BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: STILETTO, Charing Cross Theatre

A musical set in the 1730s heyday of Venetian opera ought to be a glamorous glimpse into a different, dangerous era. Stiletto, from the composer behind the classic Disney hero’s journey Mulan, has all the ingredients for that to be the case – simmering rivalries, power struggles, romance and murder. Sometimes, though, the real power struggle is between seedy underworld glamour and the story’s tendency to veer into fairytale schmaltz...
MA Portfolio •

New exhibition sheds light on the bygone era of early fashion shows

When you think of a fashion show in Paris or Milan, you’re just as likely to think of rows upon rows of influencers clamouring for the perfect Insta story as you are to focus on the clothes themselves. However, a new immersive exhibition sponsored by Vogue shows that this was not always the case. King’s Cross “projection storytelling” venue Lightroom’s newest exhibit takes us back to the earliest days of the runway show, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when couture was an altogether more intimate affair...
MA Portfolio •

Vivien Ellis: the eclectic vocalist reinventing the community choir

It’s clear even before we start our interview that Vivien Ellis’ twin passions are music and harnessing its power to bring a community together. Ten minutes after we meet, she’s already regaled me with tales of eighteenth century ballads, her efforts to learn how words were pronounced in historical songs in a bid for authenticity, and her love of first person musical narratives that put the singer ‘in the character’s shoes’. And that’s before her impromptu performance of a Bulgarian work song, right there in her suburban living room...
Museums Journal •

Louise Bourgeois spider to return to Tate Modern for gallery’s 25th birthday - Museums Association

The 10 metre-high stainless-steel spider that greeted the first visitors to London’s Tate Modern in 2000 will return to the Turbine Hall next year in honour of the gallery’s 25th anniversary. Louise Bourgeois’ Maman – which the late French-American artist described as an exploration of the “ambiguities of motherhood” – was initially commissioned for the gallery’s opening, and was exhibited both in the Turbine Hall and outside the museum before its permanent acquisition by Tate in 2008.
Museums Journal •

National Gallery announces ‘once in a generation’ redisplay of major holdings

In celebration of its bicentenary, London’s National Gallery has announced a major rehang of its collection, alongside new acquisitions and loans. C C Land: The Wonder of Art will mark the first time the gallery’s Titian holdings have been displayed in the same room as each other, and will include new acquisitions by Poussin, Degas, and the French impressionist and student of Manet, Eva Gonzalès. The works will still be hung in a primarily chronological arrangement, starting with medieval art...
Museums Journal •

Rooms Through Time: Winter Past, Museum of the Home, London - Review

Following the relaunch of its perennially popular Rooms Through Time exhibition in July, Hoxton's Museum of the Home has decked the halls of its household displays to tell a series of winter stories from London’s past, present and future. The permanent exhibition – a series of reconstructed household rooms transporting the visitor from London in 1630 to a speculative vision of the capital in 2049 – has been subtly altered to reflect what each group of characters would do to celebrate...
Museums Journal •

Minister approves plans for multimillion-pound museum in Derry-Londonderry - Museums Association

Northern Ireland’s minister for infrastructure has given the final sign-off to plans for a major new museum in Derry-Londonderry’s Ebrington Square, which will have a broader focus than originally intended. The Derry-Londonderry North Atlantic (DNA) Museum project has been in the works since 2012, but has faced a series of delays since then after the collapse of power-sharing in the devolved government.
Squaremeal •

The Light Bar, London - Restaurant Review

A former power station in the shadow of Amazon’s London HQ, handily between Shoreditch High Street and Liverpool Street stations - the scene is potentially set for a gimmicky, opportunistic joint targeting commuters and serving unimaginative cocktails to weary City workers. Thankfully the Light Bar defies expectations, and offers, put simply, very good food and drink. Servers are eager to help navigate the difference between ‘starters’ and ‘small plates’ and how many of each to order...
The Local España •

Everything you need to know about Carnival in Cádiz

The coastal city of Cádiz hosts carnival or carnaval, like many other cities in Spain and around the world, for a week starting from the weekend before Ash Wednesday. While most Spanish carnavales ended on February 14th, the event in Cádiz, along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s equally famous carnaval, continues until the following weekend (the 18th). Cadiz’s version of carnival also distinguishes itself from other Spanish iterations through its notable focus on humour and political satire, making...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: PICTURE PERFECT CHRISTMAS SHOW, National Gallery

Ever wanted to step inside the world of one of the National Gallery's paintings? Immersive theatre company Boo Productions may have the answer. In what is surprisingly the gallery's first time hosting theatre, the somewhat blandly titled Picture Perfect Christmas Show takes as its inspiration the Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp's idyllic oil snowscapes. Writer-director Francesca Renèe Reid and composer Edward Court pluck their protagonists, the steadfastly heroic Frederik (Ciarán McCormack) and...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: THE NATIONAL, All Points East

In their first UK festival performance since before the pandemic, American soft rock quintet The National have shown themselves to be capable of a competent return to form. Their particular brand of soaring choruses and stomping refrains is reminiscent of a brooding film soundtrack, and is a perfect fit for the atmospheric twilight surrounds of East London's Victoria Park. The National have a knack for never letting the theatricality of a live performance undermine the music itself...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE, Arcola Theatre

The stated goal of an opera festival such as the Arcola's Grimeborn is to put a new spin on the classics in order to introduce them to new audiences, and in this respect The Magic Flute seems to pose more adaptational challenges than most. Mozart's elaborately plotted Singspiel concerning Prince Tamino's fish-out-of-water immersion in a fantasy land of seductive Egyptian cults, demons, and vengeful queens resists straightforward transferral to a modern setting, but this is what Opera Alegría ha
The Indiependent •

‘Eiffel’—Romantic Biopic Of Tower Architect Falls Flat: Review

This new romantic epic telling the story of the Eiffel Tower’s architect and the woman who inspired him is well told, but falls short of being profound. From the opening shot of a bearded, brooding architect gazing over the Paris skyline, to the balcony of the structure which has just redefined that skyline for eternity, it is clear that the Eiffel of the title refers to Gustave Eiffel the man, not his famous tower. Martin Bourboulon’s new French-language drama resists...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: COSÌ FAN TUTTE at Royal Opera House

Mozart's Così fan tutte has always been a work that tells us about ourselves. The tale of two hapless lovers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, and their attempts to prove that their girlfriends, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, will be faithful in their absence (and to win a bet against their friend Don Alfonso, who believes the titular adage "all women act like that") is a timeless parable of attitudes towards gender, how we ought to conduct ourselves in relationships, and what aspects of ourselves we present...
Cherwell •

Leader: BeReal has the potential to change student social media usage for the better

If there’s anything that defined my teenage years and early adulthood, it’s Instagram. I try as hard as I can to resist the shallow stereotypes associated with people and especially women who avidly use social media, but when the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook coincided neatly with my entry into secondary school, it’s difficult to deny the influence it’s had over the last decade of my life. We experienced in real time the development of Instagram from place where Year Sevens deposited photos as mundane as...
Cherwell •

On breakups: Dumping exes and expectations

In a perverse way, I think I was excited for my first break up. I grew up on a cultural diet of Elle Woods turning her heartbreak into a career-defining moment, of tabloids eyeing celebrities’ post-divorce glow ups, of Taylor Swift lyrics dwelling on and romanticising her relationship mishaps until they become something iconic. I knew it would be sad, that there’d be some slamming doors and some nights cursing my ex’s name in the early hours of the morning, but I also somehow imagined breaking up...
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