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Note: This story contains spoilers from “Grotesquerie” Episode 7.

After the first six episodes, you would be forgiven for thinking “Grotesquerie” is just another Ryan Murphy show — a thriller filled with larger-than-life characters, brilliant actors and lovingly rendered horror. But like “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story” and “Pose” before it, “Grotesquerie” marks a huge creative swing for the acclaimed showrunner. And it all comes down to Episode 7’s big twist.

“I’ve never done anything that worked out in advance, that meticulously designed,” series co-creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy told TheWrap. “It was so fun to do.”

It’s a fitting addition for a fall that marks Murphy’s official return to FX under its new parent company, Disney.

In its first six episodes, “Grotesquerie” tells the story of Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts), an alcoholic detective whose husband is trapped in a coma. When a serial killer with a knack for staging morbid,...

“The Fabulous Four,” Bette Midler’s ensemble wedding comedy costarring Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph, features more than just four funny acting performances from the powerhouse quartet. The late-in-life bridesmaids have a couple musical surprises up their sleeves, too.

Marilyn (Midler) is getting married and has invited her three lifelong girlfriends to celebrate with her in Key West. Her husband, who she stole from her so-called best friend Lou (Sarandon) back in the day, died only six months before the engagement, but Marilyn is ready for a second wind.

Ralph and Mullally join the wedding party for some silly, sexy antics, too — penis antennae and Kegal balls may be involved.

Musical theater vets Midler and Ralph sing a surprise duet of Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now.” And Mullally joins Michael Bolton for a cameo to perform “One Life,” written by the Grammy Award winner himself.

Exclusive: Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session) has signed on to star in Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess, the latest film from director Nick Cassavetes. Billed as the first-ever major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica, the film also has Shia Labeouf (Padre Pio) in talks to star and will enter production in November.

Scripted by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman, Bruno Penguin is based on a Vanity Fair article from the latter which tells the true story of adventurous Swiss photographer Bruno Zehnder, a superb artist who spent the last 20 years of his life in Antarctica photographing Emperor penguins. He was obsessed by them – their kindness, the way they lived, their deep levels of affection for one another. Bruno spent his life trying to learn how to communicate with them and over time, the colonies grew to know him and return his fondness.

Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy will lead the adaptation of Enid Blyton’s children’s book The Magic Faraway Tree, with principal photography to begin in June.

The film is produced by Pippa Harris for Neal Street Productions, with Danny Perkins of Elysian Film Group and Jane Hooks. Executive producers are Ashland Hill Media Finance’s Simon Williams, Joe Simpson and Jonathan Bross, and Palisade Park Pictures’ Tamara Birkemoe.

Ben Gregor is directing from a script by Wonka and Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby. The Magic Faraway Tree is based on Blyton’s The Faraway Tree novel series. It follows a...

Anthony Hopkins may be in his late eighties, but he is far from retirement as The Hollywood Reporter announces that he is set to star in the upcoming biopic The King of Covent Garden, starring as composer George Frideric Handel. The veteran actor is widely recognized for his performances on the screen and stage as well as his portrayal of a variety of real-life characters over the years of his long career. He has starred as Richard Nixon in Nixon, Sigmund Freud in Freud's Last Session, Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock and Adolf Hitler in The Bunker.

Anthony Hopkins, who has embodied a cast of real-life characters in his long career, ranging from Richard Nixon (in Nixon) and Sigmund Freund (Freud’s Last Session) to Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock), and Adolf Hitler (1981 TV movie The Bunker), is set to play composer George Frideric Handel in the upcoming feature The King of Covent Garden.

Minamata filmmaker Andrew Levitas is attached to direct the biopic focused on how the German-British Baroque composer created his 1741 masterpiece Messiah. Tim Slover wrote the screenplay. Dan Lupovitz and Kevan Van Thompson will produce.

Opera star Katherine Jenkins is attached as an executive producer on the project and will be involved as a musical advisor on the project as well as helping with future marketing efforts. Peter Touche (Military Wives, The Son) is also executive producing.

Embankment Films is handling global pre-sales on The King of Covent Garden and will be pitching it to buyers at...

Anthony Hopkins is taking on yet another iconic figure, this time from the world of music.

The stage and screen legend — a two-time Academy Award winner — is attached to star as George Frideric Handel in “The King of Covent Garden,” set during the period the famed opera composer worked on his choral masterpiece “Messiah.” Embankment Films has launched global pre-sales on the project, which is scheduled for a late fall 2025 release.

Andrew Levitas (“Minimata”) will direct “The King of Covent Garden” from a script by Tim Slover, with the filmmakers pitching the feature as “a powerfully majestic celebration of genius breaking all the rules to create an anthem inspiring the popular imagination of global audiences.” Dan Lupovitz (“Death Defying Acts,” “Simpatico”) and Kevan Van Thompson (“Ballerina,” “Jojo Rabbit”) will produce.

Global operatic mezzo-soprano star Katherine Jenkins joins Peter Touche (“Military Wives,” “Blinded by the Light”) as executive producer, adding her musical performance,...

The UK’s Embankment Films has launched global pre-sales on The King Of Covent Garden starring Anthony Hopkins as composer George Frideric Handel.

The film is billed as a celebration of the genius of the Baroque composer, who was born in what is modern-day Germany before moving to London in 1712. While living in the UK he composed his masterpiece Messiah in 1741, taking inspiration from a singer named Susannah, who is yet to be cast.

US filmmaker Andrew Levitas directs from a script by Tim Slover. US-based Dan Lupovitz and Kevan Van Thompson produce.

“The storytelling is hinged upon an unlikely pair,...

The 2023 Cherry Orchard Festival, running from June – July 2023 across the nation, presents Polina Osetinskaya at 92Ny on June 10, 2023 at 8pm at 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128. As part of her North American tour, Osetinskaya will perform some of the most enduring musical masterpieces in history featured in some of the world’s greatest films. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.92ny.org/event/polina-osetinskaya-piano.

Polina Osetinskaya

Polina Osetinskaya makes a triumphant solo return to the United States, after a critically acclaimed appearance at Carnegie Hall with Maxim Vengerov in October 2022. With her signature virtuosity, Osetinskaya brings to life seminal works by Bach, Handel and Rameau, from epic films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” Anthony Minghella’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon,” and others. The dramatic qualities of the music, which had once enhanced the pivotal moments in these great films,...

Like “Bridgerton,” “Queen Charlotte features orchestral covers of modern music, but an original composition by Kris Bowers kicks off the soundtrack during Charlotte and George’s wedding in the first episode.

Bowers co-wrote “A Feeling I’ve Never Been” with Tayla Parx based on the work of Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a Creole composer who was one of the first men of color to become known for his compositions, and who also happened to be an excellent fencer (and the subject of the 2022 film “Chevalier.”)

“We looked at a few pieces that inspired us and then came up with this seed of an idea that we then built into this larger piece, and so because we approached it with much more of a songwriting way rather than score, that’s why it belongs with some of those other [soundtrack] songs, but it was part of a larger idea that Alex...

Have you ever wondered who the musical genius behind some of the most beautiful melodies of the 19th century was? Look no further than Vincenzo Bellini.

Bellini was a celebrated composer and musician whose music has been performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. He created some of the most beloved operas of all time, including “La sonnambula,” “I puritani,” and “La Norma.” Bellini’s influence can still be heard in modern operas today, as his intricate compositions perfectly capture the emotive and romantic side of human nature with their sweeping melodies and lush orchestrations.

In this article, we’ll explore Bellini’s life and music, from his early years to his mastery of opera. We will also discuss his unique influence on the world of classical music and the way it has shaped our understanding today. So join us as we journey through Bellini’s remarkable life in music!

An anthem written by Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of 12 new pieces of music commissioned by King Charles for his coronation.

Lloyd Webber said he was “incredibly honoured” to have been given the opportunity to compose a new number. “My anthem includes words slightly adapted from Psalm 98. I have scored it for the Westminster Abbey choir and organ, the ceremonial brass and orchestra.”

The maestro also said he hoped the anthem “reflects this joyous occasion” when the new king is crowned.

Lloyd Webber, 74, was among those who travelled to Buckingham Palace to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II, after her death in September last year.

In a tribute posted to Twitter, he honoured the queen as “the most extraordinary ambassador” and thanked her for “all she has done”.

King Charles’s coronation is scheduled to be held on 6 May, and he has selected the musical programme for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, the English composer who created the scores for blockbuster musicals such as “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita”, has written the anthem for King Charles III’s coronation, adapting a piece of church music that encourages singers to make a “joyful noise.”

