This week, Vancouver Opera presents the last three performances of Die Fledermaus (The Bat), the Austrian operetta composed by Johann Strauss Jr., adapted by UBC’s Nancy Hermiston to include theatrical dialogue in English with timely or local references. Eisenstein (Roger Honeywell) is dismayed to find that a disguised Rosalinde (Joyce El-Khoury) has his watch. Photo […]

“It was intense,” my niece told me this morning when I asked her about the show last night. I took her to see Stickboy at Vancouver Opera, which was composed by Neil Weisensel and written by Shane Koyczan. Given my general knowledge of the libretto — based on Koyczan’s powerful book about a boy who, […]

Vancouver Opera presents the world’s sexiest opera, Carmen, which became the fastest-selling production in Vancouver Opera history when it last took to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage five years ago. This gorgeous production of Carmen, directed by Joel Ivany Joel Ivany Joel Ivany, is set in 1930s-1940s Latin America, complete with the heat, grit and […]

Soon after I completed my online order of “Flint and Feather” the biography of E. Pauline Johnson by Charlotte Gray, I called Composer Tobin Stokes who mentioned that he had a copy of the book sitting by him as we chatted. Stokes was tasked with composing Margaret Atwood‘s libretto for PAULINE, a chamber opera about […]

City Opera Vancouver presents the world premiere of PAULINE, a chamber opera about Canadian writer-actress Pauline Johnson, with libretto by acclaimed Canadian author Margaret Atwood and music by Tobin Stokes. Tickets are on sale today for this highly-anticipated production that is sure to sell out. I can hardly contain my excitement about this opera as […]

Vancouver Opera presents Tosca from October 26th until November 3rd, opening its 2013-2014 season with Puccini’s last great 19th century opera. Featuring lavish sets and costumes, a magnificent chorus of more than 50 voices, and with 60 players in the orchestra pit, Tosca is a thrill for the senses. In Rome in 1800, the cruel […]

The first romantic film I ever saw was Moonstruck, starring Cher and Nicolas Cage. One of my all-time favourite scenes in that film is when Cage’s character takes Cher’s character to her first operatic experience, La Bohème, at the glorious Metropolitan Opera and how Cage’s hand inches toward Cher’s, while a woman sings heartbreakingly, and […]

The Vancouver Opera ends it season with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, which is possibly the best production I’ve seen put on by the Vancouver Opera to date. Talk about ending with bang. Every single moment of this opera is absolutely riveting. Aida tells the story of Aida, an Ethiopian princess, who is […]

On Saturday I went to the Vancouver Opera’s opening night of The Barber of Seville. Now, I love going to the opera. Not only because I love the operatic voices, but also because I love the experience that comes with going to the opera. I usually get there a half-hour early, have a drink, and […]

In March 2012, the Vancouver Opera will present Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, which is praised as the greatest comic opera of all time. While I admit my first blush with this tale was via Bugs Bunny’s Rabbit of Seville, I am looking forward to seeing how our local company will bring this production […]