Dance on Christmas and New Year TV and radio 2023-24

[loveclassics]

On 17/12/2023 at 10:46, Ondine said:

 

 

When I was a child, Amahl and the NIght Visitors on BBC TV was a regular.  Quite how we afforded one I will never know, however, we had a TV, a Pye, bought c 1952 or 3, and watching this was all part of the Christmas excitement. Imagine that now. So I saw that first BBC production, and yes that was the year Father Christmas brought me the pink tutu, see the 'Nutcracker' thread.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amahl_and_the_Night_Visitors

 

BBC productions

The BBC made several productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors in the 1950s. The first performance was broadcast on December 20, 1953, with Charles Vignoles as Amahl, and Gladys Whitred as his mother. The Three Kings were sung by John Lewis (Kaspar), Scott Joynt (Balthasar), and John Cameron (Melchior). Edric Connor was the Page and Josephine Gordon was the dancer. The opera was produced by Christian Simpson and the conductor was Stanford Robinson.^[13] This performance was so successful that it was repeated on Christmas Eve 1954 with substantially the same cast apart from the Page sung by John Carvalho and the dancer, Betty Ferrier.^[14] Both performances were broadcast live. A telerecording of the 1954 performance was broadcast on Christmas Eve 1956 but this recording seems to have been discarded. An audio recording of the 1954 performance exists in private hands.^{[citation needed]}

Further performances followed in subsequent years.^{[citation needed][15]} The 1955 performance was also produced by Christian Simpson, starring Malcolm Day as Amahl, with Gladys Whitred as Amahl's mother. Music was provided by the Sinfonia of London. It appears that this performance was also broadcast live. It was either not recorded or the recording was discarded. It does not exist in the BBC Archives. The second production was broadcast on December 24, 1959. This version exists as a 35 mm telerecording in the BBC Archives. This version was again produced by Christian Simpson and starred Christopher Nicholls as Amahl and Elsie Morison as Amahl's mother. This time music was provided by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

 

The original 1951 US telecast is actually on YouTube

 

Kevin Kalaka

 

Amahl and the Night Visitors 12-24-1951

 

The original 1951 historic telecast with Chet Allen as Amahl. The first ever made opera for TV. Aired on NBC Christmas Eve 1951. The composer, Gian Carlo Menotti comes on television before the opera explaining his childhood memories around Christmastime and the program was sponsored by Hallmark Cards.

 

 

I remember Amahl and the Night Visitors - I loved it!  

 

[alison]

23 minutes ago, loveclassics said:

No one has mentioned Christopher Wheeldon's version of "An American in Paris", a musical but with plenty of dancing and featuring Robbie Fairchild and the former RB dancer, Leanne Cope.  Sky Arts Christmas Eve with a repeat at 10:10 a.m. Sky Arts (free to view).

 

The Radio Times says it's the original version ☹️

[Jake]

Anyone know why Sky Arts is so useless with its dance programming? Missed the last ten minutes of The Sound of Music to turn over to An American In Paris, being told it was the wonderful Gene Kelly film. Soon became obvious it was the recent gorgeous Robbie Fairchild stage version.

No problem for me as I could happily see either any number of times, but must be frustrating for those with a preference for one or the other. Sky Arts’ PR department so often seems somewhat lacking…

Edited December 24, 2023 by Jake

[bridiem]

17 minutes ago, Jake said:

                   Missed the last ten minutes of The Sound of Music 

 

I had to stop reading at this point through sheer horror! Makes me feel positively faint... However I'm glad you enjoyed An American in Paris!

[Jake]

Has never been quite the same for me since I learned that Peggy Mount didn’t actually sing Climb Ev’Ry Mountain!

[bridiem]

6 minutes ago, Jake said:

Has never been quite the same for me since I learned that Peggy Mount didn’t actually sing Climb Ev’Ry Mountain!

 

I'm sure she sang it in her soul 😇.

[jm365]

Jake, I was one of those who switched on for Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron - so disappointed!  I thought the scenery and costumes of the musical were great, but not the performances.  I only lasted for Act 1 and then couldn't be bothered to go on.

[Suffolkgal]

Peggy Wood ... sorry I did laugh when I thought of Peggy mount as the mother abbess! You’re right she was dubbed though in common with Plummer ... re American in Paris ... interesting that Ross MacGibbon was involved... it wasn’t great was it!

[alison]

2 hours ago, Jake said:

Anyone know why Sky Arts is so useless with its dance programming? Missed the last ten minutes of The Sound of Music to turn over to An American In Paris, being told it was the wonderful Gene Kelly film. Soon became obvious it was the recent gorgeous Robbie Fairchild stage version.

No problem for me as I could happily see either any number of times, but must be frustrating for those with a preference for one or the other. Sky Arts’ PR department so often seems somewhat lacking…

 

They are pathetic, aren't they?  I may actually write them a rude email ...

