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Pimlico Opera
Pimlico Opera is an opera company and registered charity founded in 1987 by Wasfi Kani. The company aims to use participation in opera to advance personal developmentparticularly with younger people and to engender a sense of community. The most recent production from Pimlico Opera was ''Sweet Charity'' staged in HMP Bronzefield in November 2018. Olivier award-nominated actress Laura Pitt-Pulford played the leading role of Charity Hope Valentine. History Though its focus today is solely in prisons and primary schools, Pimlico Opera was known for 19 years (1990-2008) as an Arts Council-funded small-scale touring company. In those years, repertoire included the Da Ponte trilogy, Cenerentola, Falstaff, Pagliacci, Turn of the Screw, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi and the company travelled from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Padstow in Cornwall. Pimlico Opera staged the European première of Shostakovich's musical comedy '' Cheryomushki'' at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith on 20 October 1994. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasfi Kani
Wasfi Kani (born London, 7 March 1956) is the founder and CEO of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera. Kani was born in Cable Street in London's East End where her parents lived after leaving India at partition. She attendeHarry Gosling Primary Schooluntil 1962 when the family moved to Kilburn, London. Kani played the violin in the National Youth Orchestra and went on to study music at St Hilda's College, Oxford (197579). Career On leaving Oxford, Kani spent 10 years programming and designing financial computer systems in the City. Kani continued to play the violin and piano and she began to study conducting. In 1986 she started a small computer consultancy. In 1987 Kani founded the small-scale touring company Pimlico Opera, staging productions in places such as banks, hospitals, country houses and prisons. In 1992 Kani was made Chief Executive of Garsington Opera. During her five years’ tenure, she gained a reputation as a fundraiser, entrepreneur and administrator. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Threepenny Opera
''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, Hauptmann might have contributed to the text, Brecht is usually listed as sole author. The work offers a socialist critique of the capitalist world. It opened on 31 August 1928 at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. Songs from ''The Threepenny Opera'' have been widely covered and become standards, most notably "" ("The Ballad of Mack the Knife") and "" ("Pirate Jenny"). Background Origins In the winter of 1927–28, Elizabeth Hauptmann, Brecht's lover at the time, received a copy of Gay's play from friends in England and, fascinated by the female characters and its critique of the condition of the London poor, began translating it into German. Brecht at first took lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Our House (musical)
''Our House'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Madness and one song " It Must Be Love" written by Labi Siffre and a book by playwright Tim Firth. Premiering at The Cambridge Theatre in 2002, ''Our House'' was the winner of the 2003 Olivier award for Best New Musical and has since gone on to tour both nationally and internationally to great acclaim. Through the music of Madness, writer Tim Firth explores the themes of love, family values, growing up, responsibility and dealing with losing the people that shape us. Background ''Our House'' has many obvious influences including Willy Russell's '' Blood Brothers'' and the 1998 romantic comedy film ''Sliding Doors''. Some critics have even called the show the British answer to ''Rent'', the Jonathan Larson rock opera which follows the lives of a group of 20-something year-olds living in New York. For many years prior to the creation of Our House, Madness had been considering ways that they could turn their songs into a musical. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Prison Isis
HM Prison Isis is a Category C male Young Offenders Institution, located in the Thamesmead area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, in south-east London, England. Isis Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated next to Belmarsh Prison and Thameside Prison. History In May 2009, the Ministry of Justice awarded Interserve a £110 million contract to design and construct a new prison called Isis (named for an alternate name for the River Thames) on underused land within the perimeter wall of Belmarsh Prison. The new prison was built to Category B security standards. In August 2009, the construction site of the new prison was evacuated after contractors discovered a suspected World War II bomb. Isis Prison is located on the site of the former Royal Arsenal, and the suspected bomb was found to be an empty shell casing. Interserve handed over the completed Isis Prison in April 2010, with the prison becoming operational soon after. In January 2012, an inspecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Act (musical)
''Sister Act'' is a musical based on the hit 1992 film of the same name with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, and additional material by Douglas Carter Beane. After having a regional premiere in 2006 in Pasadena, California, the original West End production opened on June 2, 2009, at the London Palladium, starring Patina Miller and produced by Stage Entertainment and Whoopi Goldberg. Subsequent productions have been seen on Broadway and in many countries around the world. Synopsis West End ;Act 1 Philadelphia, Mother Superior declares that the convent is in need (''Prologue'') before Deloris Van Cartier, crowned 'Lady Fabulous' of 1978, is seen performing in the night club run by her gangster boyfriend Curtis Shank ("Take Me to Heaven"). Deloris is overjoyed as she believes her boyfriend is going to introduce her to a record producer on that day (her birthday), although she soon learns that this is not to be. Hurt and frustrate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including ''The Miserables'', ''The Wretched'', ''The Miserable Ones'', ''The Poor Ones'', ''The Wretched Poor'', ''The Victims'', and ''The Dispossessed''. Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic love, romantic and familial love. ''Les Misérables'' has been populariz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Prison Erlestoke
