Have yourself a feel-good musical this season!
For a long time, ABBA was that guilty pleasure band that everyone secretly loved (the One Direction of the 70s but blonder hair and wackier outfits) and in true pop fashion, their music has stood the test of time. Fifty years on, their legacy lives through the wildly successful Mamma Mia! musical which spawned a [...]
The Mamma Mia! factor: What’s it all about?
Sitting in the home of the former chairman of Keells, a combination of singing birds and noisy traffic outside the garden walls soundtrack our conversation. Phyllida Lloyd, director of Mamma Mia! (both the stage musical and 2008 film) is here for the opening of its international production in Sri Lanka, the ten-day event presented by [...]
Amazed and delighted by Russian classical duo in Colombo
Having made my way to the Lionel Wendt Memorial theatre on the evening of December 18, I had not been prepared in my mind to be as amazed and delighted as I certainly was, listening to Soprano Izabella Andriasian collaborating with pianist Dmitry Miachin. Both of these youngsters hail from St. Petersburg in Russia and [...]
Charles Cumming: The wannabe spy who became a spy writer
Charles Cumming would have been a spy, but, failing that, he opted to be a spy writer- with hindsight a very fortunate turn of fate as he is today one of the best in the craft, one of his novels, The Spanish Game, having been described by The Times as amongst “the six finest spy [...]
Appreciations
Dedicated to medicine and to serving the country Dr. Ravi Gnanasundaram Perumalpillai Ravi Perumalpillai was a self-driven ground-breaker who achieved his goals with humility, quiet confidence and a good sense of humour. He treated everyone as equals. He touched the lives of all those he met. A role model to his siblings and cousins, he [...]
Francia and her family can look forward to a happy new year
A new and joyous beginning in the New Year of 2019 for a humble fishing family in Negombo’s Kuda Paduwa and a first for Sri Lanka, making medical history in the country. Bypass heart surgery for a child under 12. Even though everyone knows about coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in adults who have blocked [...]
Letters to the Editor
Draped in six yards of ‘nationalism’: Is it worth the effort? I expect you would have come across the recent news article on how a lady faced her death because her saree got caught up in the motorcycle wheel, on her way to work. This generated some discussion on some social media platforms and some [...]
With this book we can all play a role in conserving Sinharaja
The chirping of birds and the sound of running water could be heard before the book launch began, giving guests the feeling that they were in a rainforest. As the speeches were delivered, images of the rainforest – its flora and fauna captured the audience and brought home the value and importance of preserving this [...]
The joy of seasonal favourites
It’s the time of year for seasonal joy and magical Christmas music. On December 14, the enthusiastic audience at the Nelum Pokuna, Colombo revelled in an array of all-time favourite Christmas carols. The ninth edition of ‘Christmas – A Call To Share: Joy To The World 2018’ organised and jointly presented by the Archdiocese of [...]