Beautiful Feet

Choice and destiny collide in British theatre luminary Nick Payne's startlingly original play about the infinite possibilities of love (and the quantum multiverse). A man and a woman's chance encounter sets off a singular chain of events where each path they might take shapes an entirely different future. Their sweeping and spellbinding romantic journey will defy the boundaries of the world we think we know. Director Peter Hinton brings his award-winning vision to this five-star West End and Broadway hit.  ROLAND Graham Cuthbertson MARIANNE Cara Ricketts Courtesy CanStage.

Prolific Canadian dancer/choreographer Bill Coleman ( Older & Reckless ) confronts a series of almost biblical challenges in this eye-opening spectacle about a man out of sync with his surroundings. Objects fall, shatter and move of their own accord creating a unique soundscape that accompanies one man's descent into chaos. Coleman, a master performer, plays the role of modern fakir as he navigates through situations, at times verging on the comic, culminating in a hypnotic symphony of sight and sound created and performed in collaboration with celebrated composer Gordon Monahan.   Courtesy CanStage.

THE REALISTIC JONESES TORONTO PREMIERE by  Will Eno directed by  Richard Rose Nov 9 – Dec 18, 2016  in the Mainspace Opened Wednesday, November 16, 2016 NOW PLAYING Meet the Joneses – Bob and Jennifer, and their neighbours, John and Pony – two couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and shared last names. With compassion, great humour, and a fine eye for the quirks of contemporary life,  The Realistic Joneses  dives deep below the surface to expose the extraordinary heroism of the everyday. ★★★1/2 (out of 4)  “Eno’s is an original theatrical voice; a poignant and pitch-perfect production; superb cast” –  The Globe & Mail  “That [Broadway] production, with a starry cast, was good, but the Tarragon one, directed by Richard Rose, is better. It’s certainly much funnier, the four actors feast on the wrong-footing and second-guessing with which these Joneses strive to keep up with one another.” –...

One of the best exhibits I've seen at AGO in recent years. Closes January 29, 2017. Podcast from CBC’s Tapestry with Mary Hynes How do you find a spark of light in the midst of darkness? CBC’s Tapestry radio show takes an intimate look at the mystical impulse in great art created during turbulent times much like our own and reveals the spiritual side of great painters such as Monet, van Gogh, and Gauguin.

I never read reviews before I go to see or hear something. I want to form my own opinions, uninfluenced. So I'm surprised to see all the hoopla about a documentary and the less enthusiastic reviews about a story (that might as well be a documentary) which I saw this week. La loi du marché  or  The Measure of a Man  (Brizé, 2015) is a current tale of a middle-aged man sent for retraining as part of his employment search plan after being laid off. Vincent Lindon is again wonderful (as he was in Toutes Nos Envies or  All Our Desires , Lioret 2011), playing the frustrated and humiliated Thierry Taugourdeau with incredible yet affective restraint. This poignant character study and damning social commentary is top-notch film: nothing's Hollywoody-obvious and the viewer is left to decide the ending's result based on what they have judged Taugourdeau to be, when he is faced with a moral dilemma. The supporting cast is excellent, as are the untrained actors used to fill ...

Arvo Part - The Deer's Cry            Vox Clamantis; Jaan-Elk Tulve     ECM New Series               ECM 2466 A mixture of the new and old recorded here by Estonian choir Vox Clamantis, this CD includes the world recording premiere of Habitare fratres in unum and the largely plainchant And One of the Pharisees , which had its world premiere in California in 1992. There is a variety of Pärt’s music here: from the innocence-evoking Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima to the ode to a gittern, Sei gelobt, du Baum . (Read the info about the latter here .) Serendipitously, I started my day reading St. Patrick’s 4th-century prayer, The Deer’s Cry , and the title track contains a purity comparable to Lang’s I Lie . The Alleluia-Tropus is different than my recording by Vox Clamantis with Sinfonietta Riga: at a decade’s distance, this a c...

Vyacheslav Artyomov - Symphony Gentle Emanation; Tristia II   Russian National Orchestra; Teodor Currentzis; Vladimir Ponkin Divine Art            dda 25144 Vyacheslav Artyomov - Symphony on the Threshold of a Bright World; Ave Atque Vale; Ave, Crux Alba  National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia; Vladimir Ashkenazy  Divine Art            dda 25143 I hadn't known about Russian composer  Vyacheslav Artyomov until I was asked to review two of his records for an upcoming magazine issue. To get aquainted with him, during my first listen I employed a drawing exercise from a book I use, pictured above, which suggested drawing the sounds of a piece of music. I think the result (this is Tracks 3–8) is accurate. In my research about him, I heard that he also has done some film scoring, notably the 1995 short B&W film, Koza ( Coc...