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A musical billed as the "biggest theatrical show in the world" is about to take to the stage in Belfast.
The Ulster-Scots epic, On Eagle's Wing, has a distinctly international flavour with a 100-strong cast and crew, as well as a choir of 300 and an orchestra.
Featuring West End star Peter Corry and Scotland's Alyth McCormack, the musical traces the journey of the Scots-Irish to the US and examines their influence on American music and culture.
More than 400 costumes will be worn during the show which is set on a three-storey, 4,800 sq ft stage, using one of the largest light sets ever constructed.
The show's world premiere was due to have been staged in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month, but it was cancelled due to problems with finances.
It will now open at the Odyssey in Belfast on Friday.
The musical's chief executive, Ian Kennedy, said they had been "desperately disappointed" at what had happened, but remain confident they will return to America next year.
"Money which had been committed to the project in the USA failed to materialise, despite signed contracts," he told BBC News Online.
"However, we are delighted that the world premiere for the show will take place in Belfast, the natural home of the story of the Scots-Irish.
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The artist Michelangelo may have had the condition Asperger's Syndrome, according to researchers.
Two experts in Asperger's, a milder form of autism, say the artist had many of the traits linked with the condition which causes social problems.
"Michelangelo was aloof and a loner," said psychiatrist Dr Muhammad Arshad, one of those involved in the research.
He added that Michelangelo's father and grandfather, as well as one of his brothers, had autistic tendencies.
Reality
The research, by Dr Arshad and Professor Michael Fitzgerald of Trinity College Dublin, was published in the Journal Of Medical Biography.
The pair describe Michelangelo, who died in 1564, as "strange, without affect, and isolated," adding that he was "preoccupied with his own private reality".
"His single-minded work routine, unusual lifestyle, limited interests, poor social and communication skills and various issues of life control appear to be features of high-functioning autism or Asperger's Syndrome."
They also compared his personality to that of Regency architect John Nash, who also suffered from the condition.
Speculative
Sufferers of Asperger's Syndrome often display talents in a particular area, such as maths or art.
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JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings won the title of the Nation's Best-Loved Book in The Big Read.
The Lord Of The Rings is officially the UK's Best-Loved Book.
Three quarters of a million votes were received by the end of the series. JRR Tolkien's classic The Lord Of The Rings triumphed over its competitors with Pride And Prejudice coming in second.
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The Pakistani artist Durriya Kazi was in Milan recently as part of the event "Connecting People" curated by Marco Scotini at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA).
Riccarda Mandrini interviewed her.
In many eastern countries the pre-Islamic past is irretrievable "it is not so in Pakistan", writes Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul in Beyond Belief "where vital fragments of the past survive in the clothing, customs, ceremonies, celebrations and significantly in the concept of caste".
This simple phrase by the Indian writer seems to capture the essence of the work of Pakistani artist Durriya Kazi. The work of Kazi deals with the roots of popular culture and explores the evolution of the real and unreal world of a young country with very old roots.
However, Durriya Kazi the artist, in the making of the work increasingly holds herself back, to leave space to artisans, students and people becoming as such an exceptional organiser of various narrations. In a complex practice that sees her in the role of professor - she teaches at the Visual Studies Department at the University of Karachi - and artist, Kazi investigates the different forms of popular representation in her country - amongst these the widespread 'Tracks Art' - to give us a completely unveiled notion of Pakistan.
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At the entrance to the courtyard in via Assab, on the northern outskirts of Milan, three large vaults (with Pier Paolo Pasolini at the centre) painted on card and hung on the wall welcome visitors. The author is 'Abbominevole', a street artist who for the last three years has been spreading large and small scale stickers around the walls of the city. Moving on, someone is working their way through the crowd balanced on a can of petrol, whilst in a corner a refreshment area has been set up and a bicycle hire point with maps (drawn by Margherita Morgantin) that offer a guided tour of the area's 'beauty spots'
In its various and most extemporary manifestations, for a whole week contemporary art is the undisputed queen of the Milan scene. Not just in the Fiera, where MiArt confirms the 'commercial' triumph but also elsewhere in the city, where Roberto Pinto looks at the new generation of Italian artists.
23 young artists - all born after 1970 - were invited to work in the context of an industrial building undergoing transformation: an ex print works and graphic company in Milan that is to become the headquarters of Assab One that takes a new interesting approach to art, welcoming new ideas and producing interesting initiatives.
Amongst the imposing rotary presses, racks for the
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