p.s.

Wednesday November 21st @ 9:45pm
Silvercity Newmarket
Enchanted***

I saw Enchanted with Angie and Bianca on opening night. We had lots of dorky fun. Yay for new Disney and yay for Amy Adams! But... I can't believe they cut a song by Idina Menzel!

Sadness... I missed Elliott.

Monday November 19th @ 7pm
the Mod Club
Elliott Yamin

Due to some extenuating circumstances, I did not see Elliott Yamin tonight. I will probably always regret that. He's really good... really, really, really!

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Friday November 16th @ 7:30pm
Bethel Christian Reformed Church
the Newmarket Voice Festival's "Concert of the Stars"

Firstly, major congratulations to my student who won a Best In Class award and received it at this concert the night before her birthday. Good times & way to go!

Secondly, it was so much fun hanging out with Shannon & Lindsay all night, and hanging with the Newmarket voice teacher glitterati at the reception after... LOL... some cute singers, some good singers, and some potentially very great singers... we shall see!

"God That's Good"*

Saturday November 10th @ 8pm
Princess of Wales Theatre
Sweeney Todd*****

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this show since I saw it. Based solely on impeccable musicianship, staging and production, I absolutely recommend this show to anyone. Unfortunately, the gruesome tale upon which it is based and the complexity of the Sondheim score will narrow that recommendation about 75%... as proven by the stupid chatty bitches behind me who clearly didn't get it, but chose to stay and bless us all with their commentary right up until intermission. Shut the f*** up!

We noticed they weren't the only people to leave, by the way. And for goodness' sake, if you do go, don't bring your kids. I was very much reminded of Doc watching us watch King Lear in OAC English... even though it's "just" a representation of something bloody and gruesome (in KL when Gloucester's eyes are plucked out), what is manifested in each of us to look, or to look away?

To be honest, nobody's singing blew me away... but I don't even care. The actual production is so genius that it doesn't matter. Confined to a wooden platform, the 10 actors sing, play the entire score on various instruments, do the set and costume changes, and bring Brechtian theatre onto a whole new plane (thank you Professor Wickens, FACS 1900). Also, I had entirely forgotten that "Johanna", one of my favourite melodies of all time, is from this show... I like it better out of context, but it was still a nice surprise... even if David did mock my tiny little gasp during the reprise. :-P to him!

You have to love art that gets people talking... as long as they're not right behind you. Some extra reviews... Mr. Ouzounian, Globe & Mail (totally agree about the diction and inconsistent accents), Variety (disagree about Tobias, I thought he was good), and John Coulbourn (no sightline problems for us with our sweet seats in the first row of the mezz!). And just for the record, I wrote the rest of my blog before I read their comments...

*not being offensive, it's a number from the show...

Incidentally...

...the Newmarket Voice Festival happily takes up this entire week (come out if you can), AND you may also wish to know that tickets go on sale on Friday (Nov 9) for the Met broadcasts... (read this).

I suck.

How is it possible that a whole week went by without any note-making on the operas I saw last weekend? What could I possibly remember after all that time? *Le sigh* as the kids say. Oh, and Shannon. ;)

Sunday October 28th @ 3pm
Elgin Theatre
Opera Atelier's
"Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" by Monteverdi

I'm happy to report that Vanessa put up with me for the entire afternoon, including two car trips and a stop at Timothy's, as well as the opera! I'm also proud to mention that I've seen all three Opera Atelier Monteverdi productions over the last few years (this one, "Orfeo" last year, and "L'incoronazione di Poppea" five years ago starring my soprano-crush Meredith Hall). Actually I've seen 9 out of 15 Toronto productions on that list. I love Opera Atelier. Co-artistic director Marshall Pynkoski's introduction provided context and enthusiasm for the afternoon, and The Toronto Consort played so magnificently throughout. There were 12 billed singers (unbelievable!), most of whom were fantastic, and my three stand-outs were:
- my bass-baritone crush Olivier Laquerre as Ulysses (so hot... ahem... such a good singer... that I'm tagging both his websites, 1 and 2)
- my mezzo-soprano crush Stephanie (needs a website!) Novacek as Penelope (though mezzos Laura Pudwell and Vicki St. Pierre totally gave her a run for her money)
- and WOW! As Telemachus, Cory Knight! My diction bud from York! SO COOL! It was a thrilling privilege to watch Cory's debut with Opera Atelier, and he sang and moved and acted so well that I'm sure I'll see him in many more in the future. OA tends to create a 'family' of singers and he will be so lucky to be part of that. Yay Cory!

