This installment contains reviews of:
Days 5 and 6 continued the 4-films-per-day schedule. There are some less than stellar items here, but some real gems, including my favourite of the festival. Continue reading
This installment contains reviews of:
Yes, days 3 and 4 were busy days at the festival and a solid opening weekend. One review, missed from the Friday batch in Part 1, is also included here. Continue reading
This year, for the first time, I have a website to post these review on, and rather than making everyone wait for the very last review (usually early in October), I will post them here in bunches as I complete them. Later in the fall, I will collect all of the reviews together into their usual format as a PDF.
This section contains an introduction and reviews of the following films:
That covers my first two days at the Festival. I will post more reviews in two-day batches in the coming weeks. Continue reading
Last weekend took me to Stratford again for four productions: Fanny Kemble, The Glass Menagerie, The Liar and Don Juan.
The first three are reviewed below, while Don Juan is in a separate following post comparing it to the opera Don Giovanni. A friend of mine saw Twelfth Night which I reviewed a while back, and I have some comments to add on that play at the end. Continue reading
Recent cultural travels have taken me to two separate tellings of the Don Juan story: Molière’s Don Juan dating from 1665 is now playing at Stratford, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni of 1787 capped the Toronto Summer Music Academy & Festival at the University of Toronto. I’m going to assume some familiarity with the story here because my primary interest is to compare the two works and productions. Continue reading
Today saw me on a quick up-and-back trip to Stratford with friends to see Oliver! The house was packed, the audience expected a good time with a well-known musical, and I was digesting an excellent lunch from the Keystone Alley restaurant. What more could I want? Continue reading
The past weekend took me on the first of several planned jaunts to Stratford and much theatre. For more information about the Stratford Festival including detailed information about all of the plays, click here.
Herewith, brief reviews. Continue reading
My good friend and fellow activist, Gord Perks, premiered his new hour-long show on CP24 tonight called Earth Matters. The format is a familiar one for CP24 — talk about an issue with guests suitable for the topic, take calls from interested viewers, and add some comments by the host.
Gord’s first show was all about smog, and I was fascinated by the number of callers from the 905 and beyond asking about smog issues. Callers from Toronto, especially downtown, were a minority.
This was Gord’s maiden outing on the host side of television, and I tip my hat to him. An hour of TV, even with commercials, is a lot to fill. I’ve done a few long interviews on live radio and TV, and there’s no luxury to pause and ponder — the microphone and camera are right there, waiting.
Who knows, we may see Gord prowling the corridors of City Hall, pursuing activists like me for sound bites one day. Maybe he’ll even interview himself!
Earth Matters airs on CP24 at 9:00 pm every Thursday. It’s not on the online program grid yet, and so I don’t know if there will be a repeat broadcast at some other time in the cycle.
A wistful, lighter note to a stress-filled day of bad news for transit advocates. If you want to read about the TTC, please scroll down to the next post.
Last Saturday was the closing night at the Café Brussel. Let’s remember the food one last time. Continue reading
I know that restaurant reviews are not what you normally expect to find here, but this is an exception. My “local” is closing after 20 years, and the least I can do is write about it. Continue reading
Steve Munro 