The work by Webber is one of a dozen new pieces Charles commissioned for the grand occasion taking place May 6 at Westminster Abbey. It includes words adapted from Psalm 98 and is scored specifically for the abbey’s choir and organ.

“I hope my anthem reflects this joyful occasion,” Webber said in a statement distributed by Buckingham Palace.

Read More: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Won’t Attend King Charles’ Coronation If Atmosphere Remains ‘Toxic’: Source

The program for the king’s coronation ceremony includes older music and new compositions as the palace seeks to blend traditional and modern elements that reflect the realities of modern Britain.

Ozzy Osbourne is a natural storyteller. All you have to do is mention Eric Clapton, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, his Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi, or any of the other guests on his new solo album, Patient Number 9, and he usually has a hilarious memory at the ready. In interviews for Rolling Stone’s recent deep profile on Osbourne and his health struggles, he shared many funny and revealing tales about his friends and himself. Here’s what we couldn’t fit in that story.

1. Ozzy has strong opinions about what makes music “heavy.

In the hours immediately following the death of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral on Thursday (8 September), the crowds gathering outside of Buckingham Palace in London came together to sing both “God Save the Queen” for the late sovereign and “God Save the King” for her eldest son and successor, the former Prince of Wales, now known as King Charles III.

The latter phrasing will have been eerily unfamiliar to many, having not been sung on these shores since 1952 when the reign of Elizabeth’s father, George VI, came to an abrupt end.

The song was fist adopted as the UK and Commonwealth’s national anthem in September 1745 during the reign of George III, a year after its lyrics appeared in print for the first time in The Gentleman’s Magazine and its music was set down in ink in the pages of the Thesaurus Musicus anthology at a time when...

In the hours immediately following the death of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral on Thursday (8 September), the crowds gathering outside of Buckingham Palace in London came together to sing both “God Save the Queen” for the late sovereign and “God Save the King” for her eldest son and successor, the former Prince of Wales, now known as King Charles III.

The latter phrasing will have been eerily unfamiliar to many, having not been sung on these shores since 1952 when the reign of Elizabeth’s father, George VI, came to an abrupt end.

The song was fist adopted as the UK and Commonwealth’s national anthem in September 1745 during the reign of George III, a year after its lyrics appeared in print for the first time in The Gentleman’s Magazine and its music was set down in ink in the pages of the Thesaurus Musicus anthology at a time when...

Procol Harum frontman Gary Brooker, who led the band throughout their 55-year history and co-wrote and sang their 1967 classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” died at his home from cancer on Saturday, Feb. 19. He was 76.

“His first single with Procol Harum, 1967’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale,’ is widely regarded as defining ‘The Summer of Love’, yet it could scarcely have been more different from the characteristic records of that era,” Procol Harum said in a group statement. “Nor was it characteristic of his own writing. Over thirteen albums Procol...

The U.S. release of Julia Ducournau’s historic Palme d’Or winner “Titane” is right around the corner, and IndieWire is marking the occasion by exclusively premiering the first track from Jim Williams’ wild original score. “Titane” reunites Ducournau and Williams after their breakthrough work on the filmmaker’s feature directorial debut “Raw.” The first track released from the “Titane” score is the main theme “Sarabande,” an ominous, pulsating piece of music that’s indicative of the darkly foreboding quality of Ducournau’s vision.

“The score for ‘Titane’ grows from a short theme for a scene where the protagonist leaves home in startling circumstances,” Williams said in a statement. “Initially in a contemporary popular music style with a tinge of John Barry, later this was set with metal percussion and male voice choir using the Neapolitan Minor for a scene set in a car. As the film develops the theme takes on an emotional,...

If you're still not over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding, this new detail about their big day is going to turn you into a mess. On Friday, an exhibition called A Royal Wedding: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex was unveiled at Windsor Castle, where visitors can see Meghan and Harry's wedding outfits up close and personal. In the accompanying audio recording, Harry and Meghan revealed details about their nuptials including the fact that the royal actually chose the song Meghan walked down the aisle to.

"[It] was actually Harry's choice entirely and I think a really beautiful piece," Meghan said. "I can retrace that entire walk down the aisle listening to it. It really is so special for us and I think it's one of those things we'll treasure forever." The song in question was George Frideric Handel's "Eternal Source of Light Divine" and it was...

