Blogger Night at La Traviata!

Here's the roundup of Traviata posts from our crack team of bloggers!

From Natasha Belonio
Live Blogging Part 1
Live Blogging Part 2
Live Blogging Part 3
It's almost been a week...

From Gwendolyn Floyd
La Traviata
Getting Ready and Getting There
A Review

From Stacey Robinsmith
Opening Night
Backstage Party

From Frances Sprout
La Traviata - Before the Show
Backstage Tour
Intermission
The Morning After

A huge thanks to all four of them for coming to the show, agreeing to be put on display and for the thoughtful commentary!

Blogger Night at the Opera!

It's almost Blogger Night!

Our bloggers for La Traviata are the lovely and talented Natasha Belonio, Gwendolyn Floyd, Stacey Robinsmith and Frances Sprout.

Follow along as they live-blog opening night, starting at 6:30pm on Saturday, April 30!

La Traviata Previews!

People are getting excited about La Traviata! Check out these previews in today's Sun and Straight.

Acclaimed director applies psychology to a classic - in today's Vancouver Sun

Verdi without vulgarity - in this week's Straight

Jonathan Miller at Opera Speaks

Here are some audio clips for anyone who wasn't able to make it to Opera Speaks (and there were very few of you - what a crowd!).

Sir Jonathan Miller spoke on several subjects, guided by the affable and eloquent Christopher Gaze.

Jonathan Miller on his theatrical beginnings. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller on the negligible details. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller on updating opera. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller's favourite line from Beyond the Fringe. Click to listen!

Watch video with Jonathan Miller here.

Jonathan Miller's Approach to a Beautiful Traviata Moment

Here's another behind-the-scenes video from La Traviata rehearsals! In it, stage director Jonathan Miller talks about his approach to a particular scene.

La Traviata Rehearsals

Here's a look behind-the-scenes at this week's La Traviata rehearsals!

You want to go to the opera? Get O.U.T!

It's that time again....



If you're between ages 18 - 29, it's time to get yourself some opera for cheap!

Here's what you do:

1. Call the VO Ticket Centre at 604-683-0222
2. Give them promo code 3291
3. Get selected seats for La Traviata for a mere $25! That's a savings of up to 75%!

Limited quantities! Hurry!

Other details and things:
- Ticket limit is 2 per person
- Tickets can by purchased by phone, in person or online
- Tickets are only available for pick-up on the night of the show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- In order to pick up tickets, EACH patron must show valid photo ID that identifies them as between the ages of 18 - 29
- Offer not valid on previously purchased tickets and cannot be combined with any other offer

Doug Tuck on Jonathan Miller

When I was a teenager, my family and I listened repeatedly to the Broadway Cast Recording of “Beyond the Fringe,” the devastatingly funny satirical revue that had originated a few years earlier, in 1960, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The four brilliant writer/performers – Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller – skewered politicians, the British class system, traditional views of history, sexual stereotypes, false prophets, and in fact anything skewer-worthy. Many of the sketches remain in my memory today, nearly fifty years later. If pressed, I can recite nearly verbatim Alan Bennett’s send-up of a high-Anglican sermon, which quotes that famous passage from the Old Testament: “My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.”

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (both deceased) continued performing, together and separately, and then Dudley Moore, who was also an accomplished jazz musician, became an international movie star with such films as 10 and Arthur. Alan Bennett is a much-praised author and playwright. Jonathan Miller resumed his medical career and, several years later, began directing plays and operas. He now enjoys an international reputation as both an inventive opera director and an authority on medical issues, in particular neuropsychology. In 2002, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

Given my history with Sir Jonathan (a title he does not use), I was delighted when VO announced that he would be here to direct our co-production of La traviata, which originated at Glimmerglass Opera in 2009. I look forward to meeting and talking with this insightful, devastatingly intelligent Renaissance man.

Here is a video of the Beyond the Fringe foursome, in “Aftermyth of War.”

And here is Jonathan Miller talking about the other three and Peter Sellars.

- Doug Tuck, VO's Director of Marketing & Community Programs