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Saturday October 27th @ 4:30
the real Opera House
the Canadian Opera Company's
"Le Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart

Hands down favourite part was Figaro (Robert Gleadow) giving Cherubino (Sandra Piques Eddy) a noogie. On stage, during a scene... I guess it was directed that way, but still, it looked so funny and out-of-place! Eddy was such a great Cherubino; not too boyish or too girly, and a beautiful voice! Actually everyone sang so well, I thought, including the Marcellina (Meghan Latham) and Susanna (a preggers Isabel Bayrakdarian, whom I do not usually like all that much; maybe the baby bump makes her more likeable) during "Via resti servita" which made me miss my singing buddy Jen Carter a whole lot! Russell Braun pretty much blew everyone else away, but that was to be expected. Celebrity sighting at the opera was Liesl Schade, mother of Michael Schade, who knows me and said hi to me... yay! And after the opera Shannon and I had a fantastic dinner at Il Fornello where we met rising star Robert Gleadow, who was pretty much as yummy as our dinner. He was all "might I have the honour and pleasure of dining with you beautiful ladies?" and we were all "umm thanks but not tonight (because we are about to chow down like pigs, but tell us where you're staying and we'll be happy to drop by after we've gorged ourselves on garlic, goat cheese and gorgonzola)." ;)

Memories of Gr. 6

Thursday October 25th @ 7pm
Newmarket Theatre
the Spotlight Theatre School's
"Les Misérables"***

I love this musical. I'd just forgotten how much I loved it until some of my students got me back in to it. I love this musical so much I read the 1200-page book by Victor Hugo when I was 12 and did my Grade 6 Independent Study Project on the musical. I still remember the first time my Dad took me to see it at the Royal Alexandra Theatre when I was in Grade 5, and how I treasured my gray Cosette sweatshirt and my Les Miz mug for years for how they reminded me of every tear I shed during the mind-blowing production. Alas...

This sure wasn't the same. But these kids tried really hard and did a darn good job. Definitely one of the better Spotlight productions I've seen, as usually they are sketchy at best. Some of the singing was really good (Marius), some of the acting was really good (Thènardier), and some of the singing-acting was great... in particular, my student Shawna as Fantine (aka "Shawntine"), whom I adore ("w000t!"). Also had a little darling in the chorus, who, I'm so proud to say, spent her birthday HMV gift certificate from me on the Les Miz soundtrack!

Funny moments included the potentially mixed-up casting of Marius and Valjean so that one of them didn't have to kiss the Cosette who was played by his sister! Also, there's a girl I've seen in multiple Spotlight productions who's repeatedly been "the trampy girl". Odd typecasting for a teenager, I'd think. Some dreadful singing, but no dreadful voices...

Thanks to my Mom for attending with me. :)

Oooohh Tori! :D

Tuesday October 23rd @ 8pm
Sony Centre
Yoav***** / Tori Amos (and Pip... lol)**********


I'm so happy Don & I went to this concert! Our first Tori concert together was actually 13 years ago this month, and it was great to hear a bunch of her old stuff. Scarlet's Walk and The Beekeeper and American Doll Posse are all, you know, great in their own ways, but LE, UTP, and BFP (see right) pretty much shaped my whole teenage life (along with GNR, Don & Kim, music @ Huron, and Chris McCormack). Thanks to the raging insanity of other Tori fans, reviews, the set list and oh yeah, the entire concert, were immediately available online.

Hands down the "classic Tori" moments were during the T & Bö section...
1. She improv'ed a piece about shopping with her daughter that day in Indigo... "What do you do when your daughter is smarter than you?"... and Tash (age 7) informed her that really there wasn't anything in the age 9-11 section for her, and in particular that if Madonna had written a book, she could certainly handle reading it. (Ya, ya, Tori told it better; buy the damn bootleg.)
2. Unbelievably she chose to play Winter... I had almost made it through one of these without crying... well it was gorgeous, the interlude in particular was amazing... and some assmunch in the balcony ruins it by starting a chain of "I love you Tori"s and "I love you more"s... and milady closes her eyes, pauses and whispers into the mic "Eat me." Clas-SIC.


I would be remiss not to mention that Yoav is, simply put, the shit. Listen. Watch.
Live in concert is better, but these are still pretty good. He's the boy/guitar version of Imogen Heap with the crazy dialed down a bit.

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Tuesday October 23rd @ 2pm
Festival Theatre
Saint Joan***

Sunday October 21st @ 2pm
Festival Theatre
Mack & Mabel**

Definitely one of my favourite trips to Niagara Falls, but not quite one of my favourite trips to the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. But that's OK. I thought Benedict Campbell stole the show in M&M, except that it wasn't that hard to steal the show from everyone else! Tara Rosling absolutely carried the entire production of SJ. In my head Joan of Arc is always going to be the Carl Dreyer silent film Joan of Arc (probably due to my age when I saw it and sang Voices of Light with TMC), so it was tricky to accommodate the Shaw play with its witty moments and hammy actors. TR was amazing though, really.

