Rossini's Ghost

A workman finds a singing frog in the cornerstone of an old building being demolished. But when he tries to cash in on his discovery, he finds the frog will sing only for him, and just croak for the talent agent and the audience in the theater he's spent his life savings on.

Behind the Hollywood Bowl stage which is playing the opera The Barber of Seville, Bugs Bunny flees into the backstage area with Elmer Fudd in close pursuit. Seeing his opportunity to fight on his terms, Bugs raises the curtain on Elmer, trapping him on stage. As the orchestra begins playing, Bugs comes into play as the barber who is going to make sure that Elmer is going to get a grooming he will never forget.

Sylvester sings opera and popular tunes while standing on a back alley fence; Elmer, who wants to sleep, tries to thwart him.

Roger Daltrey of The Who stars as 19th century genius pianist Franz Liszt in this brash, loud and free-wheeling rock 'n' roll fantasia centered around an imagined rivalry between Liszt and composer Richard Wagner-- painted here as a vampiric harbinger of doom and destruction.

After he is rejected by the Great Poochini as an opening act, Mysto the Magician gets his revenge by conducting his next operatic performance.

Old Jerusalem: Matathias, spiteful over his lover's illness, spits on Jesus along the road to Calvary, and is cursed to live endlessly until His return. The Crusades, 1150: Matathias, now an anonymous knight, competes for glory in combat and for the wife of a soldier. Palermo, 1290: Matteos Battadios witnesses the death of his young son, leading to conflict with his wife over whether to take comfort in Christianity. Seville, 1560: Dr Matteos Battadios dedicates himself to the treatment and comfort of the poor, but his life and work are endangered by the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition.

Jumah is about to turn 16 and is already in need of a fresh start. Burdened with the shameful legacy of a past as a child soldier in the Congo, he lives with his adoptive mother in west London, where he struggles to keep a lid on his history of violence. One night, enjoying a rare carefree evening out with a new friend, Jumah witnesses something that draws him seemingly inescapably into his old ways. As he and others around him begin to question whether he can ever stop being a soldier, he’s set on a path to find out who he truly wishes to be.

Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.

When her father seemingly goes missing, divorcee Laura LeCrois is forced to return home after a 20-year hiatus. However, home is not the way Laura remembers it. Her father is in major debt with the bank, her ex-boyfriend is the town sheriff, and her ex-husband has quit his job as a world-renowned professor who is now suspiciously buying up swampland in the area. In an effort to save the swamp and to pass the time, Laura decides to work the dying family business giving boat tours of the Louisiana swamp. But on her first sunset tour, deep in the swamp, Laura and her passengers witness two Bayou swamp rats toss a squirming body into a gator pit, only the gators aren't the ones that feast on the flesh. Instead it's the most terrifying creature Laura has ever seen...(IMDB,com)

A restaurant owner falls in love with an opera singer and, desperate to impress her, travels to Italy to learn how to sing.

Massenet composed his opera about Cenerentola nearly 80 years after Rossini did his. And if you are looking for the outburst of the non-stop hilarity and the musical jokes of Rossini, you won't find it here. Also, while the Cendrillon was highly successful and popular in its time, it does not reach up to the artistic and musical levels offered by Massenet's other operas, like Manon, or Thais or Werther. Nevertheless, this is a delightful opera and it is well presented by The Royal Opera. Laurent Pelly created a ingenious setting with movable walls which are covered [in French] with the story of Cinderella, and which open and close book-like.

Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1995, this acclaimed presentation of composer Gioachino Rossini's epic opus ERMIONE is based on Jean Racine's play "Andromache." Set in Troy after the city fell to the Greeks, the production recounts the rancorous battle between widow Andromache and Helen of Troy's green-eyed daughter, Ermione for the love of Pyrrhus

Since its debut in 1934 the Glyndebourne Festival has put a focus on Mozart operas and developed a great competence in staging them. Mozart s operas seem to be made for the small but fine opera house in Glyndebourne and it's not surprising that the 1977 Don Giovanni, one of Mozart's great masterpieces, was a huge success. This production is conducted by Bernard Haitink, who holds the opinion, that no other composer had more opera in his blood than Mozart. It has been proven, for example, that Mozart had no overture for Don Giovanni until the evening before the premiere in Prague and wrote it down in just one night. Like the premiere's success of the opera in Prague in 1787 the Glyndebourne's version staged by Peter Hall was praised by audience and critics alike: We witness a lively and wide-awake ensemble piece that has easily survived all these decades, and still manages to teach many directors the art of playing theatre.

23-year-old Gioachino Rossini completed his masterpiece IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA incredibly quickly – legend has it in just 13 days – which Rossini attributed to ‘facility and lots of instinct’. The opera, characterized by youthful energy and bold wit, has all the ingredients for comic chaos: an imprisoned young woman, her lecherous guardian and a young noble suitor. Skilfully plotting behind the scenes is Figaro, an irrepressible and inventive character in whom many have seen a resemblance to the young Rossini himself. The score fizzes with musical brilliance, from Figaro’s famous entrance aria to the frenzy of the Act I finale. This recording sees Joyce DiDonato (Rosina) bring literal meaning to the old theatrical motto Break a leg! She did just that in an earlier show but was determined to finish her commitment and was re-staged into the production to allow for the additional challenges that come when a leading lady in a lively physical role must wheel around the other performers...

