LA PIETRA DEL PARAGONE (The Touchstone) concerns the Count Asdrubale who is wealthy and therefore of great interest to many women – notably Aspasia, Fulvia, and Clarice. Only Clarice, however, loves him for something other than his riches. There are also male hangers-on: the corrupt journalist Macrobio, the poetaster Pacuvio, and Giocondo, who is Asdrubale's true friend, but who has his own eyes on Clarice. To test his friends and would-be fiancées, Asdrubale pretends that he has been bankrupted. Sure enough, only Clarice and Giocondo stand by him, and when his fortune is "miraculously" saved, the three have the last laugh on everyone else... or do they? This production is set in what looks like the early 1960s. But the real innovation is the use of blue screen technology: using tiny cameras and sets, along gigantic screens hanging over the stage, a kind of video mixing makes the singers appear to inhabit any number of fanciful settings and perform a myriad of improbable actions.
Il conte Asdrubale
Il cavalier Giocondo
Macrobio
Pacuvio
Fabrizio
LA PIETRA DEL PARAGONE (The Touchstone) concerns the Count Asdrubale who is wealthy and therefore of great interest to many women – notably Aspasia, Fulvia, and Clarice. Only Clarice, however, loves him for something other than his riches. There are also male hangers-on: the corrupt journalist Macrobio, the poetaster Pacuvio, and Giocondo, who is Asdrubale's true friend, but who has his own eyes on Clarice. To test his friends and would-be fiancées, Asdrubale pretends that he has been bankrupted. Sure enough, only Clarice and Giocondo stand by him, and when his fortune is "miraculously" saved, the three have the last laugh on everyone else... or do they? This production is set in what looks like the early 1960s. But the real innovation is the use of blue screen technology: using tiny cameras and sets, along gigantic screens hanging over the stage, a kind of video mixing makes the singers appear to inhabit any number of fanciful settings and perform a myriad of improbable actions.
2007-10-02
8
Witness a remarkable coming-of-age story as we track a young leopard's journey from rookie to royalty in South Africa's lethal Big Five landscape. When we first meet Jack, he's clumsy, fearful, and weak, but he's a fast learner - and he'll need to be. He's destined for a showdown with the area's current leopard monarch, an alpha male with a real mean streak. We follow Jack as he hones his skills and builds up muscle for the ultimate catfight. It's a battle where only the winner will walk out alive.
A community is under siege as three Belmont Highschool coed students go missing with no trace of their whereabouts. The pressure is on the police to capture the culprits responsible. Scouring the school hallways in search of clues, undercover female detective Maggie Rawdon (Jessica Sonnerborn) enters Belmont High as a transfer student in an attempt to solve the hideous disappearance of the students. Maggie makes a few new friends, and gets invited to a private rave in the country. Just as the group begins to suspect that they've taken a wrong turn, however, the trap is sprung and Maggie finds out firsthand what fate has befallen the missing girls.
Launder Run tells the story of Jake, a man returning to his gritty hometown after years away, carrying the weight of a troubled past. The film opens on a rainy Saturday afternoon as Jake trudges through a bleak estate, visibly exhausted and clutching a plastic bag. Arriving at his sister Sue’s chaotic, unkempt flat, he confronts the ruins of his old life—a dirty fridge, a cluttered bedroom reduced to storage, and the ghosts of a once-close family. Seeking solace, he revisits his old pub, a place teeming with memories. As he steps inside, the bartender recognizes him with shock, hinting at Jake’s mysterious past and the reasons for his long absence. “Lounder Run” explores themes of homecoming, redemption, and the unshakable grip of one’s origins.
From the birthplace of boxing legend Mike Tyson, young women brawl in secret fight clubs to win $1000 and invaluable street cred.
Four men decided to enter in the oldest Fight Club of the History, The Florentine Football tournament. A father and son, a black guy, an old champion and outsider clerk will enter in an arena of the time to win their fears, to go over their limits, to be heroes for a day.
Do, Re and Mi in this sequeal tells the tale of a group of gangsters who are planning to rob a bank. So they use this oppurtunity to con them out of it and capture them at the same time. Many comedic memorable moments are carried out through the movie.
Koenigsmark is a 1935 British-French drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Elissa Landi, John Lodge and Pierre Fresnay. The film is based on the novel Koenigsmark by Pierre Benoît. It's sets were designed by the art director Lucien Aguettand. The film was known in the United States as Crimson Dynasty.
Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.
Julie Etchingham looks back at one of the UK's most shocking crimes, the assassination of the BBC's most popular presenter, Jill Dando, and whether the police investigation could have missed some vital leads.
