http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/topic/5enghttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1069http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1069As befits a  play  called  In Absentia, a dull sadness pervades the piece at the Centaur until March 4. The world premiere of a minor work by major award-winning Canadian playwright Morris Panych -  it is an introspective,  overwrought mediation on love, grief and mortality.Alidor AucoinWed, 08 Feb 2012 12:16:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1059http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1059In the spring of 1842 Charles Dickens took a steamboat from Kingston, Ont. and sailed down the St. Lawrence intoMontreal with his wife, Catherine, and found the town  “full of life and bustle.”  Dickens was 30 and had already written six books, including Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. No other novelist has had such a spectacular success. Two hundred years after he was born in 1812, Dickens remains as immortal as Shakespeare.  It  is probably fair to say more people know of Oliver Twist, the artful dodger, Syndey Carton, Miss Havisham, Micawber, Scrooge and Tiny Tim from the endless  television mini-series, movies and Broadway musicals based on his novels than they do from reading his books.Alan HustakFri, 16 Dec 2011 14:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1060http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1060You may have had organic wine. You may have had biodynamic wine. You may have had wine produced by sustainable agricultural methods. But have you had "pizzo" free wine? “Pizzo” in Italian means protection money paid to you know who. Fed up after assassinations and murders of  members of the judiciary leading investigations into organized crime, a spontaneous movement erupted in 2004 in Palermo bearing the slogan “Addio Pizzo” meaning good-bye to protection money and let’s support those in the economy that are Pizzo free. Their slogan reads, “Un Intero Popolo Che Paga Il Pizzo É Un Popolo Senza Dignità” translated as such, “A Whole People Who Pays the Pizzo is a People Without Dignity”. Robert K. StephenFri, 16 Dec 2011 14:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1045http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1045God of Carnage, at the Centaur until December 4th, (and probably longer)  is a clever and brutally funny farce  that’s the hottest ticket in town.  A perfect ensemble cast  under Roy Surette’s disciplined and brilliant direction  unleashes 90 minutes of domestic mayhem on an unsuspecting audience. The play explores that  razor thin line between civility and savagery, love and hate.  What we have here is reminiscent of Who is Afraid of Virgina Woolf  without  Albee’s bite.Alidor AucoinFri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1044http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1044The Play’s the Thing  at the Segal Centre until  Nov. 20  is a delightful  revival of  Ferenc  Molnar’s  1920’s period piece,  Play at The Castle,  (Jatek a Kastelyban),   a silly  farce adapted by P.G. Wodehouse  in which sexual hi-jinks  inspire a word play-within- a-play.   Set in a Mediterranean villa, the parlour comedy is based on a real life incident in which the Hungarian playwright arrived in his hotel suite with one of his friends  and overheard his wife in the next room, apparently in the throes of passion,  exclaiming, “I love you, I love you, I shall die of love for you!” Alidor AucoinTue, 08 Nov 2011 13:37:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1043http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1043On September 22, 1927, the most famous battle in boxing history took place in Chicago. Gene Tunney, the quiet, literary heavyweight, defended the world championship he had won one year before from Jack Dempsey, the “Manassa Mauler,” who had held it for 10 years. This was the fight with the famous “long count” controversy played over many times today on YouTube. It was the first over $2 million dollar gate in entertainment history ($22 million in today’s money), seen live by 125,000 people (no TV in those days).Byron TobenWed, 26 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1025http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1025Colleen  Curran’s  True Nature, which opened the Centaur ‘s Theatre season, is really an academic lecture about Mary Anning, the obscure 19th century fossil  hunter,  disguised as a play.  It is also a sophomoric variation on an increasingly familiar theme involving neurotic baby-boomers torn between romantic commitment and a career. True Nature appears  to have grown out of a series of focus groups  that came up with a cross-section of characters  designed to  appeal to as broad an audience as possible.  