Paul Merton is to star at the London Coliseum. Yes, Coliseum; not Palladium. The quirky comic and Have I Got News For You panellist will be officially unveiled on 18 February as Wilbur Turnblad in a revival of the musical Hairspray. It will open at the Coliseum, home of English National Opera, in late April and run to the end of August. His co-star is Michael Ball. The 1960s Baltimore-set Hairspray has of course been a movie too.
I’m not against the Coliseum staging musicals to garner much-needed income. After all, every spring/summer for the past five years, it has staged one, including Sweeney Todd, Carousel and Sunset Boulevard, all at the high end of the genre. But the relationship with their producers, Michael Grade and Michael Linnit, has now been terminated after a very poorly received Man of La Mancha last year. All five musicals also involved English National Opera’s orchestra. But Hairspray does not use any of its musical or singing talent.
And here’s the crux – Hairspray’s run of four months is almost as long as the entire ENO 2019-20 season of operas. I wonder if its opera-loving audience feels a bit cheated? And the Arts Council shortchanged? After all, it gives more than £12m a year to ENO.
Parasite had a terrific opening weekend – even before winning best picture and director Oscars on 9 February. From 135 different UK cinemas, it took £1.4m, more than any other previous foreign language movie over its first three days. Most screenings were sold out, so the number of cinemas was bumped up to 400 from Friday 14 February, including not just the “upmarket” Picturehouse and Curzon, but also Odeon, Vue and Cineworld.
Parasite, which also won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, should – even by the end of February – overtake the French movie Amélie, which took a total of £5m here in 2001. I hope Parasite then goes on to beat The Passion of the Christ, starring Mel Gibson, with its mashup of Latin, Aramaic and Hebrew. So far, that is the most successful foreign language film, with £10m at the UK box office.
Just closed at Tate Britain is its William Blake exhibition, which was seen by 233,000 visitors – more than double the figure for a comparable Blake show at the same gallery in 2001. Maybe the old visionary simply manages to capture the zeitgeist of our current troubled times. Just opened at the same gallery is British Baroque.
However, since the opening, the Tate, following discussions with some visitors and staff, has now put up a sign before the entry stating: “Paintings in this exhibition depict black people in a demeaning way. For more information, please speak to a visitor assistant.”
Certainly Benedetto Gennari’s Portrait of Hortense Mancini as the goddess Diana , surrounded by four black boys wearing hunting collars, is startling. But are we to apply today’s values and racial concerns to those of more than three centuries ago?
Some might point out (indeed some have) that the exhibition’s portrayal of women as savvy courtesans is also very iffy.
