Arts
End of the Rainbow
The golden age of pop music may be long gone, but the golden age of pop musicians’ obituaries is definitely…
Beauty and the bleak
The Ice Break is Michael Tippett’s fourth opera, first produced at Covent Garden in 1977 and rarely produced anywhere since,…
Crossing cultures
For an Indian woman to make a dancework about La Bayadère is a promising prospect. This classical ballet of 1877…
Ayckbourn again
Experts are concerned that Alan Ayckbourn’s plays may soon face extinction. Fewer than 80 of these precious beasts still exist…
All that glitters is not gold
Woman in Gold feels rather like a Jewish version of Philomena as this too is about an older woman seeking…
Comics’ trip
Who says British television lacks imagination? You might have thought, for example, that every possible combination of comedian and travel…
Keeping the faith
There was no shortage of Easter music and talks across the BBC networks with a sunrise service on Radio 4…
James Bond
For fans of the franchise who remain unconvinced by Daniel Craig’s time on her majesty’s secret service, the stories leaking…
Culture buff
Writers’ Festivals may well be taking over the world. Worse things could happen but their expanding scale and level of…
Crossing cultures
For an Indian woman to make a dancework about La Bayadère is a promising prospect. This classical ballet of 1877…
End of the Rainbow
The golden age of pop music may be long gone, but the golden age of pop musicians’ obituaries is definitely…
End of the Rainbow
The golden age of pop music may be long gone, but the golden age of pop musicians’ obituaries is definitely…
James Bond
For fans of the franchise who remain unconvinced by Daniel Craig’s time on her majesty’s secret service, the stories leaking…
James Bond
For fans of the franchise who remain unconvinced by Daniel Craig’s time on her majesty’s secret service, the stories leaking…
His remastered voice
Damian Thompson on the audio anoraks rescuing some of the greatest recordings ever made
Blunt and bloody
A wicked deception is sprung in the opening moments of this New York-originated concert staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh…
Lime light
In April 1501, about the time Michelangelo was returning from Rome to Florence to compete for the commission to carve…
Twenty/forty vision
Every time I sit down to a Noah Baumbach film I think I’m going to hate it, but I never…
Monky business
We ballet-goers may be the most self-deceiving audiences in theatre. Put a ‘new work’ in front of us and half…
A family at war
Bad Jews has completed its long trek from a smallish out-of-town venue to a full-scale West End berth. Billed as…
Recorded delivery
‘You can hear pretty clearly the sound of one of the helicopters and you can see it in the darkness,’…
The actor-commentariat
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
Culture Buff
The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn was greatly loved by our generation and several before us. It is derived from…
Wife swap
My impression that Bach has come to rival Shakespeare as a flawless reference point in the cultural life of the…
Screen grab
Ever since Boy got back from school my work schedule has fallen to pieces. Every few minutes, just when I’ve…
