Corteo - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

****

Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca 

Valentenya Paylevanyan

Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo has spectacularly arrived at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the company’s traditional Winter residence. The beauty of this particular show is that the festivities, joy and wonder commonly associated with the circus are combined with imagining what lies beyond life on Earth, as it follows the vivid imagination and dreams of a clown named Mauro.  What follows is a breathtaking display of skill, artistry, strength and story telling as only Cirque Du Soleil know how.

Much of the narrative takes place in a carnival like setting with the traverse stage full of jugglers, dazzling costumes and fabulous music. There are moments though, when the stage is more bare and the act more nuanced such that the show can feel a little lost in the huge auditorium.

Of course there are some standalone performances across the show. In the first act particularly, Ukrainian Valentenya Paylevanyan has the entire audience in the palm of her hand, or rather her in the palm of their hands as she floats and flies merely by the force of 4 giant helium balloons and bounced around the auditorium. 

The second half is a snappier affair, filled with some simply death-defying stunts. Ranging from Duo Straps, an aerial routine performed by Hitomi Kinokyuniya (Japan) & Oleksandr Kunytsky (Ukraine) to Roman Munim (Russia) and his Acro Ladder which at one point has the entire audience breathless and silent as he climbed to the top step the ladder. 

Corteo takes us from childhood memories such as bouncing on the bed and pillow flights or playing with puppets and dolls, right through to ex-lovers and partners in a form & style that is, as always, unique. Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, there are so many aspects of growing up and life that are included within the show, with Pasca rarely missing a beat. 

Occasionally in the slapstick scenes - performed mostly in Italian - the storyline becomes a little blurred. That being said, some of the visual moments and concepts as Mauro, played by Stephane Gentilini (France), explores not only his funeral but also his journey to heaven is truly beautiful and even at times, dare one say, comforting.

At a time when the world can in so many ways feel divided, it is a pleasure to witness the 58 strong group of performers and musicians from across the globe come together to form this insanely talented company. While Corteo could do with some tightening up in places, as a spectacle it’s flawless and an opportunity to see some of the best in the world soaring to dizzy new heights!

Runs until 2nd March

Photo credit: Anne-Marie Forker

Alegria In A New Light - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Flying Trapeze

In the revival and enhancement of one of Cirque du Soleil’s finest shows, Alegria In A New Light is perhaps the most beautiful of the company’s productions to have been staged in the capital. The evening’s skilled serenity is quite simply circus at its finest.

Unlike previous recent Cirque du Soleil shows, the music here is performed live with Vincent Cordel leading his 5-piece band, and ethereal backing vocals provided by Sarah Manesse and Cassia Raquel. In most of the recent years the soundtrack has been a (beautifully created) recording . Here , with the performers on stage, there is an added texture to the music with the sound perfectly balanced to the Royal Albert Hall’s challenging acoustics.

Of course the evening’s circus acts are just spectacular. Early on in the show there are impressive acts of human pyramids being formed while balancing on long scaffold poles. The timing, fitness and skill of the artistes proving, as always, stunning.

Alegria In A New Light is in some ways more traditional than the typical left-field Cirque du Soleil approach. The evening’s ethos feeling more utopian than dystopian - channelling beauty into every second of performance. There’s a pair of Spanish clowns who through mine and physical comedy, deliver a turn that’s sublime. And the transformation of the hall’s cavernous interior into a blizzard-swept landscape is breathtaking in its audacity.

The aerial work is typically magnificent in any circus show. What makes it even more so at the Royal Albert Hall are the lofty heights that the performers work from. The hoisting and stretching of the safety net signals the descent of the flying trapeze rigging - from which a cavalcade of 10 performers flop, whirl and somersault through the air, the view becoming a blur of bodies as the split-second synchronicity plays on high. A spectacular end to an exquisite evening.

Circus doesn’t get better than this.

Runs until 3rd March

Cirque du Soleil - Kurios - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Kurios at the Royal Albert Hall sees the inspirational Cirque du Soleil company make a welcome return to an evening built around the quirks of life, demonstrated through the excellence of human talent. In a show first presented in 2014 there’s no environmental homily or sanctimonious preaching  on offer here. Kurios - The Cabinet of Curiosities is a montage of unashamedly gritty Victoriana.

