Review: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)

Hundeling and Gazheli (photo credit: Yves Renaud)

In Dutch
Opéra de Montréal did itself no favours with its new production
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

You know within the first 20 minutes from the beginning of a performance of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer if many of the key elements of a successful production are in place. So, tonight, at Place des Arts, with Opéra de Montréal's import from COC in Toronto...

Overture, robust, clear as a bell, lyrical and lovely...check. Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson (profiled tomorrow by Richard Burnett at CharPo-Canada), helmed a solid Orchestre Métropolitain through an evening that showed assurance for both a conductor and orchestra whose histories don't suggest huge familiarity with the stubborn German. Wilson, especially, surprised for some of the musical moments later in the evening which were even bold and revelatory.

Next on our list, set and lighting...check. And what a wondrously disturbing set Allen Moyer offered - all skewed lines and closed spaces which, to some extent, allowed the voices to tame the hideous accoustics of the hall.

Theatre For Thought, November 10, 2012

HATCHED FROM A THEATRICAL EGG
joel fishbane

“I didn’t want it to be an issue play,” said Claire Burns. “Just a play that deals with certain issues.” She’s referring to Hatched, her new play that was inspired from her own experience as an egg donor back in 2004. Produced by Toronto’s Triangle Co-Op Productions, the show aims to be less about the moral / legal issues surrounding in vitro fertilization and more about the ripple effect our choices have on generations to come.

It’s hard to discuss Hatched without resorting to puns, so I’ll get them out of the way now. The show was “conceived” after Burns donated her eggs, it “gestated” while Burns conducted research, interviewing egg donors, recipients and donor children. After its initial “birth”, it was “nurtured” by Burns with some dramaturgical help from the people at Triangle Co-Op. And last week, the show finally arrived, aged and mature, at the Toronto Free Gallery.

Review: Good People

Paul Hopkins and Johanna Nutter (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Southern Comfort

by Rebecca Ugolini

@RebeccaUgolini

Good People aren’t hard to find, but it might be hard to say how they’re forged. In the hard-up neighbourhood of South Boston, a single mother, Margaret (Johanna Nutter), struggles to find work after losing her job. Left with bills to pay and a mentally-handicapped adult daughter to support, Margaret acts on her friend Jean’s advice (Catherine Lemieux) and asks an old flame for help. As the gap which has grown between Mike (Paul Hopkins), who is now a doctor, and Margie becomes apparent, Good People deftly explores issues of social class, economic disparity and personal choices.

Nutter spent some time in South Boston, simply referred to as Southie by its residents, and it shows in her performance. Her accent is spot-on, and her gait and weary mannerisms communicate a femininity that has been worn-down by years of hard work and disappointment. 

CharPo's Real Theatre! November 9, 2012

The Image, November 8, 2012

Mark Rothko, the central character of Red, certainly inspires - as he does in this lovely preview video from the Segal Centre's production.

(For another take on the same play, see the Manitoba Theatre Centre's poster)

Beyond The Fourth Wall, November 7, 2012

Barbara Lewis brings the best of a classical voice to popular music. She will perform songs from her new show.

Passionate Heart 

Nov. 17 – 19h30

Fiddler’s Green Pub

Shows of interest
by Estelle Rosen

In memory of Lhasa de Sela, an evening of dance, words and music celebrating life in serenity.
Danse Lhasa Danse 
Nov. 9 & 10 – 20h
Théâtre Outremont

A documentary about the life of Ethel Kennedy told by her family.

Ethel  

Nov. 7 – 17h30
HBO 

Contemporary Cathedral Concerts

All Cage 

Nov.17 – 16h30
Christ Church Cathedral

After Dark, November 6, 2012

The (Sacred?) Image
What are an actor's responsibilities?
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
@gcharlebois

I apologize, but I am obsessed by American politics and that has been reflected on this site. Last week it was about the dangers of a Romney presidency on our culture, this week it's about image.

Not Romney's image (as I'm not sure anyone could define that), but on all our images. Let me tell you how I got to here from there...

