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BBC Proms: Folk Prom 2018 (2018) #1123
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2 hours. BBC Proms Folk Prom 2018 Traditional music for modern times as the ever-versatile BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Stephen Bell collaborate with leading musicians in this celebration of the diverse folk scenes and songbooks of the British Isles. The Unthanks, Sam Lee, Julie Fowlis, Jarlath Henderson and ALAW perform stirring songs and driving jigs in a genre that is constantly renewing and reinvigorating itself. From the Outer Hebrides, multi-award-winning singer Julie Fowlis is a torchbearer for her native Gaelic tradition and famously lent her crystalline vocals to the theme song of the Pixar film Brave. Her co-presenter on the Prom is Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter, nightingale whisperer, song collector and traditional music specialist Sam Lee. The innovative, eclectic approach of Northumbria's The Unthanks has won them fans across the musical spectrum, and here the orchestral setting enhances the widescreen drama of their atmospheric epic Mount the Air. Jarlath Henderson from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland is a master of the uilleann pipes and whistles, and in 2003 was the youngest ever BBC Young Folk Musician award winner. Trio ALAW demonstrate their passion for the traditional music of Wales through unearthing and reimagining gems, and creating original tunes. It's an exhilarating musical journey through the evolving folk traditions of our islands, where innovation and tradition intertwine. |
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Let Me Go (2017) #1075
FILM
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Directed by Polly Steele. With Juliet Stevenson, Jodhi May, Lucy Boynton, Karin Bertling. Let Me Go is a film about mothers and daughters, it is about ghosts from the past and the impact they leave on the present. Developed from Helga Schneider's true life story, Let Me Go explores the effect on Helga's life of being abandoned by her mother, Traudi in 1941 when she was just four years old. The film is set in the year 2000 following not only Helga and Traudi's journeys but the next two generations and how Beth, Helga's daughter and Emily her granddaughter are confronted with the long-term effects of Traudi's leaving. When Helga receives a letter telling her that Traudi is close to death, it is Emily with whom Helga shares the truth. Emily volunteers to accompany her to Vienna to meet the great-grandmother she thought was dead, and experience the unraveling of the darkest of family secrets. |
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West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic (2016) #961
DOCUMENTARY-MUSIC
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1 hour. BBC. West Side Story is one of the best-loved musicals of all time. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet, its timeless story and exhilarating dance and music continue to excite audiences around the globe. Songs such as Maria, Somewhere, Tonight and America have all become some of the biggest hits in showbusiness. And yet, West Side Story had an uneasy birth and was even turned away by producers when it was first put together in the 1950s by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents. Now, as the world prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of West Side Story in 2017, dancer Bruno Tonioli and broadcaster Suzy Klein go in search of the true stories behind the inception of this classic show. For the first time on television, they hear first-hand from those involved in the show when it opened on Broadway in September 1957, including Sondheim himself, producer Hal Prince and original cast members from both show and movie, including Chita Rivera Carol Lawrence and Rita Moreno. With the BBC Symphony Orchestra and specially cast singers, we re-live some of the wonderful music and, in the company of Suzy and Bruno, we discover how West Side Story placed the 1950s phenomena of racial tension and teenage gangs centre stage to create a hit that changed musical theatre forever. |
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National Theatre Live: Les Blancs (2016) #1289
FILM
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150mins. by Lorraine Hansberry Adapted by Robert Nemiroff Restored text directed by Joi Gresham. National Theatre at Home: Les Blancs An African country teeters on the edge of civil war. A society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future. Tshembe, returned home from England for his father’s funeral, finds himself in the eye of the storm. Yaël Farber (Mies Julie, Nirbhaya) directs the final play by Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun): a brave, illuminating and powerful work that confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution. This play is about imperialism, racism, and colonialism and contains some scenes of racially motivated violence, that some people may find distressing. This archive recording was captured by the National Theatre in 2016. |
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One Chance (2013) #253
FILM
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Directed by David Frankel. With James Corden, Alexandra Roach, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney. The true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night who became a phenomenon after being chosen for -- and ultimately winning -- Britain's Got Talent (2007). |
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Julie & Julia (2009) #290
FILM
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Directed by Nora Ephron. With Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Chris Messina, Stanley Tucci. Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book. |