MONKS - REVIEW OF 2026 TARRAGON THEATRE EXTRA SPACE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

As you walk into the Tarragon Theater’s Extra Space you see a seriously cowled monk and hear even more serious church music. The play you are about to see is titled Monks and neither the monk nor the music should surprise you. That is until the performance starts and the two monks finish with you as an audience member.

The two monks (Veronica Hortiguela and Annie Lujan) tell us that they are alone in a monastery in Spain and get visitors, (the audience, of course), only once every five years. One of the monks sports a mustache and the other one comes out of a barrel after the performance begins. They have a donkey that grazes in the meadow and enviably does nothing but we will not meet him until later.

This is a play, a performance really, that depends almost entirely on the involvement of the audience, the enthusiastic participation of the spectators in the performance and the ability of the monks to evoke hilarity. There is no apparent plot but there is plenty of audience involvement and hilarity encouraged by the audience.

I am not giving enough details. The monks run around the stage and go up the steps into the audience. They ask us if we respect Satan and the audience responds with a resounding Yes. They give us lentils to share and we toss them towards them. Everything is done for the sole purpose of evoking howls of laughter. Everything does.

Annie Lujan and Veronica Hortiguela.  Photo by Jae Yang

They start spraying members of the audience with small water sprayers. Some members of the audience are armed with sprayers and they join in getting people wet. Are they plants or were they given the sprayers on arrival? I don’t know and I don’t care. 

The monastery has some rules but I am not sure what they are but one of them I think is to do nothing (their preference) and look after a donkey that grazes happily in the meadow. But the donkey finally appears – the two actors under a sheet with a donkey’s head and a donkey’s exposed derriere. Its tail falls off and one of the monks must pin its tail on the aforementioned part of its anatomy. It lasts a few minutes and I cannot do justice to the gales of laughter that it generated.

Hortiguela and Lujan are the Creators, Directors, Set, Costume, Sound and Props Designers. It is a show that depends almost entirely on audience control and reaction. The audience was  primed for laughter right from the start and their enthusiasm did not waiver for the seventy minutes’ duration. The performance does have a quietly lyrical end.

Monks was first produced at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2014 and was staged at the Theatre Centre in Toronto in March 2025. It was also seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. It is a miracle of acting, creativity, energy, laughter, audience participation and showmanship. Have I praised it enough? I intended to.
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Monks by Veronica Hortiguela and Annie Julan continues until November 15, 2026, at the Tarragon Theatre's Extra Space, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.  www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto
 

TOSCA – REVIEW OF 2026 VANCOUVER OPERA PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

Vancouver Opera opened its 67^th season with a superb production of Puccini’s Tosca. Conducted by Jacques Lacombe and directed by Brenna Corner, the artistic director of Pacific Opera Victoria. The production thrilled the audience at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre which gave it a standing ovation.

Soprano Joyce El-Khoury played the tempestuous Floria Tosca with marvelous vocal tones and florid singing when jealous and emotional expressiveness when facing extreme danger. She sings her signature aria “Vissi d'arte” movingly with her gorgeous voice and then turns into a tigress when the odious lecher Scarpia tries to rape her. My only complaint about her murder of Scarpia is that she does not stab him a few times with relish.

Tenor David Pomeroy is her lover Cavaradossi, and he sings with superb sonority and control. From his first aria “Recondita armonia” about the hidden harmony of different beauties, Floria Tosca and  an unknown beauty that he is painting in a church to his final aria “E lucevan le stelle” recalling happier times before he is executed, he sings deliberately, movingly and beautifully. An outstanding performance.

Vancouver Opera’s 2026 production of Tosca. Photos by Emily Cooper.

Gregory Dahl sings the role of the lecherous and sadistic Police Chief Baron Scarpia. He seeks political enemies like Cavaradossi with vengeful obsession, and he descend to total depravity when he tries to rape Tosca. Dahl has a commanding voice and sings splendidly. On a couple of occasions, he comes close to being overwhelmed by the orchestra which seemed surprising. The first time is in church as the chorus sings and I expected him to overwhelm them. He did not. He did not fully display his viciousness and evil when he closed in on Tosca in his office and was of course murdered.

