A Small Mind At The Theatre

I very nearly wasn't at The Planets, as following a tremendous lack of understanding of the popularity of the show, less than two weeks before show night, I was without ticket and languishing upon the sold out waiting list. However the stars (or planets) aligned and a precious seat, and a good one, became available. Therefore when I wasn't in the Derngate foyer being mistaken as staff and asked about food options or help to carry peoples instruments, I sat transfixed in my seat in row N. The line-up for this show was what I happily described as my desert island classical selection, all well known to me, all favourites. As well as Holst's The Planets themselves, we had a warm-up pre-interval act which featured Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube, Toccata And Fugue In D Minor from Bach, Beethoven's Symphony No.7 Allegretto and John Williams' Star Wars main theme. Possibly a few of the names might not be familiar to you, ...

On my first Theatreversary I attended the Royal & Derngate for the Northamptonshire Music And Performing Arts Trusts (NMPAT) performance of An Orchestra Spectacular. It was my first encounter with a live orchestra of such a size, and its safe to say it was quite devastating on me as a night. The evening was formed of three different orchestras, from the youth beginners (still quite brilliant), to the so called "training orchestra" and then finally after the interval the full "youth orchestra". The difference was noticeable between the three, but none were very short of excellent. Many of the pieces were familiar to me and would very much be high on my choice of selections if I were to make a list of classical music. There were also too superb diversions from classical type with a medley of John Williams' (music god) Empire Strikes Back and video game theme from The Bounty Hunter. Our host of the evening assured us that computer game music is where much o...