
Two queens on one island. A recipe for disaster. Especially as both have a legitimate claim to the other's throne. They are, after all, related... So the power politics are the name of the game. And, for reasons of state, one of the heads that wears a crown has to roll. Maria Stuarda was laid to rest for more than a hundred years, finally being revived in 1958 in Bergamo under conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis. However the real breakthrough for the opera finally came with Giorgio de Lullo's Florentine production for the Maggio Musicale in 1967 (with set design and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi, director, set designer and costume designer at La Scala in 2008). As the two queens, Leyla Gencer and Shirley Verrett, set the vocal standards. Since then, the triumph of Maria Stuarda has been unstoppable.

Two queens on one island. A recipe for disaster. Especially as both have a legitimate claim to the other's throne. They are, after all, related... So the power politics are the name of the game. And, for reasons of state, one of the heads that wears a crown has to roll. Maria Stuarda was laid to rest for more than a hundred years, finally being revived in 1958 in Bergamo under conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis. However the real breakthrough for the opera finally came with Giorgio de Lullo's Florentine production for the Maggio Musicale in 1967 (with set design and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi, director, set designer and costume designer at La Scala in 2008). As the two queens, Leyla Gencer and Shirley Verrett, set the vocal standards. Since then, the triumph of Maria Stuarda has been unstoppable.
2009-02-02
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6.9A successful businessman travels to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon father's body, only to learn that dear old dad died with his longtime mistress.
7.3A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.
6.1Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Youngest son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.
8.3This concert, recorded to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the landmark musical Les Miserables, gathers the casts of the show's 2010 original production at the Queen's Theatre, the 1985 original production by the London company, and the 2010 production at the Barbican together for one performance. Together with talents like Michael Ball, Hadley Fraser, and John Owen-Jones, the performers present the play's musical numbers in a semi-theatrical style, fully costumed and with all the emotion of the musical's heyday.
6.2It’s summer again, and everyone’s favorite Junior Rescuers, The Flounders, are back at Tower 2. With the International Junior Rescue Championships headed to Southern California, the eyes of the entire planet are on Malibu Beach. But when Team USA falls victim to a bout of food poisoning, it’s up to Tyler, Dylan, Eric, Lizzie and Gina to represent their country in the world's most extreme lifeguard challenge!
8.0Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
6.8Young William Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, 'Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter', before it's even written. When lovely noblewoman Viola de Lesseps auditions for a role, they fall into forbidden love — and Shakespeare's play finds a new life (and title). As their relationship intensifies, the comedy soon transforms into tragedy.
6.9Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptista, a wealthy merchant, announces that he will not allow Bianca, his youngest daughter, to marry until the temperamental and unruly Katherina, his eldest daughter, does.
7.4This contemporary re-imagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's legendary rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar presents the story of the last seven days of Christ leading up to his crucifixion as seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. Filmed as an arena rock opera, the performance features a star-studded line-up which includes award-winning musical comedian, Tim Minchin as the role of Judas Iscariot; pop icon and former Spice Girl Melanie C as Mary Magdalene; radio DJ Chris Moyles in his stage debut as King Herod; and Ben Forster, to take on the title role of Jesus.
7.4The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
7.3A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against a usurper who has overthrown the rightful king of England.
6.3Fleeing 1930s New York and leaving behind a chequered past, the giltzy divorcee Mrs Stella Erlynne travels to Italy's sun-dappled Amalfi coast. Mrs Erlynne's appearance causes a stir amongst the visiting aristocracy. Based on the Oscar Wilde play "Lady Windemere's Fan."
5.9A young woman is sent to Paradise Hills to be reformed, only to learn that the high-class facility's beautiful facade hides a sinister secret.
7.2A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.
6.7Mary Stuart, who was named Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old, is the last Roman Catholic ruler of Scotland. She is imprisoned at the age of 23 by her cousin Elizabeth Tudor, the English Queen and her arch adversary. Nineteen years later the life of Mary is to be ended on the scaffold and with her execution the last threat to Elizabeth's throne has been removed. The two Queens with their contrasting personalities make a dramatic counterpoint to history.
7.3A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.
5.9A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in for a spiritual exile on a remote Greek island where he hopes to conjure meaning into his life - trying the patience of his new girlfriend and angst-ridden teenage daughter.
7.1Tom Segura gives voice to the sordid thoughts you'd never say out loud, with blunt musings on porn, parking lot power struggles, parenthood and more.