Wagner & Me – a documentary film with Stephen Fry

PROGRAM CHANGE . . . . .

Due to schedule changes, we had to move Lisa Hirsch’s talk about Lauritz Melchior to November, so the November program – a screening of the documentary film “Wagner & Me” will now be in July.

“Wagner & Me”

Stephen Fry is one of Britain’s best loved performers – a multi-talented actor, presenter and writer. He played the title role in the Hollywood movie Wilde and also appeared in A Fish Called Wanda and Gosford Park. On the “telly” Fry presents the cult quiz-show QI, and makes regular appearances in the hit US drama “Bones”. He is much beloved for his role of the wise and witty valet Jeeves in “Jeeves and Wooster” based on the books of P. G. Wodehouse. 

Fry is a lifelong fan of the music of Richard Wagner – the world’s most controversial composer.

But Stephen is also Jewish and, as he is acutely aware, the intensity of his enthusiasm for the composer was matched – or even surpassed – by that of Hitler.

In this film Stephen makes a journey to explore his fascination for Wagner and confront his troubled legacy. Can he disentangle the music he loves from its poisonous links with Hitler? 

This was shown on the BBC in a shorter format. We will show a full 89-minute feature film with additional footage.

Wagner & Me re-unites Stephen with Wavelength Films, with whom he made the 2009 BAFTA nominated BBC film, Stephen Fry & the Gutenberg Press.