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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Barry Millington's rating
Reader rating
Superb: Charles Mackerras
From the team that brought us Messiah, another great masterpiece. The quirky wordsmith Charles Jennens and Handel, at the peak of his powers, produced also Belshazzar, with an unerring dramatic trajectory, a plethora of splendid choruses, and arias and duets that match anything in the better-known work.
The story of the blasphemous feast, with its "noisy idiot laugh" and "scurril taunt" (Jennens at his blustering finest), abruptly ended by enigmatic graffiti, was unfolded by the superb Orchestra and Choir of the Enlightenment under Charles Mackerras. It was an ideally paced performance, sweeping through the drama yet allowing the soloists to mould their phrases with affecting eloquence. Rosemary Joshua as Nitocris (Belshazzar's mother) evoked the "giddy dissipation" of the feast with some suitably extravagant ornamentation but was also nobly elegiac in the final act.
Two quite different counter-tenors took the stage: Iestyn Davies with an impeccably groomed voice as a fine Daniel; Bejun Mehta more vibrant and theatrical. Paul Groves hasn't the flexibility of tone to get around fast semiquavers: his Belshazzar seemed more ridiculous than perhaps intended. Robert Gleadow as Gobrias showed more promise as a Handelian. The OAE responded magnificently to Mackerras's spirited, authoritative direction. There was an outstanding contribution from a choral bass, William Gaunt.
www.bbc.co.uk/proms.
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