Reviews

Mood Indigo

Graham Fuller Wednesday, 30 July 2014

The magically off-kiltre Mood Indigo is based on Boris Vian's posthumously celebrated Surrealist novel L'écume des jours (1947), one translated title of which is "Froth on the Daydream" and another "Foam on the Daze". Literally, it means "The foam of the days" or, more ominously, "The scum of the days". As it transpires, director Michel Gondry gradually skims away the froth from the movie's surface to find a layer of poisonous scum underneath.What starts out as a pleasurably light boy-meets-...

Romeo and Juliet, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Hanna Weibye Tuesday, 29 July 2014

One of the reasons I always tell ballet sceptics to give Romeo and Juliet a go is that any production with halfway decent lovers and a vaguely competent rendition of Prokofiev’s score should convince them that this art form isn’t just about swans and sugar plums. The venerable Mariinsky Theatre Ballet of St Petersburg ought, of course, to have dancers and musicians much better than decent, and in its revival of the original 1940 Leonid Lavrovsky version it has a production of great historical...

A Streetcar Named Desire, Young Vic

Demetrios Matheou Tuesday, 29 July 2014

The latest production of Tennessee Williams’s sultry, brutal yet poetic masterpiece is mainstream theatre that dares to go out on a limb. Directed by...

Porgy and Bess, Regent's Park Open Air...

David Nice Tuesday, 29 July 2014

It should work as pure musical theatre. Yet what precisely is Gershwin’s - or rather “The Gershwins’”, as this title frames it, though Ira wasn’t...

A Bright Room Called Day, Southwark Playhouse

Marianka Swain Monday, 28 July 2014

The pivotal early 1930s period in which Herr Hitler overcame strong if fractured left-wing opposition should make for meaty drama, but the sluggish...

Hide Your Smiling Faces

Tom Birchenough Monday, 28 July 2014

Impressive, enigmatic debut from American indie director Daniel Patrick Carbone

Prom 14: Pahud, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Fischer

Bernard Hughes Monday, 28 July 2014

A striking new flute concerto by Simon Holt between established French masterpieces

A Hundred Million Musicians: China's Classical Challenge, BBC Four

Jasper Rees Monday, 28 July 2014

Will China's army of young instrumentalists conquer the planet?

Red Arrows: Inside the Bubble, BBC Two

Adam Sweeting Monday, 28 July 2014

On manoeuvres with the world's best-known aerobatics team

Prom 12: Bach St John Passion, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Norrington

Kimon Daltas Sunday, 27 July 2014

Swiss orchestra and choir bring radiance to the Royal Albert Hall

Natural Affection, Jermyn Street Theatre

Siobhan Murphy Sunday, 27 July 2014

Slice of American esoterica appears stilted in UK debut

Reissue CDs Weekly: Troubadours - Folk and the Roots of American Music

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 27 July 2014

Mammoth musical encyclopaedia of a strain of music integral to American culture

The Secret History of Our Streets, BBC Two

Veronica Lee Saturday, 26 July 2014

Return of enthralling social history series

Classical CDs Weekly: Dvořák, Haydn, Janáček, Thomas Larcher

Graham Rickson Friday, 25 July 2014

Sizzling Czech orchestral music, witty classical symphonies from a much-missed conductor and contemporary piano music from Austria

Who Is Dayani Cristal?

Tom Birchenough Friday, 25 July 2014

Gael Garcia Bernal follows an immigrant journey in moving drama-doc

Minecraft Pocket Edition

Stuart Houghton Friday, 25 July 2014

The baby version of the hit PC game is now the real deal

The Nether, Royal Court Theatre

Aleks Sierz Thursday, 24 July 2014

New play about paedophiles and the internet is visually dazzling, but just a bit too nice

Restless Creature, Wendy Whelan, Linbury Studio Theatre

Hanna Weibye Thursday, 24 July 2014

Four collaborators but not much sparkle in former NYCB ballerina's new contemporary show

Coppélia, English National Ballet, London Coliseum

Hanna Weibye Thursday, 24 July 2014

Good clean fun from bright young things

Prom 7: BBCSO, Bělohlávek/Prom 8: Pet Shop Boys

Matthew Wright Thursday, 24 July 2014

Delicate Shostakovich, while the Soviet aesthetic is left to Neil Tennant

Shakespeare in Love, Noël Coward Theatre

Alexandra Coghlan Thursday, 24 July 2014

A joyous, ebullient adaptation whose real romance is with theatre itself

Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, BBC One

Jasper Rees Thursday, 24 July 2014

Twitter votes no but Scotland puts out a cheerful welcome mat

The Lady from Shanghai

Katherine McLaughlin Thursday, 24 July 2014

Sweaty seamen and a seductive siren wreak havoc in Orson Welles’ confounding film noir

Holy Warriors, Shakespeare’s Globe

Aleks Sierz Thursday, 24 July 2014

New play about the Crusades fails to communicate the lessons of history

Hercules

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 23 July 2014

3D reboot of the myth is hard labour

Prom 6: Der Rosenkavalier, LPO, Ticciati

Kimon Daltas Wednesday, 23 July 2014

The Albert Hall may not be ideal for opera but Glyndebourne's latest visit fizzed with energy

The Purge: Anarchy

Nick Hasted Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Sequel to thoughtful action-horror hit deepens the dystopia

Medea, National Theatre

Heather Neill Tuesday, 22 July 2014

An updating of Euripides which retains its mythical power

First World War Galleries, Imperial War Museum

Marina Vaizey Tuesday, 22 July 2014

An imaginative refit with 14 new galleries to tell the story of The Great War

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