Category Archives: Politics

Kent Monkman: Miss Chief Eagle Testickle’s big New York Adventure

Posted on January 14, 2020 by

Early in the musical documentary film The Last Waltz we see Ronnie Hawkins coming out onto the stage of the Winterland Ballroom. The music begins to play. Hawkins may be a musical legend but he is nervous, about to sing … Continue reading →

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Nukeface or “what are you looking at”?

Posted on January 14, 2020 by

I’m in New York to see Nukeface, at the Bodega Gallery in New York. More accurately I’m in New York because it’s a chance to see Zoe Barcza, my daughter. It’s exciting to get to see her and to see … Continue reading →

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TOT Gypsy Baron

Posted on December 29, 2019 by

The Toronto Operetta Theatre opened their new production of Johann Strauss Jr’s The Gypsy Baron tonight at the Jane Mallett Theatre with a full house in attendance for the first of five performances. It’s a very uneven production of a … Continue reading →

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Met HD Akhnaten

Posted on November 24, 2019 by

Yesterday I watched Philip Glass’s opera Akhnaten as presented in the Metropolitan Opera’s High Definition broadcast on a big screen in Scarborough, at the same time people were watching it in many places around the world. I wish the Canadian … Continue reading →

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Oxymoronic Augmented Opera

Posted on November 23, 2019 by

I don’t use that word lightly, and it’s not an insult. Some operas are oxymoronic, rife with contradiction, asymptotic in their fascination with impossibilities. Maeterlinck’s play Pelléas et Mélisande is the creation of a playwright who cringed in the presence … Continue reading →

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Resonant Minorities

Posted on October 18, 2019 by

Tonight I was present at the Canadian premiere of Yang Zhen’s third installment of his “Revolution Game Trilogy”, Minorities, a Red Virgo production presented by Canadian Stage. You will recognize many things in this show. We watch five female dancers later … Continue reading →

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Amplified Opera —The Queen in Me

Posted on October 12, 2019 by

The title tells the story. Night #2 in the Amplified Opera opening concert series at the Ernest Balmer Studio was The Queen in Me, a performance piece straddling the line between surreal confessional and stand-up comedy, a brilliant piece of … Continue reading →

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