MUSICAL REVIEW. Robert Stolz «see
The Haywards: keeping Stolz alive Schindler's List — The Musical! Well, not quite, but there are some striking. parallels between Robert Stolz and Schindler. Expect tales of romance, philandering and daring escapades helping Jews flee Nazi Germany in this musical tribute to the late composer and conductor. The production has been ten years in the making, and has recently been broadcast in all German-
speaking countries. The songs are performed in the original German by the magnificent Marie Hayward, accompanied by, among others, her son, and the voice of her late husband from a recording he made for a previous performance. A truly family affair. (Kirsty Knaggs)
a Robert Stolz (Fringe) Angelic Voices, C too (Venue 4) 225 5105, until 31 Aug (not 16, 23, 30) 10.45am, £5.50 (£4.50).
FOLK PREVIEW Wrigleys
Award-winning Orcadian twins Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley are already planning their second world tour. Guitarist and pianist Hazel admits to organising this one herself ’by e-mail mainly - that’s made life so much easier. We’re starting off after the New Year in New York, then it’s over to Iceland and the Faroes — in January! - then Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, then a Californian tour to finish off. Shorter than the last one.’
With fiddler and composer sister Jennifer (who has a new collection of original and traditional Orkney tunes in the pipeline), she also plays in the six- strong band Seelyhoo — who, she insists 'are definitely not the Wrigleys with a band. Seelyhoo’s music comes from all the members — there's no leader. I’m just
OPERA REViEW
Don Carlos
s: as
out of the many versions of Don caries. theltoyal Opera House production has'o'pt'ed for the French language verSion in five acts. hybridising music from the 1867
premiere "and 1886 revision. unlike the four-act version. this
more-expanSive. less cohesive text criesout for the’l'ulI-ibiown Grand Opera'treatment to make
convincing sense.
surprisingly. there is not much that is grand (apart perhaps from
Don Carlos features a strong cast
the white steed pa'r'adedin Act i) in Luc Bondy and Patrick Young's rather drab and lifeless production. The confinedstage of the Festival Theatre may be responsibleior the disappointinglyfunctional. but seldom stylised. look. it makes a clumsily'designed auto da 'fé scene feel low key and ineffective. indeed. with the exteption of the beautiful spatialisation of the Act l1 Terzettino and the King‘s cabinet scene, there little else to admire in a bland staging that fails to exploit the strong political overtones of the work and is not immune to irritatineg preposterous quirks.
Similarly. Bernard Haitink's much feted return to the podium, characterised by 'a politely noble reading of the score. lacks that essentially Verdian sanguine virility. What makes the night glorious. however. is Karita Mattila‘s infiniter sensitive. heart-rending portrayal of Elisabeth, towering over a generally strong cast. Hers is a performance not to be missed. Great singing marred by a poor production. (Gualtiero Pedriali)
a Don Carlos (International Festival) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 20, 25 and 28
Aug, 6pm, £S~£50
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one of the rhythm section, which is really good for me — I have to play what's expected, I can’t get self- indulgent - whereas when there's just the two of us it’s so uncomplicated. There’s no politics - and no accommodation problems. When it’s just Jenny and me, we can enjoy messing about with the music more. We know what we're doing, we have guidelines, but basically we improvise.’ a The Wrigley Sisters (Fringe) Famous Grouse House (Venue 34) 220 5606, 20 Aug, 9.45pm, 15 7 (£5). Seelyhoo (Fringe) Spiege/tent (Venue 87) 558 8010, 25 Aug, 17.45pm, £7 (£5).
FOLK PREVIEW Sin E
Steafan Hannigan, the irrepressible folk multi-instrumentalist (fourteen at the last count) is on the phone from Listowel, the setting for many a memorable Irish National Fleadh, a little Kerry town with an unfeasible number of pubs and a passion for poetry and music. Escaping from the Milton Keynes studio he set up with proceeds from his music for TV's Friends, he’s on tour with the uniquely eclectic London-based Sin E, recently voted Traditional Band of the Year by the journal Irish World.
’We took some time getting a replacement for Ansuman (Biswas - the superb tabla player familiar to previous Festivals' Graffiti audiences), but we've now got a great jazz drummer in Ben Clark, he also had the same tabla teacher as Ansuman. And we’ve got a new fiddler, Gerry Diver — he's Manchester Irish - and there’s a third album ready to be recorded. We're playing the new material but
apart from that, Sin E’s doing what we’ve always done - basically Irish music and song with influences from everywhere and anywhere.‘
a Sin E (Fringe) Famous Grouse House (Venue 34) 220 5606, 27 Aug, 9.45pm, £7 (£5).
ROCK PREVIEW Khaya
When you first form a band, a mix of bad musicianship and youthful exuberance makes you sound inevitably like a punky three chord thrash. Unless you’re The Damned though, you grow out of it pretty quickly. This is exactly what happened with Khaya, the Edinburgh underground crew whose new album We’ve Got Rhymes 4X Like These should be in the shops by the time you read this. Khaya decided to get weird, but then, what can you expect from a band who named themselves after their singer's pet cat.
'We decided to try and sound as unusual as possible,’ says said cat-lover Dan. ’And try and get the balance between what sounded good and what sounded unobvious.’
Their off-kilter approach to things includes occasional exCUrsions into spoken word territory, and has raised more than one comparison with Arab Strap. ’I can see why,’ says Dan, ’but we’re not like them at all, and our lifestyles certainly aren’t as sleazy.’ Oh no? Their next single's called ’Love And Whips’ and at the launch for their album Dan decided to shed all his clothes during their performance. Now that's weird. (Neil Cooper)
3 Khaya (Planet Pop) Cas Rock, West Port, 229 4341, 22 Aug, 9pm, £4.