The Guardian du lieu suivant : London, Greater London, England • 24

24 ARTS THE GUARDIAN Thursday April 26 1990 Has Covent Garden got both Rossini and Cinderella a little out of proportion? Gerald Lamer weighs up La Cenerentola When Cinderella is Working girls on the bloc bullv of the ball Whoever her Englishman was, you could tell he had a sense of humour. In five minutes she had sauced the KGB, the Mafia, Israel, Tartary, sev-oral million Soviet men. one Nancy Banks-Smith young policeman and defied the ID NIGHT in law ot gravity. Olivia Lichen-stein's engrossing Prostitntkl (Inside Story, BBC1) covered Russian prostitution from the high-stepping whores of the Moscow tourist hotels to the Moscow. Galina Alexandra vna, a prostitute, was giving a perfor smooth-tongued Clautlio Des-deri, as a scarcely clownish and not at all lovable Don Magnifico, and Donald Maxwell as Ali-doro, the appropriately noble-sounding mouthpiece of enlightened (though verv conventional) sentiment Thy are the two sides of Hampe's imagined dialectic.

Happily the music keeps the whole tiling in perspective. Removed from their more intimate original setting in Salzburg, the late Mauro Pagano's designs seem heavy-handed here and, in spite of the toy horses and the two-dimensional coaches, just a little solemn rather than playful in their use of baroque stage convention. But Rossini is always there to point the irony. Carlo Rizzi, a Buxton Festival disovery making his first appearances at Covent Garden, doesn't deny Rossini whatever bottom end of the market the erentola with a valet who cuts a figure scarcely less aristocratic than his master's and with sisters no more ugly than Cinderella herself. Francois Le Roux's Dandini apes the Prince of Salerno not too outrageously and actually sings more firmly than Deon van der Walt's polite but comparatively weak Don Ra-miro.

Daniela Lojarro and Eir-ian James, as Clorinda and Tisbe respectively, are certainly ridiculous but by no means grotesque. Nor are they always very audible. The problem is that in this household the bully is neither of the sisters, nor their father, but (thanks to Royal Opera casting) Cinderella herself. The agressive way in which Agnes Baltsa sings Cenerentola's wistful little song, Una volta e'era un re most of it in that powerfully muscled lower register of hers is scarcely credible. When she demands rather than pleads to be allowed to go to the ball (in Signore, una parola) it would take a stronger man of countries you're not punished for it.

It's called business," she said simply. All the women wore blue and white print dresses, headscarves, socks. The bunk beds were so close together you couldn't kneel to say "Please, get me out of here." Ella was beautiful. "I want to emigrate to America because I'm in love with an American. Of course, I don't know if he'll want anything to do with me when I come out because, for a westerner, someone who's been in prison is considered the dregs of Olga and Sveta, too, were waiting for their prince.

"I wouldn't be doing this in the west. Beggars there live better than we do here" said Sveta. She lives well enough, eats daily at the best restaurants. Natasha, a policewoman, who works with Moscow prostitutes, bought a bit of scrag end for herself and her son. The butcher's block was bloodsplat-tered and crawling with flies.

It was a peculiarly persistent Riga bus station. Riga's finest pounced on three weird sisters at the bus station, who were being chatted up by a man in a hat "Eff off, you're all we needed," said the oldest crone. Prostitutki was filmed with the co-operation of the police and, just to be on the safe side. ROSSINI as a philosopher of the Enlightenment: the idea is difficult to accept not so much because Rossini was born SO years too late for that sort of thing as because he really wasn't a very profound thinker. But it's worth trying, if only to rescue him from those mindless productions which continue to clown his comedy, caricature his characters and distort his music.

Even so in a production he first directed for the Salzburg Festival two years ago and which has now been adopted by the Royal Opera for a series of seven performances at Covent Garden Michael Hampe is over-generous in his attribution of political and moral dignity to the composer of La Cenerentola. The fresh, neither silly nor pretentious Pesaro Festival style (developed largely by Pier Luigi Pizzi, whose Italiana in Algeria at Monte Carlo earlier this year was a distinctive example) is surely more realistic in its assessment of Rossini's philosophical ambitions. When a production of La Cenerentola alludes, even ironically, to David's Bonaparte Crossing The Alps or his Coronation Of The Emperor Napoleon, it puts the Cinderella story into too grandiose a context. On the other hand, it is refreshing to experience a Cen with a hidden camera unknown mance wiucn in other circumstances would have had you throwing flowers. "I don't want to go on living," she cried vibrantly.