Lawyer Justin visits his family in Scotland where they run an illegal brothel.
Every spring, Hollywood hosts a very species-specific migration: kids. Thousands of aspiring child actors flock to Tinseltown for pilot season, the traditional casting period for new network and cable television shows. But unlike adult actors who pound the same star-lined pavement, kids come with their families. Many set up camp at the Oakwood, a temporary housing complex that caters to the showbiz flock.
Danger lurks around every corner. A psychopathic serial killer is tying up, raping and murdering Tokyo's sexy young women! Kathy is trying to divorce her husband, all the while conducting a hot affair with her divorce attorney, Sean. As she walks through the park one day, she witnesses the killer disposing of the dead body of his latest victim. The killer begins stalking her, throwing her otherwise normal life into a paranoid frenzy.Mr. Pink (Yutaka Ikejima) masterfully directs this suspenseful Pink-Film retelling of Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy.
Four friends head off to Bombay and get involved in the mother and father of all gang wars.
The secrets of "Beverly Hills, 90210" in its first four seasons and the drama between cast, crew and creators.
The boss of the Hung Hing gang, Tian Sang, has died. Ho Nam and Hon Bun find Sangs younger brother, Yang to lead the gang. Meanwhile, Hon Bun receives news that his younger brother, a leader of the Tuen Mun gang has been assasinated. They travel to Hong Kong to settle the matter.
After Kati, Hanna and Mila first experiences with guys, it is now necessary to cultivate those relations. The jealous Mila thinks that her friend Markus, would cheat on her with Vanessa. Kati, who is actually together with Tobi, finds that Robert, whom she met during a shooting, more than just cool. Only with Hanna everything seems to work perfectly. Branko is a real gentleman and does everything for her musical career - but not entirely unselfishly, as soon turns out. Problems therefore pre-programmed with the girlfriends and their new conquests!
The story of the star crossed love between Manon Lescaut and Des Grieux.
Philippe Jaroussky as Ruggiero is in thrall to Patricia Petibon as the sorceress Alcina in Katie Mitchell’s virtuosic production of Handel’s opera from the 2015 Aix-en-Provence Festival, described by Bachtrack as “a night of a thousand delights”. Conducted by Andrea Marcon, this was, in the words of Opera News, “musically … a performance of the highest festival level”. The production of Alcina, by the British director Katie Mitchell, was welcomed by the Financial Times as “meticulously executed …, rich in detail, consummately polished”. As the New York Times wrote: “It involves a huge sorcery machine for turning people into animals (or whatever). And Ms. Mitchell works magic of her own onstage, constantly showing the enchantresses Alcina and Morgana alternating between glamorous public personas and their ‘real life’, older, private selves …There are also bits of simulated sex, mingling genders and suggesting, among other things, inventive new ways to hit high notes.”
Saheita, the final heir of a once rich and respectable family, can't refuse the many villagers that come to him for favours and money, even though he is on the brink of bankruptcy. Around town he is better known by his nickname Mr. Shosuke Ohara.
It's no accident when wealthy Charles falls for Jean. Jean is a con artist with her sights set on Charles' fortune. Matters complicate when Jean starts falling for her mark. When Charles suspects Jean is a gold digger, he dumps her. Jean, fixated on revenge and still pining for the millionaire, devises a plan to get back in Charles' life. With love and payback on her mind, she re-introduces herself to Charles, this time as an aristocrat named Lady Eve Sidwich.
Britten's last opera, in two acts, presented by Teatro Real.
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.
When the rich and powerful Buoso Donati dies, his family's excitement about his estate is infinitely greater than their sorrow over his loss. They start searching for his will like a flock of hungry vultures. Apparently Donati has bequeathed everything to a monastery. There is absolutely no way they will allow this to happen. They search any means to seize the fortune. Rinuccia, the youngest scion of the family, suggests asking Gianni Schicchi, the father of her lover, for advice. They shudder at the mention of his name, but Gianni Schicchi is already on his way and proves to be a man with ideas.
Composer Thomas Adès conducts the Met premiere of his powerful opera based on Shakespeare’s last play, in Robert Lepage’s brilliantly inventive production. Simon Keenlyside is the magician Prospero, who conjures the storm that shipwrecks his enemies and sets in motion the course of events. Rising Met stars Isabel Leonard and Alek Shrader are the young lovers, Miranda and Ferdinand, Alan Oke sings the sinister Caliban, and Audrey Luna gives a memorable performance as the sprite Ariel.