Alidor AucoinWed, 26 Oct 2011 11:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1024http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1024Justement,  je souhaite, par la rédaction de cet article, vous entretenir d’un livre intimement et entièrement associé à cette attitude philosophique : « PENSÉES pour vivre au quotidien», deuxième recueil de la très éclairée auteure et philosophe: Danièle Geoffrion, publié aux Éditions du CRAM.  De toute évidence, ce livre s’inscrit dans le continuum de la publication du premier recueil « Philosopher pour vivre au quotidien  - du sens et des mots -, tout en suggérant une ouverture pour aller plus loin en soi, plus profondément, afin de susciter l’envol  de tout ce que l’on porte enfouis, et qui ne demande, souvent, qu’à se laisser happer par la lumière de la réalité.Louise V. LabrecqueFri, 26 Aug 2011 14:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1013http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1013Returning to New York from the peaceful environs of slow paced Greenport, North Fork of Long Island, which is some 80 miles from New York City, leads one to think of contrasts as New York City’s massive silhouette assaults the senses on approach. New York City is New York City but as all cities do has its own distinct neighbourhoods and character. It is not just a big city but a collection of neighbourhoods and experiences both surreal and serene in the midst of its bustling exterior.Robert K. StephenFri, 26 Aug 2011 13:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1007http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1007  The National Gallery in Ottawa has scored a coup with its blockbuster Caraviggo exhibition that runs until  Sept. 11. Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome  features  ten  paintings  never  before seen  in North America, two that have, and another  50 paintings by artists who were influenced by  his work.   In view of the fact that only 70  of the artists works  known to exist, and many of them are altar pieces that cannot be moved,  it’s an extraordinary collection.   Alan HustakFri, 26 Aug 2011 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1005http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1005Claude Léveillée, who died June 9th at the age of 78, was one of Quebec`s most alluring singers and a poet in the tradition of Felix Leclerc and Gilles Vigneault.   Léveillée worked with and wrote 25 songs for the legendary French singer Edith Piaf and another 30 with Gilles Vigneault. Among his best known melodies are Fréderic, Elle Tournera la Terre, Quelques arpents de neiges, Piano Méchanique. His best known hit, perhaps, was Roger Williams recording of  Leveillee’s Pour les Amants as Only for Lovers.  Léveillée  was also an actor seen in Denys Arcand`s Jésus de Montréal and played the character of Émile Rosseau in the 1990 French-language television series Scoop.Alan HustakThu, 16 Jun 2011 22:40:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/981http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/981From the natural light that floods the fourth floor   Inuit sculpture gallery to the  luminous  glow of the Tiffany stained glass windows in its  concert hall, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts newest pavilion is as calm and as uplifting as ….. well, a church.  Which it once was.  The  old  Erskine American Church,  a brownstone Sherbrooke St.  landmark  since 1894, has been converted into a  $40-million temple of art and music  known as the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavillion.Alan HustakFri, 10 Jun 2011 10:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1001http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1001“It’s a lot of fun,” said Montreal artist Keira Parnell. As the curator of the new Mail-Art exhibition hanging in NDG’s popular Connexions Language School, Parnell said she had a great time putting together the eclectic mix of original postcards that makes up the show. “Once you get involved in the mail-art community, using the mail to send your work is just as important as getting one back.”P.A. SévignyFri, 10 Jun 2011 10:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1002http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1002VIA’s slogan currently reads, “A More Human Way to Travel”. Is this true? I decided to test this a bit further on a recent Toronto to Montreal VIA 1 round trip.  A human way to travel means to be treated like a human as opposed to, well let’s say to be innovative, cattle…..you know serve those human needs with comfort, a smile, amenities, food and drink which by the way is the glue that keeps humans talking and interacting with each other wherever they may be!Robert K. StephenFri, 10 Jun 2011 09:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/962http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/962No matter how thin you slice it, Schwartz’s the Musical at  the  Centaur  Theatre  until April 24  is as appetizing  and as satisfying  as a smoked meat sandwich.  It is as effervescent as a   Cott’s black cherry coke chaser.  (Burp).   It’s a ludicrous treat, even though bits of it might be hard to digest.  The daffy burlesque of a show  was  inspired by Bill Brownstein’s  history of the landmark Montreal deli on The Main published five years ago by Véhicule Press, but the script which went through dozens of rewrites,  alters some of the detail in the book,  and takes on a life of Its own.Alidor AucoinThu, 21 Apr 2011 15:12:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/978http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/978In Polly Of Bridgewater Farm  -- An Unknown Irish Story (Cabbagetown Press Limited. Toronto. Ontario. 2009) Catherine Fleming McKenty offers a refreshing look at her own family’s life in Ireland and their eventual coming to Montreal and settling in Toronto.Father John WalshThu, 21 Apr 2011 14:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/979http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/979As a Montrealer transplanted to Toronto since 1984 I had long given up the illusory search for a decent bagel or a smoked meat sandwich in Hogtown. Strangely enough and in somewhat of an unpatriotic fashion (from a Montreal perspective) I have developed a fondness for peameal bacon sandwiches on a bun.Fairmont and St. Viateur have the Montreal-Toronto bagel contest locked up. Try as I may there are no comparable bagels in Toronto with that wonderful, smokiness and dense sweetness Fairmont and St. Viateur can deliver. But hold on Montrealers...Robert K. StephenThu, 21 Apr 2011 13:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/900http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/900“I never give any information about me in writing because you can tell at a glance my paintings contain the most accurate information about me. I have no intention of revealing to the astonished bourgeois and contemporaries the depths and abyss within my soul,” the German artist Otto Dix once wrote to a friend.  That may explain why the engrossing exhibition running until January at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Rouge Cabaret, A terrifying and Beautiful World, is both an immersive experience and a revelation. Not only do the 220  works on display examine the career of Otto Dix  but follow a chronology that emphasizes the peculiar mix of  decadence and despair which not only represents “the abyss within” his soul, but the dehumanizing times through which he lived.Alan HustakThu, 04 Nov 2010 09:01:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/899http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/899 As we pass the 40th anniversary of the October Crisis, my thoughts turn not to the lessons learned, if any, from this not-so-quiet revolution, or to questions surrounding the state of Quebec’s ongoing war between the two solitudes. No, my thoughts turn to that spring day when I, a young, eager Canadian actress was cast as FLQ terrorist Louise Lanctôt in a big-budget (by Canadian standards) CBC series recounting the events. A particularly vivid memory of the panic-attack that ensued comes to mind: How would I be credible in a role that would have me violently fight for the break-up of this beautiful country? Fanny La CroixThu, 04 Nov 2010 09:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/877http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/877During the First World War Otto Joachim was still a boy taking music lessons at the Buths-Neitzel conservatory. In Dusseldorf each day he passed a house that once belonged to Johannes Brahms. That, he said, gave him an inspiration, if he needed any, to think, “Hey, are you going to be a composer some day?”Alan HustakThu, 09 Sep 2010 13:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/878http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/878Do not assume New York City is “a city”. It is a collection of villages within a city. In fact why bother calling it New York City. It’s really Manhattan divided by 22 or so. As geographical and ethnic boundaries go so do a couple of wine bars. Drop in for a glass of wine at two distinct villages in Manhattan and see two different worlds of wine.Robert K. StephenThu, 09 Sep 2010 11:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/879http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/879Enfin!  Éva Circé-Côté est sortie des oubliettes pour entrer de plein fouet dans nos esprits, en même temps que sur les tablettes de nos librairies ! Il était temps, en effet, de dépoussiérer l’œuvre extraordinaire de cette grande dame, libre-penseuse, poète, dramaturge, journaliste, musicienne, et j’en passe !  Dans cent ans, ceux qui voudront comprendre le prix des combats contre l’ignorance et l’intolérance dans le Québec  des années 1900, s’épargneront de longues et austères recherches, s’ils consentent à passer au peigne fin le livre d’Andrée Lévesque “Éva Circé-Côté libre-penseuse 1871-1949. »Louise V. LabrecqueThu, 09 Sep 2010 10:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/860http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/860 NEW YORK, NY - Although the past few months have seen some closures of those “sure-fire hits,” Broadway is alive, well and high-kicking through the summer and into the fall. However, the Bard’s claim, "the play’s the thing,” should probably read “the revival’s the thing.” Most of the draws at the box office, except for a couple, are all tried and true productions from the past. Where are the writers, the lyricists, the great librettists of yore?   Sharman YarnellThu, 22 Jul 2010 11:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/861http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/861The $14-million redesign of Place d’Armes in Old Montreal gives new meaning to the expression tearing up the city.  Ongoing construction for more than a year has turned the historic ground in front of Notre Dame basilica into a no man’s land.  Tourists expecting to see the statue of Montreal’s founder, Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, are greeted instead by bulldozers. Making your way up Beaver Hall  hill into Notre Dame or into any of the office buildings around the square means running an obstacle course around the massive excavation. Alan HustakThu, 22 Jul 2010 10:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/862http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/862 The plans to bulldoze the Bonaventure expressway and replace it  with a ground level  boulevard, for example, have gone back to the drawing board.  The Office de consultation publique de montréal  was right  to doubt the wisdom of the entire $260-million redevelopment scheme initially  proposed by the  Societe du Havre de Montreal,  and to recommend a second  look at the whole idea.  The people at City Hall responsible for the ambitious project might learn a thing or two from Boston’s experience.  Alan HustakThu, 22 Jul 2010 09:09:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/839http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/839 “Film is a vision, a point of view,” said Quebec director Michel Brault in 2003.  Brault and his peers - Quebec cultural giants the lot - were at the forefront in helping the province establish a national cinema distinct from the rest of Canada. They told stories from the viewpoint of les Quebecois. They gave a nation a voice in its own language on screens big and small. Jessica MurphyThu, 10 Jun 2010 03:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/840http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/840Ce n’est même pas une question. Plus que jamais il faut repenser le féminisme afin de mieux comprendre la condition féminine actuelle. Diane Guilbault, l’auteure de cet extraordinaire petit livre : « Démocratie et égalité des sexes », interroge les liens complexes unissant le corps, la société, les religions, les cultes, les systèmes et les politiques, notamment les accommodements dit raisonnables.  L’éducation des filles, depuis toujours, englobe le corps et cerne tout particulièrement le sexe, organe de procréation. Ce faux pouvoir, les femmes l’ont appris par cœur, au travers des siècles de silence, de mimétisme, de séduction. Louise V. LabrecqueThu, 10 Jun 2010 02:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/822http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/822 Keep  a diary long enough,  no matter how inconsequential,  and  it  might  end up keeping you.  Brooke Johnson met Pierre Trudeau at a dance at the National Theatre School in 1985 when she was a 23-year- old  aspiring actress.  He danced with her, took her out for a drinks a few times, invited her for a walk in the country... Alidor AucoinWed, 12 May 2010 21:53:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/819http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/819 Too little thought has been given to Canada’s national pavilion at the World Exposition in Shanghai, opening May 1. Whatever one may think about the previous Canadian government’s decision to take part in the Shanghai World’s Fair which just opened as yet  another showcase for the totalitarian Communist regime, once a sovereign nation has signed onto to an agreement it is customary that it is an obligation on future administrations of whatever party. It is not like the Olympics. This is a state commitment to put Canada’s best foot forward.   Alan HustakFri, 23 Apr 2010 14:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/820http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/820The Madonna Painter, The Birth of Painting at the Centaur, is a richly imagined, sacrilegiously macabre, exercise in which playwright Michel-Marc Bouchard delves into long-discarded French-Canadian Catholic ritual and rural ignorance, “the way a flea market hawker displays sacred objects that have been stolen and disguised for resale.” Alidor AucoinFri, 23 Apr 2010 13:30:00 -0400