Royal Opera House Live 2024/25: The Marriage of Figaro(2024)

Movie Themes at the BBC(en)

A selection of some of the best BBC moments and classic archive performances from those singers and bands who cracked Hollywood as well as the pop charts. These are the tunes that get hummed when leaving the cinemas over the years from blockbusters, Oscar winners, comedies and family favourites, featuring a selection of soundtrack stars including Destiny’s Child, Paul Simon, All Saints, Simple Minds and Dolly Parton.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at Hyde Park(en)

On a sunny day in September 2014, Jeff Lynne, head honcho of 70s hit-making band ELO, took to the stage in London's Hyde Park and, with the help of his backing band and the strings of the BBC Concert Orchestra, brought to a close Radio 2's Live in Hyde Park annual festival. After an absence from the live stage for 28 years, this headline set by Jeff Lynne's ELO was a much-anticipated and talked-about event. In front of 50,000 people, Jeff Lynne delivered a rousing and crowd-pleasing string of the Electric Light Orchestra's chart-topping hits, including Livin' Thing, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Don't Bring Me Down, Mr Blue Sky, and Roll Over Beethoven. And there was also Jeff's touching tribute to his band buddies from Traveling Wilburys, in his performance of their 1988 hit Handle With Care.

Bizet: Carmen(fr)

Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a dynamic performance as Bizet’s iconic gypsy, the woman who lives by her own rules. Aleksandrs Antonenko is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell, and Ildar Abdrazakov plays Escamillo, the swaggering bullfighter who takes Carmen away from Don José—an action that seals Carmen’s tragic fate. Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Richard Eyre’s hit production, set in 1930s Spain.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street(en)

In 1846, Anthony Hope sails into London with the mysterious Sweeney Todd, a once-naive barber whose life and marriage was uprooted by a corrupt justice system. Todd confides in Nellie Lovett, the owner of a local meat pie shop, and the two become partners, as Todd swears revenge on those that have wronged him and decides to take up his old profession.

Icing(cs)

Explosive conversational comedy based on the successful theater plays, which takes place one evening in a remote local pub, during the match of Ice Hockey World Championship. What can happen and can be told, when the kidnapped bride is getting drunk together with the best woman of her husband and experienced barmaid and the only one, who is able to stop and save everything, is not coming.

Die Entführung aus dem Serail(en)

Mozart's famous Singspiel after Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's work "Belmonte und Konstanze", DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL comes to life in the sumptuous setting of Topkapi, the Ottoman sultans' own Istanbul seraglio (palace harem). Belmonte finds his fiancée Konstanze and her English maid Blondchen, who were captured and sold by pirates, in the Mediterranean seraglio of the Ottoman pasha Selim. Belmonte's servant Pedrillo gets him engaged as builder. After Selim tried to enforce himself upon Konstanze, Pedrillo and Blondchen, his own sweetheart, prepare their flight, managing to get Osmin, the pasha's overseer, drunk. Yet Osmin and Selim's guard still capture them, already in the garden; however the touching display of true love melts the pasha's heart, so he lets them go.

Nesmělý Kasanova(cs)

Idiotka(cs)

Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU(en)

One-man stage performance by English stage and screen actor Sir Ian McKellen. McKellen reprises roles over his career in the theatre (such as the works of William Shakespeare) and on film (such as Gandalf in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings film series), while discussing anecdotes throughout his life and career.

National Theatre Live: Top Girls(en)

Now hiring: top girls wanted for prestige positions. Must be self-motivated go-getters with an appetite for success. No timewasters. Marlene is the first woman to head the Top Girls employment agency. But she has no plans to stop there. With Maggie in at Number 10 and a spirit of optimism consuming the country, Marlene knows that the future belongs to women like her.

Jake's Women(en)

Jake is a writer. He is married to Maggie, but his marriage is in trouble. He cannot stop thinking about other women in his life, characters he invents conversations with. He is constantly talking to: his deceased wife Julie, his daughter Molly, his sister Karen, and his psychiatrist Edith. All he does is have imaginary conversations with real people that are at the moment out of his life. Maggie cannot stand his mind wandering off all the time and decides to separate for six months and at the end of six months they will decide whether or not to remain together. Jake has a few girl friends, but spends the six months, while waiting for Maggie, only talking to these imaginary people, and a few times to real people.

Donizetti: Anna Bolena(it)

Gaetano Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani kept the focus of their opera ANNA BOLENA on the personal rather than the political in this fictionalized Tudor tale: Henry VIII of England wants to get rid of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, so that he can marry her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. He brings Lord Richard Percy, Anne's first love, back from exile so that he can find an excuse to accuse her of adultery. With the unwitting aid of Smeaton, a court musician, and Lord Rochefort, Anne's brother, the trap is easily sprung. This 2011 live recording from the Wiener Staatsoper showcases Anna Netrebko as she "scored a personal triumph" in her debut as the hapless Tudor Queen, while her stage partners - notably Elīna Garanča as Jane Seymour and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Henry VIII - were likewise showered with critical acclaim.

Jeff Dunham: All Over the Map(en)

Jeff Dunham and his iconic creations, Achmed, Walter, Peanut, and Bubba J. have embarked on an unprecedented world tour through five continents, logging almost 100,000 miles and starring in arenas where few American comedians have dared to perform. Tell the wrong joke in Singapore or United Arab Emirates and risk being handcuffed before you ever leave the stage. Bring Achmed the Dead Terrorist on stage in Malaysia after a government warning forbidding his presence, and you may never leave Kuala Lumpur. While Dunham crafts pop culture references that can excite a local audience upon entering each country, Jeff shows that humor is truly universal. Most of the time.

Bröderna Östermans huskors(sv)

The Österman brothers have come to realize that they need a housekeeper. Oldest brother Kalle travel to town and return with the young and modern Anna.

Billy Elliot: The Musical Live(en)

In County Durham, England, 1984, a talented young dancer, Billy Elliot, stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family’s set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes in a musical that questions masculinity, gender norms and conformity.

Curtain Up(en)

In a small town in the 1950s a repertory company meets on Monday morning to start rehearsing the following week's play. This is a ghastly thing written by the aunt of one of the theatre's directors. The producer doesn't try to hide his annoyance about it, and is further exercised when the authoress herself arrives to help. The cast have to try and sort out real-life problems that keep intruding as they wrestle with the play's dire dialogue.

One Direction: Apple Music Festival - London 2015(en)

One Direction performs a stellar set at the 2015 edition of the Apple Music Festival. Be prepared to sing along to their catchy chart-topping hits!

Much Ado About Nothing(en)

Dame Maggie Smith stars in the 1967 screen version of Franco Zeffirelli's exuberant National Theatre production of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, in which young lovers Hero and Claudio conspire to make sharp-tongued rivals Beatrice and Benedick fall in love with each other.

Robin Hood – The Musical Spectacle(fr)

A live recording of an amended version of the Robin Hood story, staged at the Palaís des congrès de Paris in January 2014.

On the Edge of Their Seats(ja)

During the first high school baseball game of the season, personal dramas play out within a group of high schoolers sitting in the crowd.