Musicals & Music Films > Opera & Operetta Musicals & Music Films > 2000

Advantages: Händel's music; Rasmussen, Hallenberg, Piau, Bayrakdarian; Rousset and Les Talens Lyrique.
Disadvantages: Cold production design; occasionally slow staging.

...the rival loves of King Serse and his brother, Arsamene, for the beautiful Romilda. On the distaff side, there’s the competing love of Romilda and her sister, Atalanta, for Serse’s brother, Arsamene. Of this confused quartet, only Romilda and Arsamene actually love one another. The titular Serse refers to the real-life Persian ruler, Xerxes I (Serse I), described by the Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories, Book VII. The libretto to ‘Serse’ ...
...gently mocking song (‘... un Serse mirate, che d’un ruvido tronco acceso sta;’ – ‘ ... behold Xerxes, all afire with passion for a coarse tree trunk’). In fact, Romilda and Arsamene have previously agreed to meet at the summerhouse, but the intrusion of Serse ruins their plans. Serse blithely orders Arsamene to arrange the marriage, unaware of Arsamene’s romantic liaison with Romilda. (Serse has already forgotten his previous betrothal to Amastre, ... Read review

Advantages: A rich score, articulate singers and athletic dancers. As close to a 'live' experience without being there
Disadvantages: Makes you long to be 'live'

...Orpheus in the Underworld (1858), La Belle Hélène (1864), La Vie Parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), La Perichole (1868) and The Tales of Hoffmann. Offenbach was still working on this latter piece at the time of his death (October 5th 1880) and it was subsequently completed by others for performance purposes. It was to provide a curtain raiser for a performance of La Perichole in London that Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert ...
...Greek mythology before he started La Belle Hélène. This new operetta was to be his take on the story of the capture of Helene, Queen of Sparta and the onset of the Trojan Wars but mixed within this was a send up of the Third Republic and France of the day. The moral attitudes of French society were lax, financial and religious scandals abounded and tourism and sea bathing were becoming popular. The librettists were Henri Meilhec and Ludovic Halévy. ... Read review

Advantages: A dance feast galore for your eyes and ears
Disadvantages: Much of the sameness throughout the shows

...of the Dance and also Michael Flateley in Riverdance. I saw the original intermission act when it was on the Eurovision song contest and before it became really huge internationally. Its an asbolute phenomenon! However I felt a little cheated by this product as it didnt clearly explain that Feet of Flames is more or less the same show as Lord of the Dance but revamped a bit and modernised somewhat by marginally different routines and marginally different ...
...its more or less the same show. I do prefer the original lord of the dance show to Feet of Flames. Celtic Tiger is a different and got new routines, costumes and of course the Flatley himself, doing his usual thing and having his own moments alone on the stage showing off his fantastic tapping skills. If you love Riverdance and Flatley in general and are an admirer of his work, then I would say just buy the shows you know you like for keep sake. ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining , Great Songs
Disadvantages: None

Grease is a popular America film based on the musical Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease was directed by Randel Kleiser. The film was released in 1978. The film stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Running time of the movie is 110 minutes (Nearly 2 hours). Grease comes under the Comedy , Romance and Musical genres. Although Grease was filmed in 1978 , it is actually set in 1958. * Characters * Danny - Played by John Travolta ...
...about him! Hehe! * Grease Songs * Summer Nights , You're The One That I Want , Sandy , Grease , Hopelessly Devoted To You , Beauty School Dropout To name a few. * Facts * Because the zip broke , Olivia Newton John had to be sewn into the catsuit she wears at the end of the film. The director hated the song ; Your're The One That I want In Frenchie's room , Rizo sings about Elvis ; this scene was filmed on the day Elvis died . * Grease Quotes ... Read review

Advantages: the songs
Disadvantages: nothing that i can say

grease has alwyas been one of my favourite musicals. i could watch it over and over again and wont get bored of watching it , i nearly know all the songs of by heart its really good to watch. the story line is good and it has some funny characters. i love romance films and this is certainly one of the best ones because it has very good songs which makes it more joyable to watch. i love all the songs on this film! in my opinion i personally like grease ...
...they cant make nothing better that will top the first film. John javolta and olivia newton john are two very good characters who make this film special. I love my musicals and this is defiantly one of them because this was the first every musical i saw and will never forget i will defiantly say you should watch this ... Read review