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Meta
Category Archives: Cinema, video & DVDs
Thinking of Diefenbaker for Canada Day
A good performance can change how you understand a piece. I stumbled upon a YouTube recording that I keep listening to over and over, a piece I thought I knew. There are two contrasting tenor arias in Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. … Continue reading
The Mel Brooks Songbook
Happy Birthday Mel Brooks. He turned 96 today. And no joke, there really is a Mel Brooks Songbook. When I picked it up from the shelf in the Indigo bookstore I was a bit disbelieving myself. Mel Brooks, songwriter? The … Continue reading
TOT: A Waltz Dream
Insights sometimes sneak up on you. I was blind-sided by one today watching the Toronto Operetta Theatre Canadian premiere production of Oscar Straus’ A Waltz Dream at St Lawrence Centre. TOT play an important role offering local artists a place … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews
Tagged A Waltz Dream, Alexandra Weintraub, Amy Moodie, Andrea Nunez, Brittany Stewart, Derek Bate, Elizabeth Beeler, Gregory Finney, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Karina Bray, Opera in Concert, Oscar Straus, Scott Rumble, Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, The Shop Around the Corner, Toronto Operetta Theatre
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Kyle McDonald talks about Conan and Mightier Productions
Kyle McDonald and Mightier Productions premiere a new opera on May 5th, titled Conan and the Stone of Kelior. I asked Kyle a few questions. BB: When I look at your website, I see a commercial venture: (hopefully you recognize … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture
Tagged Alumnae Theatre, Conan, Conan and the Stone of Kelior, Corey Arnold, Diana DiMauro, Fraggle Rock, Geoffrey Davis, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Jim Smagata, Kristi Ann Holt, Kyle McDonald, Mark Rehkopf, Mightier Productions, pasticcio, Robert de Vrij
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Alexander Shelley is coming to town
Before there were convoys and honking horns, it used to be said that living in Ottawa gave you advantages, because of your proximity to the seats of power. Yet maybe there’s still some truth to it when we look at … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Press Releases and Announcements
Tagged Alexander Shelley, Ana Sokolovic, Carnegie Hall, CBC, CBC-GEM, Dmitri Shostakovich, Donna Feore, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Life Reflected, Luminato, Measha Brueggergosman, NACO, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Nicole Lizee, Philip Gla, Roy Thomson Hall, Shawnee Kish, Southam Hall, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, UNDISRUPTED
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Brian Cox: Putting the Rabbit In the Hat
We had been hearing a lot about the tv series Succession from friends. Tom Power on CBC called it the greatest series ever on an episode of Q, the show he always watches as soon as it’s available. Power’s interviews … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays
Tagged Achilles, Agamemnon, Brad PItt, Brian Cox, Dustin Hoffmann, Ed Norton, Gary Oldman, Homer, Iliad, Kevin Toolis, Laurence Olivier, Peter O'Toole, Priam, PUTTING the RABBIT in the HAT, Q, Succession, Ted Lasso, TED talk, Tom Power
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The Batman commodity
The other night when I saw Cyrano at my local Scarborough CINEPLEX, I made it a double feature, because they had only one showing that was to begin at 10:45 p.m. I filled the time before Cyrano watching The Batman, … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews
Tagged Batman Returns, Christopher Nolan, Cineplex, commodity, Frank Zappa, IMAX, Joel Schumacher, Matt Reeves, popularity, The Batman, Tim Burton
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The Cyrano you’re unlikely to see
Cyrano de Bergerac is the name of Edmond Rostand’s play directed by Chris Abraham, set to open at the Shaw Festival in a couple of weeks. But that same 19th century play is the basis for a new film named … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Press Releases and Announcements, Reviews
Tagged Chris Abraham, Cineplex, Claude Debussy, Cyrano, Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, Erica Schmidt, Haley Bennett, Joe Wright, Le tombeau de Couperin, Maurice Ravel, Peter Dinklage, Project Gutenberg, Roxanne, Shaw Festival
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The Princess Bride at the TSO
The Princess Bride is showing at Roy Thomson Hall, accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra who play the accompaniment live. It’s the perfect film for 2022. How? It features a tyrannical villain who lies shamelessly, just like certain people we … Continue reading
The Music of Our Time: John Williams at 90
It can be awe-inspiring to look at a composer’s lifetime of work. We know that JS Bach composed over 1,000 pieces in his 65 years, while Mozart, who lived only 35 years, composed perhaps 600 pieces. Yet we only care … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology
Tagged Boston Pops, Bruce Springsteen, ET the Extra-terrestrial, Fiddler on the Roof, film music, film-score, Franz Liszt, Jaws, John Williams, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Rossini, Schindler's List, Sergei Rachmaninoff, star wars, Supertramp, Taylor Swift, The Beatles
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