Gillian Lynne - News and Press

News

CATS, LONDON PALLADIUM

Dance Today (December 2014)

Daily Mail (20.11.14) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2843367/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Flying-high-four-angels-delight.html

BBC Radio London (13.12.14) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02cszky

Mail on Sunday, You Magazine (21.12.14) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2880614/Emotional-ties-Cats-creator-Gillian-Lynne.html

BBC Radio 2, The Art of Artists (09.02.15) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051qzxk

REVIEWS

The Daily Telegraph (12.12.14)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/11282078/Cats-London-Palladium-Nicole-Scherzinger-makes-West-End-debut.html

Daily Mail (12.12.14) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2870967/Cats-review-Nicole-Scherzinger-near-purr-fect-plenty-meow-factor.html

Daily Express (12.12.14) http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/546535/Cats-review-Nicole-Scherzinger-Grizabella-London-Palladium

The Guardian (12.12.14) http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/12/cats-review-nicole-scherzinger-andrew-lloyd-webber-revival

The Independent (12.12.14) http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/cats-london-palladium-review-nicole-scherzinger-has-the-miaow-factor-9920112.html

The Times (12.12.14)

Metro (12.12.14)

Evening Standard (12.12.14) http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/cats-london-palladium--theatre-review-when-she-sings-memory-nicole-scherzingers-yearning-and-passion-are-overwhelming-9919719.html

Variety (12.12.14) http://variety.com/2014/legit/reviews/cats-review-west-end-nicole-scherzinger-1201376144/

BBC News (12.12.14) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30421344

Time Out (12.12.14) http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/cats

MIRACLE IN THE GORBALS, SHADOWS OF WAR BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (October 2014)

About the production, by Gillian Lynne

I adored Robert Helpmann. It was because of him that my first years in England's precursor to the Royal Ballet – the Sadler's Wells – were so enjoyable. His quirky nature was such a buoyant quality, something that we all depended on, especially during the war years and besides – he was our leading male dancer in a time when available talent was conscripted elsewhere in the fight against Hitler's advance.

It was in these times that 'Bobby' Helpmann created – with Michael Benthall's scenario, Arthur Bliss's music and Edward Burra's designs, four brilliant men working as a team - a ballet that clicked with the public need while utilising the company's dramatic strengths. Bobby's style of teaching during these days I realise I have fashioned as my own and it is the creed by which I work today.

The ballet is performed in Glasgow's Gorbals, the severely overcrowded tenements near the river Clyde where most of the men worked. It is performed in the street clothes of the early forties. There are very few people left alive from that 1944 creation and not one of us remembers a step. But, we had the exceptionally strong story with which to build a new Gorbals and offer it as homage to a great man of the theatre.

Directing and choreographing David Bintley's exceptionally talented company during the rehearsals for 'Miracle' has been a joy. I hope I have instilled this same acting approach that Bobby found quite naturally – the drama of realness; nothing for him was ever danced without reason, without passion, without knowledge and without dare. I owe him a lot. His hand in my leaving the ballet was very complicated but his ideas for my improvement in the world of dance didn't just stop at Sadler's Wells. His was a universal view and I think he recognised my same wandering spirit. Thankfully I retained a strong relationship with him after our ballet days together, even though he was invariably far away in Australia. It was my great joy to offer him the role of Sergeant Pepper in the ballet film 'Fool on the Hill' I made for the Australian Ballet in 1977, one of his last appearances.

During WW11 we performed Miracle in the Gorbals all over Europe in bombed and wrecked cities and somehow the story of Miracle was always well-received because we were all living the extremes that are at the emotional core of the ballet: Life, Death, Retribution, Love, Anger, Forgiveness were what we lived with daily; this is why the ballet reverberated with everyone with everyone who saw it - as I hope it will achieve the same today.

BBC News (09.09.14) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29122376