Ian Dickson

Ian Dickson reviews 'The Leonard Bernstein Letters', edited by Nigel Simeone

April 2014, no. 360 • 28 March 2014

There once was a boy named LennyWhose talents were varied and manySo many that he was inclinedNever to make up his mindIn fact he was so giftedHe never felt upliftedJust undefined.Poor Lenny – ten gifts too manyThe curse of being versatile.To show how bad the curse isWe’ll need a lot of versesAnd take a little Weill. Lauren Bacall performed Stephen Sondheim’s spoof of Kurt Weill’s ‘Jenn ... (read more)

Once in Royal David’s City

March 2014, no. 359 • 27 February 2014

At a time when a convicted drug smuggler is rumoured to be about to collect a fortune for her remarkably unremarkable story and when we are heading into a new round of so-called ‘culture wars’, in which an extraordinary amount of heat will be generated with precious little light accompanying it, it is refreshing to be presented with another of Michael Gow’s forensic explorations of the world ... (read more)

Once in Royal David’s City

ABR Arts • 19 February 2014

At a time when a convicted drug smuggler is rumoured to be about to collect a fortune for her remarkably unremarkable story and when we are heading into a new round of so-called ‘culture wars’, in which an extraordinary amount of heat will be generated with precious little light accompanying it, it is refreshing to be presented with another of Michael Gow’s forensic explorations of the world ... (read more)

Waiting for Godot | Sydney Theatre Company

December 2013–January 2014, no. 357 • 01 December 2013

With aching feet, bursting bladders, and the odd carrot for sustenance, Samuel Beckett’s famous pair of tramps have shuffled on to the stage of the Sydney Theatre for an extended run, though run is hardly the apposite word for this stationary duo. Perhaps one could call it an extended slump. ... (read more)

Waiting for Godot

ABR Arts • 18 November 2013

With aching feet, bursting bladders, and the odd carrot for sustenance, Samuel Beckett’s famous pair of tramps have shuffled on to the stage of the Sydney Theatre for an extended run, though run is hardly the apposite word for this stationary duo. Perhaps one could call it an extended slump. Waiting for Godot (first performed in 1953, as En attendant Godot) has a unique place in Beckett’s wor ... (read more)

The Perfect American (English National Opera)

ABR Arts • 24 June 2013

English National Opera audiences are notable for their complete lack of bling. On opening nights they ostentatiously dress down, in opposition to their social butterfly Covent Garden counterparts, as if to state that they are there for the opera alone. The London opening of The Perfect American, Philip Glass’s opera based on the life of Walt Disney, was no exception. At openings of Wagner’s Ri ... (read more)

Ian Dickson reviews 'Wotan’s Daughter: The life of Marjorie Lawrence' by Richard Davis

June 2013, no. 352 • 27 May 2013

The career of Marjorie Lawrence is one of the great might-have-beens of operatic history. The saga of a young Australian woman who, in an astonishingly short period of time, became a leading singer first at the Paris Opéra and then at New York’s Metropolitan and who was poised to become the Met’s prima donna assoluta in the Wagnerian repertory when disaster struck, sounds like a script for th ... (read more)