Tilda Swinton is up to her beautifully bizarre tricks in a new music video she co-directed with partner Sandro Kopp. The six-minute video arrives just ahead of the release of Swinton’s new movie, Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria,” and is set to an aria by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, with composition by George Frideric Handel. In it, Swinton’s Springer Spaniels are featured performing tricks and running through the wilderness in slow motion.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the music video was released in partnership with art multimedia company Visionaire as part of a new project entitled “Glass Handel.” The company describes the project as an “hour-long live interdisciplinary installation,” and it will be available for viewing November 26-27 at New York City’s Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

Swinton’s video is her second canine-centric release of 2018 following Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” in which she voiced the character Oracle.

Altitude acquires international rights to the film, which is due to shoot in early 2019.

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) will star in comedy Hallelujah for director Chris Addison (The Thick Of It).

Altitude Films Sales has acquired international rights to the project, which will be introduced to buyers in Cannes. Altitude’s distribution arm will release the film in the UK and Ireland. Lorton Entertainment will co-finance and co-distribute the film.

Andrew Eaton (The Crown) and Gina Carter (Yardie) are producing the project, with shooting due to get underway in early 2019.

Jon Croker and Nicholas Adams wrote the screenplay,...

Who thought that George Frideric Handel would ever get a jukebox musical on Broadway? Nine arias from seven of the composer’s early 18-century operas are featured in Claire van Kampen’s new play, “Farinelli and the King,” which opened Sunday at the Belasco Theatre after a run in London. The countertenor Iestyn Davies sings at evening performances; James Hall does the matinees. The wonderful thing about “Farinelli” is the chance to hear a great countertenor in a theater of 900 seats, rather than the much larger Carnegie Hall or the truly gargantuan Metropolitan Opera. The Belasco is much closer in size.

Get in the festive spirit and get on your feet! There’s plenty to see and do in London this December, and we’re not just talking about seeing the lights in Piccadilly Circus. Here’s how to take advantage of all London has to offer by way of dance this December: PERFORMANCESSee a classic this December! From Dec. 14–16, the Royal Opera House will put on ‘Rigoletto’, (Tickets start at £28) It wouldn’t be Christmas without ‘The Nutcracker’, and from Dec. 13–Jan. 6, the classic is being performed at The London Coliseum. There are both matinee and evening performances. (Tickets start at £16.75) The Christmas Festival is back at the Royal Albert Hall and you’re not going to want to miss it. Listen to the Fanfare Trumpeters, sing along with the Christmas Carol Singalong, hear the moving familiar tune of Handel’s “Messiah,” and witness the exciting dance moves of the Jingle Bell Christmas.

A day after her brother-in-law Prince Harry announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton was all smiles as she stepped out for the first time since the big engagement news.

“William and I are absolutely thrilled,” she told reporters early Tuesday at the Foundling Museum in London. “It’s such exciting news. It’s a really happy time for any couple and we wish them all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment.”

The royal mom was at the museum to learn more about the way it uses art and creativity as a means to support and engage children and vulnerable families.

It’s great when a fancy costume picture really has something to say — Alan Bennett’s crazy tale of a king’s episode of mental illness becomes a highly entertaining comedy of errors, but with serious personal and political ramifications. Nigel Hawthorne is exceptionally good as the sovereign whose brain has de-railed; Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Rupert Everett and Amanda Donohoe variously try to help him — or steal his crown.

The Madness of King George

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1994 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Everett, Julian Wadham, Jim Carter, Rupert Graves, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Anthony Calf, John Wood, Robert Swann, Peter Woodthorpe.

Cinematography: Andrew Dunn

Film Editor: Tariq Anwar

Production Design: Ken Adam

Written by Alan Bennett from his play

Produced by Stephen Evans, David Parfitt

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Every few years the...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Luis Buñuel's Viridiana (1961) is showing June 17 - July 17 and The Exterminating Angel (1962) is showing June 18 - July 18, 2017 in the United Kingdom.ViridianaIt’s impossible to avoid describing the films of Spanish director Luis Buñuel as “surreal,” and yet to do so is woefully insufficient. This is for two reasons. In the first place, Buñuel never made one kind of film. In the second place, even his strangest films deal with social reality.Early in his career Buñuel did associate himself with the Surrealist art movement. Among his first productions were the infamous Un chien Andalou (1929) and L'âge d'or (1930), experimental narratives co-written by Salvador Dali in which bizarre and violent psychosexual incidents connect via absurd dream logic. It’s worth bearing in mind that the Surrealists never meant “surreal” to act as a mere label for the uniquely strange.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon Live In Concert, A One Night Only Special Event:

Film Screening with Live Score Performed by Wordless Music Orchestra

on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

Producers Joseph A. Berger and Michael Sayers, in association with Wordless Music and Warner Bros. Pictures, are pleased to announce Barry Lyndon Live In Concert at Brooklyn’s extraordinary Kings Theatre on Saturday, April 8, 2017, at 8pm. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece will be projected in a new 2K Dcp restoration, with live musical accompaniment by Wordless Music Orchestra, led by renowned conductor Ryan McAdams.

Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal), is a young, roguish Irishman who’s determined, in any way, to make a life for himself as a wealthy nobleman. Enlisting in the British Army and fighting in Europe’s Seven Years War, Barry deserts, then joins the Prussian army, gets promoted...

Getting to experience a Stanley Kubrick movie on the big screen is always a treat, especially in 2017. But when you throw in a 50-peice orchestra performing a live score, that experience suddenly becomes even more jaw-dropping.

Such will be the case on April 8 when the musicians of the Wordless Music Orchestra take the stage at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn to accompany “Barry Lyndon.” The original score, which has been newly transcribed by composer Frank Cogliano, will be performed in its entirety and synced live to the film.

Read More: How Live Film Scores Are Finding New Life in the Age of Netflix

Last Tuesday night, members of the Wordless Music Orchestra performed a preview concert of selections from the one-night-only event, and you can check out a first look at their arrangements in the video below.

Songs performed include Handel’s Sarabande, the third movement of Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in E Minor,...

The Brooklyn Children’s Theatre (Bct) is an after school musical theatre program serving over 1000 children in Brooklyn, New York. Bct was commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Art to create four original musicals with Muslim protagonists for children to perform in. Two of these musicals will be premiering on December 9, 2016.

Fast Friends is about children fasting for the first time during Ramadan. Fast Friends was written by Amy White Graves and Steve Saari, with contributions from Aizzah Fatima.

Sailimai And The Four Riddles was written by By Scott Evan Davis, Kareem Fahmy, Aizzah Fatima & Chris Heller & the Summer 2016 Muslim Voices Playwriting class. Sailimai And The Four Riddles is based on an Islamic Chinese folk tale: Sailimai must look to her Muslim values to solve a riddle and save her father.

Amy White Graves, Executive Director of Bct states “When we started this project in the summer of...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon Live In Concert, A One Night Only Special Event:

Film Screening with Live Score Performed by Wordless Music Orchestra

on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

Producers Joseph A. Berger and Michael Sayers, in association with Wordless Music and Warner Bros. Pictures, are pleased to announce Barry Lyndon Live In Concert at Brooklyn’s extraordinary Kings Theatre on Saturday, April 8, 2017, at 8pm. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece will be projected in a new 2K Dcp restoration, with live musical accompaniment by Wordless Music Orchestra, led by renowned conductor Ryan McAdams.

Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal), is a young, roguish Irishman who’s determined, in any way, to make a life for himself as a wealthy nobleman. Enlisting in the British Army and fighting in Europe’s Seven Years War, Barry deserts, then joins the Prussian army, gets promoted...

Just as vibrant and urgent as it was when it debuted in 1975, Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” is perhaps the perfect historical epic to be re-introduced to a brand new audience. Masterfully crafted and featuring a slew of all-time performances (you’ve scarcely seen the full depth of Ryan O’Neal’s talents if you haven’t seen the feature), the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning film really does hold up (and it was overlooked during its own time), and the BFI is banking on that appeal to help send a new re-release over the top.

Read More: Watch: 19-Minute Look Back At Stanley Kubrick’s Overlooked Masterpiece ‘Barry Lyndon’

In advance of the new UK re-release of the film, the BFI and Warner Bros. commissioned Ignition Creative London to craft a new trailer for the film, one that builds in a contemporary feel without sacrificing the film’s authenticity (and includes...

At the end of last night's Republican presidential debate, Dr. Ben Carson was granted one last opportunity to appeal to voters before the Super Tuesday primaries inevitably force him to suspend his undead campaign. The retired neurosurgeon, whose personal charisma could generously be likened to that of a hung-over Dmv agent, was determined not to throw away his shot. He raised both of his arms in front of him, turned his palms to the country, and unleashed his signature drawl:

"Several years ago, a movie was made about these hands.