[alison]

Technically the morning of Friday 29th December, 3.45 am(!!), but:

Sky Arts - Queen and Béjart: Ballet for Life

 

I've copied it into the full posting at the top of the page.

[Jake]

Thanks, wrong Peggy! Yes, Ms Mount would have been fascinating, though not entirely implausible, as Mother Superior!

[alison]

On 22/12/2023 at 22:26, alison said:

BBC1(!), Christmas Day, 1.15 pm: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

 

Apologies: I only realised when I went to set the recorder just now that I'd misinterpreted the Radio Times - it is of course BBC2.  I'll correct it above.

[alison]

On Classic FM, 1-4 pm on Boxing Day. there's a programme called "The Very Young Person's Guide to Ballet Music with Tim Lihoreau" - suggested "starter ballet music".

[Lynette H]

And another item for your festive watching

 

Mozart's Requiem

 

"Witness an epic, heart-rending journey of the soul, as Opera North, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera combine for a powerful performance. Filmed at Leeds Grand Theatre, this unforgettable contemporary dance staging of Mozart’s great choral lament is choreographed by Dane Hurst and conducted by Garry Walker. Featuring soloists Ellie Laugharne, Ann Taylor, Mongezi Mosoaka and Simon Shibambu alongside the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North"

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001qwpn/mozarts-requiem

 

Some terrific dancing. I wish I could identify the woman who danced Lacrimosa. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Lynette H
spelling

[Emeralds]

Am currently watching (on BBC2) the production that was premiered at Manchester's new Aviva Studios directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, London Olympics opening ceremony, Trainspotting, etc) and choreographed by Kenrick  Sandy and Michael  J Asante, called "Free Your Mind: The Matrix Now" (inspired by the Matrix trilogy films). I was half expecting to see (from the trailer) martial arts inspired graceful figures in black flying (with wire work) or doing gymnastic inspired moves as the films would suggest, but there's a segment imagining Alan Turing and various people pondering "machines vs humans" (AI?)  questions. It is very interesting choreography and the dancers are excellent.  It actually reminds me of Crystal Pite's multi-award winning work with her company Kidd Pivot combining movement and speech, some bits of it remind me of  Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Not really typical New Year's Eve viewing as I have to rush off. (It will be on iplayer I assume. ) Interesting if you feel like a change from Nutcracker or Coppelia recordings.  😊

[alison]

Thanks, emeralds. I came in partway through, watched a few minutes and decided that as I'd never see The Matrix i was unlikely to understand any of it anyway.

[Guest oncnp]

New Year's Day Concert has a bit of dance at ~ 1:15 and ~ 1:38 in addition to the music

 

BBC iPlayer - New Years Day Concert - Live from Vienna 2024

Edited January 1 by oncnp

[JohnS]

I see all six episodes of the Magic of Dance are currently available on iPlayer but each episode says only for a month. I’m assuming that means the month has already started rather than it’s a month following the scheduled TV broadcast.

[Suffolkgal]

I’ve been telling all my friends with young ones who love dance to watch magic of dance on stream ... nice pieces in Vienna concert - I adore Austria so always a treat to see it on TV. Longed to be in Bad Ischl!  I saw Eno Peci years ago at the staatsoper in Onegin so good to see him this morning. There were some very odd decisions on male costumes though! 

[Fonty]

38 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I see all six episodes of the Magic of Dance are currently available on iPlayer but each episode says only for a month. I’m assuming that means the month has already started rather than it’s a month following the scheduled TV broadcast.

I am assuming this is the complete series?   

[JohnS]

The iPlayer refers to Magic of the Dance series 1 episodes 1 to 6 (just 6 episodes). But I’m afraid I don’t know if there was a second series.

[Emeralds]

17 hours ago, Fonty said:

I am assuming this is the complete series?   

Yes, it's complete- all 6 episodes. 

[northstar]

Thanks to Ballet Forum members for starting and contributing to this thread. Must admit I felt disappointed at the first info that was posted, indicating on BBC only repeats of ballet programmes of recent years, and for the prime slot a Matthew Bourne that's 'new' but the production been filmed and broadcast before. Seemed to indicate a loss on interest from the BBC in classical ballet, when I remember 10-20 years ago a relatively newly filmed classical ballet would be broadcast in a good slot on BBC at xmas nearly every year. 

 

But maybe I'm being a bit stuffy and overly-nostalgic, the broadcasting world has changed so much in the last 5-10 years, especially with the proliferation of streaming services, including for example Royal Ballet's own service (just in 2022?).  

 

And thanks so much for drawing my attention to the Fonteyn's Magic Of Dance which is a new discovery for me, and the BBC re-broadcasting this is a wonderful example of its extant interest in ballet. Even though it's obviously an archive programme, from what I've watched so far it looks a real high quality gem and a great ballet xmas present from the BBC. 

Edited January 8 by northstar

[alison]

I must admit, the Royal Opera House's commitment to streaming has me wondering whether it will continue making available quite so many of its productions to TV channels, although I would have thought it would make economic sense to do so.