We stayed at a different place (here) than usual (here). It would have felt ridiculously indulgent, but since I was still sick when we got there, I really think it helped the healing process ;) ... the delicious food, the massage, winning $100 at the casino, and oh yes... the view:

Nice start to the weekend...

Saturday October 20th @ 4:30pm
the real Opera House
the Canadian Opera Company's
"Don Carlos" by Verdi

I'm home sick and missing this. Good times.
Here are some reviews...
Globe & Mail, NOW, the Sun, and the Star.

"Adrianne!" I cry. :(

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Friday October 19th @ 8pm
Roy Thomson Hall
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa****

Last night my Dad & I attended Dame Kiri's 8th recital in Toronto, and probably her last, given this is her farewell concert tour. She looked very beautiful, and sang a recital that came out mostly sweetness and light, given the un-raised lid of the piano, the sparkly mermaid dress in the first half, and, you know, that she's that kind of soprano, I guess. Personally I would have liked a little more power in all the Strauss pieces. For a retiring singer, I thought she sounded exquisite in her top notes, with only tiny hiccups in two ascending passages. Her final encore, O mio babbino caro, seemed to be the crowd favourite of course, but mine was the Heggie: Final Monologue* from "Masterclass".

The concert was sold out; great for DKTK & RTH, but tragic for those of us into listening to the singer and not to other people turning pages loudly, coughing, and my favourite... the elderly lady behind me who exclaimed "Oh my! She didn't even come out and say hello or introduce herself!" after DKTK began the concert. Lady... you know who she is!!!

My Dad seemed to enjoy the concert, and I think we had one of our nicest times together. We didn't stick around for the CD signing, instead heading for York to visit my sister and her new apartment and... her new puppy! :)

*Since this ain't the most popular blog on the 'net... I'm going to risk posting this and hope I don't get sued or something! "Masterclass" is a play by Terrence McNally, and American composer Jake Heggie set this piece to music. DKTK's friend Frederica von Stade introduced this to her, and it was originally written for Joyce DiDonato and premiered last May.
FINAL MONOLOGUE
If I have seemed harsh,
It is because I have been harsh with myself.
I'm not good with words,
But I have tried to reach you.
To communicate something of what I feel
About what we do as artists as musicians
And as human beings.
The sun will not fall down from the sky
If there are no more Traviatas.
The world can and will go on without us
But I have to think that we have made
This world a better place.
That we have left it richer, wiser
Than had we not chosen the way of art.
The older I get, the less I know,
But I am certain that what we do matters.
If I didn't believe that.
You must know what you want to do in life,
You must decide
For we cannot do everything.
Do not think singing is an easy career.
It is a lifetime's work; it does not stop here.
Whether I continue singing doesn't matter.
Besides, it's all there in the recordings.
What matters is that you use
Whatever you have learned wisely,
Think of the expression of the words,
Of good diction,
And of your own deep feelings.
The only thanks I ask is that you sing
Properly and honestly.
If you do this, I will feel repaid.
Well, that's that.

"The Beatles Musical"

Saturday October 13th @ 6:50pm
Silvercity Newmarket
Across The Universe****

OK, this entry is cheating a bit since this wasn't a live performance. Oh well, it's my blog. Paul and I (finally) saw Across The Universe last Saturday. The theatre was packed with high school kids, and and my students have since assured me this is a film destined to achieve Rocky Horror Picture Show cult status... ummm... ok, kids. ;)

I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I did love the movie. Most of the singing is beautiful, the colours are luscious, and the choreography is outstanding and by far my favourite aspect of the film. The "I Want You" sequence is terrifying and probably the first of a few places I teared up a bit.

I must admit that I didn't like the way it ended. Unfortunately I'm so jaded and realistic that leaving out a significant death in the end only seemed to empower an anti- "All You Need Is Love" message. Also, I hate that people call it "the Beatles Musical"... it's not... it's another amazing piece crafted by visionary Julie Taymor, and deserves to be recognized as such.

Who needs a Little Big Band?

Tuesday October 9th @ 8pm
Markham Theatre
Colin James***** & Craig Northey****
"Up Close, Personal and Slightly Unplugged"

I've been lucky enough to see Colin James four times now, including at a Blues Fest at Molson Amphitheatre sometime in the 90s with my Dad, and a few years ago at Massey Hall and at Markham Theatre with Paul. You can always count on an amazing show with wizard-like blues guitar solos and his wicked sexy voice! His showmanship and sense of humour are second to none, and a concert with Craig Northey was quite inspired! We laughed as much as we clapped. Well... almost as much!

