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Category Archives: Cinema, video & DVDs
Pollyanna and the lessons of 2018
In past years my annual review was out in December, but this time it’s later than usual: because I’ve had a real holiday this year, more sleep and more silence than usual, dodging the viruses & germs pursuing other members … Continue reading
Maria by Callas at TIFF
Tonight I saw Tom Volf’s 2017 documentary Maria by Callas at TIFF. With the exception of a brief interview with her singing teacher Elvira de Hidalgo, the film is entirely an account of Maria Callas in her own words, that … Continue reading
The Producers at Lower Ossington Theatre
I just saw The Producers at the Lower Ossington Theatre. I have so many different sorts of responses, I want to keep them straight. 1. The theatre 2. The play (I know every line of the film, the play is … Continue reading
To re-purpose
The word is in my head after The Death of Stalin. Iannucci’s film takes music and uses it in new ways. Whether we’re talking about John Hughes, Stanley Kubrick or your organist at church, the re-use of an existing piece … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Theatre & musicals
Tagged A Midsummernight's Dream, Anita Louise, Charlottesville, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Felix Mendelssohn, Iannucci, Ludwig van Beethoven, Max Reinhardt, Melodrama, Shakespeare, Spinning Song, Tchaikovsky, Venetian Boat Song
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The pain I felt reading Kathleen Turner’s interview
There’s a great deal in Kathleen Turner’s fascinating recent interview with David Marchese. So naturally if you’re a beautiful actress people will react, comment, and draw their own conclusions about what’s really important. I find it desperately sad when I see what … Continue reading
The Death of Stalin
It was promoted as a comedy. That reminds me of a joke I heard years ago. Stalin is addressing the Supreme Soviet, speaking and suddenly: a sneeze is heard. Stalin stops speaking, and asks sternly “who snyeeezed?” (my friend who … Continue reading
Plummer, Shakespeare & Oundjian
Tonight’s concert, the latest in the month-long Toronto Symphony celebration of Peter Oundjian, was like a cross between a pops concert and a play reading, titled “Christopher Plummer’s Symphonic Shakespeare”. It was like “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits”, a series of textual … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews
Tagged Berlioz, Christopher Plummer, Debussy, Healey Willan, Korngold, Mendelssohn, Nino Rota, Peter Oundjian, Prokofiev, Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams, Wagner, William Walton
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