Black Orpheus DVD

Advantages: Marvellous adaptation, glorious music, excellent soloists
Disadvantages: None

...This is the second of an occasional series of reviews of performances of the works of the French composer Jacques Offenbach which are available on DVD. Orpheus in the Underworld was the first Offenbach operetta that I had the pleasure to hear and it has become my ultimate favourite of the genre. I have seen it performed on stage sung in an English translation and with a classical Greek setting by Opera North. I have two versions on CD (one French, one English) and two versions on DVD including the production reviewed here. OFFENBACH Jacques Offenbach was appointed conductor of the Theatre Francais in 1850 and began a career of composition of short, light and humorous operettas. In 1855 he bought a theatre on the Champs Elysees in Paris in which he founded his own company, the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens. Orphee aux Enfers (Orpheus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great story arc
Disadvantages: Special features are heavy on the commentaries

...Plot As season 4 opens, Angel and Cordelia are both missing, Wesley has gone rogue and Lorne has gone to Las Vegas. Gunn and Fred are left trying to run Angel Investigations and track down Angel and Cordelia, with Connor running around out of control. Despite Wesley's relationship with Wolfram and Hart's uber-evil Lilah, it's Wesley who finds Angel and brings him home. Angel promptly throws Connor out as it's not safe having him around, but can the team rescue Lorne and find out what's happened to Cordelia? Wolfram and Hart are once again behind the evil that threatens to envelop the world, but it has a new guise that makes it very hard to fight, especially as it has help on the inside of Angel Investigations. Willow and Faith both make guest appearances to help out. DVD information and special features 6 discs, 22... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Over 5 hours of great music
Disadvantages: Nice looking but impractical packaging

...suited to the subject matter. There was a period when his piano playing dominated the sound a bit too much (it's nice for a couple of songs on an album, but all of them?), but he's gone back to a much rawer sound with the last Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus double album (way back in 2004 though). Faster, louder songs, with more guitars and some extreme violin playing and gospel choirs. But the piano is still there, it's just played a lot harder and faster. He's also still playing live, sometimes solo, sometimes with The Bad Seeds, and sometimes with his new side project, Grinderman. And now we get the third Bad Seeds live DVD, and I'm glad he's still going after all these years. First, we get the packaging. You get a nice hard cardboard box, about the size of a normal DVD case. Inside that is a 16 page booklet with all the song credits... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful