Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto Masque Theatre (TMT) proposes a toast to the heart with Masques of Love: Romance and Heartbreak through the Ages at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse at 8:00 p.m. on February 3 and 4, 2012. Torch songs and blues standards rub shoulders with Renaissance lute songs as TMT ponders the rocky road of romance led by the versatile and internationally-renowned singer Patricia O’Callaghan, blues guitarist and “playing encyclopedia” Ken Whiteley, celebrated actor Martin Julien and virtuoso lutenist Terry McKenna. They are joined by some of Canada’s top classical voices. One of the evening’s highlights is Neruda Canciones, a 2006 TMT commission by Canadian composer Omar Daniel set to the love poetry of Pablo Neruda.
TMT Artistic Director Larry Beckwith has assembled some of the country’s best artists across several genres for this salute to all things romantic, choosing one of the city’s oldest and most evocative venues, a romantically transformed Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, as a backdrop. Masques of Love warms up at 7:15 p.m. with Beckwith and composer Omar Daniel in conversation about Neruda Canciones. The show begins at 8:00 p.m. with an ever-changing menu of musical flavours: “revelatory” cabaret singer Patricia O’Callaghan sings a mix of torch and love songs old and new by everyone from Edith Piaf to Sonny Bono and Kurt Weill to Leonard Cohen. “Roots” performer Ken Whiteley adds another layer to the mix with his blues grooves. A quartet of classical singers, soprano Teri Dunn, alto Vicki St. Pierre, tenor Michiel Schrey and baritone Giles Tomkins put the icing on the cake with an eclectic mix of Renaissance madrigals and lute songs by Dowland, Lassus and Marenzio and part-songs by Mendelssohn. Peppered throughout the musical sets are selections of poetry and prose in keeping with the theme of love by Shakespeare, cummings, Auden, Shelley and Gwendolyn MacEwen, performed by actor Martin Julien. A post-concert jam session featuring special guests wraps things up with a bang.
Masques of Love
a cabaret
Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.
Pre-show chat with TMT artistic director Larry Beckwith and
composer Omar Daniel each night at 7:15 p.m.
Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, 106 Trinity Street, Toronto
Tickets: $35 Regular, $30 Senior, $15 Under 30
Purchase by phone: 416-410-4561 / Online: www.torontomasquetheatre.com
Refreshments will be available
2012-01-04
Toronto: Toronto Masque Theatre presents “Masques of Love: A Cabaret” February 3 & 4