Crouching Geisha, Infuriating Elimination.

If this week’s So You Think You Can Dance had to be summed up by a twist on an Oscar-winning movie title — and let’s be honest, what major life scenario couldn’t/shouldn’t fall under those terms? — then what better way to express the joy of Gaby’s Japanese-inspired hip-hop number and Edson’s blow-to-the-gut exit at the exact moment he broke on through to the future all-star side?

RelatedFood Network Star Season 11 Winner Eddie Jackson Talks BBQ Blitz, Pov Switch and His MasterChef Past

I know not everyone was fully sold on the Season 11 Twitter Save,...

Let’s stipulate that there is no rational reason for two sumo wrestlers the size of young hippos to collide center stage during a Handel opera. Let’s further acknowledge that Semele, an 18th-century work with an English libretto and an ancient Roman setting, does not take place in a Ming Dynasty temple (or actually have anything to do with China). Oh, also? Handel did not write the Communist “Internationale” or intend it to be hummed as the final curtain falls. And let’s accept the visual artist Zhang Huan’s admission that he has no feeling for, or understanding of, opera, even though he directed this one. The six-year-old production that has just arrived for a short stint at Bam, complete with the original temple, should by rights be a disaster; instead it has a weird seductiveness, strengthened by some very fine singing.Baroque opera lends itself to fanciful interpretations,...

Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy): A Comic Oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian Libretto by Eric Idle and Music by John Du Prez The Collegiate Chorale and Orchestra of St. Luke's/Ted Sperling Carnegie Hall, December 15-16, 2014

Not the Messiah was superb (albeit with minor overtones of shtick). But what else to expect from Monty Python alumnus Eric Idle, and John Du Prez, one of the composers of Spamalot and composer of the soundtrack for Python's swan song film, The Meaning of Life. This was truly an evening of whimsy on a grand, grand scale, with an excellent full orchestra playing wonderful arrangements, a chorus of one hundred-or-so voices, four outstanding soloists, and of course Eric Idle (who at this stage of his long career possesses whimsy-imprinted DNA).

The story follows the life of a man named Brian, born a few doors down from...

In June 2014, moviegoers traveled to the village of Berk once again in How To Train Your Dragon 2. The film’s composer, John Powell, recently won Best Score – Animated Film for the movie at 5th Annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

Powell has scored films including Antz, Chicken Run, Shrek, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and X-Men: The Last Stand and has frequently collaborated with directors Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass, on films including the Bourne trilogy, United 93 and Green Zone.

His infectious score for How To Train Your Dragon earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Powell has also lent his voice to the score of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. Most recently, audiences heard his music on the scores to Rio 2, directed by Carlos Saldanha, as well as the Dragon 2 sequel.

With the latest adventures of Hiccup and Toothless released on DVD in November,...

Marc Müller put together this amazing tribute to the late, great Stanley Kubrick. The Montage features clips from The Killing, Paths of Glory, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. I’m not sure why he left out the other Kubrick films, but that doesn’t change the fact that this compilation is fantastic. Watch below.

Featured music (in order of appearance):

Johann Strauss II – The Blue Danube

Georg Friedrich Händel – Sarabande

Ludwig Van Beethoven – Symphony #9

Gioachino Rossini – The Thieving Magpie

György Ligeti – Musica Ricercata II

Kubrick’s Poetry from Marc Müller on Vimeo.

The post Video of the Day: Kubrick’s Poetry appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Madonna’s making new music called “Messiah,” and we don’t think it has anything to do with Handel’s “Messiah.” No signs of a “Hallelujah Chorus” anywhere yet… Instead, Madge has graced us with sheet music from the piece on her Instagram, followed by a short video of an orchestra playing the sheet music with the caption, “Magic makes the people come together yaaaaaaaassssss #messiah.” Didn’t she used to declare that it was music that made the people come together? Madonna's last album, 2012's "Mdna," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Viridiana

Written by Julio Alejandro and Luis Buñuel

Directed by Luis Buñuel

Spain/Mexico, 1961

The Cannes Film Festival has long been a venue to court controversy, and filmmaker Luis Buñuel was likewise one who consistently reveled in the divisive. At the 1961 festival, Buñuel brought his latest release, Viridiana, and the results were spectacular, and spectacularly contentious. The film, which shared Palme d’Or honors with Henri Colpi’s The Long Absence, was subsequently met with charges of blasphemy from the Vatican’s newspaper, and it was promptly banned in Buñuel ‘s native Spain.