Strip away the steampunk however and the traditional circus skills on display are breathtaking. The Banquine troupe offer up a jaw- dropping construct of human pyramids the strengths and heights of which are just a joy to behold. Studying the cast list one learns that the troupe all hail from the former Soviet Union, including Russian and Ukrainian athletes. In this show these men are trusting each other with their lives. One can but weep at the beauty that this act represents. 

Also from Ukraine, Andrii Bondarenko handbalances his way from the stage to the ceiling - leaving a dinner party down below and encountering a mirror image ensemble suspended upside down from the Royal Albert Hall’s acoustic flying saucers! The act has to be seen to be believed.

Of course there are acts of juggling and contortion that defy our sense of belief with moments of comedy thrown in - almost all through mime - that provide the foundation for a fabulous family show.

Some of the theming may be a tad obscure for the little ones - but they’ll still be stunned by the human wizardry on display here. The ropes and pulleys may be sophisticated and state of the art - but the talent that uses them to soar around the hall’s cavernous interior is traditional human genius at its best.

Runs until 5th March

Spectre In Concert - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Composed by Thomas Newman

Conducted by Anthony Gabriele

Directed by Sam Mendes

At the Royal Albert Hall and conducted by the gifted Anthony Gabriele, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed the world premiere of Thomas Newman’s 2015 score for the James Bond film Spectre, played live and synchronised to a screening of the movie.

Composed by Newman alongside filming, the score is both inspired by and honours many of the film’s locations. Memorably, the opening sequence set in full swing at a Day Of The Dead festival alongside local bands in Zócalo Square in central Mexico City, gives the orchestra and in particular the percussion section, full opportunity to embrace the vibe of the occasion.

The titles play to Sam Smith's ballad The Writing's On The Wall, with its dramatic strings content deliciously echoing Monty Norman.  For lovers of the famous franchise, Newman’s work incorporates those familiar, almost expected Bond-sounds and the orchestra deliver magnificently. The powerful accompaniment of the musicians provides added excitement, a supercharged experience in the form of waves of pleasure, aesthetic chills almost, from the musical vibrations generated in the acoustically perfect auditorium. Under Maestro Gabriele’s seasoned baton, the orchestra add another nuanced layer to the viewing experience.

The afternoon closed with the familiar Jazzy big band sound of Norman’s original "James Bond Theme".  One could feel the audience relax into their seats, succumbing to that timeless leitmotif, the applause and standing ovation only defining their appreciation and fondness for this classic music, wonderfully and flawlessly performed.

Reviewed by Lucy Bex

Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

****

For one night only and under the baton of Simon Dobson, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. In some ways any orchestral performance of Oldfield’s groundbreaking album will always be ersatz, as back in the 1970s it was the composer himself who played every instrument in the work layering the recording together over weeks, track by track. When one considers that this was in pre-digital times, with Oldfield only having access to multi-track analogue recording equipment, this makes his original album all the more remarkable. Dobson however is a gifted musician with an intimate understanding of Oldfield’s work. His arrangements of the two Tubular Bells pieces, together with a collection of Oldfield’s other lesser-known recordings, make for an evening of fine music.

The concert initially comprises the first parts of both the Ommadawn and the Hergest Ridge albums with the music and perfectly hazed lighting plots creating an atmosphere of wonderfully mellifluous melody. Moonlight Shadow, Oldfield’s chart-topping single concludes the pre-interval proceedings with Ella Shaw powerfully delivering the vocal honours.

The second half kicks off with the hallmark opening bars of Tubular Bells, the 15/8 time melody that was to define not only The Exorcist's score but also lay the foundations of Richard Branson’s Virgin Records fortune. The RPCO are augmented by featured soloists throughout the performance, with Pete Callard’s Lead Guitar work particularly stunning through many of Tubular Bells’ challenging riffs.

Tubular Bells of course requires a charismatic Master of Ceremonies. Oldfield’s original MC, Vivian Stanshall set the bar high (it was Stanshall’s distinct pronunciation of “tubular bells” that prompted Oldfield to name the album thus) and there are few finer voices than that of Brian Blessed to provide the wry bombast that the role demands. Proud of his 86 years, Blessed bestrides the stage like a colossus through Part One of Tubular Bells, with his Caveman in  Part Two proving an equal delight.

