La Bohéme

13/03/2012

Commedia lirica in four acts. Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henry Murger (1845-1848). Music by Giacomo Puccini. First performed on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin. First performed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 10 April 1898. From the mid-19th century onwards — against the background of industrialization, the supremacy of bourgeois values, and an intellectual climate dominated by secular materialistic and scientific positivism — art became realistic, seeking to show things as they really were — almost photographically —, rather than making them more amiable or more beautiful. An opera such as La Bohème, which talks of the fragile nature of happiness in a world of poverty, cold and disease, is an obvious example of this trend. In La Bohème, however, the aesthetic of Verism — the Italian equivalent of the French Naturalism of Émile Zola — becomes more sentimental and the brutality of social reality is depicted less crudely than elsewhere. Four young artists live out their everyday lives amid dreams and disappointments, waiting for the event that is to win them renown, but poverty and misfortune deprive the leading characters — Mimì and Rodolfo — of the joy of mutual love. The text and music relate all this with a pleasant melodramatic tenderness with which it is easy to identify.

02/03/2012

Highly acclaimed directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, with their regular design team Christian Fenouillat, Agostino Cavalca and Christophe Forey, bring their beautiful staging of Madama Butterfly back to The Royal Opera. The story of a Japanese geisha’s love for an American naval officer moved Puccini to compose music of rare and sensual beauty, and also of heartrending power, as the heroine’s tragedy moves towards its devastating conclusion. Andris Nelsons conducts this ravishing score, which features such wonderfully lyrical passages as Cio-Cio-San’s first entrance, her seduction by Pinkerton, the famous ‘Humming Chorus’ and of course Cio-Cio-San’s aria ‘Un bel dì vedremo’. Liping Zhang will sing the role of the ill-fated Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly). James Valenti makes an especially dashing Pinkerton – the character whose thoughtless toying with love is the catalyst for this tragic tale. The second Puccini opera performed this summer, Madama Butterfly offers the drama musical richness and sheer pleasure of great performance that makes The Royal Opera world class.

From:

Berlin Philharmonic

04/03/2012

Live at your cinema, the world’s leading orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, in fabulous surround sound and high definition, conducted by the greatly sought after Christian Thielemann. His interpretations of late romantic music in particular have brought him international recognition. Here he conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker’s solo oboist, Albrecht Mayer, as he performs Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto and Anton Bruckner’s richly atmospheric Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”. The live broadcast from Berlin includes interviews and background footage, giving cinema audiences a ‘better than the best seat’ experience.

The Comedy of Errors

01/03/2012

 in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Sleeping or waking? mad or well advised? Known unto these, and to myself disguised! Two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. And for no one more so than Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio who, in search of their brothers, arrive in a land entirely foreign to their distant home. A buzzing metropolis, to the outsiders it appears a place of wonderment and terror, where baffling gifts and unexplained hostilities abound. Do you know me, sir? Am I Dromio? Am I your man? Am I myself? Consistently recognised by strangers, the visitors question their very selves as the turmoil escalates. Meanwhile, Aegeon, father to the Antipholus twins, has been captured searching for his sons and, as an illegal immigrant, is sentenced to death at sunset. Shakespeare’s furiously paced comedy will be staged in a contemporary world into which walk three prohibited foreigners who see everything for the first time. Lenny Henry plays Antipholus of Syracuse.

Coming Soon

Jekyll and Hyde

JEKYLL and HYDE: THE MUSICAL brings new life to the classic story of the epic battle between good and evil, as imagined by acclaimed composer Frank Wildhorn and writer/lyricist Leslie Bricusse, with David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider, Baywatch) making his Broadway debut in the dual title role. From producer Cameron Mackintosh.

Star Wars

Episode I The Phantom Menace

3D

www.moviesatgorey.ie

A peaceful planet governed by the young, elusive, but wise Queen Amidala  is being threatened by the corrupt Trade Federation, puppets of an evil Sith lord and his terrifying apprentice, Darth Maul . The seemingly benevolent Senator Palpatine is chief advisor to the queen, though there are suspicions surrounding him. Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi  are called on to intervene in the trade disputes. Along the way, they acquire an apprentice of their own in the form of young prodigal Anakin Skywalker. They also encounter Jar Jar Binks, a goofy, lizardlike creature who has been banished from his underwater world for his clumsiness. When the Trade Federation launches an attack on Naboo, the queen and her allies must battle hordes of robot troopers while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan face off against the sinister Darth Maul. 

Coming Soon

The Muppets

from Friday

10/02/2012

www.moviesatgorey.ie

When 3 muppet fans learn that Tex Richman wants to drill under the muppet theater for oil Gary, Mary and Walter set out to find the muppets who have been split up for years Kermit lives in his own mansion depressed in hollywood, Gonzo is a high class plumber at Gonzo’s Royal Flush, Fozzie performs with a tribute band called The Moopets , Miss Piggy is the plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, and Animal is at a celebrity anger managment rehab center in Santa Barbara

Coming Soon 

The Vow

From Friday 

10/02/2012

Paige and Leo are a happy newlywed couple whose lives are changed by a car accident that puts Paige in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, Paige has no memory of Leo, a confusing relationship with her parents, and an ex-fiance she may still have feelings for. Despite these complications, Leo endeavors to win her heart again and rebuild their marriage.

Casablanca, Bogart & Bergman Back on the Big Screen from 10^th Feb.

Celebrate the 70th anniversary of this timeless classic with us.

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her and her Czech Resistance leader husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.

During World War II, Europeans who were fleeing from the Germans, sought refuge in America. But to get there they would first have to go Casablanca and once they get there, they have to obtain exit visas which are not very easy to come by. Now the hottest spot in all of Casablanca is Rick’s Cafe which is operated by Rick Blaine, an American expatriate, who for some reason can’t return there, and he is also extremely cynical. Now it seems that two German couriers were killed and the documents they were carrying were taken. Now one of Rick’s regulars, Ugarte entrusts to him some letters of transit, which he intends to sell but before he does he is arrested for killing the couriers. Captain Renault, the Chief of Police, who is neutral in his political views, informs Rick that Victor Laszlo, the European Resistance leader, is in Casablanca and will do anything to get an exit visa but Renault has been “told” by Major Strasser of the Gestapo, to keep Laszlo in Casablanca. Laszlo goes to Rick’s to meet Ugarte, because he was the one Ugarte was going to sell the letters to. But since Ugarte was arrested he has to find another way. Accompanying him is Ilsa Lund, who knew Rick when he was in Paris, and when they meet some of Rick’s old wounds reopen. It is obvious that Rick’s stone heart was because of her leaving him. And when they learn that Rick has the letters, he refuses to give them to him, because “he doesn’t stick his neck out for anyone”.

Coming Soon

The Woman In Black

From Friday

10/02/2012

Eel Marsh House stands tall, gaunt and isolated, surveying the endless flat saltmarshes beyond the Nine Lives Causeway, somewhere on England’s bleak East Coast. Here Mrs Alice Drablow lived – and died – alone. Young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is ordered by his firm’s senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral and then sort out all her papers. His task is a lonely one, and at first Kipps is quite unaware of the tragic secrets which lie behind the house’s shuttered windows. He only has a terrible sense of unease. And then, he glimpses a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black, at the back of the church during Mrs Drablow’s funeral, and later, in the graveyard to one side of Eel Marsh House. Who is she? Why is she there? He asks questions, but the locals not only cannot or will not give him answers – they refuse to talk about the woman in black, or even to acknowledge her existence, at all. So, Arthur Kipps has to wait until he sees her again, and she slowly reveals her identity to him – and her terrible purpose.