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Drama. "The Great Gatsby" follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

"The Hangover Part III" is the third and final film in director Todd Phillips record-shattering comedy franchise. This time, theres no wedding. No bachelor party. What could go wrong, right? But when the Wolfpack hits the road, all bets are off. (c) WB

The Star Trek franchise continues with this follow-up to 2009s J.J. Abrams-directed reboot. Abrams and Bryan Burk handle producing duties on the sci-fi production, from a script by Damon Lindelof and the writing team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Marvels "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemys hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? (c) Disney

When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks hes hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking-that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyones been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. -- (C) Walt Disney

Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton), a long divorced couple are forced to pretend that they are still happily married at their sons wedding. Among all of their family and friends, the hoax snowballs into a poignant and raucously funny story about the ties that bind.

Shakespeares masterpiece of the turbulence of war and the arts of peace tells the romantic story of Henrys campaign to recapture the English possessions in France. But the ambitions of this charismatic king are challenged by a host of vivid characters caught up in the real horrors of war.

Henry V, which opened the new Globe with the words O for a muse of fire, celebrates the power of language to summon into life courts, pubs, ships and battlefields within the wooden O - and beyond.

Much loved for his performance as Prince Hal in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 (2010), Jamie Parker returns to Hals journey as Henry V. Other credits included The History Boys at the National Theatre, on Broadway and on film.

Cast
Brid Brennan, Graham Butler, Nigel Cooke, Giles Cooper, Sam Cox, Kurt Egyiawan, Matthew Flynn, David Hargreaves, Beruce Khan, James Lailey, Brendan OHea, Jamie Parker, Paul Rider, Olivia Ross, Chris Starkie, Lisa Stevenson and Roger Watkins.

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. -- (C) Warner Bros

Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in the highly-anticipated West End production of The Audience, broadcast live from London’s Gielgud Theatre as part of National Theatre Live.

For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace – a meeting like no other in British public life – it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses. The Audience breaks this contract of silence – and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional – sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

The Audience reunites writer Peter Morgan and Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren following their collaboration on the critically-acclaimed movie sensation The Queen.

The Audience is directed by Academy Award-nominated director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and presented in the West End by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Robert Fox and Andy Harries.

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Andrea Molino
Director: Alex OllLong

Synopsis

Prepare to be amazed by a breathtaking new production by La Fura dels Baus, the ingenious company that has staged a powerful version of Berliozs The Damnation of Faust and Gyrgy Ligetis spectacular fantasy Le Grand Macabre.

The innovative director Alex Oll and designers Alfons Flores and Lluc Castells have created a visually stunning, ground-breaking tale of deception, disguise and fate in a world where the wealthy have all the power and control the populace. While the benevolent ruler plans a grand masquerade for the pleasure of his subjects, his conspirators are plotting his end. The traitors, however, will only succeed if they can enlist an ally close to the king.

With its unforgettable melodies and fine balance of romance and tragedy and one of operas greatest love duets the international collaboration is a first for Opera Australia ahead of seasons in Brussels, Oslo and Buenos Aires. The acclaimed soprano Tamar Iveri and rising Mexican tenor Diego Torre make their role debuts as Amelia and Gustav III respectively while the outstanding Jos Carb portrays Count Ankarstrm in his first Verdi opera.

Olls visceral production sets a new benchmark in theatrical innovation and promises to be as mindboggling and daring as it is musically lush. It is conducted by the Italian composer and conductor Andrea Molino, the artistic director of the World Venice Forum who conducted Of Mice and Men and Macbeth for Opera Australia.

Filled with a cast of unforgettable characters, Twelfth Night is a moving comedy of loss and misplaced love and includes some of the most exquisite songs Shakespeare ever wrote.

The all-male Original Practices production, exploring clothing, music, dance and settings possible in the Globe around 1601, stars award-winning Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry. Twelfth Nights sell-out performances led to a hit run in Londons West End.

Cast
Samuel Barnett, Liam Brennan, Paul Chahidi, John Paul Connolly, Ian Drysdale, Johnny Flynn, Stephen Fry, James Garnon, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Colin Hurley, Roger Lloyd Pack, Mark Rylance, Jethro Skinner and Ben Thompson.

La Valse fills the stage with 21 couples, spinning endlessly to Ravel’s pulsating score. It is the perfect curtain-raiser for a generous all-Ashton programme, showing the breadth of the choreographer’s inspiration, his musicality and his infallible sense of drama.

Following La Valse are two delightful short works, the first an ardent love duet set to the intermezzo from Massenet’s opera Thais, the second a Viennese whirl of a piece, set to a waltz by Johann Strauss II. Ashton’s Monotones are an otherworldly distillation of Erik Satie’s piano pieces Trois Gymnopedies.

Monotones I and II are among Ashton’s most modernist, and greatest works. Indelibly associated with Fonteyn and Nureyev, Marguerite and Armand offers audiences another opportunity to see one of Ashton’s most passionate creations, swept along by Liszt’s torrential Sonata in B minor.

Starring
‘MEDITATION’ FROM THAÏS:
Mara Galeazzi, Rupert Pennefather
VOICES OF SPRING:
Emma Maguire, Valentino Zucchetti
MONOTONES I & II:
Emma Maguire, Akane Takada, Dawid Trzensimiech, Marianela Nuñez, Federico Bonelli, Edward Watson
MARGUERITE & ARMAND:
Tamara Rojo, Christopher Saunders, Sergei Polunin, Gary Avis
Production Information
Recorded at the Royal Opera House February 2013
NEW cinema release
Running time 133 minutes INCLUDING two intervals

In Rigoletto, Verdi charts the fate of his larger-than-life characters – the tormented jester trying to avenge himself on his heartless playboy employer the Duke of Mantua, who has carelessly seduced Rigoletto’s innocent daughter Gilda – in music of immense theatrical punch and instant memorability.

