Petra

I'll probably give this movie a miss. IMO Tarantino was a two-hit wonder (Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, obviously). More charitably, one could say that Tarantino's early work was so bold and innovative that his later work suffers in comparison.

I'm guessing this Giselle dies by her own hand and not from heartbreak (compared for instance to the recent Gelsey clip).

richard, the BBC does receive license fees from the US by way of BBC America and from other countries by way of BBC Prime, so the explanation you received isn't that sound.

'Margot' sounds awful, but I Helena Bonham-Carter as Enid Blyton sounds terrific!!

I've just started reading 'Nothing Like the Sun' by Anthony Burgess. It's a fictional life of William Shakespeare or WS as he is called throughout the novel, even in the parts that are written in the first person. I'm not sure how I like it so far - I love the English language as much as the next person, but Burgess seems to be trying too hard to impress with his linguistic mastery. 16th century stream of consciousness... On the other hand, Burgess has incorporated WS' own writing, there are some pretty good sonnets.

Exquisite!!!

As an interested but-oh-so-faraway bystander to the "NY dance scene", I doubt that Wolcott or Haglund have taken the time to really read BT for a while. BT is far from NYCB-centric.

I know that blogs are like baby dragons that demand to be fed ever more frequently, but isn't it parochial and kind of provincial to imply that there's anything wrong with a US based ballet board that "celebrates all things Balanchine".

Santiago Calatrava? I wasn't aware NYCB was branching out into the bridge-building business.

It's interesting to compare Taylor's situation to that of Annie Leibowitz. Both of them are the figureheads of their respective 'brands', but Leibowitz seems to have refused to assume any personal responsibility for the financial well-being of her business, whereas Taylor is ceding his personal wealth to the benefit of his organisation.

Getting back to London specific theatre-going, I was surprised to note on a recent visit to London that food and drink is still sold in the theatre auditorium itself during interval. I enjoyed my choc ice-cream, not least because air conditioning is still a scarce commodity in London. However since alcohol is indeed so prevalent in UK public spaces, I am sure some theatre-goers don't really comprehend the difference between drinking water and drinking wine in the theatre or why they shouldn't be clinking their beer bottles in time (or otherwise) to the music.

Thank you for chiming in, GWTW. The only book of Byatt's I tried was Possession, and I was unable to get through it, I fear.

If you couldn't get through Possession, I wouldn't even bother with The Children's Book... If you do want to read any Byatt, I would start with either 'Angels and Insects' (Victoriana) or 'The Virgin in the Garden' (1950s England).

'Gone With the Wind' is definitely profound, if not subtle

I totally agree, but then given my moniker, I would agree, wouldn't I?

I'm currently reading 'The Children's Book' by A.S. Byatt. Although different in every which way from Gone With The Wind, other than its length, it can also be characterised as being profound yet not subtle. It is a very sprawling book - almost a social history of the English upper-ish middle class from the end of the Victorian Age and through the First World War. It is written very densely and all of Byatt's literary devices are on display - she has included stories and plays 'written' by a couple of the characters; there are very extensive descriptions of scenery and art; the narrative perspective changes every so often, etc. And yet it works - the book moves at a good pace and the characters, all flawed and none the definite 'hero' of the book, are real and draw one in.

Wow, compared to some of those stories I really have nothing to complain about. Although the 'lady' I sat next to last night at the theatre dropped her handbag on my feet, couldn't stop texting and drank soda (!) throughout, she did leave during the interval...

miliosr, opinions do tend to differ sharply on DiCaprio, but I think his performance, along with Winslet’s, does much to lend credibility to the film. I suppose he is too contemporary, but period ambience is not Titanic ‘97’s strong point, so he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb for me.

This may be a minority opinion, but IMO Winslet has a very 'modern' sensibility despite her 'period' looks - more so than DiCaprio. Her best work has been in more contemporary movies, like Hideous Kinky and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (just thinking about the luminosity of Winslet and Dunst (and where has she disappeared to ) in that movie makes me happy).

Disclaimer: I haven't seen either The Reader (and I don't intend to) or Revolutionary Road, so maybe this opinion is just based on older work.

I firmly believe that a classic remains a classic and I tend to 'feed' my children the books I grew up on, from Mother Goose through Dr Suess to CS Lewis.

