Infinite Life

Infinite Life, by Annie Baker, in a production directed by Jackie Maxwell, opened at Coal Mine Theatre last night.  It’s a play that has garnered acclaim in both London and New York.  It’s not hard to see why.  It’s the sort of play that perhaps appeals to theatre people (including critics) more than it does to the general public, though it’s not without wider appeal.  It requires great skill and precision to bring off precisely because nothing really happens.  There’s no narrative thread for a general audience to grasp.  That said it is remarkably effective on its own terms.

Brenda Bazinet, Kyra Harper, and Jean Yoon in InfiniteLife_CoalMineTheatre_byElanaEmer_EE_1589

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Three Sisters

A version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters opened last night in a collaboration between Hart House Theatre and the Howland Company.  It’s described as “Adapted and directed by Paolo Santalucia after Chekhov” .  What this means is that is given a contemporary Canadian setting with changed character names and so forth.  The structural purpose of each scene, pretty much each speech, remains the same but the words are not a literal translation.  And, Alex Vershinin is a woman lieutenant colonel in the RCAF which gives a very different spin to her “affair” with Masha.

threesisters-shaunathompson-hallieseline-carolinetoal-photobydahliakatz-1.jpg copy

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How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

simone_sI guess being young, talented, hard working and a lovely person all help.  A leg up from Marilyn Horne does no harm either.  All of which is by way of saying that Simone Osborne makes her Carnegie Hall debut on Saturday in the Marilyn Hall Song Celebration.  Simone has already made a big impression in Toronto (Pamina, Gilda and Lauretta at COC) and across Canada as well as in Japan while taking time out to charm sharks in the Indian Ocean and Lotfi Mansouri (no relation) in Zurich.  There are some other singers too, including one Piotr Beczala, so New Yorkers might want to check this one out.

Toi, toi, toi and stuff.