Newman and Hardy

Blessed John Henry Newman's The Dream of Gerontius will be presented at the Oxford Oratory in the Julien Chilcott-Monk musical setting for "two actors and an a capella chorus with percussion". The Oratory is raising money for a building project. One of the two actors is Robert Hardy, who played Siegfried Farnon in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, based on the James Herriott novels. Robert Hardy studied with both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he obtained a  BA (Hons) in English! Mr. Hardy is 85 years old, and he has appeared in the role of Gerontius with this new musical version before, when it was performed at Christ Church in Oxford. He appeared on the BBC's long-running Desert Island Discs and discussed his studies under Lewis and Tolkien during that interview! Newman, and Tolkien, and Lewis, all in one post!