I love the theatre. That being live theatre. I love it all, really comedy and tragedy and farce and even musicals. Actually some of my favorite live theatre pieces have been musicals; I am dubious now about musicals on film but can more wholly accept them on the stage.
One of the things that Collette and I have always enjoyed about living in Toronto is its theatre scene. We watched the revival of it: From the (what once was) The Pantages and the Wintergarden on Yonge St to the Royal Alexandra on King St we have been lucky enough to have benefitted from the revival of Toronto's theatre culture.
One of the most exciting moments was the construction of the Princess of Wales Theatre by the Mirvishes, right down from the Royal Alex which they also own. The Princess is a beautiful theatre; wonderful acoustics, comfy seats and perfectly laid out sightlines. The Royal Alex is a lovely old theatre that oozes history and charm but it is not the most comfortable place to watch a show. The Princess is.
Or was. Or won't be.
I learned today that that stretch of King St, currently known as the Theatre District will soon be obliterated. Including the Princess of Wales. In its place ... condo's. Gigantic towering private residences designed by architect Frank Gehry. Mr Gehry is a renowned architect who has designed buildings all over the world, including the recent revamping here of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The buildings will be huge, as high as 85 stories and as evident by Mr Gehry's past projects, they will not be subtle. The Theatre District will change. Not only will the Princess of Wales disappear but so will the attendent restaurants, bars, shops and services. Even those who have never seen a stage play benefited from the revitalization of the King St strip, it was a place locals and tourists alike responded well to.
What will it be now. A very rich building for rich people. A monstrous (if not monstrosity) development unlike anything in that area.
Toronto is suffering the same pains as many big cities; our population is swelling, more and more people all the time, most of whom are not rich or wealthy and many of whom who barely qualify as middle class, they make up this city but it seems that this is not their city.
It began, as it often does, with our waterfront. For years we heard plan after plan, study after study, model after model (all paid for of course by tax payer dollars) that featured parks and trails and grass and more boardwalks; mostly what we have gotten are hulking private residences that literally cut off the sun and make me feel that, when I want to walk my dog down to the water, I need to show some kind of ID ...
So now the dichotomy of class and income as expressed by architecture is making its way north of the waterfront.
Mr Mirvish is a business man. The Princess of Wales was never a public institution, as were none of the attending businesses. I get that, they get to do what the want with their money. But they were things that could be enjoyed by the public. Now we will be getting some sort of high tech over designed fortress.
In the past when I walked along King St I could enjoy the sun on my face, watch people enjoying a beer on a patio, make note of new shows coming .. now I'm afraid I'll be walking in the cold shadow of someone else's wealth, someone else's need to own the sky.
Business men have no obligation to consider the emotional health of the residents of a city. But shouldn't someone?
A sad day. And in an intentional theatrical pun, a Tragic day indeed.
ADDENDUM: At a press conference today Mr Mirvish declared that "I'm not building condo's, I'm building scluptures" Oh he also mentioned that he had no interest in maintaining theatres that are not constantly full. And although "he" built up the King Str strip through investing in theatre, it will now be self maintaining ... somehow without the theatre and in its place a gigantic block devouring structure that will have an art gallery, a campus of the Ontario Art College and, lest we forget, the vast majority of the space dedicated to private residence.
Mirvish thinks that this is where Toronto to go. Well, it's been going there for some time, with condo's blocking the waterfront, the gentrification of once funky neighbourhoods, local landmarks and historical structures demolished for more places to live for rich people.
He thinks we can become more like New York City. Two points: NYC has many times our population, so many people that the sheer volume can defeat the kind of remoteness and gentrification projects like this represent. And if we had a Central Park, we do not have politicians with enough balls to prevent it from becoming yet another gigantic condo
High Park, watch your back
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
CIRQUE DE SOLEIL AMALUNA: AMAZEMENT BEYOND
We often watch events that celebrate the potential of the human body and the spirit that propels it. The Olympics was one such event. Another was one Collette and I attended over the weekend: Amaluna by Cirque de Soleil.
The show is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and while a lot of the elements were there (Prospero, Caliban, the storm) it really doesn't matter. There is a story here, recurring characters and conflict all packaged in state of the art lighting, colourful costumes and live music but really, you don't go to a show like this for the story. Well, I don't. I go for the performers and the stunts and yes, to see what humans are able to do.
We were informed as we entered the huge tent that hosts the show, that 70 per cent of Amaluna's performers are females, the highest ratio of any Cirque show. And although were there some remarkable performances by men ... on a tightrope, on a climbing pole and an energetic group of acrobats who used a teeter totter in a way never attempted on any playground .. well not attempted more than once, without the presence of an ambulance .. some of the truly special moments in the shows did indeed come from women.
The vocalists and most of the band were women and in they became part of the show, some as characters, others just prowling the stage at given moments, a pair of women with their guitars slung low on their hips. It's a classical magic distraction of course; as we watched the band sets were being changed or apparatus rigged. That's all part of it, the sate was semi circular and most of the changes were done right before our eyes but there was always something else to watch
A group of women provided us with our own Olympics moment. Dressed in striking red and assuming postures of fierceness, these acrobats used a series of uneven bars, displaying strength grace and courage in a way I've never seen at a strict athletic event
In Las Vegas, Cirque de Soleil has a famous show called Eau that features huge tanks of water in which the performers, well, perform. Well we had our tiny version of that show. The tank in Amaluna is smaller but no less spectacular
The performer, the main female character, is an acrobat and contortionist and apparently half fish. We were in awe of the balancing she did on the rim of the tank, contorting her body into forms that I haven't seen maintained by a human since I stopped doing hallucinegetic drugs.
She would hurl herself down into the tank where the water was not especially deep, forming her body to the shape of the bowl, seemingly boneless and as fluid as the water in which she played.
One of the male performers, her love interest in the story also played in the water. While not quite as fluid as he love, he was still graceful. He displayed equal grace and strength in one of the story's most moving moments as he climbed and flowed around his pole, literally going up into the heavens to rescue his girl
One of the show's most remarkable moments, and the act that received the only standing ovation during the performance was, in comparison to all of the above, almost still. A woman in a long lame dress came out on the stage to stand barefoot amidst a pile of curved stick of various sizes. Standing quite still she balanced on one foot and used the other to pick up a stick, using this method, she began to assemble the sticks, balancing one against the other, using only their shapes to keep them together
It was a remarkable study in control, restraint and a physicality that wasn't as apparent as some of the other athletes. The music here was very soft, very restrained. The woman was on mic and you could hear her breathing, the engine that allowed her to keep her core still as she manipulated the sticks,
At the end she had assembled this amazing structure that was at leas six feet long and several feet wide. She held it up before taking one stick, the smallest stick, showing us the fragility of her structure as it fell to pieces on to the stage
There is an old theatrical concept called Pirandello, named after an Italian writer, a concept of which I am so fond I've named my video production company after it. It basically says that "I'm going to manipulate you, I'm going to make you cry, I'm going to force events to that result but I'm going to do it in such a way that by the end, when you cry, you'll have forgotten that I made you do it." It's manipulation and it's surprise and it's what Cirque and any good live event can give us: The right to be delighted even when we expected to be so
Sitting down before the show began I knew that I would see human being perform feats that would astound me. And I was astounded. In ways I couldn't anticipate. I knew it would happen and when it did, it was as if I never thought it could be done.
The show is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and while a lot of the elements were there (Prospero, Caliban, the storm) it really doesn't matter. There is a story here, recurring characters and conflict all packaged in state of the art lighting, colourful costumes and live music but really, you don't go to a show like this for the story. Well, I don't. I go for the performers and the stunts and yes, to see what humans are able to do.
We were informed as we entered the huge tent that hosts the show, that 70 per cent of Amaluna's performers are females, the highest ratio of any Cirque show. And although were there some remarkable performances by men ... on a tightrope, on a climbing pole and an energetic group of acrobats who used a teeter totter in a way never attempted on any playground .. well not attempted more than once, without the presence of an ambulance .. some of the truly special moments in the shows did indeed come from women.
The vocalists and most of the band were women and in they became part of the show, some as characters, others just prowling the stage at given moments, a pair of women with their guitars slung low on their hips. It's a classical magic distraction of course; as we watched the band sets were being changed or apparatus rigged. That's all part of it, the sate was semi circular and most of the changes were done right before our eyes but there was always something else to watch
A group of women provided us with our own Olympics moment. Dressed in striking red and assuming postures of fierceness, these acrobats used a series of uneven bars, displaying strength grace and courage in a way I've never seen at a strict athletic event
In Las Vegas, Cirque de Soleil has a famous show called Eau that features huge tanks of water in which the performers, well, perform. Well we had our tiny version of that show. The tank in Amaluna is smaller but no less spectacular
The performer, the main female character, is an acrobat and contortionist and apparently half fish. We were in awe of the balancing she did on the rim of the tank, contorting her body into forms that I haven't seen maintained by a human since I stopped doing hallucinegetic drugs.
She would hurl herself down into the tank where the water was not especially deep, forming her body to the shape of the bowl, seemingly boneless and as fluid as the water in which she played.
One of the male performers, her love interest in the story also played in the water. While not quite as fluid as he love, he was still graceful. He displayed equal grace and strength in one of the story's most moving moments as he climbed and flowed around his pole, literally going up into the heavens to rescue his girl
One of the show's most remarkable moments, and the act that received the only standing ovation during the performance was, in comparison to all of the above, almost still. A woman in a long lame dress came out on the stage to stand barefoot amidst a pile of curved stick of various sizes. Standing quite still she balanced on one foot and used the other to pick up a stick, using this method, she began to assemble the sticks, balancing one against the other, using only their shapes to keep them together
It was a remarkable study in control, restraint and a physicality that wasn't as apparent as some of the other athletes. The music here was very soft, very restrained. The woman was on mic and you could hear her breathing, the engine that allowed her to keep her core still as she manipulated the sticks,
At the end she had assembled this amazing structure that was at leas six feet long and several feet wide. She held it up before taking one stick, the smallest stick, showing us the fragility of her structure as it fell to pieces on to the stage
There is an old theatrical concept called Pirandello, named after an Italian writer, a concept of which I am so fond I've named my video production company after it. It basically says that "I'm going to manipulate you, I'm going to make you cry, I'm going to force events to that result but I'm going to do it in such a way that by the end, when you cry, you'll have forgotten that I made you do it." It's manipulation and it's surprise and it's what Cirque and any good live event can give us: The right to be delighted even when we expected to be so
Sitting down before the show began I knew that I would see human being perform feats that would astound me. And I was astounded. In ways I couldn't anticipate. I knew it would happen and when it did, it was as if I never thought it could be done.
Friday, September 14, 2012
SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS A DOG AND HER BEACH
It may not seem like it, but there is usually a reason for me to post something here. Stop laughing, mullet head, I'm being serious.
And I never said it had to be a good reason, or even interesting. Heaven forbid.
There is usually a reason I make a video; sometimes to tell a story, sometimes to record a memory, sometimes illustrate a piece a music that inspired me.
Sometimes I don't need a reason. Sometimes all I need is a sunny late summer day, a rocky beach in Kingston Ontario and Miss Terra, hunting driftwood.
Enjoy.
And I never said it had to be a good reason, or even interesting. Heaven forbid.
There is usually a reason I make a video; sometimes to tell a story, sometimes to record a memory, sometimes illustrate a piece a music that inspired me.
Sometimes I don't need a reason. Sometimes all I need is a sunny late summer day, a rocky beach in Kingston Ontario and Miss Terra, hunting driftwood.
Enjoy.
Monday, September 3, 2012
THE C.N.E. DAY TWO: THE AIR SHOW
It is still on the lake today. A light offshore breeze ruffles the water, sun beats off the waves like silent hammer blows, birds describe lazy circles in the sky. Then you begin to hear it, faint at first, off in the distance, a sound that is like a vibration, heard and felt at the same time. As the sound builds the birds soar quickly away and the water trembles and you feel it in the bones of your chest. You look up, shading your eyes against the sun, and you see it off in the distance: A small speck that quickly grows as you watch, moving towards you, moving incredibly fast and in only seconds it takes shape and passes over you, the thunder of its sound following, washing over you ...
Our second day at this year's Canadian National Exhibition saw us huddled on a grandstand on the shore of Lake Ontario to enjoy the 62nd annual air show. The Canadian Forces (sorry I'm never going to type "Royal Canadian Air Force" because it's just damn stupid) Hornet was just the start. This year all the military jets would be from our country as the U.S.A. would only do fly bys, due to budget cuts or disinterest or stamping their feet and holding their breath .. or something
Who needs the Americans anyway. Besides the Hornet, Canada pulled out the T-33 Mako Shark, a sleek, prettily painted fighting jet
The plane by itself was quite exciting but they also paired it up with a Harvard, Canada's venerable training prop plane whose huge radial engine always provides me with one of my favorite sounds at the Airshow
I love the Harvards, these big yellow, noisy airplanes that in their day helped trained hundreds of Canadian pilots. Besides the plane that flew with the T-33, we had a Harvard flying alongside the Beechcraft T-6 Texan, the turboprop plane that has replaced the Harvard as Canada's primary jet training aircraft.
Wait, we're not done yet! If you are interested in the Harvard and you read this post right now (because we don't have all day) I'll offer you one massive Harvard fly by absolutely free . . .
. . . and as a special bonus, completely free (you just pay extra shipping and handling) I'll throw in the Harvard Formation Team, that's a nine million dollar value!
