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]]>In a New York dance hall, Charity Hope Valentine searches for love, wide-eyed and hopeful. Her fellow hostesses are more cynical when they sing the show-stopper hit Hey, Big Spender! Then Charity glimpses fame with screen idol Vidal (If They Could See Me Now), only to spend the night in his closet.
Charity seeks happiness with Oscar at the Church of The Rhythm of Life. She is pushed into a lake, she is trapped in an elevator, but her search for love goes on.
Extraordinary dance theatre for inquisitive minds.
4 different doorways, 4 different lives. Behind their own front doors, each dancer moves to their unique rhythm, each has a distinct identity and their own view of the world. Come with us as we dare to peer into the lives of strangers and see what happens when their worlds collide.
It starts with a friendly hello. Soon they are exploring each other’s worlds and their curious shared space, moving together, sometimes at odds, sometimes in perfect harmony. But when their world is threatened and tensions rise, their lives become chaotic and they look around for someone to blame. They lose their rhythm, they jerk and pull. They push and fight and they spin out of control.
ID:me explores what it means to share our world today. Beautifully weaving true stories with captivating and surprising choreography, driven by stunning original music. It will tug at your guts and slam you in the chest. It will make you smile, spark your imagination and challenge your perceptions of community.
For young people ages 8 years plus and their families.
]]>Acclaimed US singer-songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, who last charmed Buxton audiences in 2004, returns by popular demand. An award-winning songwriter for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Faith Hill (for whom she wrote the chart-topper This Kiss), Beth has found a huge popular following thanks to her soulful and heartfelt music. With songs like I Keep Coming Back To You, Free and I Find Your Love (which featured poignantly on the soundtrack to Calendar Girls), Beth’s songs have found an audience across the world, while her recent albums Hymns and Prism have explored her spirituality. Now Beth Nielsen Chapman, a favourite of Sir Terry Wogan and the BBC Radio 2 audience, makes a welcome return to the Opera House.
]]>Monday 28 July to Saturday 2 August
]]>Not a comeback, just a quarter-century birthday celebration. 25 years ago, Dillie Keane formed Fascinating Aida and has tried to shake it off ever since. It keeps coming back to haunt her – and you. 25 years, 5 continents, 6 West End runs, 6 albums, 5 nominations (3 Olivier, 1 Drama Desk, 1 Perrier), 2 books, 1 glorious transsexual and 784 sopranos. Not bad going.
Now with new songs, not for money, just for the fun of it, and playing to an even older audience than before, Dillie, Adele and Lisa return! Shuffle to get a ticket! Grumble at the steepness of the stairs! Thrill to the beauty of the harmonies. Marvel at the rhymes. Laugh in the certainty that your pacemaker will look after your heart.
]]>An ice show beyond imagination featuring the Russian Ice Stars
If the creation of the world was shaped by fire and ice then so it will be for Cirque de Glace.
Striving to achieve a new level of ice show presentation the brilliant Russian Ice Stars combine with the world of cirque in an eclectic mix of spectacle and ice dance which promises to be both heart-stopping and jaw-dropping.
Some of the world’s finest performers request the pleasure of your company in an extravaganza guaranteed to entertain and thrill all ages. Be there, as this new genre hits the earth like a meteor and the explosion of fire and ice takes place before your very eyes.
After last year’s sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and countless rave reviews, Rhona Cameron comes to Buxton with her most revealing show to date. This is a laugh-out-loud journey through the darkly comic life of one of the UK’s most talented and highly respected comediennes. Expect brand new material, impeccable timing and a generous helping of her classic, razor-sharp humour.
]]>Michelle Shocked is a traveller and a troubadour; a ‘picker-poet’, as they say in Texas. Her musical career was ignited by a bootleg recording made around a campfire on a Sony Walkman – The Texas Campfire Tapes. This was followed by a trilogy of albums that stand as a captivating primer on American music. Short Sharp Shocked’s spirited folk-rock progressed into Captain Swing’s energetic jump blues, expanding to Arkansas Traveler’s travelogue of minstrel-era country. These were accompanied by hit singles such as Come a Long Way and On the Greener Side and the classic Anchorage. Now she’s back with a new album, ToHeavenURide, a Gospel album inspired by her work with the West Angeles COGIC mass choir from South Central Los Angeles.
