Tag Archives: mcarthur

TOT’s streamed The Csardas Princess

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lmargisonToronto Operetta Theatre are offering a streamed performance of Emmerich Kálmán’s The Csardas Princess.  It’s another film made in the Edward Jackman Studio and with TOT’s usual team in charge.  The cast includes Lauren Margison in the title role with Michael Barrett as Prince Edwin.  The cast also includes TOT regulars Caitlin Wood as Countess Stasi, Ryan Downey as Boni and Gregory Finney as Feri, Rosalind McArthur and Sean Curran appear as Edwin’s  parents Anhilte and Leopold Maria.

The stream will be available from July 9th to 23rd and an access code is $20 plus fees and can be purchased here.

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Pinafore at TOT

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Toronto Operetta Theatre’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore opened last night.  Director Guillermo Silva-Marin has chosen to translate the piece to a cruise ship in the 1920s which has its incongruities but they aren’t particularly disturbing (except perhaps for Sir Joseph Porter’s shoes!).  In fact what we get is basically a crisp, well paced and idiomatic Pinafore which is what I want in G&S.  It’s also genuinely funny, though some jokes age better than others, and occasionally even quite moving.

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Perchance to Dream

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Ivor Novello’s Perchance to Dream opened in London in April 1945.  It’s fluffy, romantic and nostalgic.  It has a ridiculous plot, some great tunes (A Woman’s Heart, We’ll Gather Lilacs etc) and lots of eye candy.  It’s probably exactly what people needed after nearly six years of an exceptionally weary, dreary war.  It ran for a thousand performances.  Approached in the right frame of mind it’s still a very enjoyable, escapist way of spending a couple of hours.

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Whose opera is it anyways?!

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Whose opera is it anyways?! is a comedy-improv-opera show from LooseTEA Theatre’s Alaina Viau.  Last night saw the second in what is being projected as a monthly series at the Comedy Bar on Bloor West.  So how does it work?  The “games” and associated players are decided in advance but each usually requires some kind of audience input such as a place or a mood or even the messages on someone’s phone.  The team then act out and sing a sketch on the prescribed lines.  Natasha Fransblow provided accompaniment on keyboards, though how much of that was planned and how much improvised I couldn’t tell.  In between numbers Jonathan McArthur MC’d accompanied by really obnoxiously loud pop music (not helped by the speaker basically being in my left ear).

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In a handbag?

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One probably can’t go far wrong with an adaptation of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and the operetta, Earnest,The Importance of Being by Victor Davies and Eugene Benson doesn’t.  In fact it doesn’t go far from Wilde at all following the plot of the original faithfully and containing all the well known lines.  It means too, of course, that it has the flaws as well as the virtues of the original.  The first act can drag a bit as Wilde gets a bit too clever but t builds to a very effective second half which flies by.  The duet for the girls, To Speak With Perfect Candour is probably the best number in the piece.  Davies’ music too does not try to be too portentous.  It’s a bit of a pot pourri of styles with, at least, big band music, classical operetta, popular song of the period and what seems to be a nod to Andrew Lloyd-Webber.  It’s perfectly consistent with the text.  I don’t think though that there’s a single number that one would call truly hummable.

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