That said, some really great contemporary books are:

Preschool: In addition to LiLing's books, anything by Alan Ahlberg (Each Peach Pear Plum) and most anything by Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo, The Snail and the Whale).

Grade school: Harry Potter obviously, and also Eva Ibbotson (Which Witch, The Secret of Platform 13).

Winter Season by Toni Bentley is a memoir of life in the corps of NYCB. It's not an autobiography but is very evocative of place and time.

I'm a fan of Portman and she usually chooses her projects well, but she really doesn't look like a dancer.

Isn't it exciting to know that some artists are invested in preserving the past and acknowledging the work that influenced them as much as they are interested in creating new work? (Of course, Scorcese is in a position - financial and artistic - that few attain, but still...)

bart, I'm sure you meant Moira Shearer and not Norma Shearer.

Balanchine's Midsummer Night Dream has a solo Butterfly, as well as the children's corps of bugs. I love the choreography for the Butterfly as well as the children - the end is pure stage magic.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'Aretz (April 24, 2009), Carlson was asked about his involvement in 'Nearly Ninety' and his answer leaves little room for ambiguity. He said: "More than usual, since Merce concentrated on the choreography and we needed someone to liase between him and the artistic collaborators around the world and between him and the technical team. There are many elements in this piece, and it was important that there be one person connecting between everybody, in case a change in one element were to effect the other elements."

He was also asked about the firing of the three dancers and he gave quite a long answer. Among other things he said "I was only the messenger, Merce fired them... From my perspective, it's wonderful that at 90 Merce is still thinking about who he wants to continue working with..."

* The interview must have been conducted in English and translated into Hebrew for the article. The excerpts are my translation from the newspaper.

The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center (TAPAC) recently announced its 2009-2010 schedule. The dance season is the following:

- Hubbard Street Dance Chicago - triple bill (Duato, Cerrudo (?) and artistic director, Jim Vincent)

- commissioned work from American-Israeli choreographer, Barak Marshall. I think he works with a pick-up group. co-production with the Suzanne Dellal Dance Center

- Mark Morris Dance Group in 2 programmes

- Ballet Nacional de Espana - flamenco

- Paul Taylor Dance Company

- Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

- Boris Eifman Ballet with the tried and tested 'Red Giselle' and the new Onegin On Line (there are some things you just can't make up )

If I were an opera fan, I'd be much more excited about the opera season:

- West Side Story - part of the world tour of the new production (this could very well be my birthday present this year)

- The Child Dreams - world premiere by Gil Shochat based on a play by the late, great Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin

- Faust

- Il barbiere di Siviglia

- La Juive

- Betrothal in a Monastery - Stanislavski Opera visiting company from Moscow

- Pique Dame

- Nabucco - performed at the foothills of Masada as part of a Masada Opera Weekend. The weekend includes among other things a Jessye Norman concert.

Helene, I'm afraid you're dating yourself. I don't think 'Northern Exposure' or 'Twin Peaks' will bring in the younger demographic...

I'm still in favour of 'Twilight'. 'Twilight' is even located in Seattle, isn't it? Should be the obvious choice for PNB.

I think I've seen the book titled 'The Girl who played with Fire' on amazon.co.uk. Sometimes British and American editions have different titles - even when the book's original language is English (i.e. The Sun also Rises is also Fiesta, etc.)

That women were cast Tybalt and Mercutio and added a predictable but curiously heterosexual slant to those characters (and to those interactions with their male peers)?

If Mercutio is a woman, why is Romeo even bothering with Rosaline and Juliet?

(and maybe a mod should open a new thread for this topic)

I haven't read the 'Twilight' books, either, but what I've heard about them doesn't make me eager to.

I totally agree, however from what I have heard, ballet could conceivably be a great medium for the story: a fantasy world peopled by supernatural beings who look human (if incredibly good-looking is a given among all humans) works very well in a ballet. A love story that cannot be consummated and is full of yearning and meaningful looks sounds like many a ballet plot. I'm thinking 'tis a pity that Kenneth McMillan is not here to do 'Twilight' justice. Oh well, if the books are a hit in Russia, maybe Boris Eifman will take it up.