La Boheme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and in a cinema near you.
God not opera you’re thinking… All mountainous women and no action. Well, not any more, it isn’t. Rather, it’s young singers, who act properly, in edgy sets with humour thrown in.
Boheme (1893-5) has a touch of the Dickens, in that it is a gritty social commentary, mocking all strata of society…
Isn’t London the richest place to be for culture? If you know where to look, you can find anything. Last weekend a stream of films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were on the menu at the Baltic Film Festival at Riverside Studios. Next week, who knows what delights. London Mums‘ editor Monica Costa and I caught the final screening in this festival.
The story
Anastasia (13)…
Sung by The 1885 Singers, based in All Saints, Putney.
This Mass is Romcom-meets-God !! Possibly about as irreverent as the film ‘Life of Brian’ which retold the life of Jesus as a musical. Rossini wrote his last great work for friends, and said himself he wasn’t sure if it was sacred or sacrilegious. The Pope banned the orchestral version with female voices.
And you can understand…
My Neightbour Totoro is at the Barbicanuntil 21 January 2023.
Totoro is a kind of Japanese Winnie-the-Pooh and has become a legend both in Japan and around the world. The film by Miyazaki dates from the 80s, but is set in 50s Japan, in the countryside. This first ever staging of the film is a triumph. I even dressed up as a Totoro, accompanied by my Japanese husband, Tadashi, and…
Crockford Bridge Farm, near Guildford, off the A3. Easy peasy.
The quirkiest farmyard I’VE ever seen! A great outing for the kids and an opportunity to pick up a few pumpkins, I say a few, but the CHOICE. 8 varieties possibly, smooth and knobbly, great and small, speckled and just reassuringly orange. With helpful cooking tips to make the most of each type.
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At a special event hosted at the beautiful restaurant Coppa Club Putney, Melissa Hemsley greeted us joyfully in a yellow Gingham dress with poofy sleeves, as if she was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, about to take us on a journey to a better place. And indeed she walked us through the thought processes that inspired her new book Feel Good. She writes sympathetically for the over-worked and…
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is a PG Comedy/Drama.
This is a Franco-British love-up, for all those die-hard Francophiles out there. The fashionistas will salivate over the sacred reenactment of a 1950s Dior fashion show, with genuine outfits including a version of the 1949 Bar Suit, which can now be seen at the V&A.
It’s also delightful. The culture clashes are delicate and…
Today’s TATE Modern visit was about as far away from the apples and pears upstairs – aka Cezanne’s exhibition – as you can get. Hanging the full height of the turbine hall, were two ghostly apparitions. And to be very frank, I felt a bit non+ed.
Think giant Jurassic jellyfish meets Miss Havisham’s wedding dress (in Dickens’ Great expectations) meets spring-look…