Olivier awards

Very pleased to see that the wonderful Stuart Skelton has been nominated for an Olivier for his "Peter Grimes" at ENO last year. It was one of the finest performances - musically fantastic, dramatically almost unbearably moving, and almost frighteningly risk-taking - that I've seen in an opera house in many years. That's Mr Skelton in the pic; yes, he's no oil painting, but he's ginger and he has a voice like a god, and he can act, and I think he's bl**dy brilliant. And next month I get to see him in action again, as Boris in "Katya Kabanova", yippee!

Less pleased to see that the chaotic and undie-shedding muddle of Fabulous Beast's "Rite of Spring" also gets a nod. Granted the only "Rite"s I've seen that worked for me are Kenneth Macmillan's, Bangarra Dance Theatre's marvellous "Rites", and what one saw of the reconstructed original in the television film "Riot at the Rite" (featuring Favourite Baritone's wonderful Ballerina Missus as the Chosen One)... So - I'm picky. So what? I thought FB's Rite was a mess of weak flailing movement and no-longer-shocking "shock-value" motifs. Keep your kecks on, don't waste your energy pretending to shag the earth - just give me dynamic, underivative, real dance.