"Actor: Thomas Allen"

• Harvey Birdman - Season 2 Box Set | DVD | (07/12/2009) from £16.18   |  Saving you £3.81 (19.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The superhero formerly known as Birdman continues making a mockery of the legal system representing Hannah-Barbera toons gone bad including Shaggy Scooby Fred Flinstone and Yogi Bear.

• Mozart: Don Giovanni -- Cologne/Conlon | DVD | (15/05/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Conlon conducts a skittishly dynamic performance of Don Giovanni that suits the promiscuous protagonist's restless energy more than some more ponderous and serious productions. He relies on Thomas Allen's tough Don to give the work much of its dark menace and on Holle's terrifying Commendatore to provide the moral outrage--his job is to keep things moving, and he does. The exteriors--blank city spaces reminiscent of the paintings of Giorgio De Chirico--and moodily claustrophobic interiors mirror effectively the anguish of the orphaned Anna and the abandoned Elvira; this is a performance in which the two women victims of the Don function effectively as correctives to his libertine charm. Andrea Rost as Zerlina brings real delicacy to her role, reminding us that "La ci darem la mano" is a duet about her flirtation with Don Giovanni and not just a famous stand-alone moment. This is an admirable presentation of a fine performance. The only special features of the DVD are subtitles in the standard languages. --Roz Kaveney

• Various Composers - Opera Highlights Volume 2 | DVD | (30/04/2007) from £13.79   |  Saving you £1.20 (8.70%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Following swiftly on from the April release of Volume 1 Arthaus Musik is proud to present Volume II of Opera Highlights. This exciting new disc offers us the chance to get an insight into the opinions and motivations of some of the worlds greatest opera singers and presents new recordings and interviews produced especially for this DVD. Opera Highlights is both a visually exciting introduction for new viewers to opera as well as a unique opportunity to see great singers talking to camera then performing roles for which they are famous. The opening title sequence has been specially designed by Pat Gavin who has won countless awards for his innovative electronic graphics. Tracklist: Ann Murray: 'If you worship the man who has spurned you' from Handel's Xerxes (from Nicholas Hytner's English National Opera production conducted by Charles Mackerras) 'Take your pleasure' from Handel's Ariodante (from David Alden's English National Opera production conducted by Ivor Bolton) Philip Langridge: The 'sea wall' aria from Britten's Peter Grimes (from Tim Albery's English National Opera production conducted by David Atherton) Galina Gorchakova: 'Renata's Confession' from Prokofiev's Fiery Angel (from David Freeman's Kirov Opera production conducted by Valery Gergiev) Thomas Allen: 'They'll lash me in a hammock' from Britten's Billy Budd (from Tim Alberys English National Opera production conducted by David Atherton) 'Great Hymn to the Wonder of Nature' from Janeks Cunning little Vixen (from Nicolas Hytner's production for the Thtre du Chtelet conducted by Charles Mackerras) Eva Jenis and Hanna Minutillo: 'Love duet' 2nd Act from Janek's Cunning little Vixen (from Nicolas Hytner's production for the Thtre du Chtelet conducted by Charles Mackerras) Yvonne Kenny: 'Piangero la sorte mia' from Handel's Giulio Cesare (from Francisco Negrin's production for Opera Australia conducted by Richard Hickox) 'O weep for me' from Purcell's The Fairy Queen (from David Pountney's English National Opera production conducted by Nicholas Kok) Michael Konig: 'Oh golden days of my youth where have you gone?' and 'Enemies enemies' (Duet with Vladimir Gluschak) from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (from Nikolaus Lehnhoffs European Union Opera staging at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky) Orla Boylan: 'No there could never be another' from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (from Nikolaus Lehnhoff's European Union Opera staging at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky) Vladimir Gluschak: 'You wrote to me' and 'Can this be the same Tatyana?' from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (from Nikolaus Lehnhoff's European Union Opera staging at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky) Anna Netrebko: 'Aria of Lyudmila' from the 4th Act from Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (from Lotfi Mansouri's production for the Kirov Opera conducted by Valery Gergiev) Vladimir Ognovenko: 'Finns Ballad' from the 2nd Act from Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (from Lotfi Mansouri's production for the Kirov Opera conducted by Valery Gergiev) Larissa Diadkova: as Ratmir in the 2nd Act from Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (from Lotfi Mansouris production for the Kirov Opera conducted by Valery Gergiev)

• Make It Funky! | DVD | (07/05/2007) from £8.07   |  Saving you £11.92 (59.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Rollicking pianos. Infectious horns. Hypnotic drum beats. Rocking guitar licks. Put them all together and you've got the exuberant sound of New Orleans music! join a world-class lineup of artists including the Neville Brothers Allen Toussaint Irma Thomas Lloyd Price Bonnie Raitt and Keith Richards as they slip slide strut and glide their way through the spicy gumbo of sounds that took over the world influencing the course of popular music for over a century. From ""Yellow Moon"" to ""Let The Good Times Roll"" Make It Funky! is a raucous tribute to the musical heritage of the Crescent City chock full of blazing performances fiery archival footage and red-hot conversations with the remarkable men and women who created it. let the good times roll!

• Cunning Little Vixen | DVD | (14/09/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.39

  Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen is a real charmer of an opera, a tale that shows the natural world the composer had loved from childhood in its true colours: miraculous, beautiful, mysterious but also cruel. The inspiration came from a series of illustrated stories published in a Czech newspaper. The Vixen of the title is captured by a forester and taken home as a plaything for his children. She is soon thrown out of the house and has to make her own way in the world, encountering lust, stupidity, pride, love and ultimately death. This 1995 performance was taken from the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. Visually, Nicholas Hytner's production is a triumph, the animals wonderfully wittily wrought (the mosquito with its syringe for a nose, the mangey old dog, distasteful in baggy Y-fronts, the hideous, goggle-eyed frog). And it's also brilliantly cast: Eva Jenis's Vixen is funny, sexy, endearing and youthful enough in voice and figure to convince. Thomas Allen is a veteran of the role of the Forester, a huge presence and singing in impeccable Czech. In fact, there's not a weak performance here, and that goes for the dancers and instrumentalists as well as the singers. And at the helm, who better than Sir Charles Mackerras, arguably the greatest living interpreter of Janacek's music? This is in essence a grown-up fairy tale, ravishingly done and extremely highly recommended. On the DVD: The Cunning Little Vixen is presented on disc in vividly remastered PCM stereo, with 16:9 picture format that does full justice to the alluringly colourful designs. The disc is encoded for regions 2 and 5, and the menu and subtitle languages are English, German, French and Spanish. The useful booklet gives coherent background information and synopsis as well as full casting details. There's also a substantial (23-minute) trailer of other offerings from Arthaus Musik. --Harriet Smith