Now screening at City Screen, York: Leonardo da Vinci show (From York Press)

Now screening at City Screen, York: Leonardo da Vinci show

10:56am Wednesday 9th November 2011 in Film reviews By Charles Hutchinson

FIRST it was the New York Metropolitan Opera, then NT Live from the National Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet live from Moscow, and now the craze for satellite broadcasts at City Screen, York has spread to another canvas: a London art exhibition.

What’s more, last night’s opening of a “once-in-a-lifetime” exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter At The Court Of Milan, played to a full house when beamed live from the National Gallery as art lovers were given the chance to view a gallery show up close on the big screen in a broadcasting first.

This sell-out has prompted City Screen to arrange a second screening, Leonardo Live: Encore, on Sunday at 2.30pm.

The exhibition brings together the largest ever number of da Vinci’s paintings, including some never seen before in Britain. The transmission, presented by Tim Marlow and Mariella Frostrup, roams through the National Gallery to give detailed examinations of the paintings, complemented by interviews with special guests and experts.

Prompt booking is advised for the 80-minute replay screening, and the same advice applies to a second repeat performance at City Screen this weekend. On Sunday, the Coney Street cinema will present The Phantom Of The Opera: Encore (PG) at 5pm, after the first satellite broadcast sold out last month.

Produced by Cameron Mackintosh to mark the 25th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical, the show was staged in lavish fashion in the Victorian splendour of the Royal Albert Hall with a cast and orchestra of more than 200.

The performance stars Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine, joined by Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Wynne Evans as Piangi.

The satellite focus will turn to theatre on December 1 when you can see York actor Mark Addy in the National Theatre Live broadcast of Collaborators, a new play by Trainspotting and Shallow Grave screenwriter John Hodge.

Directed by National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, the play centres on an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwrigtht Mikhail Bulgakov, the respective roles being played by NT favourites Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale.

Addy plays secret policeman Vladimir, his performance being described as “chillingly jovial” by the Financial Times and “robustly enjoyable” by the London Evening Standard. The Independent On Sunday deemed him to be “grimly impish” and “eyecatching”, while the Observer said he “glides with finesse between menace and ingratiation”.

Tickets for these satellite screenings can be booked on 0871 902 5726 or online at picturehouses.co.uk