Semele Preview

Quiet On The Set...and...Remember!

Backstage at the COC brings the past and the biggest question facing opera

by Alex Van Chee

(photos by Karl Forster from the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie production of Semele, 2009) 

So there I was standing in the backstage of the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts amongst a frenzy of camera crew, reporters, and other media writers like a fish out of water on a Friday afternoon, wondering what to do. It was Canadian Opera Company’s media meet and greet event for the upcoming big budget production of Handel’s Semele and everybody was excited. There were speeches about the history and the mechanics of the very impressive “set” (a real 500 hundred-year old Ming temple made of camphor wood, dismantled and put back together here in Toronto), about the multiculturalism and its significance both to the opera and the city of Toronto, about the impossible task of running 3 different operas simultaneously, each with its own sets. Having never been at an event quite like this before, I was suddenly at a loss: I didn’t know what I was doing there. I didn’t have a clear agenda (I knew I had to write something after the trip), I am an introvert (my friends would protest violently on this) so speaking to strangers in an event like this was quite frightening, and I was ill prepared for any one-on-one interviews (I didn’t know this was part of, or even the point of a media event). I must have sweat buckets because the media kit prepared for me that I clutched tightly in my hands was wrinkled and damp.

Review: Armide

Photo: Bruce Zinger / Marie McDunnough & Jack Rennie, Artists of Atelier Ballet.

The One by Lully

Armide - the singer and the opera - are gorgeous

by Axel Van Chee

The story of Armida by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso about an Arabian sorceress and her unrequited love with the Christian soldier Rinaldo during the First Crusade is a popular subject in opera literature; Handel had one (of course, it is actually harder to name what he doesn't have), Gluck had one, Rossini had one, even Dvorak and Haydn, who is not exactly known for his operatic works had one. The first known rendition of the poem in operatic form however, is Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide, first performed in 1686, and it opens at the Elgin Theatre in a visually stunning production by Opera Atelier.

Reincarnated from its 2005 run, Marshall Pynkoski unfolds the story like an enchanted fairy-tale manuscript, with the sets and costumes exquisitely designed by Gerard Gauci and Dora Rust D’Eye. There are intricate details everywhere, enfolding both Asian and Western motifs to further accentuate the conflicts between the East and the West. The lighting design by Bonnie Beecher further adds a layer of spectacles to the opera.

Review: Tales of Hoffman

(l - r) Andriana Chuchman as Olympia, Steven Cole as Cochenille and Michael Barrett as Spalanzani (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Beyond Expectations

COC delivers a minor miracle

by Axel Van Chee

Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann is a whale of a tale in both its fancifulness and length, and when haplessly done, can be a tediously exhausting evening. With a large cast, most opera houses would also consider themselves lucky to have only two or three stars to carry the burden of this hafty show. With that said, what the Canadian Opera Company has on their hands is nothing short of a minor miracle with its beautiful stage sets and costumes, lush and nuanced playing from the orchestra, and brilliant, brilliant singing from a superb ensemble cast, half of whom are making their COC debuts.

Review: The 7 Deadly Sins (and Holier Fare)

Sacred to Profane

Against The Grain tempts the devil

by Axel Van Chee

One thing I love about small companies is that they need to be innovative and constantly explore all the possibilities in terms of modes of production, venues, and repertory choices with their limited funds. Although they may not always succeed, the results are often surprising and enlightening. Against the Grain Theatre has done just that with their latest production of The 7 Deadly Sins (and Holier Fare) featuring four modern pieces, two of which are even by living American composers. It certainly is a daring affair, and like a charcuterie, each of the four is a different representation of the modern musical sound, and although you may not like one, chances are, you are going to like one of the others.

Review: Cosi fan tutte

As Everyone Does

Mozart at UofT

by Axel Van Chee

Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is a comedy, a farce on love on the surface, but the depth of human emotions, the anguish, the questioning, the sharp barb of sting is ever present. And it is one of those operas that the directors love to play with: it can be colourfully camp, to intriguingly avant garde, to calculatingly grotesque. The Opera Division at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music’s Cosi went with a traditional production set in a baroque- classical style marble mansion designed by Fred Perruzza, complete with topiaries, roman garden statues, candelabras, a host of house servants, and at one point, an elaborate gondola. With some ingenious directing by Michael Patrick Albano, what is playing at McMillan Theatre is possibly one of the funniest Cosi fan tuttes  I’ve seen, with just the right amount of hilarity without being vulgar, and still hangs on to the uncertainty which really is the backbone of the opera.

Review: Obeah Opera

l-r Bemnet Tekleyohannes, Joni NehRita, Nicole Brooks, Macomere Fifi and Saidah Baba Talibah (Photographer: Nation Cheong)

Both Thought and Entertainment

The magical Obeah Opera

by Axel Van Chee

There is nothing like an accidental education, especially one that is delivered via beautiful music. The world premiere of the powerful Obeah Opera produced by b current & Theatre Archipelago proves to be just such a thing: it is both thought provoking and entertaining. The opera is sung entirely a cappella, using only female voices. For two hours starting with the very first chord, it is as if you are transported to a lush, distant Caribbean Island, and serenaded by the Islanders with their oral history. It is like Obeah, it is magical.