Hockey Noir

Hockey Noir; music by André Ristic, words by graphic novelist Cecil Castellucci, is a piece presented by Montreal based ECM+ and brought to Toronto in collaboration with Continuum and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival.  It’s described as a “graphic opera” which I suppose is OK as far as it goes.  I saw it as a theatre piece incorporating, and sometimes parodying, opera, musical theatre, film noir, the graphic novel and animation.  It’s set in the 1950s and riffs off the old tropes of Montreal/Toronto hockey rivalry and the entanglement of local government and organised crime in Montreal.

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Assorted news and signal boosts

genderneutralHere’s the news that’s arrived in my inbox this week.

Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts announced that from 2019 the DORA awards will be gender neutral.  In categories where there has traditionally been “Best Performance by a Male” and “Best Performance by a Female” there will now be a single “Best Performance” award.

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More in May

songbook-banner-3Looks like I missed a couple of things.  Tapestry has Songbook VII running May 10th to 12th at the Ernest Balmer Studio.  Tickets are $25 from tapestryopera.ca.  There’s also a show presented by Continuum by a Montreal based outfit called ECM.  It’s a “multimedia opera” called Hockey Noir at the Jane Mallett on May 10th and 11th.  It’s about crime and the hockey rivalry between Montreal and Toronto apparently.  Apart from that, I know nothing about anybody involved except I’m told that the singers are well regarded in Montreal.  Details here.