Summary: Once regarded as a "lost" opera because of early censorship and controversy, Stiffelio has now established its rightful place in the Verdi canon. In this cherished recording from the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, José Carreras delivers a stirring performance as the Protestant minister whose faith is shattered when he discovers his wife's adulterous liaison with a family friend. Carreras...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1993
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Summary: In what many believe to be the finest production of Verdi's Otello in modern times, Plácido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa lead a world-class cast under the forceful and sensitive musical direction of Sir Georg Solti. This is an outstanding performance of the first of the composer's two late Shakespearean operas, widely regarded as masterpieces of the form. The production is helmed by Elijah...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1992
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Summary: Staged by acclaimed director Francesca Zambello and conducted by legendary Mozart authority Sir Charles Mackerras, this 2008 production of Don Giovanni never shies from the work's inherent passion and spectacle. Shadows infuse the set through much of the performance (while a massive Madonna, fastened to a central urban facade, presides overhead), but the ominous chiaroscuro eventually gives way...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Known for his daring interpretations of other Mozart operas, Scottish director David McVicar offers viewers a fresh and energetic version of Le Nozze di Figaro in this 2006 Royal Opera House production. McVicar helms an outstanding cast that includes Erwin Schrott, a bass-baritone previously celebrated for his work in Don Giovanni, as well as the gifted Miah Persson and Gerald Finley. The Royal...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: A tale of deception, misplaced love, and supernatural vengeance, Giselle reaches into the heart of European folklore and the ancient connections between dance and spirituality. This exquisite production by the Royal Ballet features the original choreography of Marius Petipa - perhaps the most influential ballet master and choreographer in the history of Western performance, whose Giselle...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Over the course of a single year at the RSC, 150 actors play 500 different roles, each requiring authentic period costuming and makeup. In this remarkable program, master costumers and makeup artists demonstrate their crafts as expressed in productions of The Tempest, Measure for Measure, and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. How does cleverly designed clothing help make Pompey more arrogant...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: An intimate look inside a living time capsule, this program explores the planning and reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, presenting a day in the working life of the unique artistic institution. The video guides viewers through the facility, painstakingly designed and built to resemble the original Elizabethan playhouse, and offers commentary from the actors, artisans, and educators...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: It can take more than 100 specialists working 8,000 hours to create the set for a single stage production. How is it done? In this extraordinary program, the dynamic process of set design for RSC productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, and Measure for Measure is described by the people who make it all happen. From creating a full-size tree for Benedick to climb that can be removed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Viewed by many as the preeminent dramatist of our time, Nobel laureate Harold Pinter was also an accomplished actor, steeped in the relationship between text and performance. In this program, produced two years prior to his death, he advises a group of actors as they conduct staged readings of scenes from his plays. In addition, Pinter grants a candid and detailed interview, accompanied by his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In this program, Channel 4 commissioning editor John Richmond, producer Rachel Gesua, director Tim Supple, screenwriter Andrew Bannerman, and members of the cast and crew talk about the business of making a modest TV adaptation of Twelfth Night. Step by step, they walk viewers through scripting; budgeting for talent, crew, cameras, sound, sets, blue screen, lighting, and costuming; casting...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: When Tim Supple directed the filming of Twelfth Night, he was a stickler for sticking to the words as the Bard penned them. Everything else, though, was up for grabs as he and screenwriter Andrew Bannerman shifted and intercut scenes and in general translated the play into the all-encompassing language of film. In this program, members of the cast and crew use snippets of the screenplay to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The theater familiar to most modern viewers had a lowly medieval birth-in churches, on festival platforms, and in the great halls of the European nobility. Hosted by Professor Richard Beacham of King's College London, this program weaves together elaborate visual tours and the latest scholarly research, surveying the evolution of Elizabethan and Renaissance stage formations and the conventions...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Men playing the stage roles of women is as old as the history of theater; in the tradition of Kabuki, the portrayal of female characters has become a tradition of its own. This program looks at the history of Kabuki and the role of women, and looks particularly at the dynastic development of the onnagata-the female impersonator-and the intricate techniques and details by which a thoroughly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: During the English Civil War, London's theaters were closed by Parliament, and many were destroyed by Cromwell. During the Restoration, new playhouses, built to stage the probing social comedies of the era, were shaped by changes in English drama, politics, and society. We learn how the Parisian tennis court theaters, attended by the court in exile of Charles II, influenced the new London...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program studies the art that underlies the craft of filmmaking-a painstaking process that culminates in the take, that shared moment of concentration when everything comes together. Twelfth Night director Tim Supple and his first assistant director, production designer, director of photography, costume designer, stunt coordinator, and others offer their insights into set design, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Computers are changing everything, including filmmaking. This program illustrates the digital postproduction process through numerous editing examples taken from Twelfth Night. Key crew members-a film editor, sound designer, sound recording engineer, digital effects artist, and others-share their expertise with setting the film's pace and rhythm, constructing sequences with different types of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From the Greeks to the present, this program explores the evolution of play structure, staging techniques, and acting styles. Viewers learn about the following innovations, movements, and artistic figures: the open air amphitheater and its central role in the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the use of the chorus and masks; the role of theater in ancient Roman society; morality and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Staging a successful play takes time, energy, and wisely used resources-whether the production is on Broadway or at a high school. This program shows how to select an appropriate script for a student theater group and produce the play in an organized, efficient manner. Viewers receive information on casting, planning and conducting rehearsals, and how to utilize the strengths and limitations of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: The American Repertory Theater is one the most respected and innovative dramatic institutions in the United States. Through the prism of the A.R.T., this program explores the organizational and creative challenges facing today's theater community and describes the flexibility and resilience arts groups must have to survive in today's cultural climate. F. Murray Abraham, Debra Winger, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: West Side Story not only brought unconventional subject matter to the musical stage, it ushered in a new breed of director-choreographer and a need for performers who could sing, dance, and act. But by the time Jerome Robbins’ last original musical, Fiddler on the Roof, closed in 1972, the world of Broadway had changed even more radically. Rock ’n’ roll, civil rights, and the Vietnam War took...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: Geared specifically to educators and produced by a working drama teacher, this program offers practical, hands-on guidance for creating an original high school musical. Viewers learn six essential components and ten key steps to writing and staging a production that entertains, engages, and boosts ticket sales! Designed for step-by-step viewing, the video is divided into two main...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The "magic" of theater is the result of rigorous planning, hard work, and the finely honed skills of artisans and designers. This program takes viewers inside the technical process of mounting a stage play. Focusing on a theater company's major production departments-set, prop, costume, makeup, lighting, and sound-the video shows how the knowledge and labor of theater technicians comes to life....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: When a play is performed, all eyes are on the actors-which means the costume department can make or break a production. This program introduces skills and responsibilities essential to theatrical costume design, technology, and management. After outlining the history of stage costuming, the video shows how an actor's attire reveals his or her character, how a designer researches and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: The story of Joe Chaikin's professional life is also the story of experimental theater in America. In this intimate program, footage of Chaikin in action as well as interviews with playwrights Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and John Belluso; writer Susan Sontag; and many others reveal Chaiken's devotion to the stage-a love that even severe aphasia, the result of a stroke,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006