The Spanish reaction was particularly critical. Viridiana’s production in Buñuel’s place of birth was already a hot topic. Having left for America and Mexico in 1939, Spain’s surrealist native son was back home, the adamantly leftist filmmaker now working amidst Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship. What’s the worst that could happen?

Viridiana is what happened,...

The third episode of the current season of  Game of Thrones, which is featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, contains an Easter egg of Arthurian proportions: Monty Python references. The show's linguist, David Peterson, has revealed that the references appear in the scene where Daario Naharis faces off with the champion of Meereen and the latter shouts at Daenerys Targaryen in some foreign tongue. Although she asks what the invective means, she does not get an accurate translation. "He's actually saying a Low Valyrian translation of the French guy's...

A classicist using Romantic harmonies, Johannes Brahms (1833-97) was hailed at age 20 by Robert Schumann in a famous article entitled "New Paths." Yet by the time Brahms wrote his mature works, his music was thought of as a conservative compared to the daring harmonies and revolutionary dramatic theories of Richard Wagner. But in the next century, Arnold Schoenberg's 1947 essay titled "Brahms the Progressive" praised Brahms's bold modulations (as daring as Wagner's most tonally ambiguous chords), asymmetrical forms, and mastery of imaginative variation and development of thematic material.

The son of a bassist in the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, Brahms was an excellent pianist who was supporting himself by his mid-teens. His first two published works were his Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, and throughout his career he penned much fine music for that instrument, not only solo (including the later Piano Sonata No. 3) and duo but also his landmark Piano Concertos Nos.

Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales are played out in Shoreditch, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler, Berlioz and Ives, plus Handel's Rodelinda from director Richard Jones

Opening this week

■ Grimm Tales

Immersive theatre for children in the bowels of Shoreditch Town Hall. Do you dare to follow Red Riding Hood into the forest or watch Rapunzel let her hair down? Philip Wilson adapts and directs tales in versions by Philip Pullman. Shoreditch Town Hall, London (020-7739 6176), Friday until 24 April.

■ Rambert

A mixed programme of contemporary dance includes a revival of Christopher Bruce's swaggering Rolling Stones tribute, Rooster. Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold (0845-330 3565), Wednesday until 15 March and touring.

■ San Francisco Symphony

Programmes featuring Ives, Adams and Berlioz, and Mahler's Third Symphony are on the menu for the UK leg of Michael Tilson Thomas's European tour with his fine orchestra. Symphony Hall, Birmingham (0121‑345 0600), Friday; Royal Festival Hall, London (0845 875 0073), Saturday & Sunday.

New York, Feb. 16: An Argentinean Christian theme park at Buenos Aires is bringing events from the Bible back to life.

The sprawling 17-acre park is a miniature holy city, complete with a fake palm trees, centurions, and a Wailing Wall. It takes visitors through 36 events in the Messiah's life for a small fee, the New York Daily News reported.

One of the main attraction is a 40-foot robo-Jesus, who rises and 'resurrects' from inside a mountain every hour. When he reaches the top, the robo closes his eyes and rotates his palms while Handel's "Messiah" plays in the background, after that he descends back into the grave.

According to Atlas Obscura, staff members dressed in Biblical-era robes mingle among the park's.

Yusef Lateef, who died on Monday after a bout with prostate cancer, was a devout Muslim who did not like his music to be called jazz because of the supposed indecent origins and connotations of the word (although those origins are still debated). He preferred the self-coined phrase "autophysiopsychic music." Furthermore, his music encompassed an impressively broad range of styles, and the only Grammy he won was in the New Age category -- for a recording of a symphony. Think about those things amid the flood of Lateef obituaries with "jazz" in the headline.

That said, certainly Lateef's own musical origins indisputably revolved around jazz. Growing up in Detroit, a highly fertile musical environment in the 1930s and beyond, Lateef got his first instrument, an $80 Martin alto sax, at age 18. Within a year he was on the road with the 13 Spirits of Swing (arrangements by Milt Buckner).

A Detroit friend,...

