Tag Archives: toronto operetta theatre

Toronto Operetta Theatre and Toronto Masque Theatre 14/15

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handbagToronto Operetta Theatre and Toronto Masque Theatre have announced their respective 2014/15 season line ups.  TOT will present three shows.  The first is a zarzuela; Federico Chueca’s La gran via.  Jose Hernandez conducts and the cast includes Margie Bernal, Fabian Arciniegas, Pablo Benitez and Diego Catala. There’s one performance on November 2nd.  The Christmas show will be Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.  Singers include Lucia Cesaroni, Mia Lennox, David Ludwig and Giles Tomkins with Derek Bate conducting.  There are six performances scheduled between December 27th and January 4th.  Finally, and perhaps most exciting, is a revival of Victor Davies’ 2008 piece Ernest, the Importance of Being.  It’s based on the Wilde play and will star Jean Stilwell as Lady Bracknell.  Larry Beckwith conducts.  There will be four performances on April 29th and May 1st to 3rd.  All three shows will be directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin and will be staged at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. (www.stlc.com)

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Season announcements

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Toronto Operetta Theatre has announced its 2014-15 season line up and both Stratford Summer Music and the Westben Festival have announced their programmes.

Toronto Operetta Theatre
The 2014/15 season features three productions.  The season opens with Federico Chueca’s zarzuela La Gran Via on November 2nd.  The Christmas season (December 27th to January 4th) will see six performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.  (And I hope Rob Ford is on “the list” though hopefully by then he’ll be well on the way to being forgotten)  Finally, and perhaps most interesting, the season closes with Victor Davies’ 2008 piece Earnest, the Importance of Being which is probably the only Canadian work that can properly be called an operetta.  There’s no further information at this time but doubtless it will eventually make its way to http://www.torontooperetta.com/. Continue reading →

The Cousin from Nowhere

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The Cousin from Nowhere is a German operetta by Eduard Künneke that premiered in Berlin in 1921.  Last night it received its Canadian premier, in English translation, at Toronto Operetta Theatre.  It’s a light, charming romcom with few pretensions but much to enjoy.  The plot is simple in outline though convoluted in almost Gilbertian way.  Julia is an heiress under the guardianship of her aunt and uncle and about to come of age and, thus, come into the fortune that hitherto the older couple have been able to enjoy.  She is in love (or thinks she is) with her third cousin twice removed Roderich, who left to make his fortune in the East Indies seven years ago.  Aunt and uncle scheme to marry her to their nephew August.  Various more or less improbable plot twists involve August impersonating Roderich and successfully winning the heart of Julia while Roderich returns and falls instantly in love with Hanna, Julia’s bestie.  It all ends happily.  The music is not unlike Viennese operetta with some nods to jazz and popular post war dance music but if you are expecting pre echoes of Berg or Weill you are going to be disappointed.  It’s quite conventional but essentially well crafted light entertainment.

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Operetta, contemporary sounds and cast changes

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Cesaroni-LuciaThe news continues to flood in!  Toronto Operetta Theatre will close out their season with the Canadian Premiere of The Cousin from Nowhere (Der Vetter aus Dingsda); a 1921 work by the German Eduard Künneke.  Described by TOT General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin as “a very special work, a chamber operetta really, written by a Berliner who incorporated American and Latin dance rhythms into a lyric framework”; it will be conducted by Jürgen Petrenko and stars tenor Christopher Mayell, and soprano Lucia Cesaroni.  There will be fours shows at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on May 1, 2, 3, 4 (mat). For tickets call the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts at 416-366-7723, 1–800-708-6754 or online at www.stlc.com

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Land of Smiles

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Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns must have seemed old fashioned even when it opened in 1929 in a Berlin that had already seen Wozzeck and Die Dreigroschenoper.  With its waltzes and gentle chinoiserie it looks back rather than forward musically and makes few demands on its listeners.  Similarly, the plot; a bittersweet romance between an Austrian aristocrat and a Chinese prince had nothing in it to disturb contemporaries though modern audiences might find the cultural appropriation a bit hard to take.  However, if Turandot doesn’t bother you this likely won’t either.

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Upcoming shows

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totFirst up is Toronto Operetta Theatre’s annual holiday offering.  This year it’s Lehar’s Land of Smiles and the cast includes Adam Fischer, Curtis Sullivan, Ernesto Ramirez and Lara Ciekiewicz.  Guillermo Silva-Marin directs and Derek Bate conducts.  There are eight performances between December 27th and January 5th including a gala performance and dinner/dance on New Year’s Eve.  Venue is the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and tickets are available here.

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