Friday 1 November at 6.30 p.m. The Pharaoh’s Daughter – Bolshoi Ballet
Thursday 7 November at 6.30 p.m. The Lady in the Van
Friday 8 November at 6.30 p.m. French Music for Gabriel Fauré including his Requiem [Fauré died on 4 November 1924]
Thursday 14 November at 6.30 p.m. Foxcatcher [released on 14 November 2014]
Friday 15 November at 5.00 p.m. Academy Student Concert
Friday 15 November at 7.00 p.m. Anton Bruckner: The Making of a Giant [Bruckner was born on 4 September 1824]
Thursday 21 November at 6.30 p.m. Mansfield Park
Friday 22 November at 6.30 p.m. Turandot [Puccinidied on 29 November 1924]
Friday 29 November at 6.00 p.m. Combined Schools Carol Concert – Centenary Park Amphitheatre

The showing of MILITARY WIVES scheduled for Saturday 2 November has had to be cancelled. The film will be shown early in the New Year.

FRIDAY 1 NOVEMBER AT 6.30 P.M. THE PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER

Carriages: 8.25 p.m.

The Pharaoh’s Daughter enjoys a special place in ballet history. Premiered in 1862, it was a grand spectacle featuring a cast of 400 and was Petipa’s first truly successful ballet, securing his future in St.Petersburg, where he went on to become the most influential choreographer of the 19th century. The Pharaoh’s Daughter was also one of Petipa’s lost ballets; it hadn’t been performed since 1928. In 2000 the French choreographer Pierre Lacotte premièred a restored version at the Bolshoi Theatre, after much research into the original, resulting in a shorter although still sumptuous extravaganza.

Ballet scenarios don’t come much sillier than this: it turns on the story of British Egyptologist Lord Wilson who, after a reckless hit of opium, dreams himself back to the time of the pharaohs. Wilson falls in love with Aspicia, the ballet’s titular heroine, and when she throws herself into the Nile to avoid being married off to the King of Nubia, Wilson is left to face death by snakebite. Tragedy is averted by the Nile’s underwater king who restores Aspicia to Wilson’s arms.

With its exotic setting, spectacular dancing and scenes choreographed for nearly the entire Bolshoi troupe, this stunning Egyptian fresco is one of the most remarkable productions in the company’s repertoire. [Picture House]
The corps de ballet is exceptional, the great dance steps simultaneously tuned to near perfection – standard Bolshoi quality. [Amazon]
Lacotte has created a glittering bauble of a ballet… Partnered by Sergei Filin, Svetlana Zakharova has rarely looked more assured, disciplining her long limbs into sharp etched rhythms and mellifluous phrases, and delivering them all to her audience with the creamiest of smiles. [The Guardian]

Admission: US$2.50 [free to Red Carpet Members]

THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER AT 6.30 P.M. THE LADY IN THE VAN

Carriages: 8.30 p.m.

The first in a series of films as a tribute to Dame Maggie Smith who died at the end of September, The Lady in the Van. it tells the (mostly) true story of playwright Alan Bennet’s interactions with Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on his driveway in north London, and features Dame Maggie in one of her most iconic roles. ‘For the late, great Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van was arguably the best of some twenty years of cameos and curtain calls…she makes a complex figure of Mary Shepherd, who parked her van in Alan Bennett’s driveway and remained there for 15 years.’ (Eddie Harrison , Film Authority]

· Led by a marvellous performance from Maggie Smith, Lady in the Van wrings poignant, often hilarious insight from its fact-based source material. [Rotten Tomatoes]

· The Lady in the Van is a showcase for Maggie Smith, who provides another amazing performance in her long and storied career. [Journal and Courier]

· It’s laugh-out-loud funny at times yet simultaneously layered and thought-provoking. [Dog and Wolf]

Writer and national treasure Alan Bennett adapts his own hit play to deliver one of the best British films of the year that will – for want of a better cliché – make you laugh and cry in equal measure. [The Sun]

There’s no use fending off the force of nature that is Smith. Sensitive and formidable, self-deprecating and brave, she elevates every role she’s in, as we know by now. [Washington Post]
Well, she’s Maggie, isn’t she? Magnificent to behold, terrifying, pathetic and irreproachable. There ain’t nothing like that dame. [New Zealand Herald]

Admission: US$2.50 [free to Film Members]

MORE MAGGIE [PROVISIONAL]

· Thursday 5 December The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

· Thursday 16 January 2025 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

· Thursday 6 February Ladies in Lavender

· Thursday 6 March Quartet

· Thursday 10 April Downton Abbey: A New Era

FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER AT 6.30 P.M. FRENCH MUSIC FOR GABRIEL FAURÉ

Carriages: 8.40 p.m.

Gabriel Fauré died a hundred years ago on 4 November 1924 and the programme includes his well-loved Requiem as well as several shorter works together with piano concertos by his teacher, Saint-Saëns, and student, Ravel!

Fauré: Pavane in F sharp minor, Op. 50
Fauré: Élégie in C minor, Op. 24
Fauré: Psalm 136: Super flumina Babylonis (1863)
Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.22
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major (1931)
Fauré: Requiem in D minor, Op. 48

This is an appealing concert that cleverly mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar and includes a well-known piece in an unfamiliar guise. [Gramophone]
This programme has fine performances and conducting of glorious music. [HDVD Arts]