"I have a sick child and a sick aunt." The young policeman waited for her to breathe. "Am I a criminal? I've never taken a kopeck from anyone. Some women work for the KGB and inform, others for the Mafia don't pretend to be surprised and they're left in peace. I don't work for the Mafia. I don't work for you.

I'm a sweet woman" she said firmly "I can still go without a bra." She bounced a bit to demonstrate. "I'm 45-years-old and men like me." "Are you a party member?" to them. Sveta was young, smart and wired up with radio mikes. This led to some Rog- dignity is due to him. indeed, his control of structure, from scene to scene but also on the gling encounters.

They were in the room of a Japanese, a preferred nation according to Sveta because they pay the most and never ask for anything extra. "My darlink," said Olga's voice, "Vot is this?" smaller scale of set pieces like the second-act sextet, is impres than Don Magnifico to refuse. image, like a metaphor. When Baltsa casts modest sive. At the same time his con downward glances you assume ducting is irrepressibly stylish, IT WILL not have escaped your mat tms is the new wav to securing some particularly This is a pacemaker said the attention that Galina Alexan-drovna was anti-semitic.

witty colouring from the or register dominant seniority. If she didn't make such a brilliant chestra, and above all realistic. said the young policeman stoically. "No. Should a sexual woman be a party member?" She waved her indigo eyelids.

She was a big, brown woman. and largely accurate job of Non piu mesta, it would be difficult client Olga and Sveta, unknown to him, were wearing battery packs for their radio mikes. It was a situation to make a writer of farce jealous. If only he could have kept la Baltsa in proportion too. Dispatches (Channel 4) covered the expected exodus of more than 150,000 Russian Jews to Israel this year.

Galina's own voice re-echoed as if bounced to forgive her. Further performances of La Cenerentola at Covent Garden rne most interesting perfor Are you Russian? he perse inese nve-star whores earn at least 100 dollars an hour. off their situation: "What crime mances come from two particularly well chosen basses, the tomorrow and Saturday, and May 3. 5, Band 10. worth 1,500 roubles on the black market.

"The onlv differ have I committed? I am humiliated and insulted" vered, licking his pencil. "Well, I'm not Jewish." "Galina Alex-androvna, just answer the questions!" "If I was a Jew, I'd be cunning. If I was a Tartar. Open the gate. Let me out." One startline sid effect is ence between me and a factory girl is that they get worn out because they are on their feet Absence of malice I'd be cunning.

I'm Russian." What nationality was vour cli voluntary adult circumcision. Necessarily adult, since it had not been permitted in Hussia. ent?" "An Englishman. A gentleman. They're altogether different, not like Soviet men who get drunk and expect to screw for nothing.

Ha, ha." As the operation is also a ritual, the patient is given wine and, as the ritual is also an opera all day. The most they earn in a day is 10 roubles. I earn 1,000 roubles for 15 minutes' work. That's the only difference" said Sveta, the perkier of the two. A blushered doll, her mouth just now and then widens into a 17-year-old grin.

Her mother's annual salary would not buy the suit she was wearing but. tion, it is on a saturated surra- Nicholas de Jongh at the Olivier tie swallowed this one with cal swab. "Afterwards the families are so happy some of them are crying" said the medical director. As they snipped, the out water as he had to. "So you are going on working?" "I have a massage," she said as if he had asked her the secret of her Sveta said, she saw pity in her mother's eyes.

sip columns, enthusiastically passing on the latest bad news about town. They reappear between scenes. And the mobile flats, the screens, the walls, the chairs, the very floors in every scene, are all papered over with the newsprint of 18th century journals. It is as though existence was founded upon newspaper rumour. Lady Sneerwell, usually played as a superannuated grotesque, is coaxed back to life and seductiveness, if insuffi-cent malice, by the flame-haired Jane Asher.

First seen sprawling languidly and ele Prostitution is not in itself doctors were talking about "the impossible mission." I hope they were discussing the old TV programme Mission Impossible and not the operation. eternal youth. "No operations. My skin doesn't hang." She slapped her resolute chin. He ordered her back to a cell but she refused to go in.

"What, in there? No, that's enough. That's enough illegal. Possession of foreign currency is. Ella, a former prostitute, was serving four years in Mozhaisk women's prison for currency speculation. "In lots on the other hand.

