Musicals & Music Films > Opera & Operetta Musicals & Music Films > 1997

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

...Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens. Orphee aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) was Offenbach's first full length operetta completed in 1858. The legend had been used as a theme (usually as a tragic one) for opera several times before. Here, though, is an irreverent romp through a classic tale of Gods and mortals, supposed good and evil - with blurring of both around the edges, scattered about by wicked wit, salacious humour and at times down right ...
...ORPHEE AUX ENFERS FROM THE OPERA NATIONAL DE LYON This production of Orpheus was staged in 1997 in Lyons, Grenoble and Geneva and was the result of a collaboration between Laurent Pelly (stage director) and Marc Minkowsi (conductor). In the sleeve notes to the CD boxed set, Marc explained how they wished to return to the simplicity and charm of Offenbach's original 1858 version while not losing some of the more musical embellishments of the later ... Read review

Advantages: fantastic feel good film
Disadvantages: none

Just a note before I start to say that this is a film only review due to the fact that as far as I know the DVD has not yet been released! I had a fabulous evening out at the cinema yesterday watching what must be the ultimate feel good film of the year! I had heard a lot about it and I was not disappointed - in fact I don't think I have smiled and laughed so much at a film for a long time! If you have not seen it it is well worth going to see! ...
...- the music of Abba (definitely a blast from my past!), a fun story line, an excellent line up (including the gorgeous Colin Firth and the fabulous Julie Walters) and all this against the beautiful backdrop of a Greek island! What more could I ask for! So what's it all about then? Well first of we meet young Sophie Sheridan who is soon to be married. She lives on a beautiful Greek island with her mum, Donna, but she has never known her dad. After ... Read review

Advantages: Stunning musical love story.
Disadvantages: Possibly too sloppy/ slushy- but i love it.

...beautifully put together, with interactive features such as: Behing the red velvet curtain, with lets you glimpse a historical, technical, and artistic view of the Moulin Rouge! This really is a beautiful film and perfect top watch over and over again. Visually Stunning, Baz Luhrmann has created a master piece. ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant songs
Disadvantages: NONE

...the start. For me therefore Annie Get Your Gun is the perfect musical as it certainly ticks all of these boxes as well as many, many more. Annie get your gun was released in 1950 and stars Betty Hutton and Howard Keel in a sharp shooting adventure based on the fantastic Broadway performance. Annie Get Your Gun is in short a boy-meets-girl story but the musical score and acting performances as well as the extremely well written script make it so ...
...Buffalo Bills Show and when Annie meets him she is instantaneously gob-smacked. Despite her initial attempts however Butler is under no impression that how Annie behaves is "How the girl that I marry" should. Annie however is not going to give up quite so easily and is certain that anything he can do she can do better and goes hell-for-leather to prove it too him. In her own right Annie becomes extremely successful and well sought after but she still ... Read review

Advantages: Good songs, some of the cast are having fun
Disadvantages: Poor singing; invisible choreography; badly written script; miscast actors; you want more?

...to make them meaningful. Mamma Mia is about a young girl (played by Amanda Seyfried, who looks disconcertingly like a mermaid) who is preparing for her own wedding on a deserted island somewhere in America. It's not made clear whereabouts this island is at any point during the film, but she has an American accent so presumably she lives somewhere nearby the ol' USA. She's not happy to get married until she finds out who her real father is, because ...
...watching for the first time. Mamma Mia is, perhaps, a film which works best on the second viewing. For her part, Streep is a game player, adding froth to an already overflowing film but doing so in a way which tries desperately to add to the film rather than detract. She's the only performer who you look forward to hearing, here. Indeed, aside from Streep; Seyfried's over-cute numbers (the nauseating highlight of the movie is her 'duet' with the ... Read review