Category Archives: Uncategorized

A MEMORABLE TAKE ON SONDHEIM’S “COMPANY” FROM THEATRE 20 AT CANADIAN STAGE-BERKELEY THEATRE

Posted on June 30, 2014 by strecker

“Bobby….Bobby” At first this melodic motif is a gentle, multi-voiced echo that later recurs throughout Sondheim’s Company, even as a cello-alto sax duet, and in all cases it is hauntingly ambiguous. We sense affection, to be sure, yet also a … Continue reading →

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AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT EDWARD BOND ABOUT HIS LONG AND “CONTROVERSIAL” CAREER IN BRITISH THEATRE AND HIS PLAY “THE SEA” NOW AT THE 2014 SHAW FESTIVAL

Posted on June 17, 2014 by strecker

This season the Shaw Festival is producing its first take on a work by Edward Bond, a playwright who, through his uncompromising play Saved, first produced at the groundbreaking Royal Court in 1965, helped to change censorship laws in Britain. … Continue reading →

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INTERVIEW WITH LOUISE PITRE OF SONDHEIM’S “COMPANY” AT TORONTO’S BERKELEY STREET THEATRE FROM JUNE 21

Posted on June 7, 2014 by strecker

Actor-singer Louise Pitre has understandably been called Canada’s first lady of musical theatre. She has garnered a variety of accolades, in her ongoing and distinguished career, which include a Theatre World award for Mama Mia! on Broadway, a Tony nomination … Continue reading →

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RICHARD PRYOR: OMIT THE LOGIC: An Interview with the film’s executive producer -and the comedian’s widow- Jennifer Lee Pryor

Posted on May 27, 2014 by strecker

The film Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic serves as a compassionate but unflinching exploration of comedian-actor Richard Pryor’s inner and outer lives -and how one affected the other. It’s a rich experience of a film, in part because of many … Continue reading →

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HAMILTON PHILHARMONIC & TWO FINE BOOKS ON FILM

Posted on May 14, 2014 by strecker

Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra Perhaps it was our especially cold winter lingering still in one’s bones, but conductor Gemma New’s recent take on Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony with the HPO certainly drew one into the richness of an approaching spring. Here was … Continue reading →

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Kafka, Kurtag, Dunlop and existence in every word, every note: An interview with soprano Stacie Dunlop

Posted on April 25, 2014 by strecker

Stacie Dunlop’s ongoing crusade for the composition and public performance of contemporary vocal music hits Toronto on Saturday, May 10 with Gyorgy Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments at Toronto’s Gallery 345. Ms. Dunlop’s longstanding intention is to challenge her listener’s multisensory being … Continue reading →

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MEMORIES OF PETE SEEGER (Published February 13, 2014 in the Hamilton Spectator)

Posted on February 17, 2014 by strecker

MEMORIES OF PETE SEEGER The last three postcards from Pete Seeger were signed ‘Old Pete’, though the handwriting was quite graceful and still verging on miniscule as in his first letter in 1961. After one of his concerts, back then, … Continue reading →

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AN INTERVIEW WITH CARLY STREET OF VENUS IN FUR AT CANADIAN STAGE

Posted on February 1, 2014 by strecker

Venus in Fur had its first run with Canadian Stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the autumn of 2013. Upon closing, this critically-acclaimed and very popular production soon moved to the Berkeley Street Theatre for an extended run. Co-starring … Continue reading →

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ARNOLD WEINSTEIN’S THREE AMAZING COURSES ON LITERATURE…plus Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, and London

Posted on December 9, 2013 by strecker

A BRIEF NOTE Because I’ve decided to give a good chunk of my existence over to completing several books on which I am working, I haven’t had much time or mental or emotional space to do much reviewing for the … Continue reading →

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YOUR SOUL AT A CROSSROADS (With Steps You Can Take Not to Lose It) by VALERIE HARMS

Posted on November 26, 2013 by strecker

While Valerie Harms’ latest book, Your Soul at a Crossroads, is a concise 100 pages in length, its 17 sections draw on the author’s lifetime of intense exploration into inner and outer worlds. The result is a spiritually seductive and … Continue reading →

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