This morning, on Facebook, Ben changed his avatar to his dad's photo. He posted this
My dad had the bluest eyes I ever saw and thru those eyes he saw the world in all its magnificence. Today we donated his corneas with the hope somebody else will be able to see the world thru his beautiful eyes. What a cool and comforting thought.
He's such a good guy, and a really excellent baritone. When the Branagh filmn of THE MNAGIC FLUTE is available on DVD next month, you can hear what a good singer and comic he is as Papageno the Bird Catcher.
i haven't commented in the past much about the film, which never got a US distributor - WTF? it should have! - but it's Mozart's allegorical fairy tale, English version by Stephen Fry, set in the World War 1 trenches; it's funny but also very spooky, with the dragon chasing the prince at the beginning of the piece changed to a trail of poisonous gas. Papageno becomes the soldier who is checking trenches for poisonous gas pockets by sending birds into the space, and if they die . . .
The three ladies who attend the Queen of the Night are French nurses. It's all very wonderful with great costume and scene designs.