Zwischen Flieder wandern und singen

Blues

An Ice Cream With Two scoops ...

A film about a pair of sisters, whose parents are divorcing after their father leaves their mother for a younger woman, and who plot together to try to repair their fractured family.

Hounds

Despite having lived in the East German countryside for several months, teenager Lars and his dad, Henrik, are still treated as unwelcome guests. Henrik is building a “marriage barn,” a proposed bed-and-breakfast for newlywed Berliners.

Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange: A Rapid Love Story

Main hero is a singing boat refugee – orange boy Maroc. He dreams about freedom. Lemon girl Lisa collects singing seashells and dreams about love. Lisa’s father is a businessman, owner of a ketchup factory and tomato plantation. He loves money. And so the opera begins: Poor Maroc escapes from his homeland and defying stormy waters take a boat across the sea to the “promised land”. Upon arrival he is forced into being a slave worker in a tomato plantation instead of freedom, democracy, wealth and parties he had hoped for. Despite the initial let down our orange boy is destined to gain happiness – selfish Lisa falls in love with him and sets him free. We see an orange revolution – houses are blown up and tomatoes are made from ketchup, all in the name of democracy! Movie that is full of rebellion and love has happy ending – we will see sour-sweet culmination of lemon girl’s and orange boy’s love.

Paranoid Park

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Beethoven: Fidelio

Beethoven Fidelio

This production is a gala affair; the sets are traditional (evocative of 18th-19th century Spain); the lighting is bright, so colors are good and one can see all of the action. Singers are generally well chosen and perform admirably. However, at this point, slight reservations creep in; although Janowitz (Fidelio/Leonore) and Kollo (Florestan) look "good" and act well, the singing parts tax them a bit when pushed to the limit. Most of the time that doesn't matter, and an argument can be made that a little vocal strain is in character with their dire plight. Ideally, for me, Vickers as Florestan would have added extra vocal heft and more sensitive acting than Kollo.

Trainspotting

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann (Komische Oper Berlin)

Walter Felsenstein's staging of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann at the Komische Opera Berlin.

The Metropolitan Opera: Otello

In Verdi’s retelling of Shakespeare’s towering tragedy, Renée Fleming gives a captivating performance as the innocent Desdemona, a role long considered one of her calling cards. Johan Botha as the title hero delivers an imposing portrayal of a proud warrior brought down by jealousy, and Falk Struckmann is thrilling as the villainous Iago. James Morris sings Lodovico. Elijah Moshinsky’s production is conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

The Phantom of the Opera

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

Giuseppe Verdi - Nabucco

The spectacular production from the 2007 festival at the historic Arena di Verona. Renowned Verdi singers Leo Nucci and Maria Guleghina take on the roles of Nabucco and his daughter Abigail. Daniel Oren conducts Verona's resident orchestra. Filmed in High-Definition.

The Horror at Gallery Kay

An estranged lesbian couple's counseling session reveals the existence of a hidden and dangerous world.

Teatro alla Scala: Joan of Arc

"Giovanna d'Arco; ossia, la pulzella d'Orléans" is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The opera partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and is based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller, although claimed by the librettist to be "an entirely original Italian drama." If the thought of Anna Netrebko strutting her stuff in a suit of armour and tin hat sets your factor tingling then this is a must. It's an inconsistent opera but has some quite wonderful music along the way. The rest of the cast is good and the production won't offend either. Get it for Ms Netrebko's incredible performance alone.

Giacomo Puccini: Turandot

Lovely but lethal, the evil Princess Turandot comes to life through the performance of Luana De Vol in this visually stunning production of Giacomo Puccini's Peking-set opera directed by Nuria Espert and conducted by Giuliano Carella. In this 2004 performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, all the subtleties of Puccini's unique tonality and unconventional instrumentation are in ample evidence.