Crown
Clara / Annie (singing voice)
Jake
Robbins
Peter
8.0Simultaneously filmed English language version of a period operetta, in which a Polish noblewoman is romantically linked with a revolutionary student activist.
7.1The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.
8.0Although he is unanimously credited with having democratised opera, making it accessible to the greatest number, focus is rarely put on the strategy he devised and implemented in order to carry out his actions, nor what his actions reveal of the man and artist, and of the resulting metamorphosis from opera singer to pop artist. Through this angle, this film sets out to pay tribute to the man who summed up his credo, obsession and life’s work, in the following way: “They led the public to believe that classical music belonged to a restricted elite. I was the way to prove to the world that was wrong.
Rossini’s opera based on the fairy-tale Cinderella, filmed in real-life Italian locations in the ballrooms and gardens of some of Turin’s finest palaces. For this special production of the opera, the scenes were filmed at the same time of day as they occur in the story, with the famous ballroom scene filmed as the clock struck midnight
5.9Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.
0.0Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, a ballet in three acts, is present by the Ballet Company of the National Opera of Ukraine, with music provided by the Orchestra of the National Opera of Ukraine, conducted by Mykola Dyadura
6.2The sisters struggle with their own bodies. One, driven by ambitions, seeks the limits of its possibilities, for the other, the body is a prison. One believes that ballet will save her from memories. The second observes the world from the balcony with such attention that she sees and hears more.
8.0As part of the 2019 Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival, filmmaker Christophe Honoré delivers an innovative staging of Giacomo Puccini's famous drama. His cleverly staged "opera within the opera" is a melancholy homage to the fascinating figure of the diva, who thrives on art and love and upsets the laws of time and death.
0.0An older brother who can't fit into society, a father who has given up on his future, and a younger sister who is tied to the house. This is the story of the small steps these three people take. The Great East Japan Earthquake suddenly changed the peaceful daily life of the people of Fukushima. Many people lost their homes and jobs due to not only the earthquake and tsunami, but also the nuclear accident, and left Fukushima. This is the story of a family living in the aftermath three years later, in Fukushima, where deep scars remain.
0.0This DVD of a live 2005 performance from the Zürich Opera under the musical direction of Franz Welser-Möst has many things to recommend it -- the young tenor Piotr Beczala as Alfredo, the marvelous Thomas Hampson as Giorgio Germont, the playing of the Zurich Opera orchestra, the simple but effective sets by by Erich Wonder, the uncluttered stage direction by Jürgen Flimm. It also has some flaws: strangely variable volume level of the recorded sound sometimes coming on so loud as to make one reach for the volume control, and the uneven performance of the Violetta, Eva Mei who, for all her merits, gives a dramatically effective performance marred by occasional difficulties with vocal production. Still, overall I felt this was a moving production, one that I would recommend, although perhaps not as an only DVD of one of Verdi's most popular operas.
7.1Billie Dupree is a flight instructor at an old Texas airport. When a young girl in a wheelchair finds the airport by watching gliders fly, she decides she wants to learn how to fly. Dupree teaches her to fly with some special controls compensating for her handicap. Koup Trenton runs an aircraft repair service and is trying desperately to get an old airplane back in the air. The three, together, put the young girl and the old plane up in the air.
0.0With more than 50 years of experience as film director, Peter Greenaway (Nightwatching, Eisenstein in Guanajuato) combines the worlds of film and opera at the Verdi Festival in Parma, demonstrating what magic those two can do together with an all new approach to Giuseppe Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco, staged and edited by himself and his wife, Saskia Boddeke. The opera's libretto is based on Friedrich Schiller's 'The Maid of Orleans'. It tells the story of the French national hero Jeanne d'Arc, who defends her country against the English troops during the Hundred Years' War. Constantly torn between her humble roots, her love for King Charles VII and her heavenly task to fight for France, she gains eternal glory by giving her life in the final, victorious battle against England.
0.0A blind child singer, thrown onto the streets of Bangkok, must sing to free himself from the gang that controls him.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute is undoubtedly one of the most multi-layered, profound, complicated, and therefore also most difficult to stage works in the entire opera repertoire. In terms of genre, it can only be understood if it is seen as a mixture of four things: a philosophically profound drama of ideas with countless encryptions, a naïve fairy tale, a bawdy comedy, and a crude Punch and Judy show. It is based on the intersection of the traditions of Baroque magic opera, Italian buffa, and Viennese Singspiel, where all manner of wonders are conceivable and permissible. Peter Ustinov's production appeals to all those who love a primarily fairy-tale-like interpretation; the atmosphere is traditional and conventional. An outstanding ensemble of singers has been assembled.
Former A. E. F. boxing champion Tom Harper, who suffered gas poisoning, is sent to the mountains to regain his health so that he can re-enter the ring and earn the money needed for his crippled sister's operation. Under strict orders not to exert himself, Tom allows himself to be beaten up by Phillip Brand, the town bully, in front of his girl, Harriet Monroe.
7.0The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.
7.0In his new production, Robert Carsen places the action at the end of the Habsburg Empire, underscoring the opera’s subtext of class and conflict against a rich backdrop of gilt and red damask
4.0Mozart’s early masterpiece returned to the Met for the first time in more than a decade with Music Director Emeritus James Levine, who led the work’s company premiere in 1982, again on the podium. Tenor Matthew Polenzani brings both steely resolve and compassionate warmth to the title king of Crete, who is faced with an impossible decision. With her rich mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote sings the trouser role of Idomeneo’s son Idamante, who loves the Trojan princess Ilia, sung with delicate lyricism by Nadine Sierra. Elza van den Heever gives a thrillingly unhinged portrayal of the jealous Elettra. Jean Pierre-Ponnelle’s timeless production blends the grandeur of ancient myth with the elegance of Enlightenment ideals.
7.0The joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time. Tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom.
7.3The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
7.0A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.
6.6The extraordinary true legend of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers as the female Christ.
6.8The rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom.
6.3The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
6.7A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
7.1The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
5.9A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.
6.7Bruce Springsteen, a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.
6.6Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
6.6Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
7.2When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.
6.4A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
6.8A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
6.8The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.
5.9A brother and sister's battle over a prized heirloom piano unleashes haunting truths about how the past is perceived — and who defines a family legacy.