Author Archives: barczablog

Body of work: Aronofsky wrestles with an idea

Posted on January 24, 2011 by barczablog

Sometimes a superficial resemblance between two films by the same director is nothing more than coincidence; sometimes similarities are indications of important preoccupations. Darren Aronofsky has recently been fascinated with bodily matters.  His last two films can be read as … Continue reading →

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Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me (and them)

Posted on January 19, 2011 by barczablog

I was fortunate to stumble upon the documentary Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me recently on TV Ontario (a public television network) in its first North American broadcast. Originally seen on BBC, the doc is a curious mixture of music, history, … Continue reading →

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Assassins and history

Posted on January 12, 2011 by barczablog

Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is a musical with history.  The play happens in an abstract space where characters from different centuries meet one another, converse, sing and dance together.  At first glance it resembles a review, a series of numbers where … Continue reading →

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Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey

Posted on January 6, 2011 by barczablog

This is a book review I wrote for the newsletter of the Toronto Wagner Society. Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey Lotfi Mansouri with Donald Arthur The grin on the cover looks the same as ever.  Can this familiar figure really … Continue reading →

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The King’s Speech

Posted on January 3, 2011 by barczablog

We’re always hearing about the impact of media upon our world. As anyone who has seen Singin’ in the Rain can tell you, new media –such as talking pictures in the late 1920s—can cause a complete upheaval not just within … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Essays, Reviews | 1 Comment

December 30, 1960

Posted on December 30, 2010 by barczablog

December 30th, 2010 is a date of personal interest, the anniversary of the day my father succumbed to leukemia, at the very end of 1960.   I understand he had been sick for a few years. I don’t think of … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, Personal ruminations & essays | 1 Comment

Risky performance: when it’s not just a metaphor

Posted on December 24, 2010 by barczablog

Will the new Spiderman musical ever open?  It’s been prohibitively expensive to marry Julie Taymor‘s  vision to the music of Bono & The Edge.  I’ve read estimates of $65 million USD: and counting.  One wonders how many years of full … Continue reading →

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Mad Swan

Posted on December 19, 2010 by barczablog

After a post earlier this week concerning ballet, I had to go see Black Swan, a film that appears to go right to the heart of the artform or at least the concerns I spoke of the other day. I … Continue reading →

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What price virtuosity, or the (body) image problem.

Posted on December 14, 2010 by barczablog

I used to see opera and ballet as two sides of the same coin. I understood them in terms of an obsession with power & fluidity, accomplished by ballet’s bodies, and by opera’s voices.   The dancer’s movements were what … Continue reading →

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A new Messiah

Posted on December 12, 2010 by barczablog

It might seem to be a conundrum worthy of a religious scholar: how do we know the real Messiah?  And even though we’re not speaking of a saviour but rather about Handel’s oratorio, the topic may as well be a … Continue reading →

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