I wish Ridiculous sisters Lojarro as Clorinda Eiran James as Thlsbe and Daniela PHOTOGRAPH: DOUGLAS JEFFERY they would keep their mind on the job. lethal, Diana Hardcastle, in the best performance of the night, bridges the gap between the sentimental world inhabited by her smitten husband Sir Peter and the gossipers. Their marital duels jangle with cruelty. Or they will when John Neville, making a welcome return to the English stage, is fully at ease with Sir Peter. Mr Neville is not comfortable in the part of an irritable old bachelor brought late into marriage.

When he discovers his wife, in the screen scene, this Sir Peter is scantily discomfited. The couple's reunion, which so subverts the play's attack upon humbug, seems in the sight of this Lady Teazle, even more preposterous than usual. The production is least happy when dealing with a society beyond that of the chatterers. The dissimulations of the intriguing Joseph Surface are peremptorily managed by Jeremy Northam, decked out as an un Festival Hall PETER Wood is the outstanding beautician among British theatre directors. His cosmetic services to drooping classics of a certain age are famous.

But sometimes he has seemed more concerned with the art of the face-lift than probing below the skin. This time it is different. His production of Sheridan's The School For Scandal is handsome and spectacular, with the electronic scope of the Olivier stage for once thrill-ingly exploited to provide a vivid series of scenic changes. But Wood has also attempted to free the play from age-old accretions of caricature and comfortable sentimentality. The appealing result lacks the force of Jonathan Miller's revelatory view of the play's malicious gossips.

And strangely the play's humane characters have far less realistic life than the high-society school of society scandalisers. But the production does have a governing motif, which John Gunter's emblematic stage designs powerfully, though over-insistently, reinforce. The Olivier stage, with a backclofh of London silhouetted like a Canaletto drawing, is at first crowded with a tableau of miming whisperers. They are humans posing as gos under the tightest rehearsal conditions. It was good to hear the Philharmonia, now as it seems under threat, answering back with such commitment, giving authentically Hungarian bite to what sometimes seems one of Bartok's blander works, the ballet The Wooden Prince.

Both here and in Sibelius's Second symphony Jarvi opted for red-blooded urgency, giving needle-sharp intensity to the first movement of the Sibelius. Sadler's Wells natural brunette, who manages neither smooth artifice nor it in Russia and Eastern Europe, but never in London. What leaped out here was the sheer richness of his sound. Walton meticulously balanced the orchestra so as not to mask the soloist, but with Bashmet it hardly seemed necessary. Walton's yearning melodies in the first movement wrapped one round with their warmth and resonance, and if the final poignancy which Bashmet gives to Russian music was missing, it was a quality which was only just round the corner, ready for another performance, one hopes in the near future.

The Philharmonia under Neeme Jarvi played with warmth too, even if the jag-gedly jazzy cross-rhythms of the central scherzo could have been crisper. It was a formidable programme for the players, and Jarvi showed his disarming ability to get thrustful playing from his orchestra, even great professional. For this performance only the SWRB dancers performed Frederick Ash-ton's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales which was one of Dame Peggy's favourite ballets and on which she worked closely with Sir Fred when he created it, in 1947, for the then Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet a company she served for nine years, inspiring creativity not only in young dancers but also in the young choreographers John Cranko and Kenneth MacMillan. Valses Nobles is quintessential Ashton choreography and quintessential Fedorovitch in its simplicity of design screens and shadows, costumes in shades of pink and dark plum, mysterious and evocative as Ravel's music. The choreography abounds in Ashton hallmarks, lovely epaulement and use of the upper body, tiny hand movements to round out a gantly on her bed, and gladly receiving the morning feast of gossipers, Miss Asher makes Lady Sneerwell a society-girl, disappointed in love whose libido has been diverted into backbiting.

And even Guy Henry's Sir Benjamin Backbite and Crabtree are not the usual examples of low camp. The play's central scene is arrestingly devised to make malicious gossip seem a way of life. Mrs Candour is the guiding spirit among the tattlers. And Prunella Scales, pink-bonnetted in a huge and hideous brown dress, portrays her as a neat little hypocrite, hot to hear the worst of everyone. A natural comedy emerges.

