Music and theatre

Choose the correct word. Lady Gaga _____ her dream of becoming famous.

Choose the correct word. Kylie Minogue is still a reigning icon in the world of pop music. She worked hard to _____ her own image.

Read the text about Lady Gaga and choose a suitable word for each gap. Lady Gaga - The Queen of pop Lady Gaga was born in 1986. Her real name is Stefani Joanne Germanotta. She could play the pianofrom the age of four, and later said her musical was the classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Gaga always loved performing and dreamt of fame from an early age. At 17, she became one of the youngest students at the Tisch School of Performing Arts in New York. After that, she followed her dream the hard way, moving out of her parents’ home to a cheap flat, while trying to earn a living as a singer and songwriter. It wasn’t easy. Gaga spent a few years in clubs without success. Then, her luck started to change. She began writing songs for successful artists like Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls and music executives quickly spotted her talent for writing pop hits. Meanwhile, Gaga was developing her own image and performance style, wearing outrageous costumes, wigs and make-up. She writes songs, sings and dances, surprising audiences with her unusual clothes. Her talent and hard work have made her a reigning of today’s pop culture.

Choose the correct word. Britney Spears soon _____ the attention of a lot of people and had her own fan club.

Choose the correct word . The _____ point came after Lady Gaga started promoting her music through her own website.

Choose the correct word. Lady Gaga could play the piano by ear from the age of four and later she said that her musical _____ was the classical composer Sebastian Bach.

Choose the corect form of the verb. A: Did you get to the theatre on time? B: No, the performance _____ by the time we got there. We were late because of traffic jams.

Choose the corect form of the verb. The Globe Theatre didn't have a roof and the audience _____ wet when it rained.

Choose the corect form of the verb. After leaving her parents' home, Lady Gaga _____ to earn her living as a songwriter for several years, before she became a famous singer.

Choose the corect form of the verb. Sue was listening to Lady Gaga's CD when Andy _____ and invited her to the theatre.

Choose the corect form of the verb. The performance was amazing! The actors _____ while the orchestra was performing breathtaking music.

Read the texts about the Vietnamese Water Puppet Theatre and match each paragraph with the correct heading. There is one extra heading.

Read the text about Chinese opera. Decide if the following statements are True, False or Not Stated. Chinese opera If you want to watch a music performance that combines songs, dances, and striking design, just forget about the latest pop video. Have a look at a truly original style of musical performance: Chinese opera. Last month I was on a trip to Shanghai. I was staying with my Chinese friend Mai-Li. She insisted that we go to the Chinese opera, and I have to admit the experience was amazing from beginning to end. Opera has a long history in China. In ancient times, actors performed the operas on the streets on temporary stages with only hanging lanterns for lighting. It’s funny to think that such grand art started out like that! We arrived at the theatre just before the lights went down. As the curtain rose, the actors came on stage in their beautiful costumes; the fiery reds and ribbons of gold and silver were like a kaleidoscope of colour! The costumes go all the way back to the street show days, when the actors used to wear bright colours to stand out in the dark. The singing was quite strange — very sharp and high-pitched. Just like the costumes, the singing style was really ancient. The street performers used to sing that way, so that their voices could carry over the crowds who gathered to watch. The opera we saw was "Lady White Snake", a classic Chinese folk tale. A white snake changes into a beautiful girl, and then falls in love with a human. But the actors didn’t only tell the story through song; the dancing and acrobatics were fantastic, too. The actors used not only their faces, but also their whole bodies to act out the story and show their emotions. These actors train very hard at opera schools for years, about the age of 7 or 8. There weren’t a lot of stage props or scenery because the actors use a lot of symbols to help tell the story. An actor gallops with a whip, for example, means they are riding a horse. Doing somersaults from a table or a pile of chairs means they are running down a mountain. The actors’ make-up was incredible. Each colour has a special meaning and reveals something about their character; red means loyalty and bravery, black shows a warrior or a wild character, blue means cruelty and gold and silver means mystery. At the finale, it was breathtaking to see them all on stage together in their bright costumes and make-up. I didn’t think that opera was for me, but I can’t believe how much I enjoyed it. You must all see a Chinese opera one day!