A few quibbles. When Cavaradossi is being tortured off stage we see a projection of a silhouette of a man with his hands tied up above his head. He is being tortured. Cavaradossi is screaming in agony on the right side of the stage. The silhouette is on the left side. Why are the two not on the same side of the stage?

Tosca’s reaction when she stabs Scarpia could be more dramatic. Stab him more and express greater revenge and triumph as you intone Muori dannato! Muori! (Die! damn you! Die!) over his body. We want the odious creep to feel his punishment.

The set by Set and Projection Designer Scott Reid is sparse and efficient. The Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Act 1 is represented by large windows with a round top and a statue of the Madonna with lighting designed by Michael Walton to give the impression of a place of worship. For Scarpia’s office in the Palazzo Farnese there is a table, a desk and a couch and they are sufficient to indicate the spacious place of his work efficiently if not grandly.

The same open space minus the furniture on the ramparts of Castel Sant’Angelo serves as the place of execution by firing squad (consisting of only four soldiers) of Cavaradossi and the parapet from which Tosca jumps uttering her last triumphal victory “O Scarpia before God.”

Jacques Lacombe conducts the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Chorus and the Vancouver Opera Children’s Chorus in outstanding performances. The choruses deserve kudos for performing splendidly if rather briefly in the first act. The orchestra is marvelous throughout.

Lacombe and Corner have chosen a careful and deliberate pace for the production that delivers a marvelous night at the opera.

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Tosca by Giacomo Puccini opened on October 24 and will be performed until November 1, 2026, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 630 Hamilton St. Vancouver, BC.  www.Vancouveropera.ca/

James Karas is the Culture Editoe of The Greek Press, Toronto

IL TROVATORE – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION BY PACIFIC OPERA VICTORIA

 Reviewed by James Karas 

Pacific Opera Victoria has staged a highly enjoyable Il Trovatore at the handsome Royal Theatre in British Columbia’s capital. Even if you are an occasional visitor to the opera, Verdi’s operatic potboiler is a “must see.” For seasoned opera goers it is a “don’t miss” any opportunity to see it.

Pacific Opera’s production directed by its Artisitc Director Brenna Corner gives ample evidence of the opera’s appeal so don’t let any snooty critic try to convince you otherwise.

It has been said that Il Trovatore requires four of the best singers in the world for a successful production. You need a tenor for the heroic Manrico, the troubadour (sung by Marcelo Puente in this production), a soprano for the lovely and desirable Leonora (Kirsten LeBlanc), a mezzo-soprano for the witch Azucena (Simona Genga) and a baritone for the villainous Count di Luna (Grant Youngblood). Well, Pacific Opera could not bring singers who fit that description, whatever that may mean and whoever they may be. But it does have a respectable array of singers, a capable chorus and in the Victoria Symphony conducted by Giuseppe Pitetraroia, a splendid orchestra.

Kirsten LeBlanc as Leonora with the nuns in Il Trovatore

Puente is vocally passionate, heroic and, as they say, strikes a fine hero of a man as the singing knight in 15^th century Spain. His counterpart Youngblood is equally passionate and murderously jealous as di Luna because his love for Leonora is unrequited.

Leonora as the love interest of two men is central to the opera and the vocal demands on her are onerous. She is generally superb, but she does have some uneven moments when transitioning to her high notes that on occasion do not materialize. Genga has the superb role of Azucena, and she gives a convincing performance, full of ferocity and desire for revenge. She also has a tender side, but hatred and vengeance define her character and Genga’s performance.

In composing the music for Il Trovatore Verdi showed that he was a master of melodies that come pouring out for more than two hours. The passionate arias of Manrico, Di Luna and Leonora are of surpassing beauty. Solos, duets, trios and martial music for the chorus and the bravado of the combatants, and the orchestral music constitute an immense aural  wealth and a major reason for the continuing popularity of the opera.

The sprawling plot deals with civil war, fanatic love and deep-seated anger and obsessive longing for revenge. The plot is not that difficult to follow but Corner has chosen to fill any gaps in our understanding of the events by providing fillers in the surtitles. Exact dates of events are provided as if we were watching a documentary. They are all fictitious, of course, but we appreciate the details.

The set by Olivier Landreville consists of four monumental structures that are easily movable to represent a castle, or a jail or a monastery or the camp of the gypsies as required. Corner makes judicious and intelligent use of projections designed by S. Katy Tucker to illustrate the background events like the fire where the witch was burned at the stake as well as the overcast or threatening sky. Corner has her own take on the execution of Manrico, and you should see the production to witness it.

