Category Archives: Entertainment

Democrats in Madrid To Hold 4th July Gig

Just got an email from the Democrats Abroad – Madrid Spain Chapter. They are hosting:

Democrats_1
a 4th of July party open to the public on July 4, starting at 19:00, at Ribs Arturo Soria, calle Gregorio Benítez 4, Madrid. (Metro Arturo Soria). Everyone is welcome,
including families with children. Admission is free. Party-goers are encouraged to wear red, white and blue. The party will feature live rock and R&B music by Guns and Butter.

I’ll probably get an email from Republicans Abroad next saying they’ve got some gig going on (wonder if they’d say that everyone is welcome!). For more information, call Sue Burke.

Festival Madrid en Danza opens

06032302From the 28th March to the 23rd April, 2006 Madrid will hold the Festival Madrid en Danza (Madrid Dance Festival). It will consist of 27 shows in both Madrid and the wider community. Groups from Spain (Madrid, Cataluña y Galicia) and foreign dance groups (Italy, France, the UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Hungary) will take part.

According to the Guia del Ocio, these are some of the shows to look out for:

Gallotta.  (from France)
Teatro Madrid. 6th to 8th April

Teresa Nieto.
Teatro La Abadía. 17th to 19th April

Prove.
Pradillo. 18th and 19th April

Metro.
Centro Cultural de la Villa
19th to 21st April

Ballet de Basilea.
Teatro Albéniz. 20th to 22nd April

Happy San Patricio Day!

Guinness
If you’re in Madrid today and looking for somewhere to enjoy St Patrick’s Day, take a look at El Mundo’s ‘special’ on places to enjoy your Guinness. Irlandeses por un día tells you which places to go for food and good music.  Use the Google Translation tool to get a ‘rough’ translation into your language. For a complete list of Irish pubs, have a look at the Irish Bars in Madrid on this site.

Café de Chinitas at the Teatro de la Zarzuela

From the 17th to the March, 2006 to April, 2nd the Ballet Nacional de España, under the direction of its director José Antonio, is putting on a programme at the
Teatro de la Zarzuela
. The costumes and staging are inspired by Salvador Dalí.
In 1940, Dalí was responsible for the scenery and costumes for a flamenco show which took place in New York and which features “Federico García Lorca’s world of popular music
in the background”. José Antonio is actually quoted as saying:

Who would say no to uniting Dalí and Lorca through Flamenco?

It sounds like it could be a wonderful show and one that you shouldn’t miss if you’re in Madrid (I know I won’t!).

The second part, Elegía, is a personal tribute to Antonio Ruiz Soler, the legendary dancer who died 10 years ago. The show counts on the collaboration of Chano Domínguez y Grupo and Esperanza Fernández is the invited guest. The Madrid Regional Orchestra provides the music for the show.

Venue
Teatro de la Zarzuela

c/Jovellanos, 4
Metro
Sevilla

Timetable

Tues – Sat: 8pm; Sun: 6pm

Price: 11 € to 32 €

Ticket Sales

Box office (902 33 22 11)
Servicaixa  and Ticket Credit

Suite Española Presents Clave Flamenca at Teatro de Madrid

Suiteespanola

The Suite Española has been enchanting audiences across the world for the past 21 years, with their innovative flamenco style. Over  the next 17 days – from the  9th – 26th March, 2006 – they will be doing exactly the same in Madrid’s Teatro de Madrid. The Madrid audience will be the first to see ‘Clave Flamenca’, which is a homage to the composers Albéniz, Tárrega y Sarasate. The members of Suite Española will turn the creations of these composers into different flamenco rhythms, all of which will be sung, played and danced to by two female vocalists, a violinist, flautist, percussion and ten dancers.

The second part of the show is dedicated to Garnata, a story of a beautiful Jewish woman who, in the times when Granada was both Jewish and Arabic, breaks the hearts of both Jews and Arabs. It is sure to be a wonderful night of music and dance.

Timetable
Tues & Wed: 7.30 p.m.; Thurs & Fri: 8.30 p.m.
Sat: 7 p.m. & 10 p.m; Sun: 6 p.m.

Prices/Ticket Sales
10-22 Euros; Reduced Price: Tues & Wed (18 Euros)
Groups (over 20): 12 Euros
Tickets can be bought from the Box Office or through Entradas

Address
Teatro de Madrid (Avda de la Ilustración s/n)
Metro: Barrio del Pilar

Fame (Fama) – The Musical – Debuts in Teatro Calderón

Fama_1

From the 1st February, 2006 Madrid will be able to offer residents and visitors yet another musical. The latest offering is Fame (Fama in Spanish), based on the popular series from the 1980’s and which will run at the Teatro Calderón .The Madrid version, obviously in Spanish, features singers, dancers and actors from both Spain and Latin America. Much like the series, the musical charts the story of the aspiring performers of the High School for the Performing Arts in New York, with all the usual themes: drugs, finding themselves and their sexuality.

Timetable
Tuesday- Thursday: 8.30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 6 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.
Sunday: 7.30 p.m.

Tickets
Box Office or El Corte Inglés

Price
32-50 Euros

More Details
Sudor y lágrimas, 20 años después (El Mundo Preview)

XIV Flamenco Festival Kicks off at the Teatro Albéniz

Though the XIV Flamenco Festival has officially been going on since the 23rd January, 2006, the main venue Teatro Albéniz opens its doors to the Flamenco public on the 31st January until the 4th February. For Flamenco aficionados the principal peformers will be: Manolo Sanlúcar, Enrique Morente, Fosforito, Miguel Poveda, La Macanita, Antonio El Pipa y Óscar Herrero. More details, incuding dates, can be found on the El Mundo website.

Alice in Wonderland (dressed by Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada)

Alice_in_wonderland_madrid
From the 27th December to the 8th January, 2006 the Centro Cultural de la Villa (beware! painfully bad website) will be putting on the play Alice in Wonderland (Alicia en el País de las Maravillas). The work is an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s book, full of verse and song, and featuring probably the most colourful collection of clothes ever put together for any work of Alice in Wonderland. The clothes have all been designed by top, Spanish fashion designer Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada, which should mean that it will be a very colourful experience.

Opening Times:Tuesday – Sunday: 12pm, 5 pm and 7.30pm

Price: 8-10 Euros

Location: Centro Cultural de la Villa (Jardines del descubrimento s/n.)

Metro
: Colón or Serrano

Children the Central Focus of Christmas in Madrid

If you’re looking for activities to keep the kids occupied this Christmas, the City Council of Madrid has pretty much covered all bases. Aside from the numerous events that will be going on for children, they have made sure that some of the city’s locations/centres will purely cater for kids. The Patio Central and the Patio del Norte of Conde Duque will put on theatre, music and workshops – the funds they get from putting these on will go towards a Foundation which helps out children in hospital.

The Plaza de Colón will be converted into a children’s factory where children will be able to visit the three wise men (don’t forget children’s toys are traditionally given on the 6th January by these men from the East!); go on toboggan rides and carousels; see children’s plays; see toys from the ‘old days’ and go on a train ride.

If you’re around on the 5th January, you can see the huge procession of the Three Wise Men (Cabalgata de Reyes) which will go around the main streets of Madrid: Puerta de Alcalá, Cibeles square, calle Alcalá, Puerta del Sol, and Calle Mayor before finishing in the Plaza Mayor.

One further must do thing at Christmas is to visit ‘Cortylandia’ in the department store of El Corte Inglés in the Puerta del Sol. Every year they put on a show on the outside facade of the store which youngsters always love – the theme is often to do with a latest blockbuster film, like the Lion King. This year, I think it is related to the Little Mermaid.  Afterwards, why not head of to the Chocolatería San Ginés for some chocolate con churros.

Technorati Tags: Madrid

Festival de Otoño

Festival

Starting on October 6th and running for a full month, Madrid will host its yearly autumn festival, the Festival de Otoño. The festival showcases dance, music and theatre companies from around the world and is held in the major Madrid theatres: the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro Madrid, the Círculo de Bellas Artes and Teatro Albéniz, to name but a few. Here is a brief overview of some of the artists and performances which will feature during this month:

Music
Joan Manuel Serrat; Elza Soares; Dead Capo; La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Hespèrion XXI and Racalmuto

Theatre
Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and Measure for Measure (in English); Sophocles’ Antigone (in Brazilian); Macbeth and Othello (in Lithuanian) and Stupidity and Versión Original Subtitulada (in Spanish) – all plays have subtitles in Spanish

Dance
Dance companies from Spain, UK, Belgium and France will be performing across the theatres of Madrid.

The website also has a list of venues, with accompanying prices and addresses.

Los Tarantos – the First Flamenco Musical Arrives in Madrid

Lostarantos

Billed as the first Flamenco Musical, ‘Los Tarantos’ opens its doors this Sunday to Madrid’s public in the Teatro Albéniz.  Los Tarantos is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the book "Los Tarantos" by Alfredo Mañas and the Oscar-nominated film, which featured the dancers Carmen Amaya and Antonio Gades and was directed by Rovira Beleta. In place of the Capulets and Montagues you have the Tarantos and Zorongos, gypsy families who live in Barcelona.

More than 20 artists appear on stage, with a mixure of dancing, singing and guitar playing. The musical score is by Chicuelo, one of the most important composers and guitarrists of flamenco today and well-known flamenco artist Tomatito, the choreography is by Javier Latorre. Auditions for the parts took the production team all over Spain and the main parts have been taken by Ana Salazar (Juana) and bailaor Juan Carlos Lérida (Ismael), with Carmelilla Montoya (Soledad) and Candy Román (Rosendo).

The show runs from Sunday 11th September 2005 to October 2nd 2005.

Timetable: Tues-Fri: 8.30pm; Sat: 7pm and 10.30pm & Sun: 7pm
Venue: Teatro Albéniz
Address: c/Paz, 11
Metro: Sol
Price: 24-38 Euros (Tuesday: 16-30 Euros)

Related Articles
The flamenco musical ‘Los Tarantos’ lands in Madrid (Flamenco World)
Romeo y Julieta calés (El Mundo)
‘Tarantos’, un musical español sobre un Romeo y Julieta calé (Terra)


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Flamenco in the Metro

From the 12th to the 16th September, the metro station of Nuevos Ministerios will be putting on a flamenco show every single evening at 10 p.m. Among the guests who will be taking part are: Manuela Carrasco (flamenco dancer), El Lebrijano (flamenco singer), Antonio El Pipa (flamenco dancer), Falete (flamenco signer) and Tomatito (flamenco guitarist). Entry is free to these events but it would probably be advisable to get there quite early.

Metro: Nuevos Ministerios
Related link: “Cumbre Flamenca” en el Metro de Madrid (Zona Musical)