Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

We watched Feud, the TV series about the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, which was entertaining and also presented one of the basic problems both women faced as they aged - the lack of good roles for older women, and their general lack of power within Hollywood.
Joan Crawford was played by Jessica Lange and Bette Davis by Susan Sarandon. I knew little about either woman and had seen none of their films.

Since then we've watched All About Eve(1950), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Jezebel (1938). I'm impressed.

Macbeth at Roundhouse - TV

Dark, dramatic (at first it seemed a bit much) but very gripping.

Shakespeare in Italy (TV)

Is this where Will spent those 'lost years'?
Shakespeare in Italy

Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Othello.

Crollalanza - a Sicilian name!!

Merchant of Venice Film

from 1973, with Laurence Olivier as Shylock, Joan Plowright as Portia.  Raises the usual questions about anti-Semitism, context etc.  Always gripping.
A stronger than usual hint that Shylock has died with the last scene of Jessica holding a letter and in the background kaddish is sung.

Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare's Globe on TV

Very well done. Lively acting, and the comic sections were excellent as gloom-breakers.

Black Swan

Mixed feelings about his film, but I watched from start to finish, on TV, without floating to sleep.  Just noting it down today - will say more later.

Very much the dark side of the ballet world.

Tosca - from NY Met - on TV

Miserable and compelling.  This production was controversial, indeed booed on the opening night, partly because it was such a contrast to the lavish Zeffirelli production of Tosca, which had been performed at the Met for some time. The scenery was much less elaborate.  Bondy's production also shocked by exposing a breast on the Madonna, and introducing three prostitutes into the scene in Act Two where the evil and lecherous Secret Police Chief, Scappia, is planning how to seduce Tosca and kill off her lover the painter, Cavaradossi.

As usual I was like the open-eyed kid watching, loving every minute of the story, and found the settings superb.

A Streetcar named Desire - Tennessee Williams - Elia Kazan

The 1951 film, in black and white, with Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois and Kim Hunter as Stella.

Blanche Dubois is an ageing Southern Belle who’s been sacked from her job as a teacher for having an affair with a 17-year-old student, after her husband has committed suicide, and the family estates have been 'lost'.  She continues to live out her fantasies, attempting to seduce any potential suitors.

She arrives in New Orleans, where her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski live in an apartment in the French Quarter.

There’s a marked contrast between Blanche’s pseudo-refinement and Kowalski’s coarseness and domination of Stella.  Stanley discovers some of the secrets of Blanche’s past, and brings this into the open, resulting in her having a nervous breakdown. In the end Stanley has her committed to a mental institution.

Stella leaves Stanley, and the final scene has him desperately calling her name.

Claustrophobic – almost all the scenes take place inside the apartment, where it’s impossible to escape from the others, or from the neighbours.  Iconic scenes  - gambling and drinking, domestic rows and reconciliations, Blanche’s attempts to ‘keep up appearances’.  

A note from wikipedia about the title:

The Desire Line ran from 1920 to 1948, at the height of streetcar use in New Orleans. The route ran down Bourbon, through the Quarter, to Desire Street in the Bywater district, and back up to Canal. Blanche's route in the play — "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!" — is allegorical, taking advantage of New Orleans colorful street names.The Desire Line ran from 1920 to 1948, at the height of streetcar use in New Orleans. The route ran down Bourbon, through the Quarter, to Desire Street in the Bywater district, and back up to Canal. Blanche's route in the play — "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!" — is allegorical, taking advantage of New Orleans colorful street names.

One thing I hadn't realised was that the Almodóvar film All About my Mother was influenced by the dialogue of some of the supporting characters in Streetcar.

Up - Pixar Disney animation

The animation is so good you almost forget about it. Great effects, with the flying house supported by helium balloons, some dizzy heights and impossible swinging around on the end of ropes.






And the message, live your dreams, but don't get stuck in the same one for ever?  And heroes can turn out to be villains too.

Albert Herring on TV

Performed in Rouen. 2009.

Based on a Conte by Guy de Maupassant - 'Le Rosier de Madame Husson'.
Very funny, but of course with serious undertones. Much lighter than Peter Grimes.

Il Viaggio a Reims - Rossini (on TV)

A recording of the production at the Chatelet in Paris,  a combined effort of the Kirov Opera and Théâtre du Châtelet

Had me googling to remind myself of the history I "studied" years ago.  This one-act opera was written to celebrate the coronation of Charles X of France in 1824.  The monarchy was briefly restored after the Revolutionary years, and Napoleon.

Some very entertaining singing and acting - particularly the Contessa de Folleville (great name) in her extravagant costumes.  No wonder we could hardly follow the plot, though - there isn't much of one - a crowd of European aristos trying to get to Reims for the coronation, and the problems they have.

(I may add more later.)

Die Fledermaus on TV

This was the 1990 performance at Covent Garden, on New Years Eve, where Joan Sutherland made her last public appearance in the party scene - in fact she, Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne almost hi-jacked the opera. ;-)

Alas no subtitles.  They would have helped, even though the singing was in English.  An odd one - with a lot of talking , which did help to understand the story - which basically involves a lot of flirting and deception and confusion of identities all round.

Peter Grimes - Britten

NY Met Opera from 2008, televised.

Brilliant scenery, totally in tune with the dark story-line and the powerful music.  Based on the Net-drying sheds at Hastings .

Review in New York Times

More on Peter Grimes as a character from the Independent 2004

Jane Eyre - with Charlotte Gaisbourg

Gainsbourg makes a fine adult Jane, but the action feels very compressed.

Opera on TV - Tales of Hoffmann

More details later - great visuals in the production we saw.

Hansel and Gretel

This was a recording from the New York Met seen on TV.  We started watching towards the end of scene 1, just before Mother arrives home to scold the children, and watched through to the end.


An absorbing and very dark fairytale, with, of course, a happy ending.  Great scenery and stage effects - quite Alice in Wonderland in places, especially the fantasy banquet scene with the chefs and the butler-fish.  I wasn't sure whether they were evil or good.


Odd to hear opera in English - good to have subtitles even so! 


Here's a link to  a 2007 review of the production http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/arts/music/26gret.html