If there is one criticism of the gig it is of the video projections that are (sometimes dimly) shone onto a screen above the orchestra. Ranging in style from what looks like a Lloyds Bank black horse advert through to what could be a Microsoft screensaver based on the Tubular Bells 50 logo, the imagery is tacky. The Royal Albert Hall is one of London’s grandest venues and while the players magnificently fill the space with their music, the video work proves to be an uninspiring detraction, dwarfed by the hall’s imposing grandeur. If projections are to be used going forward they should be grander and LED based or not used at all. A waggish suggestion, overheard on leaving the venue, was that maybe scenes from The Exorcist could be shown!

 

The whole affair is wrapped up with Dobson’s energetic arrangement of the Hornpipe – sending the audience out into an autumnal Kensington with feet tapping, hands clapping and grinning at the evening's wave of nostalgia that has flooded over them.

Superman In Concert - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Composed by John Williams

Conducted by Anthony Gabriele

Directed by Richard Donner

Christopher Reeve

Yet again, accomplished maestro  Anthony Gabriele picked up his baton to conduct a cracking orchestra, delivering the cracking score of a cracking movie.

For one night only at the Royal Albert Hall, he offered a rare chance to see Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman, not only amidst the hall’s crowded “movie-theatre” audience but, for the first time in the UK, with John Williams’ legendary score played live in accompaniment. The score is so evocative and impressive that even as the opening credits, along with the final bars of Williams’ accompanying opening theme faded, the audience burst into spontaneous applause. Those credits themselves were a reminder of the talent that Donner had assembled for his movie - truly a platinum-plated cast.

Superman is one of those movies that blends acting, screenplay and score into a fusion of excellence, with the Royal Albert Hall proving to be the perfect venue. The hall’s darkness provided a perfect contrast to the perfectly pitched luminance of the digital projection and the acoustics of the place, with its ceiling-suspended domes, gave a magnificent body and depth to Williams’ score, as played by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

The evening also offered a chance to look back in time, not just at how much the movie-makers of that era were able to accomplish without the helping hand of CGI, but even more so, at how much our cultural norms have evolved. Superman may have journeyed through thousands of our years on his journey from the planet Krypton to Earth, but in just a few short decades here, one could be forgiven for feeling that our world has changed even more rapidly. The movie sees Marlon Brando (as Superman’s father Jor-El) imbuing his parting words to his baby son Kal-El (the would-be Superman) with no reference whatsoever to his wife (Susannah York), as though single-handedly he had brought his progeny into the world, a concept that would never even be contemplated by today’s screenwriters. Although to be fair, with York resembling little more than a muted Julie Christie on a bad day, one could perhaps have some sympathy towards Brando’s supreme egocentricity. The movie’s sexual politics are equally (some may say deliciously) dated. Superman’s x-ray vision sees through Lois Lane's dress (albeit at her request) while she in turn goes weak-kneed speculating on “how big” he is.

It wasn’t just Brando though, nor the much-missed Christopher Reeve in the title role. Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Margot Kidder are all gems, with even the likes of then-veteran Trevor Howard lobbing in a 5 minute cameo. And of course the screenplay bears the imprimatur of the godfather of great-writing, Mario Puzo.

But at the Royal Albert Hall last night the deserved stars of the evening were Williams, Gabriele, and the 80+ strong ensemble of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. When this evening returns as it surely must, don’t miss it. With Williams’ wondrous score in your ears, you’ll believe a man can fly.

The Maestro's Superman socks

The Car Man - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Music by Terry Davies and Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen Suite (after Bizet's Carmen)

Will Bozier

More than twenty years after Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, his ballet inspired by Bizet’s Carmen, premiered in Plymouth the show returns to London playing at the Royal Albert Hall as a part of its 150th anniversary and marking the first time that Bourne has ever staged a production in the landmark London venue. No expense has been spared in this revival, with the director/choreographer fielding a cast three times the size of his original 2020 company.

The plot’s inspiration may hail from Carmen, but the aura of The Car Man hails from Hollywood. Set amidst an Italian-American community in the USA’s Midwest, the action plays out in the fictitious town of Harmony, a name that is as ironic as its images are iconic. This is a town of billboards, tumbleweed and Dino’s eponymous automobile repair shop, where the car men work. The music is from Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite supplemented by additional composition from Terry Davies, with the opera’s fabulously familiar melodies delivered to perfection under  Brett Morris’ baton, fused into mouthwatering leitmotifs that emerge through the two hour show.

