thu 12/12/2024

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Theartsdesk
Tuesday, 31 December 2024
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic...
James Saynor
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Lauded by Auden, detested by Edmund Wilson, the Tolkien sagas have divided many from childhood onwards: for kids, they’re not quite pulpy enough to be the first choice for a...
Guy Oddy
Thursday, 12 December 2024
The Jesus and Mary Chain may have been around for some 40 years (albeit on and off), but the Reid brothers clearly have no intention of setting up camp in the heritage music...
Kieron Tyler
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Death of Music was created in Estonia. Despite the English lyrics, directness is absent. Take the title track. “Drop the music” exhorts Mart Avi over its pulsing five minutes. “...
Helen Hawkins
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
There is something deliciously perfect about the timing of The Producers’ arrival at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In these twitchy times, Mel Brooks’s scurrilous Hitler musical...
Alexandra Coghlan
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
There are no battlement leaps or murderous vows, no pistols or daggers, not so much as a slight cough disturbs the serene plot of La rondine – the Puccini opera once labelled a “...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Hermia is a headbutting punk with a tartan fetish, Oberon looks like Adam Ant and Lysander appears to have stumbled out of a...
Robert Beale
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile is not exactly a French farce, but it comes from a post-Offenbach era (1877 saw its premiere)...
Bernard Hughes
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
The Christmas album is an American phenomenon that doesn’t really exist in British music. Dating back to Frank Sinatra and...
Adam Sweeting
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
It’s rare to spot Keira Knightley in a TV series, and it’s no doubt a sign of changing times that she’s starring in this six...
Jonathan Geddes
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
When Vampire Weekend arrived onstage they numbered only three and were bunched together at the front with a large curtain...
Nick Hasted
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Patriotic Italian films set during the Fascist war effort are understandably rare UK releases. Submarine commander Salvatore...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 09 December 2024
Those with treasured battered copies of Noel Streatfield’s 1936 story of three young adopted sisters in pre-war London may...
Bernard Hughes
Monday, 09 December 2024
Connaught Brass is a quintet of twenty-something players rapidly establishing an enviable reputation, and on the evidence of...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 09 December 2024
Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella? Prokofiev’s two great scores have provided the Royal Ballet with a pair of popular hits,...
Sarah Kent
Monday, 09 December 2024
If you suffer from lepidopterophobia, this film will either cure your fear of moths or push you over the edge. Warning:...
India Lewis
Monday, 09 December 2024
On a wet, dreary, winter evening in north London, at Islington Assembly Hall, a crowd gathered for an ethereal although not...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 08 December 2024
For John Leyton, it was third time lucky as far as his singles were concerned. The actor’s manager Robert Stigwood teamed...
Nick Hasted
Saturday, 07 December 2024
Somewhere in Germany, G7 conference leaders including German Chancellor Ortmann (Cate Blanchett) and US President Wolcott (...

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★★★★ GRAND THEFT HAMLET Shakespeare as multi-player shooter game

★★★★ BALLET SHOES, NATIONAL THEATRE Reimagined classic with a contemporary feel

JOHN LEYTON ‘Johnny Remember Me’, Joe Meek and the evolution of British pop

 HANSEL AND GRETEL, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Songs and sweeties, but insufficient sourness and sadism for fans of fairytales

★★★ CINDERELLA, ROYAL BALLET Inspiring dancing, but not quite casting the desired spell

★ THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, ENO Fresh energy in clear-sighted G&S

disc of the day

Album: Ajukaja & Mart Avi - Death of Music

Estonian electronica duo enter a domain where nothing is explicit

The future of Arts Journalism

 

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Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

film

The Commander review - the good Italian

Chivalrous valour at sea from a real World War Two hero

new music

Album: Ajukaja & Mart Avi - Death of Music

Estonian electronica duo enter a domain where nothing is explicit

Album: Ben Folds - Sleigher

Folds’ nuanced originals are much better than the by-numbers seasonal covers

classical

Christmas with Connaught Brass, Milton Court review - delightful seasonal fare from Bach to Boulanger

Young quintet dazzle with their technical accomplishment and easy charm

Classical CDs: Christmas 2024

The year's best seasonal releases

Giltburg, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth, Portsmouth Guildhall review - seemingly effortless élan

New chief conductor turns Tchaikovsky waltz king, and a Rachmaninov partnership flows

opera

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L’étoile, RNCM, Manchester review - lavish and cheerful absurdity

Teamwork to the fore in a multi-credit operatic comedy

theatre

The Producers, Menier Chocolate Factory review - liberating taboo-busting fun for grown-ups
Director Patrick Marber does Mel Brooks's 1967 musical proud
Hansel and Gretel, Shakespeare's Globe review - too saccharine a retelling for our times
Songs and sweeties, but insufficient sourness and sadism for fans of fairytales

dance

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Ballet Shoes, Olivier Theatre review - reimagined classic with a lively contemporary feel

The basics of Streatfeild's original aren't lost in this bold, inventive production

comedy

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Kemah Bob, Soho Theatre review - Thailand, massage and mental health

Texan's full-length debut is a personal story

Books

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Jeff Young: Wild Twin review - a box of tricks

Fragments cohere in this dog-eared history of an itinerant life

Interview: rising star Chloe Savage on the Arctic, outer space, and igniting children's wonder for the unknown

Beautiful books take you to worlds that are intricately imagined and a feast for the eye

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