Love's Labour's Lost

Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost play. Directed 2015 by Christopher Luscombe at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Stars Sam Alexander (Ferdinand, King of Navarre), Edward Bennett (Berowne, a Lord), William Belchambers (Longaville, a Lord), Tunji Kasim (Dumaine, a Lord), Peter Basham (Butler), David Horovitch (Holofernes), John Hodgkinson (Don Armado), Nick Haverson (Costard), Emma Manton (Jaquenetta), Sophie Khan Levy (Housemaid), Oliver Lynes (Footman), Chris McCalphy (Dull), Peter McGovern (Moth), Frances McNamee (Maria), Chris Nayak (Footman), Jamie Newall (Boyet), Roderick Smith (Marcadé/Gamekeeper), Flora Spencer-Longhurst (Katherine), Michelle Terry (Rosaline), Harry Waller (Footman), Thomas Wheatley (Sir Nathaniel), and Leah Whitaker (Princess of France). Designs by Simon Higlett; lighting by Oliver Fenwick; music by Nigel Hess; sound by Jeremy Dunn; movement by Jenny Arnold; fight direction by Keven McCurdy. Directed for TV by Robin Lough; produced by John Wyver. Spoken in English with English subtitles only. Released 2015, this disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.