As I have a fairly steady diet of CNN and other American networks, I am submitted to a fairly steady diet of political ads too. Moreover, an overwhelming majority of these ads are negative (on both sides). In each ad, we are treated to a number of people who are - through the very act of appearing in the ad - firmly defining their images. In a world of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Jon Stewart, those images never go away. So while Romney is doing photo ops of bagging groceries for Sandy victims, we are inundated by replays of the clip of him saying he hates FEMA and would get rid of it. Obama is forever remembered as saying he would close Guantanamo, tarnishing his first term as he doesn't do it.

The Question, November 5, 2012

The Composer (?)
by Estelle Rosen

Rob Denton is an independent theatre artist. Coming to theatre from a background in the music business as a sound engineer, he got his start in 1997 mixing the Yiddish musical The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He has since tried his hand in most aspects of theatre from technician, to sound, set and lighting designer, director and producer. In 2006 Denton translated, directed and produced his translation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit under the title Out There and in 2009 offered his own Tryptich, three short plays presented at the Theatre Ste. Catherine. He received a MECCA for his Sound Design for Satchmo’ Suite in 2007 and shares a MECCA with Tsultrum8 for his design contribution to Jesus Hopped the A Train in 2004.

Besides probably loving music which likely was the impetus for getting involved in sound design, has being a sound designer (currently referred to as composer) lived up to expectations, despite no doubt always facing challenges with each production?

As the son of a math professor I must first address the parentheses before attempting to solve the rest of the problem. Just for fun, let’s put the parenthetic phrase in quotes, “currently referred to as composer”. There. Now it seems a lot more important, doesn’t it?  I think so and here’s why.

First, I have been fortunate to work with directors, like Mike Payette,  who have given me the opportunity to actually compose original scores. This is my preferred way to work and is most fulfilling on a personal level. For the current production of Harlem Duet,  all the guitar, piano and harmonica parts were played by me. Certain instruments were virtual i.e. drums, bass and synthesizers but all were triggered by my fingers and arranged by me... For better or worse.

Tour Whore, November 4, 2012

It's a NOLA Halloween
by Cameryn Moore

It’s beautiful out here, in the middle of a going-to-wild field, in the heart of New Orleans’ vast City Park, on Halloween.

My billet, a friend from the 2011 Fringe circuit, was throwing a party here. Except for the stone shelter and the lights from the stadium a quarter-mile away and my billet’s friend’s pickup truck with the generator hooked up to it, it truly felt like the faeries had gone slumming in human land for the night: twinkling strands of Christmas-light stars hung from three massive oak trees, leaf-strewn carpets and cushions, and the attire, of course, it’s New Orleans and the folks here take costuming seriously. Later on, the party would fill up with Mexican skull face paint and elaborate gilt spiral-horn headdresses and cobwebby shawls and Italianate raven’s-beak masks, and look, Little Red Riding Hood, it all jumbled together and felt strange.

Theatre For Thought, November 3, 2012

AN ODE TO THE STAGE MANAGER
joel fishbane

A long time ago, while in university, I had the opportunity to produce the first play I had ever written. On the first day of rehearsals, I was approached by a girl who offered herself to me, and not in the way I might have liked. “Who’s your stage manager?” she asked. I laughed. “I don’t need a stage manager,” I replied. “They don’t do anything anyway.”

Ah. To be young and dumb.

I hired her anyway, thinking she’s be someone to bring me coffee. I don’t think she ever brought me a single cup of coffee. But she saved my life and I have never worked without a stage manager since. 

     

Just as writers do not trust directors, directors do not trust actors. Actors are absent minded. The moment they no longer need a prop, they forget about it. They finish their costume change and leave things scattered on the ground. After the curtain call, they leave to find their friends so people can tell them how great they were. And when they show up the next day, they expect their costumes to be clean and hung, their props to be pre-set and the stage to be swept and mopped. Directors know this (usually because they were once, or still are, actors themselves). That’s why they hire the stage manager.