Culture January 2018

[Barry]

January 20th 2018.

I've been hard at work, and hard at work at the gym, but have squeezed in a few shows. Two pantos over Christmas, but I revisited Around the world in eighty days, finishing it's long life, at the Lowry. Utter brilliance and as joyful as when I saw it three years ago, and still with extraordinary energy. I've caught up with the Greatest Showman which was certainly full of energy and pizazz but was strangely lightweight and an odd mix - some truly ghastly CG especially of cityscapes, though the elephants seemed impressive. I loved Feud about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Shape of water was excellent, and I saw the Royal Opera House screening of Rigoletto which was very murky, with slightly muted sound which was annoying, but a ravishing production to look at. And last night I had a wondrous hour at Air play at the Lowry - just a couple with acres of silk, many balloons, some glitter, clowning and some strong fans, and the beauty of it reduced me to tears.
So I'm seeing a lot but I'm not creating anything at the moment.