Musicals & Music Films > Opera & Operetta Musicals & Music Films > up to 5 GBP > by Title (by first letter)

Advantages: Origami-like sets, costumes, bold basic colors; Mozart's music, all sung beautifully.
Disadvantages: Un-PC elements may cause unease in modern audiences.

...'The Magic Flute', Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's popular opera. Created in that highly disciplined world of specialized vocal and instrumental music and theatre, it remains among the lightest in the genre. The story amounts to little more than a children's tale with the usual elements of heroism, love, revenge, forgiveness, etc. Ah, but the most aurally pleasing music of Mozart elevates it to a higher plane. From Arthaus Musik DVD comes this modern, ...
...boyish green-hat-and-lederhosen-clad Bavarian. Mozart's Sublime, Inspiring Music Delivered Beautifully. Mozart employs a host of musical forms and styles here. With a variety of melodies, harmonies and rhythms appearing throughout the work, he brings a liveliness to the tale of heroism. Most of the music is written in the major keys, that is, in a bright and optimistic mood. To think that Mozart wrote this opera just a few months before his death ... Read review

Advantages: Beautifully made document of beautiful-art-in-the-making.
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit much for non-fans.

...Jones' 2002 film focusing on Wilco at the most turbulent and creatively-fertile period in their career thus far is much closer to Micahel Lindsey-Hogg's 1970 Let It Be than, for example, Berlinger & Sinofsky's 2004 Some Kind Of Monster. Like the Beatles' picture, it is an essential, stunningly-made film but one that, in contrast to the insanely-entertaining Metallica feature, is unlikely to work for anyone uninterested in the band under consideration. ...
...radio station hour-after-hour-after-hour. Instead, Wilco set upon their own songs with maniacal zeal, pulling each asunder, settling none for a predictable verse-chorus-verse where a chorus-verse-verse from another track -chorus from songs yet to be written can be threaded together instead. Awe-inspiringly short-sighted, the record company balked at what the band had produced, preferring to cut their losses and drop both artist and record than follow ... Read review

Advantages: Generally good concert, 'Old Medley' is great.
Disadvantages: Bonus features could be better. Needs less pop and more prog!

Filmed in 1992, 'The Way We Walk' DVD shows concert footage from one of Genesis's later tours. By this time, all the big albums had been released - only the lesser known 'Calling All Stations' with Ray Wilson was still to come. As it stands, this is a pretty good concert - as expected, most of the hits are there - 'Land Of Confusion, 'Invisible Touch', 'I Can't Dance', etc. They are all pretty similar to the album versions, though there a few alterations ...
...some dramatic guitar-work to finish it off. 'Jesus He Knows Me' has got real pace and excitement, and Phil Collins really brings it to life as he comically assumes the role of a TV evangelist. The song is also rounded off with a superb guitar solo from long-time session player Daryl Stuermer. In Turn It On Again, the final track, the riff is also used as a backing for Collins to give thanks to the rest of the band, which adds some alteration, but ... Read review

Advantages: great film
Disadvantages: n/a

...her fellow suffragettes. Mary Poppins played by Julie Andrews then appears bringing magic, discipline and fun into the children's lives. Dick Van Dyke also stars as the lovable cockney Bert. From jumping through chalk pavement pictures to dancing with penguins this film has it all, along with well know songs from a spoonful of sugar and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious but to name a few this film is a classic Disney film for the family and one ... Read review

Advantages: Great performance and atmosphere, epic scale, strong medleys, interesting documentary.
Disadvantages: Needs more older material for big Gabriel-era fans. Annoying Italian attempts from Collins!

...DVD of the long-awaited 2007 Genesis reunion, with Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford uniting to play live for the first time in around 15 years. They are also joined by long-time Genesis session players Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson, who have been playing their gigs with them since the 70s. Having been on this tour myself, and seeing exactly the same set-list in Manchester some short time before, I can tell you it really was a brilliant ...
...excellent buy. 3 DVDs of Genesis goodness. The only word of caution would be to die-hard Gabriel-era fans, as the majority of this concert consists of the later pop songs. However, the old medleys are performed well and add some great music to what could have been a rather average set-list otherwise. The accompanying documentary is also interesting - I don't think there are any others as in-depth out there. All in all, it looks great, it sounds great ... Read review