The costumes by Martin Pakledinaz resemble the attire of medieval solders and the gowns for the upper-crust ladies. All quite suitable.

There were some glitches and unevenness in the singing, but the pacing and overall execution was marvellous. A highly responsive and appreciative audience is always a nice bonus and the response in the Royal Theatre was spontaneous, warm and generous.

Giuseppe Pietraroia conducted the Victoria Symphony and the Pacific Opera Chorus in a superb performance of Verdi’s score.

Pacific Opera Victoria will produce Hansel & Gretel on February 19 to 27 and The Magic Flute on April 2 to 10 2027.

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Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi was performed on October 16, 22, 18 and 24, 2026 at the Royal Theatre, Victoria B.C. For more information: www.pacificopera.ca

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

PROPHETESS - REVIEW OF 2026 TARRAGON THEATRE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas Prophetess is a fascinating and complex new play by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) that premiered at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Its central character is Margaret, the Chairwoman of English at York University who makes a powerful presence as the Queen of Etymology and a woman with a complicated past and present.

Played by Karen Robinson in a bravura performance, the stentorian Margaret gives a lecture on the etymology of the “f” word. She and the play are not shy about using the word and its cognates from Latin to today, but it behooves me to be less graphic than Margaret. In the classroom and everywhere else Margaret speaks effusively, fearlessly and keeps the class (us) under complete control.

She meets Anne (Natasha Mumba), a new instructor, on her first day at York and slaps her across the face. Did she see or imagine seeing a spider on Anne? Elizabeth (Christine Horne), the diffident Human Resources person, tries to settle the problem arising from the incident and get Margaret to apologize. Not a chance.

We perceive that Margaret for all her powerful personality and academic superiority may have problems that go beyond the immediately apparent. We meet Henry (Rick Roberts), her husband, in the opening scene and start scratching our head about him. There is mention of a son, Edward, who died in childhood.

Anne was invited by Margaret to go for dinner but after the slap was not expected to show up. She did. Elizabeth also shows up, uninvited, with her husband Richard and a large bouquet of flowers. The situation becomes tense and then Margaret explodes into an emotional outburst, striking everything with the flowers and losing consciousness. Elizabeth’s husband looks exactly like Henry and we know he is not what he seems to be and the same may apply to Richard.

Karen Robinson & Natasha Mumba (Photo by Jae Yang)

The fine acting is praiseworthy and I want to give kudos to the actors aside from Robinson whom I have already lauded. Roberts is timid and hesitant both as Henry and as Richard. We are not sure about him or his existence as a human being. Is he the figment of someone’s imagination? A ghost? Well done by Roberts. Horne as Elizabeth and Mumba as Anne are caught in a situation with a woman who comes on like a bulldozer and they try to hold on to their position with fine acting.

The set by Jawon Kang represents a well-appointed room with books and tables and it serves as Margaret’s home and the University classroom.

The program tells us that the play is “Inspired by Shakespeare’s History Plays…. Prophetess excavates etymology to ask: What does it mean to curse or bless oneself?’ etymology fascinates me but I had no idea it has archeological facets that can be excavated. The lecture on etymology in the play is fascinating but the question of what it means to  curse or bless myself did not occur to me.

What interested me most is the idea that the play is inspired by Shakespeare’s History Plays. We have Henry IV, (2 parts), Henry V, Henry VI (3 parts) and Richard III. That is seven plays covering a swath of English history.

The heroine of Prophetess is called Margaret Anjou and there is Margaret of Anjou in the History Plays. She appears in Henry VI and Richard III and is nicknamed the Warrior Queen. Elizabeth’s husband is called Dicky but we can call him Richard and relate him to the rudely Richard III. The Prophetess Margaret’s husband is named Henry and we have lots of choices for him from Henry IV to Henry V to Henry VI. There is also Lady Anne, Duchess of Gloucester in Richard III. I lack the leap of imagination from Prophetess to the History Plays to find a connecting string and wish that  Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) had provided some hints about the possible disparate connections

Prophetess has many virtues as a play but it has some creaks as well that need some attention. With the superb performances of the cast and Mike Payette’s sure-handed direction it makes for fine theatre. But I notice that Payette acted as dramaturg as well and there is room for improvement in that regard.  
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Prophetess by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) continues until October 29, 2026, at the Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.  www.tarragontheatre.com 

James Karas is the Culture editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

WINE IN THE WILDERNESS – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT BERKELEY ST. THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas 

Wine in the Wilderness is an intelligent and nuanced play by Alice Childress (1916-1994) that takes place in Harlem, New York during a riot in the summer of 1964. Canadian Stage gives this 1969 play a redoubtable production directed by Jordan Laffrenier with an exceptional cast.

