THIS IS LONDON JUNE EDITION 2025 - Flipbook - Page 13
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Photo: Suzi Corker
GREASE: THE IMMERSIVE MOVIE
MUSICAL
Get ready to rub shoulders with
Danny, Sandy, the T-Birds and Pink
Ladies at Secret Cinema’s GREASE: The
Immersive Movie Musical. The everinnovative team returns to London with a
brand-new format, to bring the beloved
movie musical from Paramount Pictures
to life as never before. Presented with
TodayTix, the doors to Rydell High will
open for a strictly limited term of just six
weeks from 1 August to 7 September at
Evolution London, in Battersea Park.
Each performance of Grease: The
Immersive Movie Musical will be a twoand-a-half-hour spectacular which blurs
the line between screen and reality, and
for the very first time, the entire film is
brought to life all around you with actors
and immersive elements seamlessly
blending with the on-screen action. Step
into the ultimate director’s cut and live at
the very heart of Grease as screens play
the fan-favourite film whilst a 30-strong
cast and live band bring to life all of the
songs from the film’s hit soundtrack
fusing the film and its iconic moments
with a modern live action experience.
From the moment you enter Rydell
High, you are invited to join all the
action – follow your favourite characters,
cheer on the T-Birds, share secrets with
the Pink Ladies, learn to hand jive, join
choir practice, get a taste of 1950s
American diner-inspired delights and
visit the fun fair as dazzling live
performances and sensational dance
numbers enthrall ahead of the
sensational collective finale.
www.secretcinema.com
BRIGHTON FESTIVAL CHORUS &
CITY OF LONDON SINFONIA
Brighton Festival Chorus (BFC), one of
the UK’s leading symphony choruses, will
be joined by the City of London Sinfonia
and leading violinist Alexandra Wood for
the latest in its series of own promotion
concerts at Cadogan Hall. The concert will
take place on 22 June (16.00).
Conductor James Morgan will lead a
contemplative summer programme
including Vaughan Williams, Fantasia
on Greensleeves and The Lark
Ascending, Duruflé’s Requiem and the
UK premiere of a new work from Libby
Croad, The Brontë Suite. The short
orchestral piece Fantasia on
Greensleeves is a beautiful lyrical
arrangement of the well-known folk song
by Vaughan Williams which showcases
expressive string textures and prominent
flute passages throughout.
Made up of three movements, British
composer Libby Croad’s The Brontë
Suite is a stunning setting, for choir and
strings, of poetry by each of the three
Brontë sisters. Beautiful and melodic
and suffused with close harmonies, it is
redolent of the finest early 20th century
English composers. The City of London
Sinfonia and Brighton Festival Chorus
will be giving this new work its UK
premiere at this concert.
The Lark Ascending has consistently
topped the Classic FM Hall of Fame poll
as Britain’s favourite classical work. It
has also been voted the best Desert
Island Discs track. What is it about this
short, single-movement work that gives
it such broad appeal? Written in the
summer of 1914 on the eve of war, it has
a poignancy and beauty and a sense of
nostalgia that captures the very essence
of reflectiveness and of Englishness. The
violin cadenzas are its quintessence.
Julian Lloyd Webber says, ‘A piece like
this lives and breathes in performance.
It is never the same’.
Duruflé’s greatest composition, his
Requiem, completed in September 1947,
enjoys a reputation as one of the
undisputed masterpieces of the twentieth
century choral repertoire. The single
piece most responsible for establishing
his fame worldwide, it continues to
enjoy frequent performances in the West
and East alike. Reviewers have described
it as being ‘of a noble and restrained
eloquence. A work of sumptuous craft,
beautiful unity and real grandeur’.
Brighton Festival Chorus was
founded in 1968. Its debut performance
was Belshazzar's Feast, with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
the composer, William Walton. In the
50 years since it was formed, BFC has
established and maintained a reputation
as one of Britain’s finest choirs, working
with top professional orchestras and
artists, and delivering consistently highquality performances and recordings
www.cadoganhall.com
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