Jan McNulty Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Peter Schaufuss is bringing his production of Midnight Express (based on the book by Billy Hayes) to the London Coliseum from 9th-14th April 2013. It will be starring Sergei Polunin. The tickets are already on sale: http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?&itemid=2362 Having seen the film, the mind boggles on this one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 More information on Dance Tabs: http://dancetabs.com/2012/12/schaufusss-midnight-express-with-sergei-polunin-at-london-coliseum-9th-14th-april/ The website (via Dance Tabs): http://midnightexpresstheballet.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Good news, sound the trumpets and make mighty Huzzah! Young Polunin will deign to grace our shores once again in a work in which he says he can "genuinely ... believe" - presumably putting behind him at a stroke all that nonsense through which he created his international reputation up the road from the Coliseum. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Oh well, I think I can save my money on that one ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie 2 Milner Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I just can't see this as a ballet! After "Satisfaction" a few years back I've not rushed to another Schaufuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Wasn't Midnight Express an X-rated film about a horrific Turkish prison which the protaganist was sent to for drug smuggling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie 2 Milner Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Yes it was Aileen. A very good film but not for me as a ballet I think. Maybe I'm just very boring though. I thought it was based on a real case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 (edited) Yes! If you read down the detail on the Dance Tabs PR feature, it does say it is not suitable for children. Here's a link to Billy Hayes Wiki bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Hayes_%28writer%29 Edited December 13, 2012 by Janet McNulty Edited to add Wiki link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Wasn't Midnight Express an X-rated film about a horrific Turkish prison which the protaganist was sent to for drug smuggling? indeed - suddenly makes a MacMillan triple bill of My Brother, My Sisters, Has Hermanas and the Judas Tree seem like a 'nice triple bill for Christmas'... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Or maybe make it a (long) quad bill with Different Drummer in there too? Or Valley of Shadows ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Now, all hold on there .... alternative views are also available, as in the first Comment here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/runaway-ballet-star-returns-to-dance-in-britain-8413690.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I think that we should remember that the subject matter of some of, say, MacMillan's ballets was considered very controversial and unsuitable for a ballet when those ballets were first performed. What about The Rite of Spring? I have no objection to the subject matter of this new production. I actually think that it could make a gripping psychological drama but I worry that it might become something rather tawdry and lacking in artistic integrity in Peter Schaufuss' hands, based on his recent Swan Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/dec/19/sergei-polunin-royal-ballet-star?CMP=twt_gu John posted the above link in Today's links. I just wanted to say that there is the most dreadful faux pas contained in the article. Midnight Express was made by ALAN PARKER not Oliver Stone! Apallingly inaccurate piece of reporting! The article is worth a read though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim b Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 As with recent Schaufuss extravaganzas (my Latin plurals have momentarily - it is 4am - deserted me - mea culpa) I guess it is the casting which will suck most of us in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 You mean we're suckers? Well, I managed to avoid being persuaded by the casting last time, so we shall see this time, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
restor Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Might be cutting edge and exciting especially with the casting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 'Midnight Express' trailer is scary: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Well, there was little chance of my going, but that Trailer eclipses any lingering possibility. The music and action in such clips is often not well-matched, of course, but just that hint of the likely treatment of the Lachrymosa from Mozart's Requiem convinces me I should put my cash elsewhere. Not my cutting edge, I'm afraid - I've sung it too often to get in Schaufuss' groove. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 More about Midnight Express, including Polunin's interview: http://dancetabs.com/2012/12/schaufusss-midnight-express-with-sergei-polunin-at-london-coliseum-9th-14th-april/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 There is a long piece by Sarah Crompton.about Sergei in today's Telegraph magazine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 The Mail is carrying a report that the Schaufuss Company is suing Polunin and Zelensky for £400K over there walkout from "Midnight Express" earlier this year: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2436794/Russian-bad-boy-ballet-partied-hard-quit-London-sued-producers-400-000.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTL Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 The paragraph about the pay is very interesting: if that £7000 for 7 performances plus £1400 for a fortnight's rehearsal is without expenses, it's less than I'd have guessed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I would have thought such cases against breach of contract were fairly standard across all paywall sectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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