Director David McVicar’s new production brings opera’s favorite double bill to new life, setting the two operas in the same Sicilian setting, separated by two generations. Marcelo Álvarez takes on the rare feat of singing both leading tenor roles. In Cavalleria, he is Turiddu, the young man who abandons Santuzza (Eva-Maria Westbroek) in his pursuit of the married Lola (Ginger Costa-Jackson)—and ends up being killed in a duel with her husband, Alfio (George Gagnidze). In Pagliacci, Álvarez is Canio, the leader of a traveling vaudeville troupe. Patricia Racette sings Nedda, his unfaithful young wife, whose plans to run away with her lover are foiled by her spurned admirer Tonio (George Gagnidze)—with equally tragic consequences. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.
Young Count Georg Wolkersheim is sent to the Congress of Vienna to represent the interests of his country, Reuss-Schleiz-Greiz. Tensions arise between the count, his wife Melanie, and their two chamberlains, and when the four attend a court ball, Melanie leaves Georg, assumes the identity of a famous actress, and attracts the affections of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
Since its premiere on 2 June 1937 in Zurich, Alban Berg's second opera "Lulu" has the reputation of being surrounded by scandals. On the one hand, this is due to the dubious character of the subject, the man-eating femme fatale, which Berg had taken from Frank Wedekind's two Lulu tragedies – "The Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box" – and combined into one opera libretto. On the other hand, Berg's window had (for personal reasons) repeatedly refused to have the opera completed, which was unfinished when Berg died. This video is of the unfinished two-act torso of "Lulu."
The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.
This hard-edged postmodern production of Giuseppe Verdi's haunting masterpiece brings the story of Shakespeare's bloody tragedy to vivid life, characterized by spine-tingling atmospherics and a triumphant debut by American baritone Thomas Hampson in the title role. This Zurich Opera House production also features a mesmerizing turn by Paoletta Marrocu as the beautiful, power-hungry Lady Macbeth, while striking sets and costumes further enhance the duality of the main character whose rise and fall mirror the darkest impulses of man. Replete with supernatural mystery, sexual tension, and violent power plays, this timeless story remains gripping and chilling for today's audiences and boasts some of the most astonishing music of Verdi's legendary body of work.
Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting.
A collaboration between award-winning American filmmaker Sofia Coppola and Italia haute couture king Valentino comes in the form of a revival of Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera, La Traviata. Captured live from the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
Giuseppe Verdi based his famous opera on the novel “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas. Robert Wilson’s production of Violetta Valéry’s tragic fate is his first work at the State Theater of Linz, Austria, one of the most modern operatic stages in Europe by architect Terry Pawson. After the run in Linz, the production was transferred to the Opera House in Perm, Russia, where the production was conducted by Teodor Currentzis. In 2017, the work received a “Golden Mask”, the most prestigious Russian theater award, in three categories (Teodor Currentzis, Best Conductor; Nadezhda Pavlova, Best Female Singer; Robert Wilson, Best Lighting Design).
"Giovanna d'Arco; ossia, la pulzella d'Orléans" is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The opera partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and is based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller, although claimed by the librettist to be "an entirely original Italian drama." If the thought of Anna Netrebko strutting her stuff in a suit of armour and tin hat sets your factor tingling then this is a must. It's an inconsistent opera but has some quite wonderful music along the way. The rest of the cast is good and the production won't offend either. Get it for Ms Netrebko's incredible performance alone.
A filmed version of Tchaikovsky's opera. Onegin visits a friend, his fiancee and her sister Tatiana, who believes Onegin is her fated love. She writes a note telling him so, but he rejects her. Years later he returns, finding her married, but now he's smitten with her.
How do we live together in an age of conflict? How do you heal a divided and angry people? In their 2017 production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Peter Sellars and Teodor Currentzis examine these questions through the story of a warrior-emperor who brings peace to his divided land and pardons his own would-be assassins. Written under a time crunch (legend has it that it was written in only 18 days, although it is likely an exaggeration) during the last year of Mozart’s life, the opera is based on a libretto written more than half a century earlier by Pietro Metastasio. It was commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and received its first public performance at the Estates Theatre in Prague on September 6, 1791.
Gaul has been conquered by the Romans. Oroveso, the Arch-Druid longs to lead a Gallic rebellion against the colonial forces. He and all the others wait for the signal to be given by his daughter, the Druid High Priestess Norma. But Norma has fallen in love with the Roman Proconsul, Pollione, and given birth to two children. They have been brought up in secrecy by her confidante Clotilde. Norma still loves Pollione but he has fallen in love with a novice priestess, Adalgisa.