Review: Il Trovatore

Hiromi Omura (photo credit: Yves Renaud)

Bugs clears the aria

The Remount has arrived

By Richard Burnett

Montreal audiences have been clammering for a remount of  Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) since it was last produced by L’Opéra de Montréal way back in 1998. Even amateur opera fans will recognize many of the songs in Giuseppe Verdi’s classic opera which, since its debut in 1853, has been known as the opera with hits. 

Thus the need for Il Trovatore to be sung by an ensemble of four top-notch leads. So L’Opéra de Montréal evidently spent much of their budget hiring four terrific singers: Canadian baritone Gregory Dahl as the Count di Luna, Italian mezzo Laura Brioli as Azucena, Korean tenor Dongwin Shin as Manrico (and his golden voice really warmed up in the second half), and Japanese soprano Hiromi Omura, making her debut in the role of Leonora.

CPM's Picture of the Week, January 26, 2012

Kirsten Rasmussen playing Tough!

at Theatre Ste-Catherine

(photo by Weronika Kowalska)

Blog: Crystle Reid on ArtHere!

Bedbugs! (photo: Julian Stamboulieh)

January 25, 2012

The concept

by Crystle Reid

You’re in a hotel in downtown Montreal where you come across a bellhop on stilts crouching in the elevator, behind him is a very pregnant woman and her husband yelling back and forth at each other, they appear to have stepped out of a Christopher Guest movie.  The couple has a small crowd of people quietly following them.  When they leave the elevator the pair leads the crowd into a hotel room.  Down the hall you can see a large puppet escorting people out of another room; and you can hear sounds of laughter.  Have you found yourself in some sort of weird wacked out crazy parallel universe?  No, chances are you’ve come upon an ArtHere! event.

Beyond Our Fourth Wall, January 25, 2012

An older woman lives alone in the forest…

Le maitre de la rosée 

Feb. 8 – 25  Salle Fred Barry

Theatre...en français 

by Estelle Rosen

Two brothers in a hospital room - one has an incurable illness, the other is obsessed with religion.

Frères

Feb 21-Mar 10 – Théatre Prospéro

A head injury accident causes Annette to relive most intense moments of her life.

Annette

Feb/ 21-Mar. 3 – La Grande Licorne

Multi-disciplinary event

Leit Motiv

Feb.2 – 22 La Chapelle

After Dark, January 24, 2012

Whoring
Artists make choices - should we respect them?
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Biz is part of an arch-political rap group in Quebec called Loco Locass whose most popular song, Libérez-nous des Libéraux (Free Us From The Liberals), became an anthem here. Biz participated in a documentary, in 2005, called Star-Apoplexie, a trenchant criticism of another Quebec phenomenon, Star Académie - an American Idolesque talent show. (Many people point to SA as a perfect example of convergence for good or ill - produced by TVA, part of Quebecor, and plugged relentlessly in Quebecor magazines and newspapers with the show's music CDs made and sold by Musicor/Quebecor in its own record stores, Archambault.)

Well...

The Upstage Interview: Cameryn Moore

They aren’t real sex calls, but they are based on actual calls.

Upstage Host Eric Sukhu spoke with writer/performer Cameryn Moore about  Phone Whore presented at MainLine Theatre.   Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo Editor-in-chief.

UPSTAGE

How many years have you been part of Montreal Fringe? 

MOORE

This is my sixth year.

The Sunday Read: Profile of Tonya Lee Williams

The World According to Tonya Lee Williams

Williams heads to Montreal this week as recipient of yet another big honour: Black Theatre Workshop's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award.

by David King

    

From her early days on TV's Polka Dot Door to producing and directing shows like Da Kink In My Hair and CBC's Gospel Jubilee, actress Tonya Lee Williams is one of Canada's few artists of colour who has successfully held down a career in Canada while keeping things real amidst the trappings of L.A.

    

The founder of Toronto's ReelWorld Film Festival, which provides opportunities for artists of colour to create film and television, Williams has kept the festival going strong for over a decade. Having dedicated her life to stage and screen since graduating from Ryerson in the late 1970s, she's showing us how positive focus, hard work and devotion to one's craft can truly pave the way to change.

      

Profile: Soprano Hiromi Omura

(Photo credit: Yves Renaud)

Hiromi Omura is Not Madama Butterfly

By Richard Burnett

There are not many great opera singers who come out of Japan. And fewer who take the opera world by storm. But Hiromi Omura makes opera aficionados swoon.

“I played the violin when I was child – I wanted to be a great violin player,” Omura tells The Charlebois Post. “But I began too late. And then one day I found my voice.”

Omura became Madama Butterfly.

But Japan’s celebrated soprano has been fighting that stereotype ever since.

Theatre For Thought, January 21, 2012

NOTES FROM THE LONDON UNDERGROUND

joel fishbane

A few weeks ago, while most people were braving the Canadian cold, I was across the pond braving the damp chill of Mother England. It was my second time in the Queen’s country and as always I was struck by the giddy joy of the bookworm in the bookshop. London has long been a theatrical culture – even the Changing of the Guard smacks of theatrics – and the West End is both a madhouse and a wonderland. Having grown up in Toronto, I was reminded of my youth, when there were more shows then there were weeks of the year. 

The Friday Five, January 20, 2012

5 Reasons Why There Should Be More Nudity in Montreal Theatre. 

I hardly need to list 5 reasons, do I?  Nudity is a reason in and of itself. This may as well be a Friday One. The reason there should be more nudity in theatre is because it’s nudity, and it’s great. But so as not to break with tradition, here are five other reasons why there should be more nudity in Montreal theatre. 

by Matt G of Matt and Kyle and Matt

1. Actors are beautiful.
Actors and Actresses are sickeningly beautiful. More beautiful than regular people. And as punishment for being so beautiful they should be naked all the time.