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building babel
Guest
Very nice.
Gotta run.
Gotta get Pollyfilla'd, sandpapered, powdered, perfumed, rouged, coiffed, and lowered from a winch in the ceiling into my elaborate outfit by the ladies of the bedchamber, loaded on a truck, driven slowly downtown, and squeezed through the front door of the opera house ...
Gotta run.
Gotta get Pollyfilla'd, sandpapered, powdered, perfumed, rouged, coiffed, and lowered from a winch in the ceiling into my elaborate outfit by the ladies of the bedchamber, loaded on a truck, driven slowly downtown, and squeezed through the front door of the opera house ...
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fiendishlibrarian
Guest
A
adma
Guest
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adma
Guest
Speaking of A Night At The Opera, I've long found visual parallels btw/Kitty Carlisle + Molly Johnson
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ganjavih
Guest
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andreapalladio
Guest
Bwing me my speaw and magic helmet!
So, just got back, after opening night, dinner, drinks and a dog walk.
The building is fantastic. Very nordic, and very contemporary. The acoustics are a revelation - it makes the Hummingbird sound like an AM radio. The City Room is a fantastic asset - so much room for people to mill about - the din beforehand was a delight.
Clearly, the guests tonight had clearly Made An Effort. Great gowns, all the jewelery out of the vault, Jie and Robert Gage must have started setting hair before dawn this morning. I've never been to an event were so many people were wearing decorations - not just the Order of Canada lapel pin, but the full deal. Lots of people with other medals and decorations too.
My only complaint? Way bad planning to run out of sparkling wine half an hour before the concert began. And would it hurt them to have put some cheese on triscuits for us to nibble on?
The dinner afterwards was a sight to behold though - 30 or 40 round tables on the stage, all candle-lit
The only man who was remotely dressed like Bable was Karen Kain's husband - has he been fooling us all this time?
So, just got back, after opening night, dinner, drinks and a dog walk.
The building is fantastic. Very nordic, and very contemporary. The acoustics are a revelation - it makes the Hummingbird sound like an AM radio. The City Room is a fantastic asset - so much room for people to mill about - the din beforehand was a delight.
Clearly, the guests tonight had clearly Made An Effort. Great gowns, all the jewelery out of the vault, Jie and Robert Gage must have started setting hair before dawn this morning. I've never been to an event were so many people were wearing decorations - not just the Order of Canada lapel pin, but the full deal. Lots of people with other medals and decorations too.
My only complaint? Way bad planning to run out of sparkling wine half an hour before the concert began. And would it hurt them to have put some cheese on triscuits for us to nibble on?
The dinner afterwards was a sight to behold though - 30 or 40 round tables on the stage, all candle-lit
The only man who was remotely dressed like Bable was Karen Kain's husband - has he been fooling us all this time?
I
interchange42
Guest
Here's how it looked from Nathan Phillips Square:
...and when the show was over, the ovation was suddenly live: we had watched on tape-delay without knowing it, and the performers had walked over to Nathan Phillips Square in time to arrive on our stage...
...and then I found Babel and FutureMayor over at the hall...
...and finally I thought 'why not hand the camera to a guy with shaky hands?'
42
...and when the show was over, the ovation was suddenly live: we had watched on tape-delay without knowing it, and the performers had walked over to Nathan Phillips Square in time to arrive on our stage...
...and then I found Babel and FutureMayor over at the hall...
...and finally I thought 'why not hand the camera to a guy with shaky hands?'
42
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FutureMayor
Guest
hehe, great shots interchange!
Louroz
Louroz
B
building babel
Guest
Naturally, I was in the door sharp at six. And I downed several glasses of bubbly - including the one reserved for AP - and got quietly potted over the next hour and a quarter.
No food ever arrived to soak it up!
But plenty of interesting people to have nice little chats with as I circulated and did my Babel thing. And spot-the-celebrity time too.
I told Jack Diamond that I thought the City Room was the BEST people-watching place in town. He pointed directly above us, at the shadowy soles of shoes treading the glass staircase. A nice detail that I'd missed. You look up, you look across, you look down - people everywhere on different levels gliding with drinks, ascending, descending and chattering.
The colour scheme of the hall is subtle, reserved and effective.
The program was designed to show what the hall can do. From where I sat, in the fourth row of Ring 5, I could hear the individual instruments of the orchestra very clearly - not like the dreadful "glob of sound" you get in the Hummingbird.
