Broadway and The Met take on The Merry Widow

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Edward Brain

The Metropolitan Opera performed Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow as part of its Live in HD broadcast series on January 17th, 2015.  This performance was stunning from start to finish and saw the teaming up of the best of Broadway and opera to pull it off.

The production, directed and choreographed by Broadway director Susan Stroman, starred Renée Fleming (Hanna Glawari, aka ‘The Merry Widow’), Sir Thomas Allen (Baron Mirko Zeta), Kelli O’Hara (Valencienne, the Baron’s wife), Nathan Gunn (Danilo), Alek Shrader (Camille de Rosillon, Valencienne’s admirer), and Carson Elrod (Njegus.)  The sets are by Julian Crouch, and was conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Continue reading →

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Sir John A. MacDonald’s Bicentenary

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Edward Brain
English: Sir. John A. Macdonald

Sir John A. Macdonald (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On January 11th 2015, Canada celebrates the 200th birthday of its first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

Sir John A. was a Father of Confederation, and had been Premier of the Province of Canada prior to Confederation.

Sir John A. was born John Alexander Macdonald on January 11th 1815 in Glasgow, Scotland.  His parents were Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw, who moved to Kingston, in what is now Ontario, in 1820 when John A. was only five years old. Continue reading →

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2015 Inductees into Cooperstown

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Edward Brain

The Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown) has announced the inductees for the 2015 induction ceremony.  For the first time since 1955, four players received sufficient votes to be inducted.

The four inductiees are Randy Johnson (97.3%), Pedro Martinez (91.1%), John Smoltz (82.9%), and Craig Biggio (82.7%)

Let’s take a look at the inductees: Continue reading →

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Happy New Year

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Edward Brain

I would like to welcome everyone to 2015.  2014 was an eventful year, as everyone knows.

Now that we are in 2015, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and thank you for reading my blog.  I hope to keep up with my writing and bring to discuss many interesting and diverse topics and ideas throughout the year.

So, Happy New Year, and all the best for the future!

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2014: A Year in Review

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Edward Brain

Now that we are closing in on the last hours of 2014, let’s look back on some of the highlights of 2014:

January:

In January, Cooperstown announced the Class of 2014: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Frank Thomas.  Alex Rodriguez was suspended for one year of baseball for use of performance enhancing drugs. Continue reading →

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Edward Brain

Christmas Tree at Nathan Phillips SquareI just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I hope you get to spend time with your family and friends.

May all the blessings of Christmas be found for you and your family.  Continue reading →

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Jeremy Lloyd has Passed Away

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Edward Brain

Jeremy Lloyd, OBE, has passed away at the age of 84.  Mr. Lloyd was a well known comedy writer.  his agent announced that he passed away of pneumonia in hospital.

Mr. Lloyd, along with David Croft, wrote such famous comedy series as Are You Being Served? and ‘Allo, ‘Allo!.

Prior to becoming a successful writer of comedy series, Mr. Lloyd was an actor, appearing for a season in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, as well as a few movie appearances – such as A Hard Day’s Night, and The Magic Christian. Continue reading →

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Splendid Die Meistersinger in HD

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Edward Brain

On December 13th, the Metropolitan Opera presented Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as part of its Live in HD broadcast schedule.  The production was directed by Otto Schenk with sets by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen.  The performance starred Michael Volle (Hans Sachs), Johan Botha (Walther von Stolzing), Annette Dasch (Eva), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Hans-Peter König (Veit Pogner), Paul Appleby (David), and Karen Cargill (Magdalene.)  Artistic Director James Levine conducted the Met Opera Orchestra.

The production, now 21 years old, is still fresh and provides a great backdrop for the action.  The action takes place in 16th Century Nuremberg, and that’s exactly where we are taken with the staging – which means we can forget about what the director thinks of the production, but allows the audience to concentrate on the action.  And this is was a good thing. Continue reading →

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CFL 2014 All-Star Team Announced

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Edward Brain

The Canadian Football League (CFL) has announced its selection of All-Stars for the 2014 season.

The All Star team consists of: Continue reading →

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H.M.S. Pinafore at the U of T

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Edward Brain

Last night, the University of Toronto‘s (U of T) Opera Division opened a short run of Gilbert and Sullivan‘s H.M.S. Pinafore at the Macmillan Theatre.   The performance starred Ryan Downey (Captain Corcoran), Karine White (Josephine). Charles Sy (Ralph Rackstraw), Max van Wyck (Dick Deadeye), Daniel Denino (Bill Bobstay), Daniel Robinson (Bob Becket), Lyndsay Promane (Buttercup), Nicholas Borg (Sir Joseph Porter), and Kristina Agur (Hebe.)

The production was directed by Michael Patrick Albano was in the latter 19th Century as originally written and allowed the cast to be the centre of attention, for which they excelled.  The orchestra, led by conductor Sandra Horst, also excelled especially with a quick tempi. Continue reading →

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