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Urban Shocker's Neighbourhood Watch

I'm looking forward to seeing "War and Peace". The reviews (here and elsewhere) have been gushy. I hope it will take away the taste of "Don Giovanni", a waste of really good voices in a mess of a production.
Even the lighting was clumsy! At the end of the performance I attended, the cast was left standing on stage while the applause petered out, replaced by the sound of many feet beating and exit. I countered by calling out "It wasn't your fault!"
 
Yes, I thought the staging could've been much better, and the spotlights sometimes missed their human targets. As Roy says, the costumes looked a bit odd - Leporello's gear especially. There didn't appear to be any logic to why they were mismatched.

I'm glad I saw Kitt Johnson again. She's got her own language of movement. Not modest in her scope, in Rankefod she recreated the entire process of evolution from primeval ooze to the here and now - right before our eyes. She and her sound man gave an interesting talk afterwards.

http://www.danisharts.info/24f000c

Dropped by the Distillery on Saturday. Ryan McGinness at Artcore has his own unique language too - psychedelia! The black light room is trippy as all get out - those things look like Mediaeval stained glass windows. And the music matches nicely ( '60s hits like the Moodies Go Now; the Zombies She's Not There; The Who Substitute; an early Fleetwood Mac instrumental etc. ).

http://www.artcoregallery.com/2/new_design/exhibitions/aesthetic_comfort/index.html
 
"War and Peace" was...let me borrow some jargon from my nephew..."freakin awesome". It made me want to become a Russian peasant so I could free the motherland from foreign invaders and continue to be oppressed by my own ruling class (Romanov, Communist, it doesn't matter). Was propaganda ever so majestic and powerful? Kudos to everyone involved; my hands still hurt from clapping.
 
Does it end with a chorus of this?

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss ...
Same as the old boss!
 
Hi all,

On Tuesday 28th of Oct we saw Don Gionvanni at the opera and I went away with sentiments different from those expressed here.

In general I am getting a bit impatient with Brett Polegatto's acting, remebering Onegin, and then this Don Giovanni. His efforts sometimes seem a bit wooden to me, although I must allow that his voice served the Don G. role quite well, and it is a very difficult role.

Virginia Hatfield knocked us out as Zerlina, same for Jessica Muirhead as Donna Anna, and Robert Pomakov as Leporello. I went away very happy with the evening -- these three singers carried the night for me, while for some others here, it was Brett P who did that. I guess we're supposed to remember that each performance is different.

I can't help but notice that some of our Canadian singers have developed just beautifully since the new house opened. They're more confident and assured, and they are learning how to take the stage.

I think I'll avoid Mozart for a good while, starting now.
 
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Loved the War, the Peace marginally less so.

Given that it's a 1940s interpretation of a Romantic-era novel, the Peace ( the first half ) was bound to be all lovey-dovey. I think Tim Albery's staging, with 1940s-era Commies rubbing shoulders with Napoleonic-era aristocrats and gradually taking over from them, bridged the divide very well though, and added another level to the epic - especially when we came back after intermission and War broke out big time.

The entire cast - and chorus - were on the night I went - the lovey-dovey pairing of Russell Braun and Elena Semenova ( great surname! ) especially. And the band, as ever, were fabulous; the conductor, for that night only, was J. David Jackson.
 
Honey, I hate to be the one to point this out to you, but your best friends sometimes have to bear the burden of difficult news.

Since your avatar reappeared, it's appears you've become a might plump. And we all know how particular you are about your weight. Please, do something.
 
What can I do? Prep H can no longer control the wrinkles, and a tighter girdle would be entirely out of the question ...

What with my alien abduction early this year ( no, possums, they abducted me ) and now this wide-screen version of moi, 2008 has been my annus horribilis that's for sure.
 
Together again!

AGO62.jpg
 
It's a crepe/silk scarf I bought in about 1973 in a vintage clothing store that used to be on the south side of Queen - opposite where City TV was; deep burgundy with small white polka dots. On an OCA school trip to the New York galleries a year later I lost it in a stairwell at the Taft hotel ( don't ask ) but one of the girls ( I guess there was plenty of stairwell action ... ) found it - and I reclaimed it.

That's my old pal the Marchesa Casati by Augustus John.
 
An Irish Shop grandad shirt with blue stripes, dove grey "Perry Como" type sweater from Goodwill and button fly Rag & Bone jeans from lileo in the Distillery. The shoes ( not picured ) are black Allen Edmunds.
 
Like you, as much as possible - stuff locally made or bought:

Cord jacket from Trend on Sherbourne street
zip neck from some place in the Eaton Centre
Wrangler boot cut jeans from Zellers
RM Williams boots from Australian (oy oy) Boot Company, Queen Street

DSCF0895.jpg
 
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