I don't have anything funny to say... the night was all good! From the programme: "Frequent collaborators and good friends... Tonight's show [...] is a show not to be missed. Sharing their acoustic side of music, Colin and Craig's songwriting partnership spans four Colin James albums and 8 years of touring. These two musicians with awe-inspiring guitar abilities boast an acoustic energy comparable to none."

I went with Paul, my Dad, and my sister Rachel, and we sat up in the first row of the balcony. Yep, that's it. All good!

Remember I have a 5-star rating system...

Saturday September 22nd @ 8pm
Newmarket Theatre
Oh Susanna** / The Jim Cuddy Band**********

Words don't exist that describe how much I love Jim Cuddy. (Which is unfortunate when one is beginning a blog.) I just love him. That's all there is to it. He's a consummate and generous musician, seems unbelievably kind, and let's face it, he's damn hot! He is just so gifted; his concerts are masterclasses in performing, and All In Time and The Light That Guides You Home are masterclasses in song and album writing. I defy anyone to learn the stories behind 'What She Said' and 'Pull Me Through' and then not shed a tear listening to those incredibly beautiful songs. Not to take away anything at all from how hard the other numbers can rock and finally (finally!) get the darn stifled Newmarket audience off their asses! He's "been there" for me and in my life longer than any boyfriend, most friends, and some family even. He's the man, damn it. And FYI his voice (post-op I might add) sounds better than ever; it's the aural equivalent of how making out with someone new feels. I had an amazing time last night, and I don't know how the Newmarket Theatre will ever top this event. Oh that's right... they can't...


I must also add that Anne Lindsay kicked all kinds of ass (as we've come to expect during '5 Days In May'). Although sometimes my friend Miranda Mulholland fills in for her, and I do hope I get to hear such a concert someday!

Unfortunately I have some complaints about the night... and what else is a blog for?
1. At Jim's solo concerts and Blue Rodeo's concerts, I never get to hear my favourite song, 'Rain Down On Me'.
2. Anne's sweet vocal harmonies were mixed far too quietly.
3. Someone who may be named "Susanna" needs to hire a stylist. Like an all-over stylist... hair, clothes... personality...
4. Someone near me smelled like horses.
5. Someone selling the merch didn't need to say the shirt we bought will make great pjs because it's so big. Skinny little punk. Nice customer service.
6. Someone... SOMEONE... needs to feel very badly they announced Mr. Cuddy would be coming out to sign autographs. Because in fact, he did not. This becomes a long story involving my heartbreak and the fact that some people were allowed to go backstage to meet him. OK not so long: some town council people. Nice job representing the little people. Did you say hi from the 100 of us waiting in the lobby? I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to him. :(

I'm trying to get over this. This picture will help.



As will my new Jim Cuddy shirt that hugs his name so close to my... heart. ;)


[FYI... Blue Rodeo puts out a calendar of their fans' best photos every year, so I don't believe they care about the cameras at the show. Just sayin' so no one gives me any crap about it.]

Better late than never...

Last night I had the amazing privilege of taking my niece, Jewel (Paul's sister's daughter), to her very first concert:

Saturday September 8th @ 7pm (ha!)
Air Canada Centre
Hilary Duff: the Dignity Tour ***

(After postponing the concert from its original July 21st date, Hilary must have felt starting at 8:20pm was no big deal, offering no apology for keeping the screaming little girls trapped for hours! "Hi.La.Ry! Hi.La.Ry! Hi.La.Ry!" All the more time to buy hoodies and glow-sticks, and get hopped up on sugar and adrenalin, right?!)

Blog Robbery... bloggery?!

I'm outright stealing an idea from my dear friend Shannon and keeping an online log of my "obsessive compulsive concert disorder" ... that is, maintaining a blog to keep a record of all the live performances I attend. Eventually I may comment on the events, but for now I'll just be stealing her basic ideas, like with whom I attend, and celebrity sightings. Hopefully she won't be mad at me, since I think she may have suggested I do this at some point!

So... over the last few days I have been at the Stratford Festival. I am upset that I haven't seen every play and musical produced there every year I've been old enough to attend. But I shall leave that as a goal for future years. Companion for all was my very tolerant boyfriend, Paul. :-)

Thursday August 30th @ 9:30am
discussion: Stratford Festival 2008 ****

Thursday August 30th @ 8pm
Avon Theatre
To Kill A Mockingbird *****

Friday August 31st @ 9:45am
tour: backstage at the Festival Theatre *****

Friday August 31st @ 2pm
Festival Theatre
King Lear **
celebrity sighting: Gary Relyea

Friday August 31st @ 8pm
Studio Theatre
Shakespeare's Will ****

Saturday September 1st @ 11:30am
tour: costume warehouse ***

Some favourite pictures...
1. view of the Avon River
2. random shelf in the costume warehouse ;-)