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Quartet (Harwood)
''Quartet'' is a play by Ronald Harwood about aging opera singers. The play, presented by Michael Codron, was first directed by Christopher Morahan at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford prior to its West End opening at the Albery Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) on 8 September 1999 starring Sir Donald Sinden as Wilfred, Alec McCowen as Reginald, Stephanie Cole as Cecily and Angela Thorne as Jean. Following a four-month run it closed on 8 January 2000. A regional tour from June to August 2010 enjoyed success with Michael Jayston as Reggie, Timothy West as Wilfred, Susannah York as Jean, and Gwen Taylor as Cecily. Plot The setting is a retirement home for musicians. Three elderly former opera-singers, who often worked together, are sitting out on the terrace. Reginald is quietly reading a serious book, but jovial, priapic Wilfred is chuckling about sex, as he regards Cissy, lying back and listening to music through her headphones. They are about to be joined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Harwood
Sir Ronald Harwood ( né Horwitz; 9 November 1934 – 8 September 2020) was a South African-born British author, playwright, and screenwriter, best known for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for '' The Dresser'' (for which he was nominated for an Oscar) and '' The Pianist'', for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' (2007). Early life and career Harwood was born Ronald Horwitz in Cape Town, in what was then the Union of South Africa, the son of Isobel (née Pepper) and Isaac Horwitz. After attending Sea Point High School, Harwood moved from Cape Town to London in 1951 to pursue a career in the theatre. He changed his surname from Horwitz to Harwood after an English master told him it was too foreign and too Jewish for a stage actor. After training for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he joined the Shakespeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron, Antonio Barezzi. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also served briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera ''Nabucco'' (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate hims ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Among his List of awards and nominations received by Dustin Hoffman, numerous accolades are two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors, Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Hoffman studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music before he decided to go into acting, for which he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. He made his film debut with the black comedy ''The Tiger Makes Out'' (1967). He went on to receive two Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quartet (2012 Film)
''Quartet'' is a 2012 British comedy-drama film based on the play ''Quartet'' by Ronald Harwood that ran in London's West End from September 1999 until January 2000. It was filmed in late 2011 at Hedsor House, Buckinghamshire. The film was actor Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut. Plot In Beecham House, a retirement home for former professional musicians patterned after the real-life Casa di Riposo per Musicisti founded by Giuseppe Verdi, Reg, Wilf and Cissy are retired opera singers who had often worked together. Among other residents are Cedric Livingstone, a former director, and diva Anne Langley. All the guests in the retirement home are suffering in varying degrees from the ailments that old age can bring, but continue to be engaged in their former professions, including lecturing and introducing young people to music. Finances threaten closure of the home, but proceeds from a yearly gala concert on Verdi's birthday hold hope for a continuation. However, Cedric has b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (theatre), play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, King Claudius, Claudius, who has murdered Ghost (Hamlet), Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Gertrude (Hamlet), Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others." It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the Hamlet Q1, First Quarto (Q1, 1603); the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604); and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others. Many works have been pointed to as possible s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Tenors
The Three Tenors were an operatic singing trio, active between 1990 and 2003, and termed a supergroup (a title normally reserved for rock and pop groups) consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. The trio began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy, on 7 July 1990, the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup final, watched by a global television audience of around 800 million. The image of three tenors in formal evening dress singing in a World Cup concert captivated the global audience. The recording of this debut concert became the best-selling classical album of all time and led to additional performances and live albums. They performed to a global television audience at three further World Cup Finals: 1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama. They also toured other cities around the world, usually performing in stadiums or similar large arenas to huge audiences. They l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley (5 December 1941 − 16 February 2007) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, including Noël Coward. Nicholas Kenyon called him a "cultural omnivore" who was "genuinely popular with people". Early life Sheridan Morley was born in Ascot, Berkshire, in a nursing home opposite Ascot Racecourse, the eldest son of actor Robert Morley and grandson, via his mother Joan Buckmaster, of the actress Dame Gladys Cooper.Obituary: Sheridan Morley ''Daily Telegraph'', 17 February 2007 He was named after Sheridan Whiteside, the title role his father was playing in a long-running production of '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject areas are politics and culture. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film, and TV reviews. It had an average circulation of 107,812 as of December 2023, excluding Australia. Editorship of the magazine has often been a step on the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). The former Conservative MP Michael Gove took over from Fraser Nelson as editor on 4 October 2024. Today, the magazine is a print-digital hybrid. In 2020, ''The Spectator'' became the longest-live ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thespian
Thespian may refer to: * A citizen of the Ancient Greek city of Thespiae * An actor or actress ** Thespis, the first credited actor * A member of the International Thespian Society The International Thespian Society (ITS) is an honor society for high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary educ ..., an honor society that promotes excellence in high school theater * "The Thespian", the sixth song of '' The Emptiness'', the third studio album by American band Alesana See also * Thespian grass mouse, a rodent species {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph and Courier''. ''The Telegraph'' is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", was included in its emblem which was used for over a century starting in 1858. In 2013, ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph'', which started in 1961, were merged, although the latter retains its own editor. It is politically conservative and supports the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party. It was moderately Liberalism, liberal politically before the late 1870s.Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalismp 159 ''The Telegraph'' has had a number of news scoops, including the outbreak of World War II by rookie reporter Clare Hollingworth, desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Spencer (journalist)
Charles Spencer (born 4 March 1955) is a British journalist. He was the chief drama critic of ''The Daily Telegraph'' from 1991 to 2014, having joined the paper in 1988. On 1 September 2014, it was announced that he had decided to take early retirement, and his final review for the paper appeared on the same day. He was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He began his career in journalism at the '' Surrey Advertiser'', and subsequently wrote for the London ''Evening Standard'', ''The Stage'' and ''Television Today'', before joining the ''Telegraph''. He won "Critic of the Year" in the 1999 British Press Awards. He has written three crime novels: ''I Nearly Died'' (1994), ''Full Personal Service'' (1996) and ''Under the Influence'' (2000). In 2006, Compton Miller of ''The Independent'' wrote in a profile: "This convivial ex-alcoholic is best remembered for his description of Nicole Kidman's nude scene in '' The Blue Room'' as 'pure theatrical Viagra'." In a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