Wood brings Lady Teazle convincingly into this society. And daringly, against the text, he presents her not as the usual ingenue but as a mature fortune hunter. Smiling, cold and phrase, neat footwork. The SWRB cast responded warmly to the piece and now, surely, it will take its place once more in the regular repertory. It shared the opening night with the basic opening programme of the season: Bal-anchine's dazzling Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, in which adorable Miyako Yoshida was dazzling, David Bintley's lively response to Rossini, Allegri Diversi, Mac-Millan's Elite Syncopations, and a new ballet by Vincent Redmon.

Called Meridian of Youth and danced to Bartok's Piano Concerto No 2, this had something to do with a crowd of beach boys who get interested in passing ladies. The ballet audience is tolerant; had it been presented in any other art form it would surely have been booed into the oblivion which awaits it. SWRB at Sadler's Wells in various programmes to May 5. comic guile under stress. And Edward Greenfield Philharmonia Bashmet THERE is no viola-player today like Yuri Bashmet Here is a great string-player who draws out the nut-brown tone of the instrument with new imagination and new beauty.

To hear him play Shostakovich or Schnittke who has already written two concertos for him is to share the palpitations of the Russian soul, and it was a joy to have this master leading us through English music, the haunting beauties of Walton's Viola Concerto. His love-affair with this greatest of all works in a rare genre is not new. He has played Denis Quiitey as Sir Oliver Surface, seen stepping down from a real cut-out ship. The Olivier's central circular stage, glisten ing as it were water, contrib utes sentimental bonhomie to his encounters with his sincere, impecunious nephew Charles. Mary Clarke Valses Nobles THE present season by Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet at the Wells is dedicated to the memory of Dame Peggy van Praagh and at the first performance on Tuesday Dame Ninette de Valois paid tribute to courage as a The production does not, therefore, have quite the scathing rigour ana aepui tor which you hope, but it has a rich theatri cal ingenuity and comic vigour.

Entertainments Guide LYRIC Hammersmith 01-74 PALACE THEATRE. 44 QUEENS. HO 734 1 YOUNG vic RTiiniA. ni.qR LUMIIRC CIMIMA. Sl Miriin' 4444741 9999240 7200 AT 6363, cc 379 4444.

Christopher 0909. 24-hrs. 379 4444 (bkg lee). 497 9977 (bkg. (ec).

Grp. Lane, WC2. 379 3014836 iiai i (cc no bko tee 01-836 3464). Evys. 7.45 pm (Tout.

7. 00 pm) TEMBA in GLORY) nw. srvj. ret. bKUUI'i bU FORTUNE.

BO St CC 836 2238, 24hrCCbky fee 497 997 7. CHARLES DOMINIC KAY LETTS Susan Hill's THE WOMAN IN BLACK uuuwm in nt uuvnun. Evgs. 8 pm. Mils.

Sat. 4 pm. uqai. nut- nckhc fuurt TOM I1SI Pffins S.P.fl. SATURDAY NIGHT "The bail Musical In town1 Simon Bales BBC.

LOTH AIRE BLUTEAU Star of "Jesus ot Montreal1 BEING AT HOME witm r-i Aim London 1 H7U I Sat. mat. 4.30 pm. PAINES PLOUGH in CRUX by April De 6.35. 8.50.

Late Niqht Sat. Sat. 1 1.15 pm. ENDS THURS. STARTS FBI.

27lh MON- Mon-Thur. 8. Fri.tSal, 68.30. LES MtSERABLES THE MUSICAL SENSATION 8.30, Fri. Sal.

6.00 ADELPHI.83676I 1 (5hnes)CC 741 9999 379 4444. FfrM c.ili BARBICAN THEATRE 01-638 NIGEL JANE HAWTHORNE LAPOTAIRE SHADOWLANDS 3 OLIVIER AWARD NOMINATIONS BEST PLAY Best Actor, Best Actress Evas. B.O. Mais. Wed.

3 D. Sal SPINE Gdn, LVRIC ShiHaihum Aux 437 SlIUKrllHtcai. ODEOH HAYMARKET 839 7697. All sf.il bonk.ihlt. in 3ftRd rr.

Inn hkn. teei 37 9 4444 '4 nr. u- (noDKti.ieej, Gruup.Sak-,930 6123. NOWROOK1NH TO OCTOBER (bk(. lee) 497 9977 741 9999 Froml May Weeks Only.

