Tag: MEYDAN IMAX THEATRE

MET Opera – Verdi’s Falstaff

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I guess the whole world knows by now that I live with a little diva who is absolutely crazy about MET Opera and gets fully immersed in the story line and emotions that the brilliant actors of MET Opera portray.

The exciting news is that Meydan IMAX Theatre is presenting the MET Opera’s 4th installment: Verdi’s brilliant final masterpiece Falstaff has its first new Met production in nearly 50 years, conducted by James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen.

Ambrogio Maestri sings the iconic basso buffo role of Sir John Falstaff, the boorish, blustery character originally seen in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Merry Wives of Windsor.Angela Meade is Alice Ford, one of many objects of Falstaff’s affection, and Stephanie Blythe is the sharp-tongued Mistress Quickly in a cast that also includes Lisette Oropesa as Nannetta, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Meg Page, Paolo Fanale in his Met debut as Fenton, and Franco Vassallo as Ford.

The International Herald Tribune praised Carsen’s staging, first seen at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, as a “production of eye-catching ingenuity.”

Hope to see you there – even though it’s a school night, Little diva is already jumping up and down in preparation of yet another immersive Opera evening at Meydan IMAX.

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Celebrate Prophet Mohammad’s birthday with ‘Journey to Mecca’ at Meydan IMAX

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Ibn Battuta Shereen Shabnam

After seeing ‘Journey to Mecca’ 4 times…. first in Kuwait, San Francisco, Singapore and in UAE, I am once again ready to view this amazing movie at Meydan IMAX this weekend….the timing is perfect as we have a long weekend and the subject so relates to what most people will be celebrating as they mull over the life and times of our Holy Prophet (SAW).

Now most of you think that I must have been married to Ibn Battuta in my past life seeing how he creeps into my life in one form or another. First it was doing the PR of Ibn Battuta Mall when our octopus team pretty much lived and breathed the man’s life…I recall hunting in my car one day a modern-day Ibn Battuta who was tracing the journey of Ibn Battuta himself…..I found him near what is now DFC and dragged him for some filming on site at the mall that was named after his hero. Thereafter I had to drop him in the exact same spot so that he could stay true to the journey and the footsteps of the real Ibn Battuta.

Then I end up working for MTE, the genius company behind the concepts, designs and implementation of the Ibn Battuta Mall …having to promote the mall via PR meant that Ibn Battuta was often part of the reason I woke up late nights trying to find ways to hook the media into writing about him and the mall and within the story talk about the amazing job our team did to get the mall done on time.

Now, I am going to take little diva to see ‘Journey to Mecca’ with the hope of educating her about Ibn Battuta, the famed 14th century Moroccan traveler and the man who I keep talking about in relation to my work.

Ibn Battuta left his native Tangier in 1325 on an epic journey to Mecca, the holy city where Muslims go for pilgrimage (every time I see the movie, I realize its about time I made that journey). Returning 29 years later, Ibn Battuta had covered more ground than Marco Polo and had many adventures which he noted down in his famous travel books, The Rihla, at the instigation of the Sultan of Morocco.

Journey to Mecca is an IMAX® documentary that tells the adventurous story of Ibn Battuta and shows a close-up look at Mecca, the city that draws over three million Muslims from around the world every year who go there to perform Hajj.

On the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, IMAX at Meydan is commemorating this joyous day by bringing back Journey to Mecca, to show Ibn Battuta’s travels across the sands of time.

Join him if you are in Dubai on his adventures and find out more about the greatest traveler of pre-modern times as he embarks on a cross-cultural journey. Shows are on January 24th to 26th, exclusively at the Meydan IMAX Theatre.

MEYDAN IMAX THEATRE PREMIERES DONIZETTI’S MARIA STUARDA

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Despite being known as a go with the flow laid back Islander who schedules her life on the hop, I am doing the unthinkable and making sure my entertainment schedule is booked and planned week’s ahead, thanks to the amazing line-up of shows being brought to UAE by the Meydan IMAX. In case you didn’t know, the Meydan IMAX Theatre is a unique Theatre in the Dubai landscape, as it offers a diverse program that dazzles a wide range of audiences. Located at the prestigious Meydan in Nad al Sheba, the Meydan IMAX Theatre is home to the largest screen in the Middle East & Asia.

Thanks to Afsana, who is a fellow member of the Business Women’s Group and the Partner/CEO of Meydan IMAX, I found out about what’s in store and learnt about Maria Stuarda, one of a number of operas by Donizetti that deal with the Tudor period in English history. In fact, the lead female characters of the operas Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux are often referred to as the “Three Donizetti Queens”.

Never before performed at the Met, this second opera in the composer’s so-called “Three Queens” trilogy portrays the lethal conflict between Mary, deposed queen of Scotland, and Queen Elizabeth I of England. The opera’s dramatic heart is a confrontation between the two queens that never actually took place in history but that figures in the Friedrich Schiller play on which the libretto is based.

An exclusive broadcast not to be missed at Meydan IMAX! The Met Opera stages its first-ever production of the tragic opera, Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti – January 28, 2013 at 7:00pm (approximate running time: 195 minutes). The Metropolitan Opera is the world’s leading provider of alternative cinema content, is now shown in more than 1800 theaters in 54 countries, making the Met the only arts institution with an ongoing global art series of this scale….how cool is that?

If you would like to see this and would like to get AED50/- knocked off your ticket, call Meydan IMAX on 800 4629 and mention ‘Fijian Chick’.

Check out the Cast list below and enjoy the show 🙂

Conductor: Maurizio Benini, Production: David McVicar, Set Designer & Costume Designer: John Macfarlane
, Lighting Designer: Jennifer Tipton, 
Choreographer: Leah Hausman, 
Cast: Elza van den Heever (Queen Elizabeth I), Matthew Rose (George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury), Joshua Hopkins (William Cecil, Lord Burghley), Mathew Polenzani (Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester), Mari Zifchak (Jane Kennedy, Mary’s lady-in- waiting), Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda)

Shereen Shabnam IMAX