Two lads looking for meaning and lots of time on their hands are at the heart of Milked. Simon Longman's play first premiered in 2013. While it may not capture the latest malaises and anxieties affecting post-pandemic youth, it has enough of a familiar ring to it for anyone who has eavesdropped on the thoughts and musings of young people when out and about. And with some lively performances by the two young men, you feel drawn into their bizarre little world as the conversation runs from the routine to the ridiculous. It's currently having a short run at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington. The premise is that Paul (Iwan Bond) is searching for a job that becomes increasingly desperate. He wants to find a job in media (whatever that is) but has neither the skills nor the experience to do it. And being based in Herefordshire rather than London makes it a stretch to be considered for anything. His mate, Snowy (Evan L. Barker), seems to be on a journey of self-discovery. His fat...
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Opera: Anna Nicole
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It would be fair enough to say (to borrow from the Opera and from the late Ms Anna Nicole) that the Royal Opera's Anna Nicole blew us... away on Thursday night. The performances, production and the opera was inspired.
What starts as a dig against a C-list American celebrity ends up becoming a strangely poignant opera where you feel some sympathy for the slapper. You may even begin thinking she is the Traviata of the day. That is the trouble with the arts, they can make people seem so much nicer than reality. Still if you can stomach sympathy for Anna Nicole, this cautionary tale against fame turns out to be quite a ride. Then again the real Anna Nicole was quite a ride too...
The music by Mark-Anthony Turnage is a jazz-operatic fusion that keeps things moving along nicely and seems perfectly matched to the story and subject. The libretto by Richard Thomas is often good too, although it seemed (at least in the first half) there was too much emphasis on profanities rather than anything resembling poetry or at least clever rhyming patter. I also never expected to hear so many euphemisms for breasts. Or the word "cuntalicious" sung by a chorus at the Royal Opera...
The story is kept simple and told via flashbacks from a series of tacky reporters who double as a terrific opera chorus. We first see Anna Nicole in a large gold chair that could have come from the big brother set. Her film and modelling career (for what that was worth) is omitted and the focus is on her rise to fame after leaving "the breast-less masses" and poor paying jobs to work in a strip club. It was working there she meets an 89 year old billionaire. In one of the many nice touches of this production, his arrival comes via a giant stairlift. It had the audience in hysterics. The first act ends with a marriage and so for the second act it is all downhill, as the billionaire's death, endless court cases and prescription pills start taking a toll.
The production is at its best in the second half as things get creepy and the score gets more dramatic. There are plenty of other unsettling touches in this bright production when things start to go sour. Towards the end dancers with television headdresses begin to encircle Anna, and start rummaging through her garbage.
The performances across the board are phenomenal, although with no major arias anyone is singing there it relies more on their comic and dramatic talents. Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole is simply amazing, and gives a performance of a strong yet sympathetic character. Given the audience's reaction to her on Thursday, perhaps she will be entering into the realms of the opera superstars after this turn. Alan Oke as her billionaire octogenerian husband, also gives a strong performance as a man who wants to have some fun before he is dead. Gerald Finley is good as the vilain of the piece as the laywer-come-boyfriend. And even Wynne Evans from the irritating (but strangely memorable)Go-Compare commercials is in this show.
Keeping it altogether was conductor Antonio Pappano, and it was clear that the orchestra were having a good time with it all.
Away from the stage, there were additional nice touches that made Thursday evening a little more memorable for the world premiere of this piece. This included having the foyers Anna Nicole-ised. Every bust, statue or picture frame had Eve-Maria Westbroek's face and breasts covering them. Towards the end of the evening, the tape holding some of the photos in place was coming off and the Anna Nicole pictures began to fall away. It was a nice little symbolic moment for a work about the overwhelming but temporary nature of pop culture.
If there were any reservations about the choice of subject matter for this opera, it is that it gives another chance for British audiences to feel smug about American culture (as if we don't get enough of that here already). Sure England has its own answer to Anna Nicole with it's very own slapper saint Jade Goody, but she isn't as interesting as Anna Nicole. Nor does she come with global recognition. Besides her two-act opera would be confined to a reality television show and having her cervix fall out.
The show is sold out, but is bound to be repeated given the interest. A broadcast is to follow on BBC4 shortly. All involved in this show should be blown (kiss or otherwise) for their efforts... A night to remember at the Royal Opera...
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue . Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple. The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
