Creator Franz Abraham said the show would have a "high level of artistry that would excite the audience". He added: "The show will have the speed of a musical, the depth of great theatre, the power of a rock concert and the visual opulence of a Hollywood blockbuster."
The thoroughbred horses will undergo 12 months of intensive training with a team of trainers and charioteers. A combination of light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects will also be used. Tickets for the new production will go on sale on 14 November, with the world premiere taking place at the O2 on 15 September, 2009. After two further performances in London, the show will tour Europe.
Art News: Rock band Status Quo have helped raise £100,000 at a charity auction held in aid of The Prince's Trust. The band asked 50 musicians, artists and stars to create their own versions of classic Quo singles and album covers, which were later auctioned. A version of the Heavy Traffic album cover by wildlife artist David Shepherd fetched more than £17,000. The band's frontman Francis Rossi said: "It's marvellous because normally these things can go down a damp squib."
Floral News: "What a magnificent entrance. Amid a fanfare of horns, Al Green swept on to the stage with a presidential flourish, and began distributing red roses to the front row," wrote David Sinclair in The Times. "Local florists have been struggling to meet demand for these blooms wherever Green's tour has rolled into town, and at the Albert Hall the crowd responded with an equally lavish outpouring of goodwill. The love was thus already flowing freely in all directions as Green took off with the silky funk groove of I Can't Stop.
"The last of the great Southern soul men, Green, who scored a string of international hits in the 1970s, was feared lost to the world of secular music after he was ordained as a pastor in 1976 and began dedicating himself almost exclusively to the performance of gospel music. But a gradual return to rhythm and blues in recent years has brought about an unexpected renaissance."
And finally: Pop star Beyonce has said she wants to play Wonder Woman in a film of the comic book heroine. The singer has met DC Comics and film studio Warner Bros to express her interest in future superhero roles on the big screen. "I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman?" she told the Los Angeles Times. "And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?" Erm . . .
(Jim Evans)