Bill (Mazin Elsadig) is a painter in Harlem working on a triptych, three panels hinged together representing the life of Blacks. His friend Oldtimer (Andrew Moodie) barges into his apartment carrying goods that he stole during the riot. Bill’s friend Sonny-Man (Jamar Adams-Thompson) arrives with his wife Cynthia (L.A. Sweeney). They are accompanied by a woman called Tommy (Virgilia Griffith) who is the catalyst for the examination of the lives of Blacks in general. All of them are Black.  

Our attention is focused on Griffith’s Tommy. She is a poorly educated factory worker whose house was burned during the riot. The violent events taking place outside form the backdrop of the play. Tommy was brought to Bill’s apartment to be a model for the third triptych, a portrait of the downtrodden, the ugly side of the life of Blacks. She believed that Bill would paint a flattering picture of her, even the Queen of the Universe. She is shocked and furious and strikes back at their hypocrisy and middle-class blindness. She calls them “niggers” with relentless vigour and forces these educated people to open their eyes to their perception of blacks now and in history. Griffiths gives a sympathetic and powerful performance.

Scene from Wine in the Wilderness. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Moodie’s character Oldtimer is a pathetic alcoholic but he is a decent person and provides most of the humour of the play. He stands apart from the rest and is a survivor and Moodie gives a stellar performance.

Bill the painter, Sonny-Man the writer and Cynthia the social worker have no perception or real contact or awareness of the lower-class Blacks. Bill’s triptych is a figment of his  intellectual imagination, a myth, without any connection to real people. Elsadig, Adams-Thompson and Sweeney give nuanced and intelligent performances in their respective roles and it is up to Tommy to bring them down to reality.

The play examines the life of Blacks including references to historical figures with perceptiveness and brilliance. It reaches levels of poetic lyricism that hit you in the face and scream “wake up.”

The cast of Wine in the Wildwerness. Photo: Dahlia Katz

The set by Scott Penner consists of the interior of an apartment divided in three areas. There is Bill’s  working area with easels and samples of his work, a seating area in the middle and a kitchen on the right. The place looks dishevelled because Bill is working on renovating it.

Director Laffreiner has a huge job of representing the subtleties of a complex play that appears simple on the surface. He accomplished fine pacing and obtained the fine performances that make Childress’s play a superb night at the theatre.    

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Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress in a production by Canadian Stage, ran until October 11, 2026, at the Berkeley St. Theatre, 26 Berkeley St.  Toronto, Ont.  https://www.canadianstage.com/

James Karas is the Culture editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

TO A FLAME – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION BY 1S1 THEATRE AND NIGHTWOOD THEATRE

Reviewed by James 

To A Flame is theatre that blindsides you. Well, it did me. Three women are on stage, dressed similarly in long, blue dresses and call themselves sisters in the small Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre on Yonge Street. There is a cellist on the side of the stage. We hear the sound of powerful winds and obviously foul weather outside. The women move around but we really don’t know what they are about. They are Madeleine who is Deaf, Harriet who is Black and Fanny who has  a mysterious deficiency. They all have problems but they are lively and dance around the stage as they reveal previous horrors and present fears.

They were “rescued” by “our father” who is not their biological father of course but we think that he may well have been their “savior.”  Projection designer Laura Warren provides a rich array of projections and gives us a view of the mansion in which they are living. We see the elegant exterior of the house and the large staircase and chandeliers inside. We are taken to different rooms and exposed to projections  throughput the 90-minute show. This is a Victorian era horror show. We never see "our father" but we do hear his views and the status of the women. 