VAUDEVILLE. BO CC 836 9987 7200 37q 4444741 qqii aavi am-u prril. ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY CORIOLANUS tont Tnwnn inn WINNER OF THREE BEST advance. and Visa tele- 'Fight to get a Ticket' LBC. NOW BKG THRU APRIL tl Mow booking to July 28.

"ffiABTtHLT" U. fcXp. "CHILLING" Ind. "GRIPPING" FT. "FIRST RATE" Ind.

"Take tranqulllsers" T.Oul SECOJVO TERR! FYIN'G YEARI Evs.8. Mats. Tue. 3. Sat.

4. NOWBOOKINGTOSEPT. London ROYAL OPERA HOUSE. 240 1066191 I. Standby Info.

836 6903. CC 65 amphi. seats avail, on the day. THE ROYAL BALLET Ton'l, 7.30 Giselle. Sat.

2.30 7 30. Wed- 8.0 Galanteries Other Dances with Gutilem Pursuit! Gloria. THE ROYAL OPERA Tomor. 7.30 La Cenerentola. Laiecom- ers not admitted until 9.

1 0. Tont.Ac Tomor. 7.4 5. Sat. 5.00 THE PIT.

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BESIDE ERA ELF ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY (15). 12.15.3.0.5.45.8.30. ODEOH LEICESTER SQUARE 13il hill, tnln n.Tfl by Sarah Daniels. Evns. 8.00.

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Fri. 8.45. Sat, SI. WC2. 01-379 5299.

CC379 4444 (No Bkn Fee). 437 9977 741 9999 (Bkn Feea). Groups LAST 2 42504239. All pro'lb. bookable in advance.

Credit card Hotline (Access Visa Amey)930 3232 PHOiNIX, Charing Cross WC3. B.6. 01.867 1044. CC 867 1 1 1 1. 497 99773794444741 9999.

Grps. 240 7941. PETER HALL COMPANY production of THE WILD DUCK Hi Ken' A Irreslslllilp rnmirfu (bkg. lee). 379 4444497 9977 MARTIN JARVIS "One of the best actors on the British stace." Financial Times, ROSALIND AYRES ZENA WALKER ROREEN MANTLE ICHACL FRAYN'S superb translation ol Yuri Trlfonov'B EXCHANGE Niyhllv al 7.30.

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7 days 240 7201). SADLER'S WELLS ROYAL BALLET Ton t. 7. .30 AMigrt I versif Tchaikovsky pas de deux Meridian Of Youth El He Syncopations. "WINNER BEST MUSICAL OLIVIER AWARDS IttO Shakespeare's Forgo tin Rach-and-Rall Masterpiece.

RETURN TO THt FORBIDDEN PLANET MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON 15). Doors open 1.20. 4.25. 7.45. Feature 1.30, 4.40.

8.05. QHEON MARBLE ARCH 7r jujic nriaiie. rrotji i 333. i.ou, inu, A Sal. mat.

2.30 The R8C Production of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE A SMASH GRAB HIT," D. Exp. GALA PERF MAY J. 7.30. Pre vs.

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Fri 8.30. Fri Greg Hicks Owen Humble i HOr BELLE POUR TCJII (18) Progs. 2.20. 4.25. 6.35.

a.5o. euhioii MAvrAiQ (bko. fee). 497 9977 741 9999. VANILLA by Jane Stanton Hitchcock ntrrlw rM Mstalil Olntur BEST MUSICAL WET Award 1983 WILLY RUSSELL'S BLOOD BROTHERS Starring KlklDee "ASTONISHING.

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7.30 MACBETH. Wed. 7.30 ARIADNE. Also bkg. Figaro, Clarissa.

INTO THE WOODS Previews from Sept 14. Opens Sept 29. CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE (02431 781312. THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR THE POWER AND THE GLORY THE SILVER KINS i RUMfllinn i Previews from tay 10. Opens Sl.

465 88C5. PHILIPPE FORGET-ME-NOT LANE Written and directed by Peter NlrhoK. WEBB SLEEP ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S SONG DANCE Kvn "(Irlnai iudlne to, Us DISO (PGl. Film at 1.0 (not (Wed. Mai Miy23).

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7.45. Mai. Thu. 3. 4.

