July 2000 - Nr. 7
Views and Reviews
by Alidë Kohlhaas
Summer,
romance and music, what a combination! Romancin’ The One I Love, a new
musical at Toronto’s beautiful Winter Garden Theatre offers all three.
Based on William Shakespeare’s Taming of Shrew, its action has moved from
16th century Italy to 1939 USA, where Miami and Manhattan replace
Padua and Verona. Romancin’ is a lighter version of the battle of the
sexes than its predecessor, although it has the same skewered view of women.
Petrucio (Brad Aspel) sets out to tame Kate (Camilla Scott) just as harshly
as it had been proper in the bard’s time. But, that aside, the show is
great fun with its lively songs and frothy humour.
The music, by John R. Briggs and Dennis West, is true to the ‘30s, "hummable" and "danceable", and best of all, many of the tunes linger in the mind. Beside Scott, the cast contains several other well-knowns, such as Melissa Thomson (Bianca), Gerry Salsberg (Gremio/Vincentio), and Larry Mannell (Hortensio).
Sergio Trujillo created energetic and exiting choreography to fit the era. His choreographic credentials include the Needfire revival, and SwingStep. The sets by Dex A. Edwards interpret the 1930s with restrained panache. Jennifer Triemstra’s costumes are nicely infused with ‘30s sex appeal. The show had one drawback on opening night: excessive amplification, which isn’t needed for the Winter Garden. [Tickets at (416)872-5555]
Fine summer listening can also be found on the new CBC Records CD, Opera Encores, which features excerpts from French and German opera. Two singers on their way up, tenor Benjamin Butterfield and baritone Brett Polegato, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra under Richard Bradshaw, and the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus make beautiful music together. While Richard Wagner’s "O du mein holder Abendstern" from Tannhäuser is frequently played on classical radio and in the concert hall, one doesn’t often get to hear arias from Leo Fall’s Die Rose von Stambul, Wilhelm Kienzl’s Der Evangelimann, Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha, or Albert Lortzing’s Der Wildschütz. The same applies to Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet or Benjamin Godard’s Juliet. Arias from all of these, and more, are on this fine CD. The two young singers show maturity in their interpretations and render this very lovely music sensitively. It needs to be heard more often. [Opera Encores, CBC Records].
Music that has come and gone is a fine concert at Toronto’s Goethe Institute under the auspices of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany. Pianist Nina Tichman and violinist Nina Karmon played Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Tichman is an artist of great intensity, whose manner is slightly reminiscent of Glenn Gould—she "mouthes" the score. Throughout the performance she played with a consistently warm and approachable style, drawing one into the sonatas, so to speak, with her forceful approach. Karmon, on the other hand, remained distant throughout, although she displayed great virtuosity in the Bach and Brahms pieces. She seemed to be less at home, however, in Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. Neither her fingering, nor her interpretation lived up to the work. Yet, it must be said that during the playing of the Kreutzer, she remained in control when her hair band fell over her eyes, literally blinding her. Only our Sybille Forester’s quick action saved her from complete disaster. More concerts of this nature have been promised by the Goethe Institute and the Consulate General in the coming season. For more information call: (416)593-5257.
Two
great theatre companies have begun their summer season: The Stratford
Festival and Soulpepper Theatre Company. The latter opened with Samuel
Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. This one-man play featured John Neville in
an very demanding role in which the actor had to keep a fine balance between
the elements of pathos and humour. He succeeded and gave a stellar
performance that will long be remembered. Soulpepper now features The Mill
on the Floss, an adaptation of George Elliot’s classic novel of the same
name. It is directed by Robin Phillips, and runs to July 22.
At Stratford, Paul Gross plays the leading role in a new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which has been transposed to the early 1800s. In the hands of director Joseph Ziegler, it has become one of the clearest and well-defined Hamlets seen in a long time. Gross, who returned to the stage after many years in television, gives a very visceral interpretation of the young Danish prince, who sets out to avenge his father’s murder. At times Gross is almost too intense as he removes Hamlet from the realm of a melancholy, sensitive youth, who is swept along by events, to the darker world of a young man inflamed by others’ wrong doing, and who deliberately plots revenge, spurred on by a vengeful apparition: the ghost of his father (Juan Chioran). This Hamlet does not sink helplessly into pitiable madness, but chooses the path to destruction purposely by seeking to usurp God’s prerogative to judge.
Gross is supported by a fine cast, such as Domini Blythe as Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, Marion Day as Ophelia, Graham Abbey as her brother, Laertes, and David Keeley as Horatio, Hamlet’s friend and confidant. Hamlet runs at the Stratford Festival Theatre to Nov. 5, 2000.
Summer, of course, also needs books to relax with. Isabel Allende’s The Stories of Eva Luna exposes one to the heat of the southern hemisphere in 23 stories written in lush prose, spiked with humour and keen observation of human nature. One meets fortunetellers, tyrants, peasants and other assorted characters. They seek love or vengeance, or want to bring glamour to an ordinary life. [The Stories of Eva Luna, L & OD, 332 pages, $19.95] E.L. Doctorow’s latest book, The City of God, makes one taste the grit of New York City, and smell its odours. Just as he did so successfully with Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas, which became his Ragtime, so Doctorow has unashamedly taken the title and skeleton from the 22-volume apologia by St. Augustine and turned it partly into a mystery, partly a philosophical and spiritual quest, and filled it with the shadows, the humour, poetry and the musical rhythms of the just past century. [The City of God, Random House, 272 page, $38.00]
For young readers, and maybe not so young ones, there is The Story of Canada, an illustrated history by Janet Lunn and Christopher Moore. Alan Daniel’s illustrations will surely delight any age, and so will the historic photos and paintings reproduced alongside the text. It makes good reading, but sometimes its generalizations are too sweeping or politically correct, such as when our current governor general, Adrienne Clarkson, is referred to as "once a child immigrant from China." Clarkson was a refugee from 1941 Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, not China. There was a difference then! In a section on First Nation history, the book gives the impression that such settlements as Stadacona were permanent, when actually they usually lasted no longer than about a dozen years. After that people had to move on because of depleted soil and the lack of game. The book also claims that 3,000 people settled in Halifax in 1749. Only 2,576 arrived (including 100 soldiers) under the leadership of Colonel, the Hon. Edward Cornwallis. Of these, only 200 settlers turned out to be useful, prompting him to write to Whitelhall within three weeks of arrival, to please "send more suitable settlers, preferably German farmers." Most of the first settlers either died during the harsh winter, while still living on board the ships that brought them, or they drifted south to the 13 established colonies. Some American settlers replaced them, but it was the more than 2,000 Germans, who came the following two years, who mostly built Halifax. They are not mentioned. The book only briefly states that German settlers at Lunenburg launched ships around 1760. In fact, the history of Halifax and Nova Scotia is not well treated. Finally, the book repeats wrong information by calling the painter Cornelius Krieghoff "A Dutch immigrant to British North America." Although born in Amsterdam, he was, of course, a German national, and his family moved back to German soil when he was four years old. Despite these complaints, however, I would not hesitate to give the book to some deserving youngster. [The Story of Canada, Key Porter Books, 325 pages, $29.95].
Comments to: alide@echoworld.com