The score’s most celebrated highlights – the Duke’s Questa o quella and La donna è mobile and Gilda’s Caro nome – are among the best known set-pieces in all opera. First seen in 2001, David McVicar’s production teems with life and colour and with Tanya McCallin’s period costumes and Michael Vale’s starkly effective sets, it provides an ideal frame for Verdi’s exploration of love, emotional betrayal and the darkest revenge.

Starring
Dimitri Platanias, Ekaterina Siurina and Vittorio Grigolo
 
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
 
Conductor
John Eliot Gardiner

Director
David McVicar
 
Production Information
Recorded at The Royal Opera House in 2012
Opera in three acts
Running time 153 minutes including one interval
Sung in Italian

Music: Georges Bizet
Conductor: Brian Castles-Onion
Director: Gale EdwardsLong

Synopsis

Set on a stage suspended above the water on Sydney Harbour, this sizzling outdoor staging of Bizets famous love story - Carmen tells the story of the naive soldier Don Jos who abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts the army when he falls under the alluring gypsys spell. When he loses her love to the dashing toreador Escamillo, the scene is set for jealousy and vengeance.

Bizets seductive melodies and fiery Spanish rhythms conjure a world of desire, defiance and doom, in some of the worlds best loved music, including the arias Habanera, Seguidilla, Flower Song and Toreador Song.Israeli born mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, one of the worlds most acclaimed Carmens, performs the title role.

Shakespeares most outrageous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew introduces one of theatres great screwball double-acts, a couple hell-bent on confusing and outwitting each other right up to the plays equivocal and controversial conclusion.

Cast
Tom Anderson, David Beames, Jamie Beamish, Michael Bertenshaw, Simon Paisley Day, Pip Donaghy, Patrick Driver, Tom Godwin, Christopher Keegan, Sarah MacRae, Pearce Quigley, Samantha Spiro, Joseph Timms, Rick Warden and Helen Weir.

Verdi’s lifelong love affair with Shakespeare first took flight with Macbeth in 1847. Musically, the composer’s masterstrokes were the macabre choruses for the witches, the evocative orchestral colours and the increased role for the ‘ugly and evil’ Lady Macbeth.

Phyllida Lloyd’s production uses Verdi’s 1865 revision, especially noted for Lady Macbeth’s great aria ‘La luce langue’ and the wonderful Act IV opening chorus, and brings out the dark motivations of the Macbeths and the light of justice for those they wrong. Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastryrska play the Scottish nobleman and his villainously ambitious wife, who spurs her husband to murder for the sake of his career, and American bass-baritone Raymond Aceto takes the role of Banquo, murder victim and symbol of conscience.

Starring
Simon Keenlyside, Liudmyla Monastryrska and Raymond Aceto
 
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
 
Conductor
Antonio Pappano
 
Director
Phyllida Lloyd
 
Production Information
Recorded at the Royal Opera House June 2011
Opera in four acts
Sung in Italian
Running time 170 minutes EXCLUDING intervals

The simple story of Lise, her suitor Colas and Lise’s larger-than-life mother, the Widow Simone, who tries to marry her off to the simpleton son of a rich neighbour, is full of delicious comedy but also wonderful, characterful choreography.

One of the greatest pleasures of La Fille mal gardée is the way in which the steps, though at times devilishly difficult, never get in the way of the natural, easy storytelling. The virtuoso roles of Lise and Colas combine dazzling technique with tiny, intimate details that makes their romance touching and real, while the humour of Widow Simone with her famous ‘clog dance’ and the innocent Alain, more interested in his red umbrella than Lise’s charms, is delightful.

Funny and touching, La Fille mal gardée is the perfect ballet for first-timers of all ages, but it is also one to which ballet-lovers will return again and again with renewed pleasure at every performance.

Starring
Roberta Marquez and Steven McRae
 
Choreographer
Frederick Ashton
 
Production Information
Ballet in two acts
Recorded at the Royal Opera House May 2012
Running time 105 minutes EXCLUDING interval

Music: Giacomo Puccini
Conductor: Christian Badea & Nicholas Milton
Director: John Bell by arrangement with Bell ShakespeareLong

Synopsis

Puccini was a true theatre composer, using every means available to move the emotions of an audience. His aim was dramatic truth. The sweep and flow of the music propels the riveting drama of love, jealousy and sacrifice with astonishing vigour and force.

Distinguished actor/director John Bell, the artistic director of Bell Shakespeare, has joined forces with award-winning set designer Michael Scott-Mitchell and the young, emerging costume designer Teresa Negroponte to create a stark, monumental staging set in Mussolinis Italy in the 1940s.

Puccinis irresistible score features the unforgettable aria, Vissi darte, a moment of heart-breaking poignancy in a plot where Floria Tosca and Cavaradossi are embroiled in an attempt to help a friend escape from prison. The chief of police in Rome, Baron Scarpia, is himself the perpetrator of worse crimes than those he has officially to deal with. Greek sorpano Alexia Voulgaridou performs the title role and is joined by the sensational tenor Yonghoon Lee while the breathtaking baritone John Wegner plays Scarpia in the legendary love triangle. Christian Badea conducts.