MERMAID. Q3fi 45AH rr 37d SIX WEEK SEASON. NOW iHAMPSTEAD. 4444741 9999J836 3464.Bree COMCOV. 01-930 257818778 rC 839 I43K1R7 lilt II A I rncviKninu, wpens apr 30 miss.

u. ivuii-t tinneroi uscar for Beitl Foreign Film). CURION PHOENIX. Pho. nU hv Julian Gar HOY 1 I I I 0y 4441 WO DKQ 9999 (bkj.

lee). SIMON CYNTHIA ESTCS HAYMON KING THE MUSICAL Eve. 7.45. Mat. Tuea.

Sal. 3 COLISEUM. 836 3161. CC 240 5258.379 4444 (Bkq. Fee).

240 THE KIROV BALLET June 5 to July 7. nUVr.M All bkn RXA hd04 TALKING U2J. Door-, open 1.00. 3.30. 6.00, 8-30.

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SHICAGO JOE THE HOWGIRL (18) t.O. 3.25. THE CINEMA WILL BE CLOSED THIS EVENING FOR A PREMIERE OF "THE PLAZA 1,2, 3 AND 4. PROGRAMME INQL'IRIES 497 9999 AND 437 1234. CC CREDIT CARD BOOKINGS 9999 or 24 hrs.

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01-834 1317 CC 01-379 4444240 72001741 9999 tbka let! Groups 930 6 123. "IT'S BUDDY BRILLIANT" Sun "SHEER UNADULTERA-. TED FUN I LOVE THIS SHOW" Sun. Exp. The Man.

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Fri. Sal. 5.30 3. 30. ALL SEATS Vj PRICE FRIDAYS 5.30 PERF.

HOW BOOKINQ TO JAM 1t 7.45. Mais. Wed. 3.0. ner, -jgnn udvii eupero production," Observer.

oanrs Hit t-amiiy Musical. MATILDA "A MINI MASTERPIECE" SCO oil Charlnp Cross Rd. 240 9661. KENNETH BRANAGH (BpH Dfrt-clor BATA awards) as HENRY (PG). Film at 2.45.

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3. Sat. 5. "GLORIOUSLY Daily Expren4. PATRICIA SIMON HODOE CADELL NOEL GERTIE STEPHEN FRV ROBIN BAILEV MARGARET COURTENAV CABRIELLE DRAKE SERENA CORDON MirHAFL SIMKIMKtn ru sau no okij fee.

CC 497 9977 379 4444 ST MARTIN'S. 836 1443. CC No. 379 4444. Evg.

8.0. Tuea. 2.45. Sat. dl 5.0 8.0 JTH YEAR OF AGATHA CHRISTIE'S 741 GrounSjn 7QJ I WORDS AND MUSIC BY "FINE PERFORMANCES A GRIPPING STORY" F.

MICHAEL FAAYN'SNtM Play NATIONAL THEATRE. 01 928 2252. Grps. 01-620 0741, 24-hrccbkg Ice: 497 9977. OLIVIER THE MOUSETRAP LOOK LOOK DIR.

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Mai. 3.0, PETER USTINOV Tues-Sat Evas at 8 pm. Sun Mat 4pm SOLO OUT UNTIL APRIL 20. SEASON EXTENDED TO MAY 27. NO PERFS.

MAY 1, 3. BARBICAN HALL 01-638 889l.Ton't. 7.43 GERSHWIN CONCERT. 4iu, ui-ooo ZODU, Ot in i mien. I.VTTEl.TON NEVER THE SINNER AURAflSADOHS 836 61 I 1.

OFF ADVANCE BOX Kves. 7. 48. Wed. A Sat.

Mats. CC 836 1 171. CC with bkg lee 240 7200. 01-741 9999 379 IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE DOMINION 580 8845 or 580 "Dally Post. CURZON WEST END.

Shall l-s-bury AVf. Wl. 439 4805. PHILIPPE NOlHfcT In CINEMA PARAOISO (PG). Fllmal 1.0(nolSuu.

1.3.30,0. 10. S. 40. Winner ol Oscar for Rtbl Foreign Film.

EMPIRE 1. 2 AND 3 THE MOST SPECTACULAR MOVIE VENUE IN THE WORLD. PROGRAMME INQUIRIES 497 9999 and 437 1234. CC. CREDIT CARD BOOKINGS "FIRST CALL." 240 720O 24 7 DAYS (Bko.

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i omor. i ak lurrc PRINCE EDWARD. 734 8951. iwoiiere. LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Winner ol 6 major awards 839 2244, CC 24-hr.

