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Front Row: Cinderella, Sean Shibe, Censor, Firstsite

Cinderella, Sean Shibe, Censor, Firstsite

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Cinderella, Sean Shibe, Censor, Firstsite

At last, Cinderella went to the ball! Sarah Crompton reviews Lloyd Webber's musical.

Sarah Crompton on Cinderella, guitarist Sean Shibe with music that comforted him over the pandemic, Prano Bailey-Bond on 'Censor', and Firstsite, finalist for Museum of the Year.

At last, Cinderella has made it to the ball. After postponement, rearrangement, and postponement again because of, first the lockdown, then social distancing requirements, Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical, Cinderella, opened last night. Emerald Fennell takes a radical approach to the fairytale: in her version Prince Charming is missing, presumed dead; the beauty industry is satirised and the banality of surface allure exposed. Still, there is pazzazz aplenty: big numbers, big frocks and big hair; a leather-clad chorus of dancing hunks; some close-hauled corsetry. What does it add up to? Has it been worth the wait? John Wilson was there, as was critic Sarah Crompton, and they discuss the show and Sarah gives her verdict on the most important live showbiz event of the year.

Award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe has recorded a new album of music that has comforted him over the Pandemic, and puts his own spin on Spanish music that is so often associated with the classical guitar. He explains what he put this selection of music together, and performs Satie live in the studio.

Prano Bailey-Bond's debut film 'Censor' had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It references and celebrates 'video-nasties' from the 1980s. She explains where the idea came from and why the time period was one she wanted to explore.

We discover more about another finalist for The £100,000 Art Fund MOTY 2021 award. Firstsite in Colchester reached out to help the local community during Covid and created a whole new audience for what it has to offer. We speak with director Sally Shaw.


Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Simon Richardson

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