I haven’t seen the full season of Stratford Festival fare yet but The Pirates of Penzance is one of very few things so far that’s thrilled me. I loved it. I went in fond of but aware of the flaws in Gilbert & Sullivan’s work, and specifically the technical insanity of trying to stage Pirates. […]
When Leonard Bernstein’s one-act opera about a crumbling marriage in the 1950s suburbs premiered in 1952, I imagine it was pretty subversive and revealing. The idea of something so flawed yet so seemingly perfect is a fascinating, dark and specifically suburban concept that would have played as insightful and daring back when the suburbs were […]
This has been a bit of a rough repertory period for the Canadian Opera Company- the full-length Offenbach they presented earlier this month was obnoxiously long and unforgivably dull and their double feature of Zemlinksy & Puccini one-acts contains one dreary dud and one brilliant success (the Puccini, predictably). With only 52 minutes of greatness […]
If you were to do a search of the most commonly used phrases on this website, one of the top hits would undoubtedly be “mixed bag”. I use the term constantly, mostly because I insist that a review include at least one criticism and one compliment for every production. But, really, most things lean to […]
Last week I did nothing but go to the theatre. I saw tons of stuff from operas of Wagnerian length to 90 minute farce to epic dance that brought me right back to a childhood obsession. The productions run the gamut from intolerably boring to utterly thrilling. First up was The Tales of Hoffmann […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2011 My Theatre Awards, we’re proud to present the My Theatre Nominee Interview Series. Iphigenia in Tauris was the first opera I reviewed for My Entertainment World, and remains my favourite. With stunning lighting design, stirring modern visuals and an alround fantastic cast, the production was one […]
Here’s the fun thing—I go to a lot of theater, but I’ve never been to the Opera. Not once. Which, if I was any other average 20-something, would not be weird at all. But I’m me, so it was sort of weird. So I was lucky enough to get to see the Boston Opera Collaborative’s […]
The latest indie theatre piece to crash down in Toronto’s Factory Studio Theatre is called The Big Smoke, a title which refers to its London setting, not its current location. The piece is essentially a weird solo acapella opera wherein Amy Nostbakken sings the story of aspiring artist Natalie using only an empty stage, some […]