Conceived as an electronic road movie, this documentary investigates cutting edge technologies and their influence on our culture as we approach the 21st century. It takes off from the idea that mankind's effort to tap the power of Nature has been so successful that a new world is suddenly emerging,an artificial reality. Virtual Reality, digital and biotechnology, plastic surgery and mood-altering drugs promise seemingly unlimited powers to our bodies, and our selves. This film presents the implications of having access to such power as we all scramble to inhabit our latest science fictions.

The Restless Gun is an American western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict wherever possible. He is gregarious, intelligent, and public-spirited. The half-hour black-and-white program aired seventy-eight episodes. Jeanne Bates appeared in varying roles with Payne in five episodes of The Restless Gun. The Restless Gun theme song begins: "I ride with the wind, my eyes on the sun, and my hand on my restless gun..." The song composer is probably Paul Dunlap, credited as the primary series composer, but could have been contributed to by either of the two other series composers, Dave Kahn and Stanley Wilson, also. Two versions are currently posted on YouTube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.

Meet modern-day treasure hunter Drew Pritchard. With demanding customers, high turnover, and one of the biggest decorative salvage yards in the UK, Drew is constantly on the road, crisscrossing the country in search of derelict gems and forgotten remnants. Drew loves the thrill of the hunt and while he gets his hands dirty in the country's architectural backwaters, his crack team of restorers is back at the shop giving old and rare finds a new lease on life.

Who do you call when you've got thousands of tons of gnarled metal over 100 feet deep in the water, threatening to wreak environmental havoc if you don't get it out? The Bisso family of Louisiana has been the answer for more than a century, assembling along history of expertise at incredibly dangerous and highly technical jobs of sea salvage and excavation. At Bisso Marine, they know that death and dismemberment are part of the business--but when it's a family business, those treacherous stakes are ratcheted up even higher

Looks at Mozart's extraordinary short life and revolutionary music through a distinctive mix of costume drama and documentary.

Scam City is a show which started airing on Travel + Escape in June 2012 which crosses the globe visiting ten of the world’s most popular cities in an effort to expose the darker side of tourism. The host, Conor Woodman, meets with questionable characters ranging from unethical cab drivers to aggressive pimps as he witnesses and experiences the travel experience of parting with personal property and money. He intentionally falls victim to these alleged scammers and says "yes" to every hooker and pocket jeweler in the city, giving up substantial quantities of cash in the process. The show aims to expose the local adaptations of common scams - from pick pockets, expensive cab fares, to bars luring people in with adult entertainment at a high cost. Scam City has also been aired on the National Geographic Channel. In Australia, Scam City is shown on subscription TV channel Nat Geo Adventure, which airs on channel 628 on the Foxtel network.

Robert Kulp and Mike Whiteside are architectural salvage business owners reclaiming vintage pieces from historical buildings and reselling them to people for home renovation projects.

See a different side of Snoop Dogg in this unique documentary, which details the famous rapper's efforts to mentor young athletes and create opportunities for them to compete at the highest level of youth football. We'll meet the kids and coaches that form Snoop's squad -- and witness the important life lessons they learn with every game.

The Bay follows the affluent, yet dysfunctional Bay City residents living in a town cursed by the spirit of Senator Red Garrett, the grandfather of socialite Sara Garrett. Their lives are riddled with sex, lies, & never-ending scandals.

Modern day treasure hunter, Drew Pritchard is one of Britain's leading architectural salvage dealers, traveling the length and breadth of the country in search of weird and wonderful objects. Drew loves the thrill of the hunt and while he gets his hands dirty in the country's architectural backwaters, a crack team of restorers are back at base giving old and rare finds a new lease of life. We've seen them at work on Salvage Hunters, restoring, repairing and refining Drew's finds but for the first time, Salvage Hunters: The Restorers is going behind-the-scenes with this expert team to see what it really takes to transform junk into gems.

Celebrated as one of the greatest R&B singers of all time, R. Kelly’s genre defining career and playboy lifestyle has been riddled with rumors of abuse, predatory behavior, and pedophilia. Despite damning evidence and multiple witnesses, to date, none of these accusations have seemingly affected him. For the first time ever, survivors and people from R. Kelly’s inner circle, are coming forward with new allegations about his sexual, mental, and physical abuse. They are now finally ready to share their full story and shed light on the secret life the public has never seen.

Explore the world’s most fascinating, strange and inexplicable mysteries. Each episode features compelling contributions from scientists, historians, witnesses and experiencers—each seeking to shed light on how the seemingly impossible actually can happen.

The demolition and salvage teams at Priestly Demolition Inc. specialize in the fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping job of tearing down buildings and racing against the clock to pull out anything valuable left behind.

A documentary series exploring the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously “cursed” horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumored use of real human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?

Witness the unboxing of real case evidence while hearing from the actual investigators, prosecutors, and witnesses. Full of twists and turns, each episode will connect the dots of seemingly unrelated evidence to tell the story of what happened.

Taking place 25 years after the original British smash hit, the same band of brothers navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society's crumbling healthcare, education, and employment sectors.