Musicals & Music Films > L Musicals & Music Films > Opera & Operetta

The dastardly deed deveated

Advantages: Comic opera, beautiful melodies, superb ensembles
Disadvantages: Cannot compare to a live performance

...DVD recording of Mozart’ opera, Le Nozze di Figaro (The marriage of Figaro, was recorded live in Zurich Opera House and subsequently released on 29th April 2002. The Opera is sung in Italian; subtitled in the DVD. The subtitles can be distracting and at times the repetitions making them slightly unnecessary. A copy of the DVD is available from Amazon for £26.95. There are no extras included on the DVD apart from a choice of languages for the subtitles. ...
...between Figaro (Carlos Chausson – under baritone), a valet and Susanna (Isabel Rey - soprano), a maid. Both work for the Count Almaviva (Rodney Gilfry - baritone) at his country estate in Seville. The count has given up his traditional right to sleep with any bride on her wedding night. Susanna, however, is his favourite servant and he considers revoking his decision. Susanna suspects his plans and conspires with her fiancé, the Countess (Eva Mei ...

MAFARRIMOND 11.07.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Le Nozze Di Figaro - Glyndebourne (DVD)

No-Man in concert an experience not to be missed!

Advantages: A great live DVD for lovers of crafted, beautiful music.
Disadvantages: Not long enough!

No-Man are (currently) Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson, a UK duo who have an occasional recording partnership that spans over 20 years. I only came to listen to them fairly recently, about three years ago I think, when a friend gave me a couple of their CDs to listen to as I had at that time become a fan of one of Steven Wilson's other projects, Porcupine Tree. Since then they have been elevated to be one of my favourite bands ever, for their creativity, ...
...with one of my favourite no-man songs, "Only Rain", from the 2001 album Returning Jesus. Classical violinist Steve Bingham layers loops of violin harmonising with each other, perfectly complementing Tim Bowness' sung verses. Things soon take a noisy and sinister turn as the music transforms into "Time Travel in Texas", originally on the Wild Opera album from 1996, and here given a radical reworking into a stomping rock-out, where it was a moody, ...

melinda3536 30.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of No-Man - Mixtaped (DVD)

Nine, Nein!

Advantages: Excellent cast, wonderful acting, amazing scenes, musical numbers
Disadvantages: Boring, really really boring.

...What's it about? Nine is about a self-centred Italian film director, Guido Contini, who is having trouble finding inspiration for his new movie 'Italia'. He looks to the many women in his life for ideas on what to base his latest film on. He is in the midst of a mid-life crisis and can't seem to find a balance between his personal life and his working life with his ego getting in the way. We meet the women in his life; his mother, his muse, ...
...an influence on his life. Cast This is one of the reasons I went to see the movie, it's such a star studded cast: Guido Contini - Daniel Day-Lewis: This was the director that the plot revolved around, he was a moody, funny, arrogant character who I quite liked. I thought Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing in this role, although the Italian accent was a little dodgy. He was sexy in a kind of mysterious way and really showed why all these women were ...

xKatieeex 30.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Nine

Moulin rouge is a musical admirers dream

Advantages: Great chemistry between main characters ,feel good film .
Disadvantages: The singing throughout the film can get a bit tiresome

In my opinion you must see the film if you like musicals, otherwise you might find the singing a bit off putting .At times the siniging can seem a bit over the top but in general this is what makes the film interesting.It is worth watching just to see the on screen chemistry between Ewan Mcgregor and Nicole Kidman they are a great pairing and seem to have good on screen presence allowing you to follow the romantic tale which is played out . The ...

pepsi27 28.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Moulin Rouge (Special Edition) (DVD)

I'll watch this some more!

Advantages: great family film
Disadvantages: none

...remember loving the musical film Oliver! as a child and singing and dancing along to so many of the wonderful songs that accompanied the story. I was also lucky to see the West End production many years ago, long before Andrew Lloyd Webber took an interest with his search for a Nancy and an Oliver in the great series ‘I’d do Anything’. My daughters loved watching the TV shows and started picking up the words to some of the songs. Therefore when I ...
...in our big armchair watching Oliver! Oliver! (made in 1968)is based on the classic novel of Oliver Twist that was written by Charles Dickens. It tells the story of a poor workhouse boy who had the audacity to ask for more of the disgusting gruel that was served to all the boys daily while the workhouse governors were fed roast dinners. As a consequence Oliver is sold to the local undertaker where he is teased about his dead mother. Feeling desperate, ...

kingfisher111 28.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Oliver! (DVD)