Category Archives: Dance, theatre & musicals

Best of 2022

Posted on January 9, 2023 by barczablog

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

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 →

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

TOT: Revenge of the Tenors

Posted on December 29, 2022 by barczablog

This afternoon the Toronto Operetta Theatre’s production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (or The Bat) opened to a sold-out audience at the St Lawrence Centre. It’s sometimes called “The revenge of the bat” although today I was inclined to think … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Andrea Núñez, Derek Bate, Die Fledermaus, Greg Finney, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Kirsten LeBlanc, Scott Rumble, Toronto Operetta Theatre, TOT | Leave a comment

A Blue Christmas pointing me to Elvis’s redemption

Posted on December 26, 2022 by barczablog

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

Gustavo Gimeno’s First TSO-TMC Messiah

Posted on December 18, 2022 by barczablog

The surest sign the city seems to be returning to something like normal, is Handel’s Messiah performed all over. I’m seeing many friends on Facebook either reporting that they’re singing it or feeling left out because so many others are … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Elliot Madore, George Frideric Handel, Gustavo Gimeno, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, Lauren Fagan, Messiah, Michael Colvin, Roy Thomson Hall, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Adam Scime, Benoit Bolduc, Brayden Cairns, Christian Masucci Facchini, David James Brock, Evelyn Hart, Gabor Mate, Gioachino Rossini, Jarrett Siddall, Jennifer Nichols, Lindsay McIntyre, Marshall Pynkoski, Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Nicholas McClung, Opera Atelier, Pergolesi, Rodney Diverlus, Stabat Mater, theatre history, Tyler Gledhill | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Politics, Reviews | Tagged history, opera, Opera: The Autobiography of the Western World, Simon Banks, theatre history | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Politics, Reviews | Tagged Allan Louis, Amelia Sargisson, Charles Kean, Cherissa Richards, Crow's Theatre, Edmund Kean, Ellen Denny, Ellen Tree, Guloien Theatre, Ira Aldridge, Jeff Lillico, Kyle Blair, Lolita Chakrabarti, Othello, Peter Hinton, Red Velvet, Starr Domingue, Thomas Ryder Payne | 3 Comments

Profoundly Creative Requiem for a Gumshoe

Posted on November 26, 2022 by barczablog

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 →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged Dylan Trowbridge, Eldritch Theatre, Eric Woolfe, Gareth Crew, Lisa Norton, Mairi Babb, Melanie McNeill, Ragnarok, Raymond Chandler, Red Sandcastle Theatre, Requiem for a Gumshoe, Verne Good | 3 Comments

Pre-Democracy with Lucio Silla

Posted on November 21, 2022 by barczablog

I had an epiphany watching today’s presentation of Lucio Silla from Opera in Concert in the St Lawrence Centre. In my review of the opening night of Hannah Moscovitch’s Post-Democracy (that opened at the Tarragon Theatre last Thursday) I included … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Politics, Reviews | Tagged Abduction from the Seraglio, Amy Moodie, Daddy Warbucks, Giovanni de Gamerra, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Hannah Moscovitch, Holly Chaplin, Julia MacVicar, La Clemenza di Tito, Lucio Silla, Owen McCausland, Post-Democracy, Robert Cooper, Suzy Smith, Tarragon Theatre, Vania Chan, Voicebox Opera in Concert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment