The EIF programme was released a couple of weeks ago and they organised a few taster events around town to whet our appetites.  Here we are waiting for the rain to go off so that some young dancers from Scottish Ballet can strut their stuff in St Andrew Square.  They eventually did so to the severe detriment of the grass.  Had it been football the pitch would have been declared unplayable. 

I've booked only half a dozen EIF shows.  I'm sure there are more that are worth seeing but I'm holding my fire for now.

It's taken a while but Hamilton, which premiered in 2015, has now made it to Edinburgh.  It's garnered five stars reviews everywhere it's been and the Edinburgh run has sold out.  It's undeniably a magnificent spectacle but, leaving aside George III whose cameo was great, it wasn't until the second half that I began to enjoy the show.  Prior to that it was all too loud and my brain found it hard to pick out the rapped lyrics from the frenetic kerfuffle so that following the story wasn't that easy.  They appeared to repeat the wedding scene for instance and I suppose that was explained but I didn't make out why.

Now there was still loud stuff after the interval but not all the time.  It was much less shouty.  And there was more variety of pace, more of a tale to follow and emotions to feel.  So I left the theatre feeling that my money had not altogether been wasted.

I've seen Bartok's opera described as a gripping psychological drama.  It may well be although I think the stony-hearted cynic in me might find it, as I found Emma Rice's Bluebeard at The Lyceum, a not very engaging melodrama.  

The Motive and the Cue on the other hand whilst it leant towards caricature was a more polished melodrama with some fine acting particularly I felt from Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor.

I'm a longtime Shostakovich fan and his Fifth Symphony has always been a favourite so I knew I'd enjoy an evening at the Usher Hall in which it featured.  And so I did but it was paired with a piece I'd never heard before and which I'm keen to hear again.  This was the Scottish premiere of Mark Simpson's Violin Concerto and fittingly it was played by Nicola Benedetti for whom it was written.  Tremendous stuff.

I had the opportunity to hear another favourite, Maxwell Davies' Orkney Wedding  with Sunrise also at the Usher Hall. It's ending with a fully kitted out pipe major parading through the hall and onto the stage is a surefire crowd pleaser.  On that evening there was also a new short choral piece by James Macmillan, a setting of a Burns poem, that was very sweetly sung.

Socially I celebrated Ross's 50th birthday at a pleasant dinner party and tried to have a chocolate drink with Siobhan at a new place called Knoops.  It was however stowed out so we settled for a coffee over the road at Victor Hugo until they threw us out as they drew the blinds down at 4pm when we repaired to Contini's.

Rehearsals for Arkle's Cyrano de Bergerac are keeping me busy.  Opening on April 24th get your tickets here.