Napoletango, the Latin Neapolitan musical, London Coliseum

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With summer comes the arrival of foreign touring companies, ready to delight London audiences with their best material. It is a chance for us to see something a little different. A few nights ago I was invited see Napoletango, the Latin Neapolitan musical, on the great Coliseum stage; the European company had a big task to fill the famous auditorium. After acclaimed performances at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, and a sold out run across Italy, I was excited to find out what is so special about this show.

The story is quite simple: the Incoronato family are a travelling troupe of twenty entertainers, all have a passion for Tango and hope to achieve their dream to perform on Broadway. The production includes every aspect of the group’s journey from street to stage. Embracing individualism and celebrating the human spirit, the group is made up of very different characters, in an effort to show that anyone, with passion and determination can dance the tango.

It is the scenes from everyday life that are the most touching. We watch the company sleep in a squalid tavern, shower naked (!), even cook an Italian dish on stage – it is endearing and affecting, and seemed to immediately capture the hearts of the Coliseum audience.

The show is often mad and completely chaotic, and at times I was completely lost… it doesn’t help that much of the spoken conversations on stage are not translated. However the musical is imaginative and sensual, and I personally always enjoy experiencing something completely new even if I leave feeling a little perplexed. Every member of the large cast seems completely devoted to their role and and contributes to the magical spirit on stage. In the curtain call one girl seemed to be crying with pride, so chuffed by the audience’s standing ovation and rapturous applause.

Of the cast, only two are professional tango dancers. Pablo Canaro is the most spectacular, moving with elegance and charisma across the expansive stage. Originally rejected and mistreated by the Incoronato family because they don’t understand the dance steps, he is eventually accepted and gives a staggering final performance in the Argentinian Tango.

Sadly Napoletango only visited London briefly with performances at the beginning of August, but it is worth checking out the website here to find out more about this exceptional and truly unique theatre company.

http://www.teatroeliseo.it

Don Airey Concert

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In a secret location within the Cambridgeshire countryside, a select throng gathered for the annual Don Airey mini rock concert. Every year this well known Deep Purple keyboard player hosts a charity gig near his home, inviting guest stars along to wow the audience with him.

We arrived just after 8 pm to find the place already buzzing with excited guests, some gathered around the aromatic barbeque while others queued to get a drink before the music began. The weather was perfect, warm with a gentle breeze, but the large white marquee over our heads gave a smarter feel to the evening.

After a very convincing support act had finished everyone was ready for a good sing-a-long to some classic rock songs. Joining Airey on stage was Ian Paice, Deep Purple’s supreme drummer, Chris Childs (bassist) and Gary James (drummer) from hard rock band Thunder, a staggeringly talented Bernie Marsden from Whitesnake, and singer Carl Sentance. It was immediately apparent that these musicians ‘still had it’, playing with vigour and zeal excelling on even the most complex solos, and often improvising, but always with unfaltering conviction.

The majority of the set was familiar motown songs: ‘Since you’ve been gone’, ‘Soul Man’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ were my favourites on the night. Between sets Don held a raffle and auction, both of which had amazing musical prizes, I was particularly interested in winning the beautiful Deep Purple bass guitar on offer, so spent every last pound on raffle coupons… sadly it wasn’t to be.

Despite his legendary rockstar status, Don Airey is a down to earth friendly musician who clearly loves nothing more than a good jam on stage, sharing in his passion on this special summer evening was a memory I will never forget.

The Vorticists, Tate Britain

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Vorticism is pretty much the English equivalent of Futurism, a twentieth century Italian avant-garde art movement that celebrated modernity and progress. The similarities were immediately apparent to me when I entered Tate Britain’s summer exhibition ‘The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World’, and despite the Vorticists claiming to be a reaction against this preceding group.

This exhibition shows a collection of the main works that emerged from their brief four year existence in London fro 1914 to 18. The name was coined by radical American poet Ezra Pound, with the literary journal ‘Blast’ setting out to proclaim Vorticism’s ideas and opinions. The group was made up of various artists over the four years, led by painter and writer Percy Wyndham Lewis. Other members included: Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Alvin Langdon Coburn.

The work is bold and brave, much of it has obvious similarities with the Cubist works of Braque and Picasso. The use of colour is sensational: bright rich tones juxtaposed to create striking statements. The influence of the machinery and brutality of modern urban life is particularly evident in the recreation of Epstein’s sculpture, ‘The Rock Drill’ – a pale figure holds a dominating big black machine gun type tool. It is impressive and domineering, a dismal premonition of the war. On a smaller scale this modernity and terror can be seen in the monochrome Vorticist woodcuts. These tiny works are angular and geometric, movement is created through furious zigzagged lines and sharp shapes.

My favourite room focussed on ‘BLAST’ the Vorticist magazine. Despite the publication collapsing after the second issue it caused quite a stir, and gives us a real insight into this movement. The cover is bright red, with the title ‘BLAST’ printed in daring black capital letters across the front. It is striking and exciting, just as the name suggests. The first issue focussed very much of topical concerns like feminism and the suffrage movement, however the second edition seemed less revolutionary.

There was only one proper Vorticist exhibition at the time, which took place at the Dore Galleries in London in 1915. Some of the work shown then was included in the Tate exhibition. The show concludes with examples of Vorticist photography hung in an area painted bright cobalt blue. These ‘Vortography’ experiments consist of ghostly fragmented images with mysterious abstract and futurist connotations.

It is clear that these artists were desperate to be different. Once you forget about the ‘Vorticism’ label, and the fact that this is just another ‘ism’ from another group of proud artists, this show is definitely worth a visit, even if just for the sake of a little bit of patriotism.

The Vorticists continues until 4 September 2011, book here.