Stage Door News
Stage Door News
For our annual cabaret, we are delighted to once again share our stage with luminaries from the internationally esteemed Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale (GCdBN).
Our original collaboration with GCdBN, Tears of a Clown (2003), was a tremendous success with both audiences and critics, setting a high standard for collaboration that Toronto Masque Theatre has continued to strive for. All that striving made us tired, so we decided to just invite them back to reprise this delightful production as part of our tenth anniversary season. We are also thrilled that the beloved mezzo- soprano Laura Pudwell has agreed to rejoin us (although her agent was nervous).
Arlecchino Allegro is sponsored by an anonymous, mysterious and very generous patron to honour his beloved companion, Arlecchino. The evening will feature musical selections on the theme of love, laughter, joy and celebration. Our hosts from GCdBN will be Artistic Director Nicholas Denoument and prima ballerina Mina Rafaella Kalishnikova. There will be a house band led by Larry Beckwith, hand- picked by the Patron because he is allegedly quite good.
Every season, Toronto Masque Theatre holds an intimate cabaret that allows audiences to enjoy a glass of wine from a candlelit table in the beautiful environment of the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse. Arlecchino Allegro brings together the traditions of clown, improvisation and chamber music in a marvelous collision of comic and musical fireworks along with witty interpretations of the music of Mahler, Mozart, Debussy, Leoncavallo, Schubert as well as some unexpected hits.
Biographies of Guest Artists From the Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale:
Mina Rafaella Kalishnikova has had distinguished career as prima ballerina with The Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale, rising from the ranks of the corps a mere year after being invited to join the company, and performing in every single ballet since that time. Discovered while dancing with gypsies on the cobblestones of the main square of Gorgenetrich's capital, Hildenfitch, Mina was plucked from her itinerant family to attend the company’s academy at the tender age of seven. Her most cherished role is that of Bethany, in Bethany's Gate, the "lost national treasure" she personally rediscovered beneath the floorboards of the stage of the National Theatre just prior to fleeing Gorgonetrevich before that country's revolution. Ms Kalishnikova is the recipient of the Dibyalobeg Cultural Cross, awarded by the Gorgonetrevich Royal Family (in Exile), for her work raising funds to support orphans in her homeland.
Nicholas Denoument has danced almost exclusively with the renowned Gorgonetrevich Corps De Ballet Nationale since he was nine years old. His reign as Danseur Noble lasted an impressive fifteen years, until his professional retirement five years ago. Mr. Denoument currently serves as the ballet company's Artistic Director. His spectacular and varied career includes dancing the lead male roles in many acclaimed productions including Turttle, Dandiosis Spriekgen, Kasha and the Kleinfreid, and the internationally celebrated Bethany's Gate. He has directed and choreographed many independent projects outside of his work with the Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale. In 2007, his acclaimed solo work Hullaballoog was awarded the Murveille Dance Award, and toured extensively around Europe. This year, Nicholas was awarded the Finstir Arts Prize, the pre-eminent arts award in Gorgonetrevich, for his dedication to dance, his commitment to the arts, and his leadership of the Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale.
What: Arlecchino Allegro: a glittering musical fête gone awry. Toronto Masque Theatre's annual cabaret featuring clowns and chamber music.
When: Thursday, 23 January; Friday, 24 January and Saturday, 25 January. All performances at 8 pm. A pre-show chat with Artistic Director Larry Beckwith and guests will be held 45 minutes before each performance.
Where: Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, 106 Trinity Street, Toronto
How: Tickets: $45; $40 (over 65 years) and $20 (under 30 years) available from Toronto Masque Theatre website or by phoning 416 410 4561.
Who: For more information on Toronto Masque Theatre please go to our website.
Arlecchino Allegro: a glittering musical fête gone awry
"A madcap evening of authentic Early Music with later compositions fractured like funhouse mirror images... the music was extraordinary."
John Terauds, Toronto Star, on the original production
Photo: Rafaella Kalishnikova and Nicholas Denoument. ©2012 Tariq Keiran.
2014-01-01
Toronto: Toronto Masque Theatre presents "Arlecchino Allegro" January 23-25, 2014