February 2010
 

28 February 2010

Baz Luhrmann's A Midsummer's Night Dream

Baz Luhrmann's magnificent production of A Midsummer's Night Dream is back! It is showing at the Sydney Opera House until 24 March 2010 - here is the description from their website:

Britten’s music captures the spirit of Shakespeare’s mischievous tale of enchantment and love with uncanny accuracy... weaving together fascinating orchestral colours and seductive melodies in a spell-bindingly beautiful score, in this restaging of Baz Luhrmann’s legendary production.

Deep in the forest the fairies are stirring. As Benjamin Britten’s enchanting music slips seductively out of the orchestra pit, discover a place where Indian gods, British colonials and rustic clowns collide, collude and sometimes fall in love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is back.

Before Romeo + Juliet, this was the production that showed the world the boundless imaginations of director Baz Luhrmann and designer Catherine Martin. Inspired by the words of Shakespeare and Britten’s magical score, they cast a spell to create one of Opera Australia’s most celebrated productions, ever.

Faces old and new will show you around the enchanted forest. Young Australian conductor Alexander Briger is on the bandstand, while Tobias Cole and Rachelle Durkin play the King and Queen of the Fairies. Meanwhile Tyler Coppin and Conal Coad reprise their unforgettable performances of Puck and Bottom. You’ll love it if you like theatrical magic. Watch out for blue-skinned fairies and beguiling music.

The production has been receiving fantastic reviews, including from the Parramatta Advertiser and Sydney Morning Herald, with the latter describing it as being "widely and rightly regarded as one of Opera Australia's finest recent artistic achievements". I strongly urge anyone who can attend to go along and see for themselves this astounding piece of theatre! :)

OPERA: Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream
BY: Opera Australia
DATES: 18 February 2010 - 24 March 2010
AT: Sydney Opera House
BOOKINGS: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com, tel: 9250 7777

14 February 2010

Baz Luhrmann's Indian Journey

Baz Luhrmann has now returned to Sydney after his adventures in India, and news of Luhrmann's journey has received a lot of Indian publicity, with hopes high that Luhrmann may embark on a project inspired by the country. Most recently, here in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald posted the following article about Luhrmann's "personal peace mission":

First Australia, now Baz does India
14 February 2010

'Extraordinary trip' ... Baz Luhrmann and artist Vincent Fantauzzo
during their motorbike journey through Rajasthan. Photo: Bazmark

Baz Luhrmann embarked on a personal peace mission to India after a spate of attacks on foreign students in Australia. During the 10-day visit, the award-winning film director painted a mural on the side of a hotel in Mumbai and journeyed through Rajasthan on a motorbike, painting artworks with local children. He was accompanied by Australian artist Vincent Fantauzzo.

''I think we both feel, as a lot of Australians do, that if you have any connection to India you feel really, really sad and disturbed. We never see our country as particularly racist or particularly violent,'' Luhrmann said. The attacks - including the fatal stabbing of Nitin Garg in Melbourne on January 2 - have strained political relations between Australia and India and sparked protests in both nations. ''As artists, we can stand up and very directly say, 'Look, this is not the voice of our country, this is not the attitude of Australians,''' Luhrmann said. ''Every country, I said, has a few sick, tragic losers who do very tragic things. It's really important to identify that this is not the Australian voice - and the connection between Australia and India has always been really strong.''

The Mumbai mural painted by the pair included images of Elvis Presley and dancer Gene Kelly as well as Bollywood iconography. ''Vinnie had this idea of, 'why don't we do the musical icons of Bollywood and Hollywood and the West,'' said Luhrmann, who returned to Sydney last week. During his trip he also held a press conference in Delhi and met Bollywood stars including actor Amitabh Bachchan, promoting the message of friendship between both countries.

An accident outside Delhi left him with a broken hand. ''A guy jumped from a moving bus, collided with my bike, and, well, it was a good ad for protective clothing,'' said Luhrmann, adding it was ''a small price to pay for a pretty extraordinary trip''. He said his ''Indo-Australian peace initiative'' came from ''just a genuine place, honestly. It was very positive and joyous and exciting.''

Luhrmann revealed Fantauzzo has painted his portrait for this year's Archibald Prize. ''I've never been painted, so I wanted to be painted by someone I knew, [who] you can trust,'' the director said. Fantauzzo painted portraits of Heath Ledger and Brandon Walters - the young Aboriginal star of Luhrmann's epic film Australia - for the Archibald Prize, winning the People's Choice award with both artworks.

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I think it is fantastic that Fantauzzo has painted Luhrmann's portrait for this year's Archibald Prize. Last year, he created a magnificent painting of young Australia star, Brandon Walters, and so I'm now really looking forward to seeing his newest creation! :)

As well as going on a personal journey and also being inspired to perhaps one day embark on an Indian project, Luhrmann also hinted throughout his trip that, at the moment, he is concentrating on The Great Gatsby. An article by India Times, reports that "He is now working on The Great Gatsby and says it is an attempt to hold a mirror to society, only the mirror is set in a different era", and Luhrmann's answer to the following interview question is very interesting. However, we are still waiting for official confirmation that The Great Gatsby really will be Luhrmann's next movie...

Are you contemplating some plot set in India?
I would love to. I have met A.R. Rahman and the Bachchan family. We share the same sensibility. The good thing is Indian actors have tremendous command over English; so, one can have detailed conversations. I've always worked with great musicians and would love to collaborate with Rahman. All my films have a connection with my personal life, and now after this road journey, I have quite a few interesting episodes with me, but I don't want to reveal my plans. For now, I am going to be busy with The Great Gatsby, and have acquired the rights of the F. Scott Fitzgerald book. I hope I will be able to recreate the pre-Depression era.

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