I always enjoy watching this team fly. The Harvard is a WW 3 era trainer, it is not a stunt plane yet these pilots defy that logic by putting these big prop planes through an impressive set of aerial maneuvers.
These were not the only military aircraft that flew over the lake. The Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora made its annual appearance. This is not stunt plane and it is no fighter plane. It is a maritime patrol plane and sub hunter, a big multi engine prop plane that, in the hands of these pilots, is surprisingly nimble.'\
The Aurora was not the only "big boy" to soar across the air space; the mighty C-130 Hercules demonstrated one of its many duties with a mid-air fuelling demo, topping up the tanks of CF-18 Hornet
Check out the photo below where Collette caught the shadow of the trailing inverted plane in the contrail of the plane in front of it, pretty extraordinary
Our second day at this year's Canadian National Exhibition saw us huddled on a grandstand on the shore of Lake Ontario to enjoy the 62nd annual air show. The Canadian Forces (sorry I'm never going to type "Royal Canadian Air Force" because it's just damn stupid) Hornet was just the start. This year all the military jets would be from our country as the U.S.A. would only do fly bys, due to budget cuts or disinterest or stamping their feet and holding their breath .. or something
Who needs the Americans anyway. Besides the Hornet, Canada pulled out the T-33 Mako Shark, a sleek, prettily painted fighting jet
The plane by itself was quite exciting but they also paired it up with a Harvard, Canada's venerable training prop plane whose huge radial engine always provides me with one of my favorite sounds at the Airshow
I love the Harvards, these big yellow, noisy airplanes that in their day helped trained hundreds of Canadian pilots. Besides the plane that flew with the T-33, we had a Harvard flying alongside the Beechcraft T-6 Texan, the turboprop plane that has replaced the Harvard as Canada's primary jet training aircraft.
Wait, we're not done yet! If you are interested in the Harvard and you read this post right now (because we don't have all day) I'll offer you one massive Harvard fly by absolutely free . . .
. . . and as a special bonus, completely free (you just pay extra shipping and handling) I'll throw in the Harvard Formation Team, that's a nine million dollar value!
I always enjoy watching this team fly. The Harvard is a WW 3 era trainer, it is not a stunt plane yet these pilots defy that logic by putting these big prop planes through an impressive set of aerial maneuvers.
These were not the only military aircraft that flew over the lake. The Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora made its annual appearance. This is not stunt plane and it is no fighter plane. It is a maritime patrol plane and sub hunter, a big multi engine prop plane that, in the hands of these pilots, is surprisingly nimble.'\
The Aurora was not the only "big boy" to soar across the air space; the mighty C-130 Hercules demonstrated one of its many duties with a mid-air fuelling demo, topping up the tanks of CF-18 Hornet
The Airshow is about more than military planes of course. The stunt pilots are always among my favorites in the show. These year we saw something different and pretty amazing. Melissa and Rex Pemberton are a husband and wife stunt team. She pilots an Edge 540 aerobatics plane while he jumps out of said airplane; and while he does have a parachute strapped to his back, Rex always wears a squirrel suit and he just doesn't fall, he flies.
While her husband is soaring across the sky in a completely unpropelled suit, Melissa (as do most wives) wants to keep a close eye on her man. Which means flying her prop plane in circles around her husband.
Eventually Rex got the message and decided it was time to listen to the old ball and chain ... or in this case yoke and flaps ... and get his ass out of the sky. He popped his parachute and began his slow graceful spire back to earth .. well in actually, Lake Ontario
Thrilled that she got her husband to actually listen to her, Melissa celebrated with some nifty tricks of her own
Speaking of tricks, let us speak about Mike Wiskus. Mike is an American aerobatic pilot and .. let's be honest here .. Mike is damaged. Mike flies the Lucas Oil competition biplane .. you know a biplane .. and he does things that .. well ... nobody apparantly ever told Mike what one can do and not do in a biplane.
Firstly Mike thinks that his biplane is half boat, how else to explain his penchant for trying to land his lovely little airplane in the harbour
They also neglected to tell Mike that you can't use a biplane to perform a somersault. Yes, a somersault. Check the video
No visit to the Airshow is complete without a performance by the Snow Birds. We have seen them many times and have always enjoyed it and it was nice to see that this year they had some new tricks.
Check out the photo below where Collette caught the shadow of the trailing inverted plane in the contrail of the plane in front of it, pretty extraordinary
So another great year at the Airshow, our annual kick at the last bit of summer. Here's the video, supplemented with many of Collette's photo's and music by Alex Clare.
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