Macbeth opening night cancelled owing to poor air quality
Ticket holders for tonight's show, directed by Emma Welham, will be contacted by the company.
Macbeth's run continues to July 15. The company will present Waiting for Godot starting June 13.
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Edmonton Journal
an hour ago
- Edmonton Journal
Fringe Review: Operatic Macbeth not for everyone but vastly rewarding
Macbeth, at the 2025 Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Stage 1, ATB Westbury Theatre Shakespeare has been given so many makeovers that you'd be forgiven for not knowing what you'd get walking into a performance. A version featuring the Simpsons characters? A Japanese adaptation? One set during the Quebec biker wars of the 1990s? They've all been done and they're all quite entertaining, but it's almost a shock to see Macbeth done as opera, with music by acclaimed composer J. Andrew Creaghan. So jolting that at least one couple sheepishly made their way out from the well attended Sunday night performance, likely because it wasn't quite what they were expecting. Fair enough. Creaghan's Macbeth is a muted and severe affair, with all performers dressed in street clothes black. The singers sit at the back of the stage with their binders of ipads full of scores and lyrics, slowly walking forward when their time comes. Afterwards, they return in a similarly staely manner to their chairs. It's almost like they're the ghosts of Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan and Lady Macbeth, forced to reenact their tragedy every day, their voices conveying passion but their bodies locked into dispassion. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again For lack of a better word the music (played by the New Era Group, conducted by Don Ross) swirls around the singers like an endlessly dreich day in Inverness. Let's be clear, this isn't for everyone, but if you have the patience to sit and let it seep in this performance of Macbeth is vastly rewarding.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Will Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo revives Verdi's ‘Macbeth' with period instruments
NEW YORK (AP) — Verdi can be played on original instruments, too. While historically informed performances of Baroque music are not surprising, Will Crutchfield and Teatro Nuovo are using period pieces for the rarely heard initial version of 'Macbeth.' 'You wouldn't think that architecture from the mid-19th century would resemble the architecture of today,' cellist Hilary Metzger said. 'The instruments and the way they had to make music back then were very different.' 'Macbeth' and Bellini's 'La Sonnambula' were presented by Teatro Nuovo last weekend at Montclair State's Kasser Theater in New Jersey and repeated this week at New York City Center. 'La Sonnambula' will be performed Thursday. 'I feel like I'm in Scotland,' said soprano Alexandra Loutsion, the Lady Macbeth. 'Modern instruments have a sharpness to them and a pristine quality that period instruments don't.' Crutchfield, 68, was a music critic for The New York Times in the 1980s. He established Bel Canto at Caramoor in Katonah, New York, in 1997, then launched Teatro Nuovo as general and artistic director in 2018, showcasing scholarship and furnishing foundations for singers. 'I got bitten with the bug of historical recordings, and I realized very early on, oh, we think are doing traditional Italian opera nowadays but really what we call traditional means the 1950s,' he said. 'What they were doing in the 1900s was totally different, radically just night and day different from the 1950s. … and that just made me really curious. OK, if it was that different in 1910, what was happening in 1880, what was happening 1860?' Verdi emerged from Bel Canto era Crutchfield noted Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi all were born from 1792 to 1813, and early Verdi is in the Bel Canto manner. 'The only reason we think of Verdi as belonging to another era is because he was still composing in his 80s and writing masterpieces after the others were long gone from the scene,' Crutchfield said. 'He is based on the same tradition. He learned his craft from hearing their operas.' 'Macbeth' premiered at Florence's Teatro della Pergola in 1847, just before Verdi's middle-period masterpieces. Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave revised it for a run at Paris' Théâtre Lyrique in 1865 that was performed in French. The latter version, translated into Italian for Milan's Teatro alla Scala later that year, is the most common score used. Jakob Lehmann conducted the original version from the University of Chicago/Casa Ricordi critical edition. At Wednesday night's performance, Loutsion sang a high-octane 'Trionfai! Securi alfine,' a coloratura showpiece that Verdi replaced with the more dramatic 'La luce langue,' and baritone Ricardo José Rivera was menacing and mellifluous in 'Vada in fiamme,' which ended the third act and was dropped in 1865 for a duet between the Macbeths. 'The lady is a bit more unhinged in this one,' Loutsion said. 'It's basically about how she's gotten everything that she wants and she's triumphed, and nothing's going to stop them now.' Orchestra seated in early 19th century arrangement First violins were seated with backs toward the audience, facing the second violins, whose backs were to the stage. Cellos, double basses and brass were split on sides of the woodwinds in a seating Crutchfield adopted from Naples' Teatro San Carlo. 'Back in Verdi's day, the first violins were the teachers and the second violins were their students,' Metzger said. Double basses have three strings instead of four, string instruments use gut instead of metal, woodwinds are made of wood and brass have no valves. 'There's a certain clarity to it and there's a certain specificity,' chorus master Derrick Goff said. 'The English horn and the oboe sound even more plaintive to me. You can really hear the way that the composers had to write very specifically for those instruments.' An orchestra of about 53 was used for 'Macbeth' and 47 for 'Sonnambula,' accompanied by a chorus of 28, and the pitch was lower than used by modern orchestras. Men in the cast wore mostly tuxedos and women were dressed in black on a stage with a screen showing projections. Majority of money comes from donors, not ticket sales Two performances of each opera cost a total of about $1.4 million, according to general manager Cindy Marino. Ticket sales generate roughly $160,000, with the remainder raised from donors. 'We obviously want bigger choruses. We want a little bit larger orchestra,' Marino said, 'but we know financially we are trying to take it easy on increasing what we need to raise and not just jumping half a million dollars in order to grow the company.' Orchestra rehearsals started about four weeks out. The cast worked intensively on the period techniques. 'Now that I'm leaving here, I feel like I have a whole other color palette,' Loutsion said. 'The luxury of being able to dig in and all of us nerd out is awesome.'
Calgary Herald
23-07-2025
- Calgary Herald
Stratford Festival mourns the loss of actor Michael Blake, co-star of ATP's King James
Actor Michael Blake, who played a variety of roles during 10 seasons at the Stratford Festival, has died, the company announced on Monday. Article content Blake, 53, was considered one of the most gifted actors of his generation. He played an extraordinary variety of parts and did so with an ability and ease that was rare, the Festival said in a release. Article content Article content 'Each part Michael played was powerfully realized,' Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino said. 'His work was true and realistic. His portrayals had an integrity that was compelling. It drew you into his reality.' Article content Article content Blake also performed at theatres across Canada, as well as on film and TV, but he will be remembered in Stratford for bringing to life a variety of characters — an unforgettable Othello, a heartbreaking Macduff in Macbeth, a good-hearted Master Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, a delightfully villainous Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, a commanding Cominius in Coriolanus, an excellent Duke of Clarence in Richard III, and Albany in King Lear. Those performances have been captured on film, the Festival said. Article content Article content It total, Blake performed in 25 Stratford productions between 2011 and 2023, including Errico in Napoli Milionaria!, Mr. Balance in The School for Scandal, George Deever in All My Sons, Edmund in King Lear, Dumaine in All's Well That Ends Well, Cleante in Tartuff, and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. Article content
