... LFB LONDON Festival Ballet in its Christmas season of at the Royal Festival Hall has been offering a generous variety of different dancers in principal roles. Since this is the second year of Peter Schaufuss' complex production, rather than concentrating on established stars I attended ances when three ol tne company s lower ranking women were making first London appearances as the Sugar ...

... Nureyev's protegee blooms ROYAL BALLET Sylvie Guillem in Giselle TWELFTH NIGHT at the Royal Opera House was an historic occasion because of the debut with the Royal Ballet of Sylvie Guillem, who at 22 has made a meteoric rise to the position of etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet. When that company visited the ROH in 1982 she had just joined the ranks as a stagiare (apprentice). Her top ranking ...

... ROYAL OPERA THE YEAR got off to a cracking start at Covent Garden with Jean-Pierre Pon nelle's elegantly inventive production of L'Italiana In Algeri, staged here by Sonja Frisell. The visual element ideally mirrored the divine frivolity of the 21-year-old Rossini's music. Ponnelle, as designer, provided a single set recalling the Alhambra in its delicate architecture, stone and soft pink in ...

... Carousel WIMBLEDON BREAKING away from what has become a tradition of big brash musicals, The London Studio Centre this Christmas turned to Carousel, end an earful of romantic and nostalgic melodies. It was a production with several virtues, most notably the launching of a girl with a golden voice. ror Katnna Murphy in the central role of Julie Jordan sang with a high soprano that was ...

... Turcaret GATE WRITTEN in 1707, this funny and satirical play surprises with its topicality. Le Sage was the author of 100 theatre pieces, and this polished play is an expertly turned thing. It is adapated by John Norman with none of the horrors that adaptation too often brings with it. Under the direction of Janet Amsden the cast gives a sparkling if rather soft-centred entertainment. Ian ...

... My Fair Lady MELBOURNE My Fair Lady created a sensation when it began its Australian run in Melbourne in January 1959, ending in Sydney in May 1963, with at one time two companies touring the country. Yet when the musical was revived in 1970 (with Bailey again) it was a box office disaster. inow ii nas openea lor a smcuy limited six weeks, presented by the Victoria State Opera, Victorian Arts ...

... Candida ARTS THEATRE THIS impressive production, directed by Frank Hauser with Shavian wit and ease, has transferred from the King's Head and ought to be set for a long run. The Arts Theatre is hoping that this production will take it back into the mainstream of London theatres. it is one ol the lew Shaw plays that are free from opinionated windbaggery and glibness of plot -construction: ...

... BP Genee Award PALLADIUM DANCE COMPETITIONS are like wine, they have good and bad years. The 1988 BP Genee Awards indicated, however, that the vintage was good, which is why from a total of ten female finalists the judges Pamela May. Margaret Barbieri and Peter Schaufuss were able to select Bronze, Silver and Gold medallists. Though the competition is annual, medals are only awarded if the ...

... The woman behind her man ROYAL COURT Man To Man LAST YEAR I praised Tilda Swinton in high terms for her performance in The Tourist Guide at the Almeida, and this 80-minute fable is a further dazzling proof of her talent. Playing the role ot the crane operator Max Gericke, Swinton is manly with scuffed knees, padded Y-fronts, and a T shirt: she has the Redgrave touch, of intimacy of address, a ...

... Easy Virtue KINGS HEAD A SMALL PRIZE awaits anyone who can spot a couple of appreciable differences between the country house dance at which Noel Coward's Easy Virtue reaches its anti-climax and the average Yuppie party. I issue this challenge in the almost complete certainty that I shall not have to pass with any hard-earned because of the times in which we find ourselves. Has there ever been ...

... Rebecca OPERA NORTH WILFRED JOSEPHS' Rebecca, Opera North's first commissioned opera, was premiered in October 1983 to instant popular acclaim. The revival lour vears later has again roused audi ence enthusiasm. I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the piece. To my ears it remains well-crafted film music lacking the excitement of, sav, Korngold or Max Steiner. Scrunchv discords and slashing ...

... The Voyage of the Dawn Treader WESTMINSTER C S LEWIS' Narnia chronicles work well for the stage and for television, being mixtures of--at their best, luminous simplicity--and at their worst, impressive but grandiloquent claptrap. I am Prince Caspian! declares Nicholas Farr, who has the advantages of peroxide hair and a sword to add to his hereditary rights. Directed by Richard H. Williams ...