Category Archives: Dance, theatre & musicals

Questions for Dahlia Katz

Posted on June 22, 2019 by barczablog

Dahlia Katz is the Artistic Director of Solar Stage, a director/dramaturg with a lifetime interest in puppets, and a photographer. If I exclude those who get written up in reviews (the actors-musicians-directors etc) Dahlia Katz may have appeared in my … Continue reading →

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I swallowed a moon made of iron: Oxymoronic, Prophetic

Posted on May 18, 2019 by barczablog

Njo Kong Kie has created a one man show from Xu Lizhi’s texts, that he sings and enacts mostly from the piano, I swallowed a moon made of iron, presented at the Berkeley Street Theatre by Canadian Stage. That title comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Robert Lepage’s 887 this time

Posted on May 4, 2019 by barczablog

Have you seen Robert Lepage’s 887? This show’s been all over the world. I missed the first Toronto incarnation in 2015 but saw it & raved about  it last time, brought to Toronto via Canadian Stage (one of the co-producers) … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Psychology and perception | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

COC Otello

Posted on May 1, 2019 by barczablog

On paper the Canadian Opera Company’s new offering, an English National Opera production of Verdi’s Otello directed by David Alden and starring Russell Thomas, Gerald Finley & Tamara Wilson is as good as it gets. It’s an incredible luxury to … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Workshop of Shakespeare’s Criminal

Posted on April 27, 2019 by barczablog

Tonight I witnessed the first of 3 workshop performances at the Factory Theatre of Shakespeare’s Criminal from Orpheus Productions, a new chamber opera with music by Dustin Peters and libretto by Sky Gilbert, starring Marion Newman, Dion Mazerolle and Nathaniel … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Questions for Molly Reisman

Posted on April 25, 2019 by barczablog

The official bio says that Molly Reisman is a Canadian writer, producer and performer who is endlessly curious about how humans connect, empathize and interact with the world around them, that Molly is a graduate of NYU Tisch’s MFA Graduate … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, University life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Questions for Dean Burry: Shanawdithit

Posted on April 20, 2019 by barczablog

I hope you’ll forgive me if I pause to take a breath before I attempt to tell you who Dean Burry is, a man who wears so many hats one doesn’t always know how to address him. Professor? Composer? Librettist? … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, University life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pondering wandering

Posted on April 14, 2019 by barczablog

I like the sound of that headline. As I do what it says, pondering wandering, I am a bit lost in the ambiguities. If we knew where we were going it wouldn’t be wandering, would it. The time of year … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boisterously brilliant Bigre

Posted on April 12, 2019 by barczablog

Watching people tortured can be funny. Bigre, a Compagnie le fils du Grand Réseau Production, presented by Canadian Stage in collaboration with Théâtre Francaise de Toronto, opened tonight at the Berkeley St Theatre. In our modern gentrified cities, the impossibly … Continue reading →

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Against the Grain: Vivier’s Kopernikus

Posted on April 6, 2019 by barczablog

Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus has been promoted on social media as “Canada’s most famous unknown opera.” And Joel Ivany is quoted saying “I think this is Canada’s greatest opera ever written.” After seeing what Against the Grain did with Vivier I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment