Couple who work at Casa Loma create their own personal castle for their family
Their jobs at Casa Loma put Paolo Busato and Catriona Delaney in the midst of spectacular opulence from a bygone era. But they go home to a fresh and modern condo done in a 'rustic Boho chic' style (her choice) blended with French and Italian influences (his taste). 'As much as I love to visit it, I wouldn't want to live in Casa Loma,' Delaney says.
As general manager of tourism and operations for the famous 98-room landmark, which was completed in 1914, she's 'the only person in Canada who oversees a castle.' Busato is maestro and co-founder of the Casa Loma Symphony Orchestra, which performs a summer series of concerts.
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Global News
30 minutes ago
- Global News
Italian art museum calls out visitors who sat on crystal chair and broke it
A museum in Italy is calling on visitors to respect its art installations after a pair of tourists sat on a crystal-encrusted exhibit, broke it, then fled. The piece, known as Nicola Bolla's 'Van Gogh' chair, was on display at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona, Italy, when it collapsed under the weight of a tourist who was gently perched on the sculpture while posing for photographs. The incident was caught on security cameras and shows two visitors, one male, one female, each pretending to take a seat on the artwork, when the male museum-goer appears to slip and the piece crumples beneath him. The majority of the damage was to the chair's legs. Italian authorities said the pair left the museum before staff noticed the damage. Story continues below advertisement Police are aware of the incident, but have yet to identify the suspects. The museum has since called on visitors to respect the items on display. 'Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don't think about the consequences,' museum director Vanessa Carlon said in a video message. 'Of course it was an accident, but these two people left without speaking to us – that isn't an accident,' she said, adding, 'This is a nightmare for any museum,' she continued. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy According to the BBC, the incident happened in April. However, the museum only released the footage on June 12 on Facebook, writing in a statement that it was unsure for days if it would be able to repair the chair, but that it was ultimately able to do so. 'We are sharing this episode not only for the sake of reporting, but to start a real awareness campaign on the value of art and the respect it deserves,' it says. In the accompanying video, Carlon thanks the museum's restoration staff, who she says 'did an outstanding job' of mending the fragile chair, which is not designed to bear weight. 'Fortunately, the chair is shining once again,' she added. Story continues below advertisement The chair was created by Italian artist Nicola Bolla and is delicately woven together using Swarovski crystals and foil. It is named after Vincent van Gogh as a tribute to his painting of a simple chair. Story continues below advertisement When asked by the BBC about its price, the museum would not provide an estimated value. A historian based at the museum, Carlotta Menegazzo, told the BBC that the display includes a note telling people not to touch the chair. Meanwhile, Carlon says most visitors are well-behaved and considerate, and that she hopes the release of the footage won't become a 'negative episode.' 'Anyone should enter art places, or museums, or churches, wherever art is displayed, in a more respectful way,' she continued. 'Art must be respected and loved because it is very fragile,' she concluded. The museum is relatively new, having opened in 2020, and houses 650 pieces, including works by Picasso and ancient Egyptian artifacts.
Winnipeg Free Press
10 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New Brunswick's Justin Collette is the ghost with the most in ‘Beetlejuice' musical
TORONTO – Even the walls of Justin Collette's dressing room scream, 'Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.' While most theatre actors would choose a Zen-like atmosphere in their backstage quarters, Collette prefers a little anarchy. Hanging around the room are nearly a dozen fan sketches of the living dead trickster he portrays in 'Beetlejuice: The Musical,' as well as drawings of his goth teen sidekick Lydia and the grotesque sandworm that invades her suburban home. 'This is like a fifth of fan art I've been given — so many cool, cool things,' Collette says with a smile, while the music of Italian rock band Måneskin blares over a speaker. 'I have to ship much of it home because it's hard to travel with anything on the road.' Collette is preparing for opening night at Toronto's CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, where 'Beetlejuice: The Musical' runs for six weeks, until July 19. It's the longest stop for the travelling show where he plays the character made famous by Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's 1988 dark comedy film. The New Brunswick native says he's excited to plant himself in a city where he once lived. Everything about his life on the road is a routine, including the hours leading up to his nightly performance. He comes into his dressing room, surveys the fan art, and then settles into a chair as makeup artist Andrew Ozbun begins to apply his Beetlejuice face. It's a process that Ozbun says once took an hour, but he now manages to finish in about half that time. Over the past 2 1/2 years, Collette has been criss-crossing North America, playing the wisecracking Beetlejuice practically every night. It's a gruelling role that calls for high energy, spastic movements and improvised witty quips. Before the show, Collette slips in and out of the character with ease, adopting the gravelly voice and wide-eyed mannerisms like he's flipping on a switch. 'One of the things about doing this for like 900 shows is that my facial muscles are atrophying,' he says. 'I don't know how Jim Carrey isn't lopsided because I have to get dry needled all the time to get my eyes and jaw to work.' Despite the physical challenges, Collette is buzzing about this opportunity to entertain Canadian audiences for a good chunk of the summer. He spent his early career in Toronto sharpening his skills as an improv comedian, and the crew has draped a banner of little Canadian flags across his wardrobe as a reminder of his homecoming. 'I feel like here I can relax into my own sensibilities,' he says of performing for locals. 'Because I kind of agree with them on what is good and what isn't, because I'm one of them.' Collette made his name on Broadway in the 2015 adaptation of 'School of Rock,' playing Dewey Finn, the music-obsessed teacher first portrayed by Jack Black in the Hollywood comedy. On stage, Collette took over the role from Alex Brightman, who decided to leave 'School of Rock' to become live theatre's first Beetlejuice. 'He was so excited about how funny it was,' Collette remembers of his friend's leap to the ghostly character. 'When I went to see (it), I agreed. It really was like nothing I'd ever seen on Broadway.' Collette didn't think he'd ever get to play Beetlejuice, until one day the opportunity arose for him to audition for the lead part in a travelling production of the show. 'I knew exactly how I wanted to do it,' he says of the character. 