379 4444 (bkg. fee). 497 9977 (hku. lee). Group Sales 930 6 I 23.

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S AWARD-WIN NINO MUSICAL (bkg fee). 379 4444 (bko lec). PLAZA 1. PICCADILLY CIRCUS. UNCLE BUCK (13).

DOLBY STEREO. SEP. PROGS. DAILY 1.00. 3.30, 6.00.

8.30. LATE SHOWS FBI- SAT. AT 1 1.15. PLAZA 2. PICCADILLY DRURY LANE THEATRE LOOKS Dally Mall.

Co-slarring DAVE CLIVE WILLETTS CARTER SOMEONE LIKE YOU WC2. 01-405 0072 CC. 01-404 4079. OPEN ALL HOURS 379 4444. Tkts from W.

II. Smith. day mat. 2.30. Sat.

5.30 it 8.30. "BRITISH FARCE AT ITS EST," Dally Mail. The Theatre of Comedy Co. Eric Sykes Terry Scot I Leslie Law ton Jacqueline Clarke Judy Graham Paul Toothill Michael Cotlerlll Ron Aid ridge RUN FOR VOUR WIFE I Written and directed by RAYCOONEY LONDON'S LONGEST ELAINE PAIGE BERNARD A JOHN CNIBBINS BARROWMAN APOLLO. 01-437 2663 cc 01-379 4444741 9999 (with bkn li-e) 01-240 72UD.c;ros.

01-930 THE PHANTOM OF THE CINEMAS NO SMOKING. OPERA Travel Branches. 7. 4S. lue.

JcSat. 3.0 7.45. THE ANDRF.Wl.LOVO WEBBER T. S. ELIOT INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING fOUSICAL PETER DINOLEV GALLERY, Strati otd-on-Avon.

POTS by J. noherty. C. Peorson und J. W4Td.Aprll30to May 19.

ANYTHING GOES "THE HOTTEST SHOW TOM CONTI PETER KARRIE DOLBY EMPIRE LEICESTER 1, days379-4444. 497 9977. Grps. 8318625. MISS SAIGON BEST MUSICAL.

Evfl Sid Drama 1989. Critics' Circle Award, Eviis. 7.45. Mil. Wed.

Sat. 3 pm. Check daily lor returns. A few balcony seal tib ti.illy avail. Latecomers not admitted unlll the interval, NOW BKG.

THRU JUNE. POSTAL BOOKING ONLV Jonathon Price will ba on holiday from April 2a CATS QUIT CLEARLY A WIN- NER." Sun. mes. BOOK THEATRE. ALL AGENTS 4 FIRST CALL J24 JEFFREY BERNARD SEATS NOW AVAIL.

FOR IS UNWELL ivu. riitrf, rue. winra FR. JUNff ONWARDS. INGLVA AVAIL FROM 1WI.

POSTAL BKG ONLY. MAY Group booklnua 01-930 nr ni.dn I.ATF. Sunday Express. Transfers to DUCHESS May 7 Book Now tor Alan AyckDourn clasnfc comedy ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR. Pre- views Irom May 8.

COMERS NOT ADMITTED LONDON PALLADIUM, Box A Dm I VICTORIA. SS H2R AuununiuM 13 irt. MUI ION. PLtAbfc. UMIC CC of groups I -4 AY rc'b (with bkci fee) 01-379 4444, 01-497 9977.

01-741 9999, (O I -493 2 I 07j, An Exhibition ul IX A XX CENTURY PAINT 8663. CC 630 6262. Groups 828 6188. CC. Open nil hours 379 4444.

1 st Call 497 9977. K. Prowse 741 9999. Grp. 930 THEHUNTFORREDOCTO.

BER (PG). 70mmDOLBY STEREOTHX SOUND SYSTE SEP. PROGS. DAILY 12.00.2.45.5.45.3.45. LATE SHOWS EVERY NIGHT AT I 1.45.

EMPIRE 2, LEICESTER SOU ARE. HI LEY VALENTINE (15). DOLBY STEREO. SEP. PROGS.

DAILY 1.00. 3.30. 6.00,8.30. LATE SHOWS FRI. SAT.

AT I LIS. SMPIRE 3, LEICESTER QUARI. BLACK RAIN (18). SEP. 1MIOG5.

