Kids, Opera & A Disco Moon
This week, Latest’s Andrew Kay starts with something for the kids and finishes with something that is definitely for the grown ups. As a recent convert to kids shows, he loved Hey Duggee a few weeks back at Theatre Royal Brighton, despite being the only person in the audience not accompanied by a child. This offering at Brighton Dome looks and sounds simply great. Yes it’s Zog! The smash-hit stage adaptation from Freckle Productions (the team behind Zog and the Flying Doctors and Stick Man). Zog’s back and promises to be bigger, brighter and more roar-some than ever before! With lively songs from Joe Stilgoe and directed by local theatre royalty Emma Kilbey. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s much-loved Zog is a magical production for all ages.
AK might have to pretend to be a parent and go to see Zog and friends when they are at Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Friday the 28th, Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th of April with two shows daily at times to suit your young ones.
Tickets for all Zog dates can be purchased here.
Something closer to his heart next with opera, a fabulous working of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. OperaUpClose is an ambitious, collaborative touring opera company with an on-going mission to improve the art form’s availability, relevance and reach. They distill the essence of classic operas into new, contemporary, English language works with their own artistic integrity and excellence. This new work has been produced in association with Manchester Camerata who believe in the transformative and connecting nature of music. The Flying Dutchman is at the Pavilion Theatre Worthing on Friday the 7th of July.
Tickets for The Flying Dutchman available here.
Sticking with opera, one AK’s very first experience as a 25 year old, in 1981, was to be present at the first night of Sir Peter Hall’s extraordinary production of Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Glyndebourne. To say that he was blown away would be an understatement, and still is one of his best memories of theatre – of which there are many. The good news is that it is back in this year’s Glyndebourne Festival season. It is simply beautiful in every sense and runs from the 1st of July throughout the festival, for more details check their website glyndebourne.com.
From opera to another classic, but we promise you, if you like your Jane Austen pure, then look away now because this version of Pride And Prejudice is far from it. Which is why there is an asterisk there and the words “sort of”. Well it made us smile, in fact it made AK laugh out loud and no doubt it will do the same when it hits The Congress Theatre in Eastbourne for a week from the 4th of April.
Find tickets for Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), here.
After the break he talks to dance music star Osaro Ogbeide about his international hit track Disco Moon and a forthcoming fund raising event.
