-
Recent Posts
Subjects
- Animals, domestic & wild
- Art, Architecture & Design
- Books & Literature
- Cinema, video & DVDs
- Dance, theatre & musicals
- Essays
- Food, Health and Nutrition
- guest blog
- Interviews
- Music and musicology
- My mother
- Opera
- Personal ruminations & essays
- Politics
- Popular music & culture
- Press Releases and Announcements
- Psychology and perception
- Reviews
- Spirituality & Religion
- Sports
- University life
- Against the Grain Theatre
- Alexander Neef
- Allyson McHardy
- Ambur Braid
- Andrew Haji
- Barbara Hannigan
- Beethoven
- Ben Heppner
- Benjamin Britten
- Canadian Opera Company
- Canadian Stage
- Carla Huhtanen
- Christopher Alden
- Claude Debussy
- COC
- Colin Ainsworth
- David Fallis
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Four Seasons Centre
- Franz Liszt
- Franz Schubert
- George Frideric Handel
- Giacomo Puccini
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Glenn Gould
- Guillermo Silva-Marin
- Gustav Mahler
- Gustavo Gimeno
- Handel
- Hector Berlioz
- Ivars Taurins
- Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
- Joel Ivany
- Johannes Debus
- John Adams
- Jonathan Crow
- Koerner Hall
- Krisztina Szabo
- La Clemenza di Tito
- Linda Hutcheon
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Marshall Pynkoski
- Maurice Ravel
- Meghan Lindsay
- Messiah
- Metropolitan Opera
- Mireille Asselin
- Mozart
- opera
- Opera Atelier
- Parsifal
- Pelleas et Melisande
- Peter Oundjian
- Philip Glass
- Puccini
- Richard Strauss
- Richard Wagner
- Rigoletto
- Robert Carsen
- Robert Lepage
- Roy Thomson Hall
- Russell Braun
- Sky Gilbert
- Sondra Radvanovsky
- Stewart Goodyear
- Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Talk is Free Theatre
- Tapestry Opera
- Toronto Operetta Theatre
- Toronto Summer Music
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Tristan und Isolde
- Wagner
- William Shakespeare
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Archives
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
Meta
-
Join 2,322 other subscribers
Category Archives: Cinema, video & DVDs
Surprising Chevalier
How could I resist seeing Chevalier, the new film about Joseph Bologne? He’s been called the “black Mozart”. He was given the title Chevalier de St Georges by Marie Antoinette, composer of operas, symphonies, a virtuoso violinist and master swordsman. … Continue reading
Philadelphia pairs from Jonathan Demme
We watched Philadelphia (1993) last night for the first time in awhile. I’m just writing this to call attention to a pattern I think I’ve observed in the work of director Jonathan Demme. I haven’t seen all of his films, … Continue reading
Salome returns to tumultuous welcome
The Canadian Opera Company’s co-production of Richard Strauss’s Salome returned last night in the first of seven performances to huge applause. It’s a star vehicle for Ambur Braid in the title role, a wonderful first outing for Michael Schade as … Continue reading
Salome: from Matthew and Mark, through Oscar, Richard and Atom
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
Telling stories of dogs and gods
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 adaptation, André Alexis, Animal Farm, apologue, Bengal Tiger, Crow's Theatre, Fifteen Dogs, George Orwell, Giller Prize, Isle of Dogs, Marie Farsi, Pride and Prejudice, rescue dogs, Wes Anderson
Leave a comment
Best of 2022
I enjoy recalling the best moments of the past 12 months. There’s a fork in the road, however. One pathway leads towards that which is truly “new”, while the other relies on what we’ve seen before. Need I mention, the … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera
Tagged Against the Grain Theatre, Alexander Neef, ARC Ensemble, Arkady Spivak, Canadian Opera Company, CERB, Chris Abraham, Conan and the Stone of Kelior, Corey Arnold, Crow's Theatre, Eldritch Theatre, Elisa Citterio, Eric Woolfe, Gay for Pay, Gould's Wall, Gustavo Gimeno, Joel Ivany, Kyle McDonald, Lauren Pearl, Michael Hidetoshi Mori, Nicole Lizée, OCADU, Perryn Leech, RCM, Royal Conservatory of Music, RUR A Torrent of Light, Simon Wynberg, Sweeney Todd, Tafelmusik, Talk is Free Theatre, Tapestry Opera, The Lion Heart, TIFT, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TSO, Wajdi Mouawad, Yuja Wang
Leave a comment
There’s a place for us: in Scarborough
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
Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews
Tagged Anna Claire Beitel, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Hernandez, Conor Casey, Crave, Elvis, gentrification, Rich Williamson, Rita Moreno, Rob Teehan, Scarborough, Shasha Nakhai, Steven Spielberg, Strictly Ballroom, West Side Story
Leave a comment
A Blue Christmas pointing me to Elvis’s redemption
The recent Saturday Night Live hosted by Austin Butler persuaded me to watch the recent biography of Elvis Presley, starring Butler. As we watched, Erika pointed to the similarity between Butler and Elvis, two men who both lost their mother … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Popular music & culture
Tagged Austin Butler, Blue Christmas, Cecily Strong, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis, Elvis Presley, Forrest Gump, Gabor Maté, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Moulin Rouge, saturday night live, Strictly Ballroom, The Great Gatsby, Tom Hanks
10 Comments
Profoundly Creative Requiem for a Gumshoe
The body count is higher than any superhero movie. But there’s no CGI, no fancy effects. Your imagination is engaged as never before. It may scare you, seeing so much death and contemplating the end of the world in Eldritch … Continue reading
Popular Tchaikovsky at the TSO
Handel speaks from beyond the grave to remind musicians how he helps pay the rent in a meme. Ballet companies owe Tchaikovsky a similar debt, when families flock to the theatre for The Nutcracker. Popularity can be problematic when it … Continue reading