Category Archives: Books & Literature

Colin Eatock’s Birthday concert

Posted on February 21, 2023 by barczablog

No there was no cake or champagne but I’m watching my weight and can’t drive home to Scarborough if I’ve been drinking. Yet it was truly like a party, a celebration of our host Colin Eatock on the occasion of … Continue reading →

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NACO Songs for Murdered Sisters

Posted on February 12, 2023 by barczablog

Every year at this time, the Toronto Symphony and National Arts Centre Orchestras visit one another as part of a tour. NACO and Joshua Hopkins brought the cycle Songs for Murdered Sisters by Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood to Roy … Continue reading →

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Questions for Colin Eatock at 65

Posted on February 6, 2023 by barczablog

The invitation from Colin Eatock caught my eye: “I’m organizing a concert in Toronto on February 20 (my 65th birthday).The programme will include a new piece by me.Admission is by donation — I hope you can make it!” We’ve seen … Continue reading →

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Salome: from Matthew and Mark, through Oscar, Richard and Atom

Posted on February 1, 2023 by barczablog

It can be enjoyable to trace the changes in the way a story is adapted and/or interpreted. Salome begins in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Matthew 14:1-11 (NIV)1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, … Continue reading →

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Fifteen Dogs at Crow’s Theatre

Posted on January 23, 2023 by barczablog

I loved the book (André Alexis’s 2015 novel Fifteen Dogs). I love the play (adapted for the stage and directed by Marie Farsi at Crow’s Theatre). The book hit me in totally different places than the play. When you read … Continue reading →

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Telling stories of dogs and gods

Posted on January 19, 2023 by barczablog

Anecdotes are one sort of story. For example I heard that in 2020 COVID caused a surge in canine adoptions. Later I heard there was a flood in reverse, dogs being given up when people changed their minds. No I … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, My mother | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s a place for us: in Scarborough

Posted on January 3, 2023 by barczablog

I’m thinking about two films I saw recently. Last week I finally saw Spielberg’s West Side Story. One of the songs in that film is the lens through which I viewed today’s film: Scarborough. In the 1961 film and the … Continue reading →

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Mother Sorrow: workshop December 9th

Posted on December 11, 2022 by barczablog

I was privileged to observe an open rehearsal of a new creation titled “Mother Sorrow.” The creative team is large, but I should mention director & choreographer Jennifer Nichols, Composer and music director Adam Scime and librettist (combining new words … Continue reading →

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Simon Banks’ Opera: The Autobiography of the Western World

Posted on November 30, 2022 by barczablog

For me Christmas came early, when I got my hands on Simon Banks’ new book Opera: The Autobiography of the Western World. I mention that because this is the ideal gift for anyone you know who loves opera or who … Continue reading →

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Red Velvet history lesson

Posted on November 28, 2022 by barczablog

I feel the need to frame my testimony, reviewing Lolita Chakrabarti’s play Red Velvet at Crow’s Theatre, in the admission that Ira Aldridge, the first black man to portray Othello onstage in London, is almost completely unknown largely because of … Continue reading →

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