]]>Bellowhead return triumphant from their appearance at Four Four Time 07, their hit album, Burlesque and their conquering of the Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2007. Their exhilarating live show has now moved from the world of the folk festivals (during their final summer performance at Sidmouth Festival the audience managed to break the dance floor – a fair reflection of the band’s attitude to folk music!) to filling theatres and concert halls. Spearheaded by the award-winning duo Spiers & Boden, Bellowhead features some of the most talented players from the younger generation of the English traditional and world music scene in a collision of traditional folk and Eastern European brass styles that is completely unique and not to be missed.
]]>A man has ‘fallen’ to his death from a window whilst in police custody. Accidents happen, but did he jump or was he pushed? And what is the significance of the ill-fated Mancunian salsa dancer? Brace yourselves for an evening of riotous political farce and sparkling satire as Northern Broadsides brings you Dario Fo’s comic tour de force, Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
A brilliant exposé of police corruption rooted in real events in 1960s Italy – this contemporary adaptation brings the play closer to home, to northern England, and revels in Dario Fo’s anarchic genius.
Northern Broadsides’ exuberant cast of charismatic northern actors will unashamedly ‘big up’ the sheer lunacy of the plot whilst chillingly exposing the issues of our time … with disturbing hilarity. Think Have I Got News For You meets Life on Mars, and be prepared for an outrageously entertaining theatre experience.
Making a welcome return to Buxton, this action-packed production combines the martial arts warriors from the Shaolin Temple and the Tai An Acrobatic Troupe from the foot of Mount Tai – one of China’s sacred mountains and home to some of the countries greatest poets, artists, scholars & warriors for over 2000 years.
For the first time the world’s greatest acrobats join forces with the undisputed masters of martial arts, stretching the limits of human achievement in an extraordinary show combining a dazzling spectacle of flying warriors and unbelievable acrobatics in a unique collaboration of the art form created for the Emperor in the Forbidden City. Artists have been selected from China’s leading acrobatic troupes, including back-flipping acrobats spiralling through rotating hoops, beautiful plate spinning oriental divas, candelabra-balancing knotted contortionists, Chinese pole balancing and a lusciously set and costumed performance of the Lion Dance. Then to top it all the deadly grace of martial arts from the Shaolin school of Kung Fu, Wu Shu and Qigong. The whole show is even narrated by one of the most famous characters in Chinese Folklore – the Monkey King.
]]>The outstanding Kristina and Alexei Terentiev, together with principal stars of international reputation, deliver performances of breathtaking technique and dazzling artistry. This large company – with an impressive corps de ballet and boasting a large live orchestra – offers the very best of Russian classical ballet.
Coppelia is a delightful ballet telling the fantastical tale of an eccentric toymaker and his amazing creations, which include a lifelike doll. Considered a jewel of the classical ballet repertoire it is here presented with a kaleidoscope of colours and is an enchanting entertainment for the whole family. Not to be missed.
]]>A to Z Festival 2008
To mark the 90th anniversary of the ending of the First World War, Thingumajig Theatre tells the story of one survivor’s memories of the conflict and his unexpected encounter with a stray dog who knew no boundaries. With evocative puppet characters and live music, A November Day presents a timeless fable on war and the miracle of friendship when all else seems lost.
Ages 10 to 15 and up.
Buxton Opera House welcomes back the National Brass Band Champions of Great Britain 2006 and 2007 and the English National Champions of 2007 –Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band.
Following the success of their soundtrack to the film Brassed Off, Grimethorpe have been in constant worldwide demand, playing to appreciative audiences as far afield as Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. The band was formed in 1917 by a group of mineworkers from the former Cudworth Brass band. It was the first and only brass band to appear at the London Palladium and, in 1974, became the first brass band to take part in the BBC Proms (a feat repeated in 2007) as well as in the BBC Proms in the Park Concert in London’s Hyde Park.
Enjoy the fabulous sound of one of the UK’s finest in a traditional programme of exemplary brass band music.
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