DAILY 12.15. 3.00, 3.45,8.30. LATE SHOWS FBI. SAT. 11.15.

a-32 MM 7.30pm. SWAN tPtNI Trpllus and Cresalda Ton'l. 7 nnnm.YhLiilnau..iiiiL WYNDHAMB THEATRE. Ol- INGS, 2Blh March lo 4th May. (j roup: -sju Via, STfcKtU.

Stf- fltUUS. DAILY 1.30. 4.45. 8.0. I.

ATE SHOWS FRI. iSA T. AT 11.15. PLAZA 3, PICCADILLY 8EACof LOVE (18). DOLBY STEREO.

SEP- PROGS. DAILY 12.45,3.15.6.00.8.45. LATE SHOWS FRI. SAT. 1 1.30.

PLAZA 4, PICCADILLY CIRCUS. ALWAYS (PG). DOLBY STEREO. SEP. PROGS.

DAILY 12.15, 3.0, 5.45. 8.45. LATE SHOW' FRI. SAT. AT I 1.55.

RENOIR. Brunswick WCI (Hussell square Tubf). 83? 8402. 1 Kloslowskl's A SHOHT FILM ABOUT LOVE (18). 2.45, 4.45.

6.50. 9.0. K.rnuin. ti tk 1 990L Mon lo Fri. 1 0 am to 5 pm.

"Daahina and dlihy PAUL NICHOLAS'S Pirate RUN FOR VOUR WIFE! OLD VIC. Box Ollke CC 92a DUKE OF YORKS. 836 5122 Juan, 7.30 pm. Meal TlrkplHolel pack an (0789) 4 4999 For free Icalkl phone BONNIE LANGFORD "Absolutely plartdTd," D. (did.

li. ivuun uki ree) 7200379 4444741 9919. Grps 9306123. 7.30, ei. WEBBER'S BEST." D.

Tel. Lyrics by DON BLACK 4 CHARLES HART. Directed by TREVOR NUNN Evas 7.43. Mais Wed A Sal 3. a THEATRE ROYAL Stratford TTCU.

IIIUl. nai. 1,43 mi. nor MARVA Queue daily tor returns. Strictly r.vus.

iut. sm.3.o. SEVENTH HIT VEARl STARLIGHT EXPRESS Multeity ANDHEWI.I.OYD WEBBER l.vricshy RICHARD ST1LGOE Dlreeieii by TKFVOKNUNN. SOME SEATS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK Mats. NOW BOOKINQ TO MAR 01.

BO I IIIO LU H07 I111KWJ 4444 (no bkolee) 497 9977741 9999Jbkn rj. RICHARD HARRIS ISLA BLAIR A ROLCH fiSS CENT in PIRANDELLO'S HENRY IV translated tjy Jln Wardle A DireedtbyVaVMay. Preve. from May. Press Nlgjhj May 7.

FADE A WAYA New Play with Music by DAVtRH KEIFFe! TfoeGuardian WeptoM Sates. Department tW Oeansgale lianchatH USO 2HR Tel: 061-332 7200 exl 2161 NOWHOQKING TO APR. '91 Ck. B.IO VBOt. H.

H.lll W04f 3794444741 9999. COMEDY OF THE YEAR OliUer Awards 1988 PAULA WILCOX In WILLY RUSSELL'S SHIRLEY VALENTINE F.vipsS. Mjt.Thur. 3. Sal.

3. "The audience roars ila approval. ShlrleyN spell Is unbreakable" D. Mill. "Tha funniest and thm molt heartwarming, play lor years," Dally Mirror.

talnlno." Eve. SlJ. Miriam Karlln a Ives a wonderful totw THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE "Th very model ol a modern Ollbert af Sullivan," Timet. "Yohohol ll'au barrel off un," D.Exp. Evtis 7.30 mats Wed A Sat 2.30.

LIMITED SEASON ONLY by Isaac Babel "A theatrical masterpiece fine performances throughout," S. Tel. PRODUCTION Times. FOR FIVE WEEKS ONLY! wura performance," Odn. 2 ArrandW JESUS OF MON- Theta ftesssa accept certain otdR arcs by tsMpnons or si bar.

offiae. Unsgu msis ei out pnee to fust baton parlonnsnoM. TRICYCLE. 32B tOOO. Tont.

8.0. Joe Turner's Com A Cam. Last 4 pert el THEHL I o). trO0. I.U.O.JU.

6.05. 8.40. "Strlous lun" TI ME OUT.