Toronto Operetta Theatre opened the concluding show of their 2024/25 season at the Jane Mallett Theatre on Friday evening. It’s Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers directed and choreographed by Guillermo Silva-Marin. It’s pretty decent and, besides, TOT is about the only chance to see G&S in Toronto; whatever one thinks of their approach. For those who have seen TOT’s G&S before it’s fair to say this is a very typical TOT G&S production.
Sunday afternoon saw VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert’s first performance in their new home; Trinity St. Paul’s. The offering was Gluck’s Alceste in the French language 1776 Paris version. Lauren Margison sang the title role with Colin Ainsworth as Admète. Guillermo Silva-Marin directed.
Trinity St. Paul’s has advantages and (perhaps) disadvantages over the Jane Mallett. It’s significantly better acoustically but much harder to do much in the way of staging. It’s a church and it looks like one with lots of carved wood and stained glass! I’m not sure that this is a disadvantage though. Rudimentary blocking with entrances and exits for the principals and concert wear is fine with me given that in either venue full staging wasn’t/isn’t very practical. The value proposition is more around getting to hear operas live that no-one else in Toronto is likely to do. I’m fine with that. Continue reading
Verdi’s 1849 opera La battaglia di Legnano is loosely based on a battle that took place in 1176 between the forces of Frederick Barbarossa and those of the Lombard League; just one episode in the interminable struggle between Guelfs and Ghibellines. By Verdi’s time the battle had been appropriated by Italian nationalists (at least in northern Italy) as symbolic of the Italians struggle against the Austrian occupiers and that’s pretty much where Verdi is at.
Toronto Operetta Theatre opened a production of Frank Lehár’s A Merry Widow at the Jane Mallet Theatre last night. It’s in some ways very much the TOT package one expects; English translation with a few gently updated jokes, a small pit orchestra, lots of movement and a cast of young, up and coming singers (for the most part). There were no real surprises. It was just done rather well.
Toronto Operetta Theatre opened a run of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance at the Jane Mallett Theatre last night.I think it’s got everything one could expect from a modest budget G&S production and maybe a bit more. Bill Silva-Marin’s production is energetic with a lot of stomping, marching and mincing going on which makes the small stage (even smaller than usual as the band is on stage) look lively and busy. The chorus is good and sings idiomatically. The principals also appear to understand the genre and there’s some good acting and good, at times excellent, singing.
operaramblings 