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I really tried to hate this show; it has everything a true red-blooded
rugby loving man should hate. It seems to tick all the boxes for all those shows designed for
fans of Jane Austin, The Devil Wears Prada and the Full Monty. Legally blonde is designed for
your wife or girlfriend; it's not surprising that two thirds of the audience were full of
women of all ages.
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy
Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman
who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on
marrying her wealthy boss.
Last Wednesday's production (2 May) of Dangerous Liaisons at the Oxford Playhouse
performed by Oxford students was well worth seeing! This is a stage adaptation of the book’ Les
Liaisons Dangerous’ by Pierre Choderlos in 1782. In its day, it was as revolutionary to French
literature as Lady Chatterley's Lover was to English literature in 1928.
There is nothing like a good musical to brighten up a cold and damp Oxford
December evening, which is what you get from attending South Pacific at Oxford’s New Theatre.
Certainly, this Lincoln Centre production of South Pacific set on the island of Guadalcanal, put a
smile on the face and a spring in the step of the audience, as they left (7 December 2011) at the
end of this exciting performance.
If you are looking for good old-fashioned family Christmas fun, then going to see
Mother Goose at the Oxford Playhouse certainly fits the bill. Both kids and adults will enjoy this
story, full of humour, political comment and fun. Even the song and dance routines were enjoyable.
It was great to see and hear the audience laughing, clapping and singing along to the songs that
ranged from The Monkey’s ‘I m a believer’ to the Mikado’s ‘Three little maids from school’.
As with all Gilbert and Sullivan productions, this Opera della Luna performance
delivers what is best in good entertaining social comment and satire on the class barriers that
lovers face, even today. The production was originally set in the Victorian period. Jeff Clarke the
director of this performance has updated it to the 'flower power' era. However, I felt many of the
observations made could have equally been applied today in this class and celebrity obsessed world
we live in, where much of the ruling political, entertainment and business elites, is still
dominated by Oxbridge graduates from wealthy families.
Last night’s, Oxford’s Theatre Guild’s performance of Macbeth was full of
percussive bashing of swords and Shakespeare’s magical language that made this two and a half hour
performance simply come alive! Macbeth, who was played with passion by Peter Malin, is the man who
would be King of Scotland, who struggles with ambition, doubt and his conscience as he takes the
treacherous path to kill King Duncan and many of his family and supporters.
Mark’s performance, last night (13 September 2011) at the Oxford Playhouse was what you expect
from an accomplished and professional performer. It is clear he really loves his work. He
certainly has a passion for film. It is not surprising this film critic is a popular guest for
BBC Five Live and the Culture Show. Mark certainly provides value for money.
‘Cool it’, the movie examines the voracity of some of the arguments and proposed
solutions, trendy eco-warriors such as Al-Gore has publicised in his movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.
‘Cool it’, is a film adaptation of the book with the same name by noted Danish climate expert and
scientist Bjorn Lomborg. The film accepts the general thesis of global warming, but questions the
economic and social solutions that are put forward to solve this problem.
Chuck is what you would expect from James Bond if he had a sense of humour and
could keep an on-going relationship. Chuck is certainly full of high jinks and parody of many of
the spy films, we currently see including Mission Impossible and The Bourne Supremacy. There is
everything in it from a hideout similar to the bat cave to super gadgets that appear from the most
unlikely of places. However, the magic for Chuck's fans is the clever plots and relationships that
our hero Chuck has with his bride to be and other supporting characters in the series. Unlike a lot
of American TV, Chuck is not for the brain dead. It is equal in many ways to The Big Bang
Theory.
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