Tag Archives: canstage

September upcoming

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The season starts to ramp up a bit…

Concerts and Opera

  • September 1st at Lula Lounge, Louisa Lyne & di Yiddishe Kapelye, present Leonard Cohen in Yiddish as part of the Ashkenaz Festival.
  • September 18th is the opening of Verdi’s La Traviata at the Four Seasons Centre. There are ten performances split between two casts with the last on October 17th.
  • September 23rd sees the Ensemble Studio open the Free Concert Series in the RBA. Note these shows are still free but are now ticketed.
  • September 30th is National Truth and Reconciliation Day and the COC has a lunchtime lecture/recital in the RBA by mezzo Camryn Dewar on The Evolution of Female Indigenous Representation in Canadian Opera from 1879 to Present.
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Looking ahead to a quiet August

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Musically August is pretty quiet in Toronto. Opéra Queens have a PWYC concert; Sisters in Arms, at the Tranzac on the 1st (5-7pm). Confluence Concerts emerging artists programme has a concert called Side-by-Side at Heliconian Hall on the 20th and that’s about it. There’s a bit more happening in the theatre world. Summerworks runs from the 6th to the 16th with 27 works in the programme at various venues but mainly at The Theatre Centre. It’s heavy on dance but there are half a dozen or so one act plays too. CanStage’s Twelfth Night continues in High Park until September 6th.

Twelfth Night in the park

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This year’s CanStage Dream in High Park presentation is Twelfth Night adapted and directed by Gregory Prest. He takes a pretty straightforward approach. He has added a sort of prologue in which Feste speaks of the relationship between Love and Madness (and makes a few jokes about the audience and their picnics). The Love and Madness thing seems to be the central concept as far as there is one. The first two scenes are reversed too. We first meet Viola on the beach before Orsino gets to make his famous “If music be the food of love” speech. And, of course, there are cuts to fit it into the Dream time slot of 90-100 minutes. None of this really makes a whole lot of difference. The show comes across as a well acted, crisply directed, perfectly intelligible comedy and hurrah for that!

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Little Willy is a hilarious, filthy, Shakespearean (maybe) romp

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Ronnie Burkett’s show Little Willy opened at CanStage Berkeley Street on Friday night.  It’s a puppet show like you have probably never seen before.  It’s clever, it’s filthy and it’s very funny.  Burkett is creator, puppeteer, actor and singer all rolled into one.  The plot concerns a second rate, but very Canadian, theatre company attempting to stage a production of Romeo and Juliet.  What ensues is frankly rather hard to describe.

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… and the back half of February

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Here are some more things to see in the second half of February…

  • Lunchtime concerts:  On the 17th in the RBA there’s a preview of the GGS spring double bill and on the 25th in the same space there’s a concert by the Canadian Art Song Project.  On the 26th at Metropolitan United Teresa Tucci is presenting a mixed bill of opera, art song and musical theatre.
  • On the 20th (repeat performance on the 28th) at Arrayspace, the Happenstancers have a sort of mini-show (jjust three performers) of works by Brahms, Faure, Ades, Kurtag, Lori Freedman and Saariaho. There is a rather cool, one minute, promo video.
  • Also on the 20th; the fourth anniversary of the latest Russian aggression against Ukraine, there’s a film and CD launch at the Tranzac for the “Daughters of the Donbas” project which is concerned with the kidnap by the Russian state of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories.
  • On the 27th CanStage open Little Willy; a puppet based Romeo and Juliet at Berkeley Street.  It runs until April 5th.
  • On the 28th Sinfonia Toronto have a concert at George Weston Recital Hall that includes two world premiers; Colin Eatock’s Four Song Offerings on texts by Tagore and Petros Shoujounian’s Sinfonietta.

Hailey Gillis is a “must see” Nora in A Doll’s House

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Canadian Stage opened a production of Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Bluma Appel Theatre on Wednesday evening.  It’s directed by Brendan Healey and stars Hailey Gillis and Gray Powell as Nora and Thorvald.  It runs two hours without a break and it’s mesmerizing from start to finish.  Direction, acting and designs are all of the highest quality and Gillis gives one of the best performances I have ever experienced.

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Out like a lamb?

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yourewelcome365pxNot much sign of spring as we move into the second half of the month but there are some things musical to enjoy while we await the return of the sun.  On March 18th at 2pm in Mazzoleni Hall there is You’re Welcome Rossini with the glamorous duo of Allyson McHardy and, the not seen often enough in Toronto, Lucia Cesaroni.  This one is officially sold out but there may be rushes.  Ten bucks says they do the Cat duet.
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Julie

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We are remarkably lucky in Toronto to get as much contemporary opera as we do.  Courtesy of groups like Tapestry and Soundstreams , it seems that two or three new pieces get performed every year.  They tend to be home grown, which is fine but does mean we don’t often get a glimpse into what’s happening with new work in Europe.  In fact, in the last few years, I think the only European contemporary piece I’ve seen in Toronto was Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin.  So, I was really pleased, courtesy of Soundstreams and CanStage to be able to see Philippe Boesmans’ Julie which opened last night at the Bluma Appel theatre.

Julie, CanStage

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A busy week

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Next week is a bit crazy.  Tomorrow is the Elizabeth Krehm memorial concert in aid of St. Mike’s ICU.  They are playing Mahler 2 and it’s PWYC with a tax receipt.  8pm at Metropolitan United Church.  Tueday sees the opening of Philippe Boesmann’s Julie at 8pm at the Bluma Appel.  It’s an important, if bleak, contemporary piece and for the first time here, in a Soundstreams/CanStage presentation, it will be sung in English.  It runs until the 29th so plenty of chance to catch it.

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Upcoming events – mostly November

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AbrahamsOratorio_Poster_v1.4As ever there’s no shortage of announcements of new and interesting stuff in the Toronto area.  Here are a few from the inbox.  Next week, there’s a premiere of David Warrack’s oratorio Abraham.  It’s a multi-faith event in aid of the Syrian Refugee Program at Metropolitan United Church.  It’s on Wednesday, October 28th at 8 p.m. at Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen Street East, Toronto.  Richard Margison stars as Abraham and joining him are five principal vocalists; Ramona Carmelly, Meredith Hall, Hussein Janmohamed, George Krissa and Theresa Tova, three choirs: the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Jarrahi Sufi Choir with Whirling Dervishes,and the Bach Children’s Chorus  David Warrack will be at the piano.  Whirling Dervishes?  Get in!  It’s a good cause.  General admission tickets are $54; $36 for students.  $75 VIP tickets offer reserved seating and an invitation to the post-concert reception.  Tickets and more information at www.abrahamoratorio.ca. Continue reading →