Zizi Strallen

Bourne’s protagonists are a quintet made up of the abusive Dino who is also the owner of the town’s diner, his wife Lana, her sister Rita together with Angelo, a hired help and Luca an itinerant drifter whose arrival leads to the destruction of Harmony’s harmony. This review will not reveal how the five’s smouldering passions ignite, but remember that this is Carmen-themed where lust, jealousy, and murder have to fuel the narrative. Bourne’s vision is as bold as it is beautiful and bloody, with his characters’ sexualities straddling their desires and all leading to an inevitable and heartbreaking revenge.

Will Bozier is Luca the titular car man, with the practically perfect Zizi Strallen opposite him as Lana. Both of these performers are outstanding in their dance and acting and where the intimate nuance of stolen glances can so easily be lost in the Royal Albert Hall’s vastness, the billboards that double up as projection screens show occasional snatches of beautifully filmed lingering glances in true Sunset Boulevard style close-up. Strallen is wondrous in portraying both her allure to Luca and also in capturing quite how irresistible she finds him to be. Mary Poppins she ain’t!

Will Bozier and Zizi Strallen

Bozier is all muscle and movement. A guy who cannot keep it in his trousers and to whom any hole is a potential goal. Oozing testosterone, his is a role of almost perpetual or potential conflict or coitus. Physically demanding, Bozier’s performance is breathtaking.

Paris Fitzpatrick’s Angelo is the more diminutive of the younger guys, clearly vulnerable and at times violently violated and abused. Integral to the plot, his is a carefully delivered role. Likewise Kayla Collymore’s Rita. While hers may be the more marginal of the principal roles, Collymore dances with an assured and nuanced sensitivity.

Kayla Collymore and Paris Fitzpatrick

The middle-aged, flabby Dino is played here by Alan Vincent, a neat touch being that back in the day at the show’s Plymouth premiere, it had been Vincent who created the role of Luca. At the Royal Albert Hall however, Vincent captures the rage of the cuckolded Mediterranean exquisitely. And as is so often the way with a New Adventures production Lez Brotherston’s design work shifts the audience from London’s south-west to America’s mid-west effortlessly. 

For more than two decades The Car Man has been lifting the hood on modern dance, treating its audience to a powerful spectacle of music and dance that stirs the soul and pulsates the emotions. If you’ve seen it before, then you need to revisit this outing to wonder at how Bourne’s company fill the Royal Albert Hall. And if you haven’t seen it, then all the more reason to grasp the opportunity right now. Either way, just go!

The Company

Runs until 19th June

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Luzia - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

****

Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca

After a Covid-induced interregnum exceeding 600 days, Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia returns to the Royal Albert Hall, reprising its Mexican themed extravaganza of human skills and water-based artistry.

As is nearly always the case in touring circuses that pitch up in the capital, the physical talent on display is stunning. The power, stamina, precision, courage and sheer human genius of the aerialists, pole artistes, trapeze performers and many more defies our understanding and we rightly gasp in awe at the skills on display before us. What is not the case for most touring shows however is the price tag. At Luzia most adult tickets sold at less than £100 will deliver a restricted view, while for the best seats in the house, the cost edges closer to £300 each. 

Is it worth it? Well for 2 ½ hours – including a 25 minute interval – the circus craft on display is world class. Combining mime, physical theatre and music – with supreme physical agility, Mexican culture ranging from the Aztecs through to the nation’s renowned talents with a football are cleverly interweaved. There is some gorgeous animal work too, including a horse and a big cat, cleverly brought to life by their human puppeteers.

Rain and water form a large part of the evening’s imagery, with a fiendishly smart spray arm sitting above the revolving stage and a centre pool. From here, sheets of water not only offer an enchanting backdrop to some acts, they also deliver up some clever images captured in the rhythm of the cascading drops. Ingenious? For sure. But these waterworks display the talent of designers and technicians, supported by state of the art technology. For decades, the essence of Cirque du Soleil's magic has been drawn from its displays of human talent, wowing audiences with unimaginable feats of strength and style that are live, vibrant and risky. By contrast, this aquatic display of digital wizardry could arguably be better presented around the corner at London’s Science Museum.

With a cast of 50 and a backstage crew of at least equal numbers, Luzia is lavish and, for the most part, great fun. For sure this is a feast for the eyes, including the eye-watering skills of Russian contortionist Aleksei Goloborodko who shows his body to be far more serpentine than the famous pond that’s just across the road. But at the risk of sounding churlish, alongside the show's unquestioned beauty and talent, more death-defying acts wouldn’t have gone amiss. From Holland, the appropriately named Fool Koller delivers occasional clown routines that are at times more subtle than hilarious.