The women's voices appeared to carry better than the voices of the men. The lovely interplay of sounds in the duet from 'Lakme' was a good example of this. Perhaps the lower male registers are absorbed by the mass of people, and by the building? Hmmmm ...
The chorus was very effective - the modulations in 'Va pensiero' from 'Nebucco' being a good example. I beamed with delight.
Later I met up with interchange and FM. What a delightful way of capping off a wonderful evening.
No food ever arrived to soak it up!
But plenty of interesting people to have nice little chats with as I circulated and did my Babel thing. And spot-the-celebrity time too.
I told Jack Diamond that I thought the City Room was the BEST people-watching place in town. He pointed directly above us, at the shadowy soles of shoes treading the glass staircase. A nice detail that I'd missed. You look up, you look across, you look down - people everywhere on different levels gliding with drinks, ascending, descending and chattering.
The colour scheme of the hall is subtle, reserved and effective.
The program was designed to show what the hall can do. From where I sat, in the fourth row of Ring 5, I could hear the individual instruments of the orchestra very clearly - not like the dreadful "glob of sound" you get in the Hummingbird.
The women's voices appeared to carry better than the voices of the men. The lovely interplay of sounds in the duet from 'Lakme' was a good example of this. Perhaps the lower male registers are absorbed by the mass of people, and by the building? Hmmmm ...
The chorus was very effective - the modulations in 'Va pensiero' from 'Nebucco' being a good example. I beamed with delight.
Later I met up with interchange and FM. What a delightful way of capping off a wonderful evening.
G
ganjavih
Guest
Cool pics, Interchange. I like Babel's shiny shoes, though I don't see the pink socks. Maybe it's for the best:
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andreapalladio
Guest
Gentlemen in kilts should beward of standing too close to the glass railings on levels 3 & 4, lest the view from the main floor take on a locker room flavour. I'm just saying.
We were in row 2 of ring 5. Intersting how ring 5 slopes down from the centre. Also a treat to be able to look at the people on the sides for a bit of Marquise de Mertieul style entertainment.
We were in row 2 of ring 5. Intersting how ring 5 slopes down from the centre. Also a treat to be able to look at the people on the sides for a bit of Marquise de Mertieul style entertainment.
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building babel
Guest
ganjavih:
If you're going to do it, do it right.
But there were some dreadful, or silly, sights along with the fabulously dressed. Guys in nice black dinner jackets without matching trousers, or wearing brogues rather than patent leather ( "shiny" ) shoes, for instance. Or wearing those dreadful pre-tied bow ties. And a couple of men overdressed in white tie, as if they had assumed a personal mission to raise the event to a higher social level.
And, most notably, some poor old fashion-victim-queen with a huge floppy bow tie and thick boots ...
( Miaaaawwww ... ).
If you're going to do it, do it right.
But there were some dreadful, or silly, sights along with the fabulously dressed. Guys in nice black dinner jackets without matching trousers, or wearing brogues rather than patent leather ( "shiny" ) shoes, for instance. Or wearing those dreadful pre-tied bow ties. And a couple of men overdressed in white tie, as if they had assumed a personal mission to raise the event to a higher social level.
And, most notably, some poor old fashion-victim-queen with a huge floppy bow tie and thick boots ...
( Miaaaawwww ... ).
B
building babel
Guest
ap:
Just before the lights dimmed, I made a point of standing briefly in the empty space at the far end of our Ring. It was a space that cried out to frame some alluring object, and I was happy to comply. I gazed wistfully, and perhaps rather condescendingly, down the lower levels ... and give others in our Ring the opportunity to observe me, and gasp in admiration. Which I have no doubt they did.
We must show ourselves occasionally. They expect it of us.
Did you disport yourself similarly for our people?
Just before the lights dimmed, I made a point of standing briefly in the empty space at the far end of our Ring. It was a space that cried out to frame some alluring object, and I was happy to comply. I gazed wistfully, and perhaps rather condescendingly, down the lower levels ... and give others in our Ring the opportunity to observe me, and gasp in admiration. Which I have no doubt they did.
We must show ourselves occasionally. They expect it of us.
Did you disport yourself similarly for our people?
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andreapalladio
Guest
Before taking our seats, we made a point of standing on the left hand side of the ring. Some may have thought we were all looky-lou watching the people below. Gentle reader, we were letting them look at us.
Weren't they supposed to be putting chairs on the sides of Ring 5 too?
Weren't they supposed to be putting chairs on the sides of Ring 5 too?