The conversation among the three is carried in American Sign Language and English and we get a glimpse of their past and their status in the social ladder. They are all outcasts with Deaf people barely qualifying as human. The use of ASL gives the production an additional intensity in what is an explosive revelation of the women’s lives and their treatment at the hands of the father.

 Nickeshia Garrick, Dawn Jani Birley, and Juliana Monk

Photo by by Dahlia Katz.

The women dance, jump over furniture (there is only a table and a chair on the stage), reveal past horrors but look deceptively happy as we realize that they are in a house of horrors. They have deficiencies that the father wants to cure. Madeleine’s deafness can be cured by hearing lessons. Harriet’s deficiency is that she is black. Fanny is subjected to a gruesome operation to find out and cure her deficiency. 

The production is the premiere of Erin Shields’ new play that is subtle, imaginative and a brilliant examination of oppressed people. She has found ways of capturing our attention with a riveting plot.

The three actors give outstanding performances in English and ASL. They combine dancing, athleticism and movement individually and a unison to an extraordinary degree. This is acting at its finest. They are Jani Birley as the deaf Madelein, Nickeshia Garrick as the black Harriet and Juliana Monk as Fanny, the white woman with the mysterious deficienc 

Sound designers Deanna H. Choi and Jenna Geen provide a rich array of background sounds. Cellist Beth Silver plays pleasant or dissonant music depending on what is happening to the three women.  

This is a play with many layers packed full of intense situations of drama, fear, jocularity and dance with the extraordinary addition of communicating in ASL. They give bravura performances in a very small playing area. The use of superb lighting by Lighting designer André du Toit adds to the atmosphere of the horror story.

Josette Bushell-Mino directed & choreographed this extraordinary play, which I admit blindsided  me and that is perhaps the highest compliment one can pay to a theatrical production.

I do so.
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To A Flame by Erin Shields in a 1s1 Theatre and Nightwood Theatre co-production
in association with Modern Times Stage Company and Why Not Theatre played until October  until October 4, 2026, at the Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre, 877 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario.

James Karas is the Cukture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

COSI FAN TUTTE – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTIONS BY THE MET AND COC

 Reviewed by James Karas

On October 3, 2026, the Metropolitan Opera of New York launched its 20^th season of Live in HD transmissions to movie theatres around the world with a production of Cosi Fan Tutte. On the same day the Canadian Opera Company premiered this year’s production of the same opera in a revival of Atom Egoyan’s 2019 reading. That left me with no choice but to see both productions on the same day. The Cosi from the Met is a revival of Phelim McDermott’s 2018 production.

MET PRODUCTION LIVE FROM NEW YORK

McDermott produced a highly imaginative Cosi by setting it on Coney Island, New York, in the 1950’s.

Coney Island is famous for its beaches and amusement parks and it is as much a legend as it is a real destination for people seeking a place in the sun and the pleasures of a circus. McDermott  makes full use of the reputation of Coney Isand and marries it to Mozart’s opera lovers.

During the overture a large box is opened and colourful people emerge from it. Little people, big people, people carrying signs, characters in gaudy costumes, in fact a whole circus jumps out. That is not all.  There is a snake charmer with a real boa constrictor, a fire eater, two sword swallowers, a fortune teller, a contortionist and other acts that may have slipped my mind. They all actually perform and the set resembles very much the fairground of a beach town where  circus performers play an important part.

McDermott grafts the opera onto this setting quite expertly and my complaint is that the circus performers were so good that I tended to be drawn into their activities instead of watching the actual opera performance.

In addition to the Coney Island set, we see the interior and exterior of the Skyline Hotel. Tom Pye’s set design is very versatile and, for example,  the panel showing an interior is turned around and we get an exterior. Very good stuff.

Federica Lombardi as Fiordiligi. Photo © Marty Sohl | Met Opera 

Don Alfonso (Gerald Finley) is sitting at a café with two smartly dressed naval officers, Ferrando (Duke Kim) and Guglielmo (Andrey Zhilikhovsky). The men protest that their fiancées, Fiordiligi (Federica Lombardi) and Dorabella (Samantha Hankey) are beautiful and virtuous and faithful sisters until death. Alfonso replies “BS” in polite Italian and he bets that all women are like that. The naval officers will go away and be replaced by two Albanians (never mind how – this is opera) and attempt to seduce the girls. Now you know what will happen in the next two and a half hours of sumptuous music, beautiful songs leading to the inevitable.

The cynical Alfonso is sung by British baritone Gerald Finley who does superb vocal work and plots the assault on the two ladies with the help of the maid Despina sung by Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez. At 53, she still does an energetic and funny Despina and she has two other roles. She sings and overacts hilariously as Dr. Magnetico who comes to cure the men from the poison that they are supposed to have taken. Near the end she appears as a Notary to wed the two couples and she is hilarious again. Despina is a juicy role and Martinez does fine work.

The ardent lovers as naval officers or Albanians are Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Guglielmo and American tenor Duke Kim as Ferrando. They are lovable, passionate. ridiculous and funny as they are rebuffed by their targets. Remember Guglielmo is engaged to Fiordiligi but when he changes identity he pursues Dorabella and vice versa.  

Sara Erde as Revival Director brings Phelim McDermott’s production to full and varied life in all its bravura and wild imagination. Nimrod David Pfeffer conducts the Met Opera Orchestra and Chorus in a lively and wonderful performance

THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY AND ATOM EGOYAN

Several hours after seeing the Met’s production. I saw the COC’s revival of Atom Egoyan’s production. The two productions give us Mozart’s fabulous music, arias, ensembles and humour. But they are worlds apart.

The first thing you see on the stage when you take your seat in The Four Seasons Centre is Frida Kahlo’s Two Fridas. What does that painting have to do with Mozart’s great comic opera? What is Egoyan telling us?

Egoyan and Set and Costume Designer Debra Hanson set the opera in a private school where the four lovers are students and Don Alfonso is a professor. The set has a large and prominent display case at the back, several tables on stage and a lectern. Fiordiligi and Dorabella wear white blazers and short skirts looking like attractive students. There are paintings of butterflies all over and we see people with huge nets trying to catch live butterflies. I am not sure what the school teaches.  

Egoyan wants us to laugh and he adds comic touches including giving the less serious sister Dorabella (mezzo soprano Martina Myskohlid) a penchant for fainting or just falling. Despina (soprano Tracy Dalh) is a spitfire of energy and vocal atrocities as the doctor and the notary and a comic character in general. Well delivered comedy from both.

Scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s Così fan tutte. 
Photo: Michael Cooper

But the comic is blended with the serious where the two sisters who are passionately in love, Fiordiligi (Lauren Fagan) with Guglielmo (baritone Joel Allison) and Dorabella with Ferrando (tenor Laurence Kilsby), face the moral dilemma of being unfaithful to them. Their lovers disguised as Albanians mount serious assaults on their fidelity including feigning illness and possible death. Dorabella’s fidelity crumbles but Fiordiligi holds on longer until she too succumbs.   

Guglielmo’s and Ferrando’s faith in the steadfastness of their lovers is put to the test by a wager with the old bachelor Don Alfonso (Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch).

The music, the arias, from solo to duets, quartets, quintets, sextets  and choruses are of surpassing beauty and they are performed gorgeously. The performances are not all equally successful but I do not want to be churlish about a performance that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Johannes Debus was superb,

Kudos to Atom Egoyan for the outstanding work in staging this opera. But what is Kahlo’s The Two Fridas looking at us during the second act in the place of the display case?

The painting shows two different Fridas. One shows her dressed in a traditional costume and the other in a modern dress. We see the heart of Frida in both portraits. In the modern dress side, the heart is cut and torn and we see a vein going to her lap where it is cut and bleeding on her dress. In the traditional portrait her heart is intact but a vein connects both portraits.

What is Egoyan telling us? I am stumped. Are the two Fridas a portrait of Fiordiligi and Dorabella? And how does Cosi Fan Tutte end? In the beginning Fiordiligi loves Guglielmo and Dorabella love Ferrando. During the opera they succumb to the lover of her sister. In the end do they go to their original fiancées or to the other one, the Albanian? That is the ambiguous end of the opera and Egoyan may be giving us a modern teaser lest we jump too easily to the “wrong” conclusion.

Think about it.
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Cosi Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte was transmitted Live in HD on October 3, 2026 at various Cineplex theatres across Canada.  For more information and reprises go to: www.cineplex.com/events   

Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart opened on October 3 and will be performed a total of seven times until October 18, 2026, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto