Saturday, October 11, 2008

Quote of the Day

"The curve of those shoulders has been sculpted
by the stares of men."

From the libretto of Prokofiev's opera, War and Peace, based on Tolstoy's novel.

If you live in Toronto and get a chance to see this opera, now playing at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, please do. It's a great night of theatre, a theatrical triumph for the creative team, led by director Tim Albery. And don't make the awful mistake of arriving late and missing the first half as the first 10 minutes alone is worth the price of admission. Prokofiev was forced to bolster up the war bits for propoganda purposes by the Soviets, but despite that, this is theatre first, opera second and it's a thrill. Russell Braun as Andrei, Elena Semenova as Natasha, and Mikhail Agafanov as Pierre, are heart-breaking and wonderful.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Prokofiev was forced to bolster up the war bits for propoganda purposes by the Soviets..."

Hey! I just thought of a new gig for Dick Cheney next spring....

Anonymous said...

Uh oh. Well, hopefully (highly likely) he's neither read the book not seen the opera. :)