Category Archives: Dance, theatre & musicals

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Post-Democracy at Tarragon Theatre

Posted on November 18, 2022 by barczablog

Theatre sometimes takes us into worlds we don’t like, showing us people we’d avoid, situations we might never encounter otherwise. In some respects theatre is like a conceptual hazmat suit, a way to taste poison without dying. We may cower … Continue reading →

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Gay for Pay with Blake and Clay

Posted on November 17, 2022 by barczablog

It’s a funny week, even if nobody seems to remember what “funny” means anymore. I didn’t laugh at Dave Chappelle’s SNL monologue. I walked out of the room during the big announcement the other night (one too many lies) even … Continue reading →

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Darkly Comic Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just come from the matinee of Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, presented by Crow’s Theatre in co-production with Modern Times Stage Company. The title tells you the basic premise, a tiger is caged in a … Continue reading →

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Sarah Polley – Run Towards the Danger

Posted on October 4, 2022 by barczablog

I have just finished reading Sarah Polley’s Run Towards the Danger, a book like none I’ve ever read before. It might be the most authentic autobiography I’ve ever encountered. Except that it’s not an autobiography. I notice too that while … Continue reading →

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