Early March arts update

I'm just back from seeing an adaptation of Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology over at Soulpepper.  I'd guess they covered 20-30 of the epitaphs, so only a small slice (of the full 244), but it gives you a pretty good sense of the work.  They actually turned quite a few of the poems into songs, some melancholy, some upbeat.  It was well done, though I do prefer a bit more of a coherent through-line in a play. A few of the people around me were getting a bit restless towards the end.  It was a somewhat radical departure from the norm in that we were ushered into the hall in near darkness (to keep the mood very somber) and the programs were only handed out at the end!

It just dawned on me that I'm going to see Soulpepper doing Maugham's Of Human Bondage in May, and I would definitely prefer to read that first, so as not to spoil the novel later on.  However, it's longer than I recalled (700 pages!), and it's hard to see just how to fit it in.  But I have a couple of months, so there is no need to panic. I think I'll take Dinesen's Winter Tales with me on the flight to Saskatoon, but if I have made sufficient progress with that, then I might take Bondage to New York, and certainly to Montreal (and particularly if I do end up on the train by myself) and then the last-ditch effort will be Omaha in late April when I probably won't have anything else to do.  So I should manage to get through this and not distort my reading list too much.  Still, it seems incredible that they can turn a 700 page novel into a 2.5 hour play.

I should report that Angela Lansbury was in fine form in Blithe Spirit. It turns out Simon Jones (of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame) is also in the cast, though his role was a minor one.  I'd say of the cast members not named Lansbury, the woman playing Elvira (the first wife) was the strongest.  The play is a fun romp, never too serious.  This is apparently going to be Lansbury's last tour (she is 89 after all!), so if you want to see her, it will have to be mid-March at the National Theatre in DC.  I think for once, the New York area will miss out, but that's what the Amtrak Acela is for, I guess.

I've written a bit here and there about the Toronto Symphony (TSO).  I'd say it is only slightly better than the Vancouver Symphony, which is frankly a bit shocking, considering Toronto's size.  However, what I've decided is that the overall going-to-the-symphony experience was simply better in Vancouver, since I like the Orpheum Theatre so much better than Roy Thomson Hall, which I don't like much at all.  Where Toronto has Vancouver clearly beat, however, is in all the small concerts put on in random halls and churches.  In fact, I should manage to see Tafelmusik in Trinity Church on Bloor and the Mendelssohn Choir in another church in early April.  I didn't realize until recently that Toronto has so many classical concerts that it can support its own magazine: The WholeNote (online and in print).

All that said, I did find a few TSO concerts worth going to next season and put together a subscription.  I'll be going to:
Beethoven Symphony 5
Gershwin Piano Concerto in F/Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 (and even a short Shostakovich piece thrown in)
Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 (actually the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal decamping to Toronto for an evening)
Angela Hewitt Plays Bach (combined with Shostakovich Symphony No 8 for some reason, not that I am complaining)
Mozart Violin Concerto 5 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 "Babi Yar"
and finally Second City's Guide to the Symphony, which was such a hit last year.

It's a decent series of concerts, but it's really surprising to me how rarely TSO actually plays.  There are huge gaps in the calendar whereas in Chicago or New York these calendars are completely full (except for the summer).

Anyway, I suppose if the symphony was more compelling, I'd have less time for theatre, which really is my first love amongst the arts.

In March or very early April I plan to see:
Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding over at Buddies in Bad Times (somehow they slipped in a M. Tremblay play without me seeing it until too late, which is frustrating).

Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike over at Mirvish as part of the Off-Mirvish series.  (Sadly next season at Mirvish looks very boring with almost nothing I want to see and no high profile transfers of Shaw or Stratford productions)

A world premiere from John Patrick Shanley: A Woman is a Secret (I've actually booked my ticket for the 22nd which is supposed to feature a discussion and masterclass with J.P. Shanley after the performance -- should be interesting)

Finally, I need to make sure to book my tickets for the last plays over at Tarragon, with Cake and Dirt coming up pretty fast.

So that really should be plenty to keep my occupied over the next few weeks and months.