This Is London, 23 June 2017

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10 SUMMER CELEBRATION WITH THE WHITEHALL CHOIR Summer Celebration, a concert from the Whitehall Choir of British music by Elgar, Walton, Britten, Finzi and many others will take place at St Peter’s Eaton Square at 19.00 on 6 July. The Whitehall Choir will present a fabulous programme of British Music which will be accompanied on the organ by Ian Tindale, their wonderfully talented accompanist. In the first part of the concert they sing Walton’s effervescent Jubilate Deo which sets the ball rolling with his typically upbeat, rhythmic style. This is followed by an underappreciated choral work by Benjamin Britten, his C major Te Deum – not the Festival Te Deum which is much more often performed, but the one he wrote ten years earlier in 1934. It’s a superb conception and an entirely satisfying musical experience for singer and audience alike. Ian Tindale then plays the first movement of Elgar’s magisterial Organ Sonata on the grand instrument at St Peter’s. The choir will give the first performance in its revised, and newly published version of Paul Spicer’s motet: ‘How do I love thee?’ setting a passionate sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning written for the Civil Partnership ceremony of two close friends. The first half ends with Elgar’s wide-ranging and well-known anthem ‘Give unto the Lord’. After the interval, the choir starts with The Whitehall Choir at St Peter’s. Stanford’s extraordinarily dramatic anthem ‘For lo, I raise up and bitter and hasty nation’. The sweep of the organ introduction leads the choir into quite breathtaking music which drives on and on to an enormous climax before a serene final page allows the tension to drop. This is followed by two anthems from his pupil Herbert Howells who, in turn, was the conductor, Paul Spicer’s teacher. ‘My eyes for beauty pine’ is a simple piece but which demonstrates Howells’s ability with the long melodic line. This is also true of his ‘A Hymn for St. Cecilia’ with words by Vaughan Williams’s wife, Ursula Wood, a much more thrilling piece as it leads to a final verse with a soaring soprano descant. Ian Tindale then plays Howells’s beautiful and evocative ‘Master Tallis’s Testament’ on the organ and the choir moves to the two final works: John Joubert’s motet ‘This is the gate of the Lord’ written for the re-opening of Birmingham Town Hall after its extensive renovation in 2007. The words are verses from Psalm 118. It is Joubert’s 90th birthday this year and this is a sincere tribute to a wonderful composer who deserves to be much better known and more frequently performed. They close with Finzi’s ‘God is Gone Up’ – a suitably upbeat and triumphant ending to this celebratory concert. Tickets are available at www.whitehall choir.org.uk and on the door. LONDON MUSICAL THEATRE ORCHESTRA IN CANDIDE After a sell-out season in 2016 which included performances of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s State Fair at Cadogan Hall and Alan Menken & Lynn Ahrens’ A Christmas Carol at the Lyceum Theatre, followed by Honeymoon In Vegas at the London Palladium in March 2017, the London Musical Theatre Orchestra returns to Cadogan Hall on 21 July for its latest concert performance of Candide. Featuring a score by legendary composer Leonard Bernstein that includes the legendary songs ‘Glitter and Be Gay’, ‘We Are Women’, ‘Nothing More Than This’ and the epic ‘Make Our Garden Grow’, this performance will star Rob Houchen (Les Miserables/Titanic) as Candide and heralds the start of next year’s Bernstein centenary celebrations. Candide tells the story of the illegitimate cousin of Baron Thunder- Ten-Tonck. He is expelled from home, dragged into the Bulgarian army, brought before the Spanish Inquisition, swindled out of a fortune, shipwrecked on a desert isle and separated from his true love Cunegonde. She also bears a barrage of misfortunes including sale into prostitution, forced marriage to an exorbitantly wealthy man and slavery. The 34 piece London Musical Theatre Orchestra will be under the baton of conductor Freddie Tapner alongside a host of West End stars. The London Musical Theatre Orchestra is the world's only specialist professional orchestra dedicated to performing musical theatre repertoire. t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
UK PREMIERE ALAIN PLATEL LES BALLETS C DE LA B Unclassifiable Alain Platel, the trailblazing founder and director of Belgian contemporary dance collective les ballets C de la B, returns to Sadler’s Wells for the London premiere of his new work, nicht schlafen on Friday 30 June & Saturday 1 July. Motivated by the music of Gustav Mahler and the time the composer lived in, Platel draws parallels between the music and the troubled early years of the 20th century in Europe which ultimately led to the great crisis of the First World War. He uses cultural study Change and Culture in the West, 1900-1914 by the historian Philipp Blom, as inspiration for nicht schlafen, featuring eight male and one female dancer. Platel collaborates once again with composer Steven Prengels, who creates a soundscape using samples of natural sounds including cowbells and the sounds of sleeping animals and other elements from our everyday surroundings, but also incorporates the polyphony of the Congolese singers Boule Mpanya and Russell Tshiebua. Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000. THE BLUES BROTHERS SUMMER SPECIAL Rock ‘n’ Roll phenomenon, The Blues Brothers, is returning to the West End at the Hippodrome for a summer special from 18 July to 26 August. The Hippodrome’s 230-seat cabaret theatre will host The Blues Brothers – Summer Special, which is produced by Hartshorn – Hook Productions and the London Hippodrome, directed by Joshua Mumby, with choreography by Lily Howkins and musical direction by James Robert Ball. Featuring 20 of the most popular rock ‘n’ roll classics of all time, including Respect, Jailhouse Rock, Soul Man and Do You Love Me?, the show also includes some never-seen-before material created by the star of the original cult classic film Dan Aykroyd, and Judith Belushi. WICKED NEW CAST IN JULY Wicked, the West End musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, has a new cast from Monday 24 July, with Alice Fearn (Elphaba), Sophie Evans (Glinda), Bradley Jaden (Fiyero), Melanie La Barrie (Madame Morrible), Andy Hockley (The Wizard), Jack Lansbury (Boq) and Laura Pick (Standby for Elphaba) joining current cast members Martin Ball (Doctor Dillamond), Sarah McNicholas (Nessarose) and Carina Gillespie (Standby for Glinda). Based on the acclaimed, best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire that ingeniously re-imagines the stories and characters created by L. Frank Baum in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, Wicked tells the story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two sorcery students. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. Sophie Evans and Alice Fearn. Photo: Darren Bell 11 t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Page 3 and 4: 3 CONTENTS Events 4 A Museum of Mod
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Page 20 and 21: 20 Andrew Scott as Hamlet at the Ha
Page 22: 22 COOKIE DOUGH POP-UP COMES TO OLD

This Is London, 23 June 2017

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