Southland, “Chaos”

Written by Zack Whedon

Directed by Christopher Chulack

Aired April 10th, 2013 on TNT

Forget Hannibal. Forget American Horror Story. Forget “The Rains of Castamere.” You want harrowing? You want soul-crushing blackness with a side of trauma? You want pure, unforgiving narrative nihilism? Try on the penultimate episode of sadly-departed cop drama Southland. Whereas the typical episode hones in on a few plotlines between seven or eight characters, “Chaos” revolves mostly around a single, nightmare-inducing act: the kidnapping of two of our principal characters by a pair of deranged meth-heads. On paper, it sounds like your average “Very Special Episode” of… really, any cop show ever. The “team member(s) get nabbed and have to be rescued by the rest of the team” setup is well-worn territory. “Chaos”, however, is a different beast entirely. Based loosely on a real incident, “Chaos” earns its title honestly, unfolding seemingly without rhyme or reason,...

Why Watch? When Clark Griswold finally gets his Christmas lights to blind the neighborhood in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” bursts into the scene. It must be what Bruce Mertz hears every year when he flips the switch on 51,000 lights after Thanksgiving. Beyond charming, this short documentary from Nick Palmer highlights the sweet personality of the 84-year-old man who spends three months on his roof transforming his Northern California home into a luminescent celebration that’s morphed into a tourist attraction. Part how-to, part memoir, it finds its footing when Mertz explains his emotional connection to the hobby. Beyond a powerful earnestness, it remains (for the most part) lovably quirky and naturally endearing. What Will It Cost? About 15 minutes. A New Short Film Every Weekday...

From the Nutcracker to American Psycho, from Mary Poppins to Kurt Vile, our critics pick their must-sees of the festive season

If you wish it could be Christmas every day

Nutcrackers, various

You know it's Christmas in the ballet world by the number of Nutcrackers touring the world's stages. In the UK alone, there are close to a dozen doing the rounds, but the top three remain the Royal Ballet's exquisitely traditional version, the sparky family friendly production by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet's – with the best snow scene of them all. Royal Opera House, London (020-7304 4000), 4 December to 16 January; Birmingham Hippodrome (0844 338 5000), to 12 December; London Coliseum (020-7845 9300), 11 December to 5 January.

Father Christmas

Does Father Christmas use the loo? Does he secretly long for summer? Does he have strong views on the size of chimneys? You bet he does. Raymond Briggs's gorgeous picture book gets a heartwarming makeover for under-sixes.

Welcome back to another recap of The X Factor! Or as Paulina Rubio likes to call it, “Where am I? Who am I? And why is there a camera in my face?”

Too mean? Oh well. I mean, yeah, PowPow (as I affectionately think of her) managed to correctly identify all three of her contestants tonight for the first time, but her total butchey of the universally recognized moniker “Mick Jagger” (aka “Meek Yaggar!”) means she’ll continue to play the role of human piñata in this recap zone. (Side note: Why is nothing in my apartment filled with Candy?...

At Streetwise Opera we make shows with people who have experienced homelessness. Could combining live performance and film bring us a bigger audience?

Over the last few years, cinemas have been filled with something a little more lyrical than Tom Cruise jumping out of a helicopter in his latest blockbuster. These days you're as likely to encounter The Magic Flute as Mission Impossible at your local Odeon, since live opera relays from the likes of New York's Metropolitan Opera and Glyndebourne, with multiple camera set-ups capturing the action at close quarters, make you feel as if you're in the actual theatre – in the best seats in the house.

But purists maintain that nothing can really compare with the raw passion and immediacy of experiencing opera live, and we at Streetwise Opera began to wonder if there was a way of combining the best of live opera and film in a single production.

The Emmy® and Peabody award-winning “The Met: Live in HD” series is concluding it’s seventh season. Featuring 12 live operas from the Metropolitan Opera’s over the 2012-13 season, the final one is the broadcast of Handel’s Giulio Cesare. It will be presented live for only one day on Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 11:00 Am Et in the St. Louis area.

Wamg invites you to enter to win tickets to see Handel’s Giulio Cesare. We have one pair of tickets – Good For Two – to this event. Tickets are good at the AMC Chesterfield 14 and will be mailed.

To Qualify:

1. You Must Be In The St. Louis Area On Saturday.

2. Send Your Full Name To [email protected] .

3. Winners Will Be Chosen Through A Random Drawing Of Qualifying Contestants. No Purchase Necessary.

Handel’s Giulio Cesare - New Production

Saturday, April 27, 2013 (12:00Pm Et / 9:00Am Pt)

Expected Running Time:...