... The Second Mrs Kong Glyndebourne First impressions, last October, of Harrison Birtwistle's new opera, The Second Mrs Kong, were that the music's groundswell of ing power didn't match up with Russell Hoban's showbiz libretto. I still feel the disjunction, but it seems to matter less. The Glyndebourne revival confirms the power and originality of the work, reinforcing the daz zling collective ...

... Exhausting, but exciting Glyndebourne Ermione Glyndebourne Festival Opera has launched its 1995 season with a stupendous production o Rossini's Ermione, withdrawn by the composer in 1819 after a sin gFb fj*j% IUIMIUI IVf^. Nor have past commentators been kind to the score, tts fierce declamatory style and vertiginous vocal lines must then have seemed jarringly modem. Ermione loves Pyrrhus, ...

... Ivor Novello Gala Cardiff The music of Cardiff bom Ivor Novello has given immense plea sure to millions. A charity gala concert was staged at St David's Hall, funds from which went to wards a life size statue of the composer in his home city. Vivacious Rebecca Evans, who scooped the Welsh Arts Council's Young Welsh Singer of the Year Award in 1991, tenor Donald Maxwell, and contralto Marie ...

... Lots of fun for all the family Maxwell Slater Colwyn Bay Maxwell Slater has proved himself a peerless pantomime dame and a deft summer rep actor at Theatr Colwyn, a fitting venue for the launch of his solo show. Wearing a frock or another personality is not the same as standing alone for two hours exceot for a microphone and keyboard play er. Would he be able to rise to the very different ...

... Bournemouth Summer Showtime It would appear that variety is still alive and well and starting to pull the punters in for the summer. Bournemouth, like Blackpool and Skegness not only attracts audiences but also variety in its classic form. In this small set at The Wessex Hotel we have a mixed bag of old and new performers. Peter Cutler kept the ball rolling with ease and introduced The ...

... Brick Lane Music Hall Rose Marie Rose Marie is a sort of one-off in showbiz. A last throwback to the great torch singers of the past such as Dorothy Squires, Shirley Bassey and even the legendary Ethel Merman. In fact, with her voice, she makes Merman seem positively quiet. Nevertheless, she held this short set at Brick Lane with style and had a more than an enthusi astic audience, made up ...

... London Palladium Clive Baldwin Some tribute shows miss their mark because the artist fails to sound, or look, anything like the person they are paying tribute to. But there was no such problem here. Clive Baldwin sounds just like Al Jolson. Billed as the World's Greatest Minstrel, Baldwin was bom in Kingston-upon-Hull but has lived in Miami for over 20 years. During this period he has appeared ...

... BMHS Central Conference Centre Hollywood has a lot in common with British music hall. In Tinsel Town it's called or was called vaudeville. But the magic of Hollywood never ceases. Not for nothing did the great comic and writer Oscar Levant once say: Strip away the false tinsel of Hollywood and underneath you will find the real tinsel. But at the British Music Hall Society May meeting we ...

... Soft touch is startling Green Room, Cafe Royal Blossom Dearie Blossom Dearie is a cult artist if ever there was one, a middle-aged blonde woman who appears in none of the expected reference books but has achieved a devoted following purely on the strength of live performances and a number of albums which can be found only in specialist shops. Good luck to her, say I, because she has carved ...

... Don Giovanni DGOS Opera Ireland What is Mozart's Don Giovanni really about? The punishment of a dissolute? Well, there is his punishment to be sure. But as to his reputation as the arch seducer, all audiences get is the word of his PR man Leporello, and Giovanni fails dismally in every conquest he embarks upon. For Dublin Grand Opera Society Opera Ireland, director and designer Michael ...

... King Arthur ROH The ROH is celebrating the tercentenary of Henry Purcell's death with a full staging of his semi-opera, King Arthur. They deserve a big thank you, not only for their choice of work but also because such an event is rare. Purcell has provided music for two masques, a sacrificial pro cession, a ballet, rival spirits war ring over the route of Arthur's forces, a fantastical Cold ...

... Cirque Surreal Brighton 'Le cirque est mort. Vive le cirque!' Phillip Gandey's State Circus of Imagination is set to change stereotypical perceptions of this time-honoured art form with a revolutionary concept. Gone are the ringmaster and animals. Thirty international class artists blend together in a sophisticated, highly theatrical family show. At its premiere in Preston Park during the ...