HM Prison Erlestoke is a Category C men's prison, to the east of the village of Erlestoke in Wiltshire, England. Erlestoke is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is the only prison in Wiltshire. Erlestoke House The prison is built around Erlestoke House, a country house built by Joshua Smith, MP for Devizes, between 1780 and 1810. The estate was sold in 1919 and for a time a tenant of the new owner used the main house as a guest-house. From 1939 it was the home of the Army's Senior Officers' School; in 1950 the central house was severely damaged by fire but the school continued in the wings until 1961. A single-storey lodge from the early 19th century stands at the roadside entrance to the grounds of the house. The lodge, together with gate piers and wrought iron railings of similar date, is Grade II listed. Prison history The site was first used by the Prison Commission in 1960 as a detention centre, and many buildings were added in the grounds of Erlestoke Hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar (musical)
''Sugar'' is a musical with a book by Peter Stone, music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill. It is based on the 1959 film '' Some Like It Hot'', for which he was awarded best performance ina musical, was adapted by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from a story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. It premiered on Broadway in 1972 and was staged in the West End twenty years later. Synopsis Two unemployed musicians, bass player Jerry and saxophone player Joe, witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. In order to escape gangster Spats Palazzo and his henchmen, they dress as women and join Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters, an all-female band about to leave town for an engagement at a Miami Beach hotel. Complications arise when Joe, now known as Josephine, falls in love with beautiful band singer Sugar Kane, who has a slight drinking problem that tends to interfere with her ability to choose a romantic partner wisely. More than anything, Sugar wants to marry a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Prison Send
HM Prison Send is a closed category women's prison in the extreme south of Ripley nearer Send in Surrey, England. Its post town is Woking. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History A smallpox isolation hospital on its site became a prison in 1962 when it opened as a Junior Detention Centre. It remained as such until 1987 when it was re-classified as a Category C Adult Male Training Prison. Send was demolished and completely rebuilt by 1999, opening as a closed Female Training Prison. In August 2005, a report by the Independent Monitoring Board criticised a marked increase in self-harm and suicide amongst inmates and lack of staff, whereas it praised the prison's education provision and its farms and gardens scheme. The prison today Send is a closed prison for adult females. It houses an 80-bed Resettlement Unit, a 40-bed Therapeutic Community, a 20-bed Progression PIPE and a 20-bed Preparation PIPE. HMP Send's Education Department runs Key Skills cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Prison Kingston
HM Prison Kingston is a former Category B/C men's prison, located in the Kingston area of Portsmouth, in Hampshire, England. Prior to closure, the prison was operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. In 2020, work began to convert the site to residential use. History Kingston Prison was originally built in 1877 as a Victorian radial design prison. Kingston has had a varied history. At one point the building was used for a boys' borstal, and then became a police station during World War II. In 1965 capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain and, as a result, Kingston began exclusively to hold inmates serving life sentences. Kingston became the only prison in England and Wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly male prisoners serving life sentences. In April 2003 a report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that the elderly prisoner unit at Kingston provided unacceptable conditions for its inmates. The report detailed that movement in the unit w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Misérables (musical)
''Les Misérables'' ( , ), colloquially known as ''Les Mis'' or ''Les Miz'' ( ), is a sung-through musical and an adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel of the same name, by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel (original French lyrics) and Herbert Kretzmer (English lyrics). The original French musical premiered in Paris in 1980 with direction by Robert Hossein. Its English-language adaptation by producer Cameron Mackintosh has been running in London since October 1985, making it the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world after the original Off-Broadway run of ''The Fantasticks''. Set in early 19th-century France, ''Les Misérables'' is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption, released in 1815 after serving nineteen years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a bishop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago (musical)
''Chicago'' is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and the crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal". The original Broadway production opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances, until 1977. Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. It debuted in the West End in 1979, where it ran for 600 performances. ''Chicago'' was revived on Broadway in 1996, and a year later in the West End. The 1996 Broadway production holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. It is the second longest-running show ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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