In Hamlet, Gertrude asks for “more matter with less art” and there are moments in Luzia when that sentiment rings true. But where a family of four will need to spend close to a grand for ringside seats with a view, one cannot help but recall the words of Phineas T. Barnum...

Runs until 27 February 2022

Luzia - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

*****

Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca

A moment in Luzia

Cirque du Soleil’s latest show Luzia is currently playing in the company’s seasonal London home of the Royal Albert Hall. Drawn from Mexican inspirations, the show provides a homage to this Latin American nation that reflects much of the country’s culture.

Mexican history, its climate, its art and its dance are all woven into Cirque du Soleil’s imaginative interpretation. Daniele Finzi Pasca has written and directed the spectacle with the programme including a touching tribute to Julie Hamelin who co-concieved Luzia with Finzi Pasca in 2016 but sadly died before this premiere. Much of the visual majesty of the show is also due to Patricia Ruel, its director of creation.

As is to be expected with Cirque du Soleil the skills on display are breathtaking – the aerial work on ropes and trapezes defies gravity almost heart-stoppingly, while the animal puppetry completely convinced in its depictions of horses and leopards – the talents of course extending to the clowning, achieving a hilarious performance solely through the use of outstanding physical theatre.

Moments of exquisite beauty arose in a balletic performance in which the ballerina was so perfectly poised she could have resembled a music-box figurine, matched only by a reptilian performer who displayed a snake-like ability to contort his frame that shocked and enthralled simultaneously.

And throughout, the live music and vocals alongside the design of the show - that include torrential Mexican rains pouring down inside the Royal Albert Hall - never ceases to amaze.

It is barely possible to capture the detailed, magical excellence of a Cirque du Soleil performance. Luzia maintains the company’s exceptional standards, and offers an unmissable evening of world class entertainment.

Runs until 1st March

Photo credit: Matt Beard

Guest reviewer: Kirsty Herrington

Guys and Dolls Live in Concert - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear

Leading cast members|

Gamblers, gangsters and nightclub singers mingle together in 1950s New York in Guys and Dolls, Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ ‘musical fable of Broadway’, which returned to London in concert form for just 3 performances this October. Directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear and featuring a talented cast of star performers accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, this production was filled with moments of sheer musical brilliance and perfectly demonstrated why, almost 70 years after its inception, Guys and Dolls is still one of the most beloved musicals ever written.

Assuming the lead role of big-time gambler Sky Masterson was acclaimed actor Adrian Lester. Lester is a magnetic performer with an easy charm and inexorable presence which dominated the gargantuan stage of the Royal Albert Hall effortlessly. He starred opposite Lara Pulver as Sergeant Sarah Brown, a pious missionary with a starry-eyed streak. The pair’s act one duet I’ll Know was an early indicator of the smartly cast lovers’ compatibility. Unfortunately though, large script edits that were presumably implemented in an effort to increase the show’s given its scaled-down concert form meant that the interactions between Sky and Sarah felt disconnected, resulting in much of their chemistry never being given a chance to fully blossom.

Another drawback of this usually impressive show’s concert staging was that its focus was inevitably pulled away from some of the more intimate numbers, such as Sky and Sarah’s delightful first act closing duet I’ve Never Been In Love Before. The Royal Albert Hall’s vastness left the more intimate scenes seeming a little distant and impassive, even more so when the energetic orchestra, enthusiastically conducted by James McKeon, filled every corner of the venue with rich sound.

The evenings large group numbers however energised the space quite thrillingly. The Crapshooters’ Ballet was a vibrant, frantic sequence masterfully choreographed to both showcase the virtuosity of the ensemble and emphasise the bustling frenzy encapsulated in Loesser’s score and was undoubtedly a concert highlight. The second half’s other invigorating ensemble number, Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat was helmed by Clive Rowe with charisma and dynamism in excess.

Notwithstanding a flush of tremendous performances, the night truly belonged to actress and cabaret artiste Meow Meow, who played a terrifically funny Miss Adelaide, the sniffling fiancée of Jason Manford’s hapless crap game promoter Nathan Detroit. Perfectly balancing bawdy grit with cutesy charm, her larger than life performance commanded the stage at all times. Meow Meow’s rendition of Adelaide’s Lament, a comedic gift of a song in its own right, was an expertly mixed cocktail of neurosis, fury, and flair which encompassed the tone of the entire concert!

Reviewed by Charlotte O'Growney