Beautiful Feet

They've lost the clown noses but The Return by Circa was an exquisite blend of insanely talented circus art with drama and live Italian baroque chamber music and opera accompaniment. As usual, CanStage brought in innovative programming (and, as usual, some dope brought in their ringing cell phone). At one point, I just sat there being so grateful for the gift of art in my life. Lovely. CREATED BY Yaron Lifschitz with Quincy Grant and the Circa Ensemble MUSIC BY Monteverdi, Grant, Mahler, Pisador and traditional DIRECTOR Yaron Lifschitz COMPOSITION/MUSICAL DIRECTION/ARRANGEMENTS Quincy Grant CIRCA ENSEMBLE Nathan Boyle Marty Evans Nicole Faubert Bridie Hooper Nathan Knowles Todd Kilby Cecilia Martin OPERA SINGERS Kate Howden Benedict Nelson MUSICIANS Pal Banda (Cello) Joe Bronstein (Violin & Viola) Natalie Murray-Beale (Musical Director, Piano, Harpsichord) Cecilia de Santa Maria (Harp) TECHNICAL DIRECTION/LIGHTING DESIGN Jason Organ STAGE DESIGN Yar...

COC PRODUCTION Giacomo Puccini Set in Rome amid the turbulence of the Napoleonic Wars,  Tosca  is a tense psychological drama of  passion and betrayal. Floria Tosca, a famous singer, murders Scarpia, the vicious chief of police, to save her beloved Cavaradossi. But Scarpia’s schemes outlive him with cruel and fatal consequences. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAMS Tosca   Adrianne Pieczonka/Keri Alkema* Cavaradossi    Marcelo Puente/Kamen Chanev* Scarpia    Markus Marquardt/Craig Colclough* Angelotti Musa Ngqungwana A Sacristan    Donato di Stefano Spoletta Joel Sorensen Sciarrone  Giles Tomkins A Jailer Bruno Roy Conductor:     Keri-Lynn Wilson Director:   Paul Curran Set Designer and  Costume Designer:   Kevin Knight Lighting Designer:   David Martin Jacques Chorus Master:   Sandra Horst *May 7, 11, 14, 18, 20, 2017 Adrianne Pieczonka as Tosca in  Tosca  (COC, 2012...

LOUIS RIEL By Harry Somers Libretto by Mavor Moore with the collaboration of Jacques Languirand Russell Braun was excellent.

Photo by Bill Cooper, featuring Ben McAteer (James) Who called it?! Scottish Opera's Ben McAteer just beat out some fierce competition to win Outstanding Opera Performance at the  MyTheatre Awards  for last season's  The Devil Inside ! Composed by Stuart MacRae with libretto by Louise Welsh,  The Devil Inside  was Scottish Opera's North American debut featuring international artists including Matthew Richardson, Michael Rafferty, Nicholas Sharratt, Rachel Kelly, Ben McAteer, and Steven Page. CONGRATULATIONS to Ben and all involved in bringing this outstanding production to Toronto. We are proud and thrilled. The Nominees for Outstanding Opera Performance: Jane Archibald in Ariodante (Canadian Opera Company) Rachel Kelly in The Devil Inside (Tapestry Opera) Ben McAteer in The Devil Inside (Tapestry Opera) - WINNER! Erin Wall in The Marriage of Figaro (Canadian Opera Company) Sondra Radvanovsky in Norma (Canadian Op...

Scott Belluz and Subiksha Rangarajan (as The Woman)  Photo courtesy of Domoney Artists . Used with permission. In March, countertenor Scott Belluz starred in The Man Who Married Himself , a production by Toronto Masque Theatre in their penultimate season, which the Crow’s Nest website described thus : “ Unwilling to marry a woman, a man fashions a lover from his own left side. He's enraptured by her perfect beauty—a mirror of his own—until he discovers that this new woman longs for freedom and wildly desires another. South Asian and Baroque music and performance traditions meet in a stunning new masque based on a traditional Indian folk-tale. Powerful and timely, The Man Who Married Himself is an allegory of the female and male warring within as told by 2 dancers, 3 singers and 6 musicians.” The show was very engaging, with lots of gestural and sensual stimuli, as well as unexpected humour. As someone in the talkback said, unlike most folk-tales, which in general h...