The Playlist: 2015 at the theatre

As with previous years, ‘The Playlist’ is a musical summary of the year’s theatre-going. The rule is (mostly) simple: find a piece of music that encapsulates either the production or my response to it (or both, as the case often is). The only catch is I cannot re-use a piece from a previous year, even if it is the same text.

Thus, here is The Playlist for 2015.

1.    Radiance: End Titles, Mick Harvey

2.    Camille O’Sullivan – Changeling: In These Shoes, Camille O’Sullivan *

3.    Masquerade: Further Than The Sun, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen

4.    Falling Through Clouds: Planet Factory Floor, Joby Talbot

5.    Ukchuk-ga: Pansori Mother Courage: Changseung Taryong, from Pansori Chukpyuk-ka, Kim Chong Man

6.    Tabac Rouge: Bahamut, Hazmat Modine

7.    Kiss and Cry: From Small Beginnings, Paul Reeves

8.    After Dinner: The Boys Light Up, Australian Crawl *

9.    The Kitchen: Chappaqua (excerpt 1), Ravi Shankar

10.  The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’: Coin-Operated Boy [excerpt], The Dresden Dolls

11.  The Magic Flute: Queen of the Night aria, W.A. Mozart *

12.  ASYLUM: Letters from Jamshed, Urthboy

13.  4.48 Psychosis: Adventures (Unaltered), György Ligeti

14.  Treasure Island (NTLive): The Curse of the Black Spot, Murray Gold

15.  Kill the Messenger: Sound sculptures III, Paul Healy

16.  Yasukichi Murakami: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakamoto

17.  Richard: Prelude, from Richard III [Edited], William Walton

18.  Suddenly Last Summer: That Night He Told Me Everything, Craig Armstrong

19.  Blue Wizard: Hallo Spaceboy, David Bowie, with Pet Shop Boys

20.  Man of La Mancha: The Impossible Dream (The Quest), Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion *

21.  Hamlet (Sydney Shakespeare Company): Hamlet Fantasy Overture [Excerpt], Tchaikovsky

22.  As You Like It: As You Like It, Christopher Gordon

23.  What Rhymes with Cars and Girls: Under the Flight Path, Tim Rogers *

24.  Caress/Ache: Epilogue (III.4), from Akhnaten, Philip Glass

25.  Riverrun: Salute, Lanie Lane

26.  Elektra / Orestes: Remember Us, Tyler Bates

27.  Orfeo ed Euridice: Overture, Christoph Willibald Gluck *

28.  Frame of Mind: Jesus Love Never Failed Me Yet (I), Gavin Bryars*

29.  Endgame: Forest Atmosphere, from The Daleks, Tristram Cary

30.  The ANZAC Project: Gallipoli, for string quartet, Ross Edwards

31.  Jumpy: Knowing the Ropes, Michael Nyman

32.  Five Properties of Chainmale: Moan Thing, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

33.  Boys Will Be Boys: Man-Size, PJ Harvey

34.  Behind the Beautiful Forevers (NTLive): Mausam and Escape, A. R. Rahman

35.  The Rocky Horror Show: The Time Warp, Richard O’Brien *

36.  A Town Called War Boy: The Nek, Stephen Rae

37.  Grounded: Flight to Compound, Alexandre Desplat

38.  The Wizard of Oz: I’m Always Chasing Rainbows, Judy Garland *

39.  The Importance of Being Earnest: Crazy In Love (Kid Koala Version), Emeli Sandé & The Bryan Ferry Orchestra

40.  Samson: We Were Just Kids, Flynn Wheeler & Christopher O’Young

41.  Zeroville: Hanna’s Theme, The Chemical Brothers

42.  A View from the Bridge (NTLive): Introitus (Excerpt), from Requiem, W.A. Mozart

43.  Blue Italian / Nil By Sea: Vivere, Carlo Buti

44.  Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe in cinemas): Goths War Chant, Django Bates *

45.  The Hard Problem (NTLive): Prelude, from Cello Suite No. 1 (on Piano), J.S. Bach *

46.  The House on the Lake: Watashi wo Toru Taki wa Watashi Dake wo Totte Ne, Jonny Greenwood

47.  She Only Barks at Night: Aheym, Bryce Dessner

48.  The Merchant of Venice: The Gold Digger's Song (We're In The Money), Fred Astaire

49.  Mother Courage and Her Children: The Instead Of Song, Kurt Weill

50.  Battle of Waterloo: Lonely Child, Kira Pura & The Bruise

51.  Misterman: Devil’s Spoke, Laura Marling*

52.  Birdland: Birdland, Patti Smith

53.  North by Northwest: Overture, from North by Northwest, Bernard Herrmann*

54.  lore: Gathering, from I.B.I.S, Steve Francis *

55.  The Dog / The Cat: The Lovecats, The Cure

56.  Triassic Parq: We Are Dinosaurs, Marshall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz and Steve Wargo *

57.  The Dapto Chaser: Dog Days Are Over, Florence + The Machine

58.  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged): As Much As You Like It For Nothing, The Reduced Shakespeare Company *

59.  Of Mice and Men: Open Spaces, Jonny Greenwood

60.  War Crimes: ‘STRAYA, Terry Mann

61.  Love and Information: Arena, Daft Punk

62.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Good Night, from On An Overgrown Path, Leoš Janáček, arr. Tognetti

63.  Seventeen: Forever Young, Youth Group

64.  The Piano Thief / Receivers: Galaxy Quest: Main Theme, David Newman

65.  The Bleeding Tree: Stagger Lee, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

66.  The Present: An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, Peter Maxwell Davies

67.  Matilda, the musical: Naughty, Tim Minchin *

68.  The Tempest: Where The Bee Sucks, Alan John *

69.  La Traviata: Discotraviata, El Iconoclasta

70.  Death and the Maiden: Scherzo, from String Quartet No. 14, Schubert *

71.  6 Degrees of Ned Kelly: Son of a Scoundrel, Kris Kristofferson

72.  MinusOneSister: Pruit Igoe & Prophecies, Philip Glass

73.  All About Medea: Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel *

74.  Ivanov: Inside-Out, Paul Cantelon

75.  The Boy at the Edge of Everything: The Galaxy Song, Monty Python

76.  They Saw A Thylacine: The Wilderness / What Kind of Tiger?, Matteo Zingales, Michael Lira & Andrew Lancaster

77.  The Red Balloon: Carl Goes Up, Michael Giacchino

78.  Extinction: Old Town, Tommy Emmanuel

79.  Edward II: Arrest Them, Thomas Wander & Harald Kloser

80.  Manic Pixie Dream World: Monster, Kanye West, feat. Nicki Minaj, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver *

81.  Three Sisters: Like a Dream, Mark Bennett

82.  A Rabbit for Kim Jong-Il: Brian / Brian’s Log, Murray Gold

83.  Dead Centre/Sea Wall: Arbenita (11 Years), Max Richter

84.  Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare): To be or not to be, Patrick Doyle

85.  Cats: Overture, from Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber *

86.  Blood Bank: Hillcrest Park, Nigel Godrich

87.  Mortido: Drive of Death, Craig Armstrong, Marius de Vries & Nellee Hooper

88.  Roadkill Propaganda: Woman on the Slab, David Arnold and Michael Price

89.  We Are The Ghosts of the Future: Theme from My Place, Roger Mason

90.  Orlando: The King’s Tulips, David Motion & Sally Potter

91.  A Riff on Keef: The Human Myth: It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It), The Rolling Stones

92.  Hamlet (Montague Basement): Simba, It’s To Die For, Hans Zimmer

93.  King Lear: Theme from King Lear, Giya Kancheli

94.  Shakespearealism: God, I Hate Shakespeare, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick

95.  Love’s Labour’s Lost: Finale: Allegro maestoso, from Love’s Labour’s Lost (Suite for small orchestra), Gerard Finzi

* INDICATES TRACKS THAT WERE FEATURED IN THE PRODUCTION.

The Playlist will return in 2016.