Books

Writing non-fiction’s a bitch – a truth not universally acknowledged.

– Will Aitken in This Writing Death

Theatre

Chekhov for Beginners



by Natalie G.

Comment

Don't know where you were sitting, but there were lots of laughs.

– comment by Suzy Charto

Posts by author:

Lev Bratishenko

MUSIC

Criminal By Design

Thumbnail image for Criminal By Design

La Bohème, Place Des Arts

by Lev Bratishenko
25.05.2011

Stage design appears in the criminal code under “manslaughter – unusual,” which is a possible label for the season premiere of Opéra de Montréal’s La Bohème, a “lavish new production” that treats its talented cast with the thoughtfulness and dignity of a garden rake to the face, and succeeds largely in spite of itself. Only [...]

[...]

MUSIC

Severed Heads & Oscar Wilde

Thumbnail image for Severed Heads & Oscar Wilde

Salomé, Opera de Montreal, Place des arts

by Lev Bratishenko
31.03.2011

Goth teenagers loiter around the Grand Vizier’s shopping complex under the aqueduct, then a loopy teen wearing a dozen nighties dances in and gets them killing for her. They do it because she’s so hot. And she’s a princess. It’s good, right? Get this, her dad wants to get with her, she strips for him [...]

[...]

MUSIC

Preferable To A Beating

Thumbnail image for Preferable To A Beating

Werther, Opera de Montreal, PdA

by Lev Bratishenko
27.01.2011

In the golden days of opera, critics wore two pistols and audiences ritually burned the weakest cast member and ate them. Or forced the director to eat them, depending on whether they were delicious. It was around this time that an important critical methodology was discovered: Drink a tincture of ships’ caulking in ether and [...]

[...]

MUSIC

A Fabulous Spectrum of Grey

Thumbnail image for A Fabulous Spectrum of Grey

15th edition of the Opera de Montreal Gala, Place des Arts

by Lev Bratishenko
10.12.2010

Leopard print and gold stilettos welcomed us to Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, or as it is known in family jargon, daddy’s angry place. The hall looked the same but the opera crowd was thick for a Sunday matinee and more pomaded than usual. Offstage and on, ambition was in the air.

[...]

MUSIC

Anyone that Hears my Voice

Thumbnail image for Anyone that Hears my Voice

VivaVoce, Montreal 2010 Bach Festival

by Lev Bratishenko
08.12.2010

Christ Church Cathedral glows with competence as the choir enters. The pews gleam with it, and I happily come out of the rain to receive a healthful serving of Our Cultural Solids. The concert is part of the 2010 Montreal Bach Festival, a healthy-sounding machine for the production of lovely evenings, which each year fills [...]

[...]

MUSIC

Inside The Opera Machine

Thumbnail image for Inside The Opera Machine

Roberto Devereux, Place des Arts

by Lev Bratishenko
20.11.2010

Continued hassling of the Montreal opera establishment has lead to bizarre and extreme countermeasures: I have been invited into the belly of the beast, its tenderest backstage bits, where motors and maidens meet, and where I am liveblogging a performance of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.

[...]

MUSIC

A Sadistic Season Opener

Thumbnail image for A Sadistic Season Opener

Opéra de Montréal, Place des Arts

by Lev Bratishenko
07.10.2010

My double-tall opera companion mortified me by texting during Opéra de Montréal’s season opener Rigoletto. But then I looked at what she had written and it was okay. She had ordered rye delivery.

[...]

Page 2 of 41234