
But her true star quality lies in her sense of mischief, which I first noticed when she was a teenager appearing with the National Youth Music Theatre.
Blessed with the long upper lip of a natural comic, Smith sails buoyantly through the show with a radiant smile as if warning us not to take it too seriously.
Even the character's transformation from Bel Air princess, claiming "Simon Cowell is our neighbour", to judicial wizard is played less as if it were a feminist statement than a piece of haphazard make-believe.
Mitchell's choreography also gives the show a lift and there is good support from Alex Gaumond as Elle's campus ally, Jill Halfpenny as the messed-up manicurist, and Chris Ellis-Stanton as the hilariously macho messenger boy.
It's worth adding that the producers, breaking with first-night custom, invited critics to a choice of previews.
I can only report that the predominantly female audience with whom I saw the show seemed to be having a whale of a time and did not give a damn about the fact that the musical is little more than a nonsensical fairytale.
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
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x
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My resumee:
nice, entertaining but not a must see.
I thought it would be a good end to see something funny and entertaining - so Legally Blonde was in the schedule.
The half price tickets costs still 40 euro.
everybody in the audience was excited , specially the young girls. Of course everybody knows the story and so he fun began.
Instead from the original actress (she won the Olivier Award) is now a other girl Elle. In my experience is she too old - sorry.
ans I guess not so energetic but after while you get use to her and the musical.
Looking back I cant remember a hit song. Some songs are more fun than the others, but no - no real hit here.
ANway here is a review from Michael Billington (The Guardian) - but from 2010
Legally Blonde the Musical
Savoy, London
3 / 5
It is, of course, preposterous: an LA fashion student conquers Harvard law school and becomes a courtroom star. But, for all its absurdity, I found this Broadway musical infinitely more enjoyable than the 2001 Hollywood movie on which it is based.
Legally Blonde the Musical
Savoy,
London
Until 23 May
Box office:
0844 871 7687
It is a piece of pure pop-kitsch that, in Jerry Mitchell's production, exists on a level of bubble-headed fantasy that has no connection with reality.
For those who have missed the movie franchise, the premise is simple enough. Elle Woods is a fashion merchandising major suddenly dumped by her beau who wants someone more "serious".
So, clutching her little chihuahua, she gains entrance to Harvard law school, where she is initially mocked for her pink outfits and ditzy style.
But, after reading a book or two, she's accepted as an intern by a top lawyer who's defending a fitness guru in a murder trial.
Using her fashion expertise to crack the prosecution case, Elle is transformed into an American equivalent of George Carman.
Even allowing for the goofiness of the story, there are things that stick in the craw.
Although the score by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin improves as it goes along, it begins with a screeching evocation of sorority life that made me think back wistfully to the seductive choric opening of a 60s show like Bye Bye Birdie.
Heather Hach's book also patronisingly assumes that Harvard professors are gullible jerks and its students militant snobs.
And the story's fashion fetish is pushed to ridiculous lengths: there's a bizarre moment when Elle's one postgrad friend is given a makeover in which his perfectly decent cords are swapped for a trendy, loose-fitting suit that makes him look like the skeleton in someone's closet.
That's unintentionally absurd. But where the musical succeeds is in heightening the story's comedy.
The sub-plot, in which Elle comes to the aid of a lovelorn manicurist, is much sparkier than in the movie: partly because the hand-merchant is turned into a woozy Celtic romantic and partly because her stud-like rescuer, who show-stoppingly announces: "I've got a package", is sufficiently Irish to justify an outbreak of Riverdance.
Even the silliness of the courtroom scene is enhanced by having the sexual preferences of the defendant's pool guy turned into a big production number with everyone inquiring: "Is he gay or European?"
Sheridan Smith as Elle is also far more vivacious than Reese Witherspoon. Smith is perky, trim, and sings and dances excellently.
But her true star quality lies in her sense of mischief, which I first noticed when she was a teenager appearing with the National Youth Music Theatre.
Blessed with the long upper lip of a natural comic, Smith sails buoyantly through the show with a radiant smile as if warning us not to take it too seriously.
Even the character's transformation from Bel Air princess, claiming "Simon Cowell is our neighbour", to judicial wizard is played less as if it were a feminist statement than a piece of haphazard make-believe.
Mitchell's choreography also gives the show a lift and there is good support from Alex Gaumond as Elle's campus ally, Jill Halfpenny as the messed-up manicurist, and Chris Ellis-Stanton as the hilariously macho messenger boy.
It's worth adding that the producers, breaking with first-night custom, invited critics to a choice of previews.
I can only report that the predominantly female audience with whom I saw the show seemed to be having a whale of a time and did not give a damn about the fact that the musical is little more than a nonsensical fairytale.
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
x
x
x
My resumee:
nice, entertaining but not a must see.
Abonnieren
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