Category Archives: Reviews

Danny and that question

Posted on January 9, 2017 by barczablog

I’m viewing Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, the live show I saw previewed tonight, through the same lens through which I stared at La La Land last night. Yesterday was a big movie house full of people. Tonight was … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Leave a comment

La La Land and the eternal question

Posted on January 8, 2017 by barczablog

La La Land is a musical but different. How? One part of the equation is us, the way we were different in 2016. And I suspect we’ll hear a great deal about how we have become different for 2017. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Mysterious Satie: Socrate, Hannigan and de Leeuw

Posted on January 7, 2017 by barczablog

People may think they know you.  They can have expectations of you, and be surprised when you don’t behave in the usual way.  I don’t like being boxed in, stereotyped by old friends who think they know me better than … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Leave a comment

TOT Pirates

Posted on January 1, 2017 by barczablog

I said a festive goodbye to 2016 with the help of the last Pirates of Penzance of the year from Toronto Operetta Theatre (TOT). They’re taking a well-deserved break for the holiday (and Happy New Year to you too), before … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Leave a comment

Fialkowska: Schubert’s Bohemian Rhapsody

Posted on December 30, 2016 by barczablog

This review has had a long gestation. But let me say first, Schubert is not usually understood as any sort of mystery, and maybe that’s a problem. When I open my Schubert impromptus or sonatas, having heard others play these … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Leave a comment

All’s Well in Messiahville

Posted on December 16, 2016 by barczablog

Toronto is known for a few things. We’re a very knowledgeable hockey town, even if that’s often been a special kind of torture. We’re possibly the most genuinely multi-cultural city in the world, embracing all colours of the rainbow, including … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 3 Comments

Shore’s Fellowship

Posted on December 3, 2016 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company in partnership with tiff presented a concert performance of Howard Shore’s score for The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien films. If you think … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 2 Comments

Filament Incubator – Paradise Comics

Posted on November 30, 2016 by barczablog

It sounds challenging, this objective of Filament Incubator to produce eight plays in eight months and as far as I can tell they pulled it off. How difficult is it? To put it in context, you’d have to look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Leave a comment

Sir Andrew Davis’s big beautiful Messiah: on Chandos

Posted on November 26, 2016 by barczablog

Last year the Toronto Symphony revived a new concert edition of Handel’s Messiah, first heard in 2010, created by their conductor laureate Sir Andrew Davis. At the time of the December 2015 concerts I declared that I wanted to hear … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 3 Comments

Chaotic Dollhouse all too real

Posted on November 19, 2016 by barczablog

Here’s what I found on the Coleman Lemieux website concerning Dollhouse, their new work currently being presented by Canadian Stage: Dollhouse is a work created for galleries, cross-disciplinary exhibitions, music centres, theatres, and all manner of other places of learning … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Leave a comment