It’s not opera yet but I’ll take any live theatre I can get right now. Last night’s show was a joint presentation by Jamii Esplanade and Théâtre Français de Toronto of David Danzon and
Carolin Lindner’s La bulle. It’s not an easy show to describe. There is one character; Pierrot, dressed in the traditional manner and played brilliantly by Danzon. He inhabits a transparent dome. Pierrot dreams his dreams wordlessly through mime, drawing, dance and even text. He finds ways to communicate with the outside world; us, sitting in a 360 degree arrangement around the dome. There’s music and complex lighting effects. The show has real emotional depth and is strangely moving. At times it’s very funny and Danzon’s agility and ability to go through what seem like complete personality changes is rather remarkable. It’s playing at 8pm every night until September 5th in the courtyard at Berkeley Castle but I’m afraid all performances are sold out.
Photo credit: Muriel Cavanhac
The Royal Conservatory of Music has just announced a real live season for 2021/22. Covid restrictions will likely be in place for at least the first part of the season but hopefully will ease up at some point. There’s the usual eclectic mix of classical, vocal, jazz, world music etc so I’ll just cover the classical vocal stuff which is actually pretty exciting. Let’s go through it chronologically. 
There’s a Met in HD season again with ten shows starting in October. All shows start at 12.55pm New York time. Three out of ten performances are 21st century operas which is as surprising as it is welcome. There are some interesting looking new productions and one or two that fit into a Met formula that doesn’t work for me usually. And there are two remarkably venerable productions that surely are past their sell by date. Here are my thoughts on each:
It’s been a bit quiet lately but there a couple of live shows and a video that you might want to check out. None of them are opera really but whatever. Shakespeare in the Ruff are doing something different this year. They have a one hour show called Towards Rebirth which explores the themes of Rupture, Resilience, and Rebirth. It was created in workshop by the actors and so it’s maybe not the most polished theatre you will ever see but it’s quite moving and sometimes very funny. There are six more shows in Withrow Park at 3pm and 6.30pm Friday through Sunday. It’s ticketed and PWYC. Details 
As expected the COC’s fall season, announced today, is all virtual. Even the RBA concerts will be 5 minute on-line nuggets. The stuff on the main stage is pretty interesting though. Here’s the line up (note all dates are “supporter opening night”. General streaming starts 24 hours later. All shows are at 7.30pm).:
operaramblings 