'It's hard to explain. I heard the cadence of how I was going to (speak) … even when I read the script. I just knew.' After Collette got the part, he began refining his version of Beetlejuice to make it independent of his predecessors. 'I don't think it looks good when somebody does an impression of somebody else's character in one of these things,' he says. 'It's just diminishing returns because you'll inevitably just get compared to them.' Collette did lift a few mannerisms from the cinematic source material, he admits. Most notably, he liked Keaton's 'open-legged goblin run' in one scene of the movie, which he uses several times in throughout the musical. '(It's) little things, because I don't want him to be unrecognizable, right?' Collette says. 'So you've got to borrow some stuff.' Staying in the Beetlejuice role this long hasn't lost its appeal for him either. Collette says he's set personal goals for his portrayal, and then pushed himself to go further by 'sharpening movements and trying to dig into moments to mine them for little comedy bits.' Each night, as he stares out into the crowd of theatregoers and costumed Beetlejuice fans, he rises to another challenge of making Beetlejuice a little more his own. ''Make it your own' sounds so lame to me,' he interjects. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'You have to figure out who you are.' And with that, his makeup is finished, and Collette is buzzing with mischievous energy. Surveying his dressing room one last time, he pauses before whipping out one of Beetlejuice's trademark phrases, punctuated by his hearty growl. 'It's shooowtiiime!' he shouts. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
15 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Spaniards packing water pistols blame impact of mass tourism for housing crunch
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In Barcelona's residential Gràcia neighborhood known for its quaint squares, Txema Escorsa feels he is being left behind. The friendly faces of neighbors in his apartment building have been replaced by a non-stop flow of hard-partying foreigners, and his teacher's salary can't keep pace with the rising rent. 'It is tough for me to imagine what to do next,' he told The Associated Press in the living room of his two-bedroom apartment. 'If I leave, will I be contributing to Barcelona losing its essence that comes from its locals? But there comes a time when I'm fed up.' Escorsa, 33, is just one of many residents who believe tourism has gone too far in the city famed for Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia basilica and the Las Ramblas promenade, running roughshod over communities and exacerbating a housing crisis. It's not just a Spanish problem. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Barcelona, where protesters plan to take to the streets on Sunday. Similar demonstrations are slated in several other Spanish cities, including on the Balearic islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, as well as in the Italian postcard city of Venice, Portugal's capital Lisbon and other cities across southern Europe — marking the first time a protest against tourism has been coordinated across the region. 'Very likely water pistols will be back' A poll in June 2022 found just 2% of Spaniards thought housing was a national problem. Three years later, almost a third of those surveyed said it is now a leading concern. (Both polls were of 4,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6%) Spaniards have staged several large protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities in recent years to demand lower rents. When thousands marched through the streets of Spain's capital in April, some held homemade signs saying 'Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods.' Last year, Barcelona seemed to reach a tipping point when a rally in favor of 'degrowing tourism' ended with some protestors shooting water pistols at unsuspecting tourists. Images of those incidents went around the world, and more such scenes are expected on Sunday. 'It is very likely the water pistols will be back,' said Daniel Pardo, one of the organizers of the Barcelona protest. 'In fact, we encourage people to bring their own.' Spain, with a population of 48 million, hosted a record 94 million international visitors in 2024, compared with 83 million in 2019, making it one of the most-visited countries in the world. It could receive as many as 100 million tourists this year, according to studies cited by Spain's economy minister. Blocking tourist rentals Spain's municipal and federal authorities are striving to show they hear the public outcry and are taking appropriate action to put the tourism industry on notice, despite the fact it contributes 12% of national GDP. Almost two-thirds of those who took part in a poll conducted last year in Barcelona said tourist apartments led to bothersome behavior. Two months later, the city stunned Airbnb and other services who help rent properties to tourists by announcing the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028. A survey by Spain's public opinion office last year showed more than three-quarters of respondents favored tighter regulations on tourist apartments. Spain's left-wing government approved regulations making it easier for owners of apartments to block others from renting to tourists in their building, as well as approving measures to allow cities like Barcelona to cap rents. And last month, it ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform which it said had violated local rules. Spain's Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told AP that the tourism sector 'cannot jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people,' which enshrines their right to housing and well-being. Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, said in a separate AP interview that the government is aware it must tackle the unwanted side effects of mass tourism. 'These record numbers in terms of tourism also pose challenges, and we need to deal with those challenges also for our own population,' Cuerpo said. 'Brewing for decades' The short-term rental industry believes it is being treated unfairly. 'I think a lot of our politicians have found an easy scapegoat to blame for the inefficiencies of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the last 10, 15, 20 years,' Airbnb's general director for Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago told the AP. 'If you look at the over-tourism problem in Spain, it has been brewing for decades, and probably since the 60s.' Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. He says hotels are still the leading accommodation for tourists. In Barcelona, hotels accounted for 20 million tourists in 2024, compared with 12 million who used homes, according to local data. Rodríguez de Santiago notes the contradiction of Barcelona's Mayor Jaume Collboni backing the expansion of the city's international airport — announced this week — while still planning to wipe out the tourist apartments. That argument either hasn't trickled down to the ordinary residents of Barcelona, or isn't resonating. Escorsa, the teacher in Barcelona, doesn't just oppose Airbnb in his home city; he has ceased to use it even when traveling elsewhere, out of principle. 'In the end, you realize that this is taking away housing from people,' he said.
