Post by davidhr on May 1, 2007 11:26:16 GMT -5
Since the other website (Laradomus) is a bit hard to get to, I might as well relieve Paula of the burden and post the news updates here as well, for anyone who's interested. Obviously this was written before the news of Greg's passing...
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Lara gave her two Montreal concerts this weekend, to inaugurate the re-opening of the Olympia Theatre. They were very strong, sometimes emotional performances, with Lara very much at ease; although her singing was a bit stronger Saturday night, she was in command throughout. A more complete review of the concert, including a translation of a review from the Montreal Journal, is provided in the post concerned with the show. Suffice it to say here that Lara has to have come away from this, her one Canadian venue (for perhaps the whole year), with a renewed enthusiasm for all things Quebec, buoyed by a sensational reaction from the audience. If she wanted to reintroduce herself to the Canadian public (and perhaps critics), she couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
The renovation of the hall is discussed in an article at canoe.com (thanks to nais08 on the official site). Here is a translation of the relevant parts:
"Quebec now has a new show room, The Olympia of Montreal.
Built in 1925 and initially called Theatre Amherst then Theatre Arlequin, it has been rebaptized in accord with the team of the mythic Olympia of Paris.
The room conserves its theatrical vocation but becomes moldable to adapt to different events. One can therefore transform it into cabaret, into a concert hall with our without seats, into an auditorium or a stage to parade fashions.
The interior of the old building was entirely renovated. The entrance has been widened to welcome up to 2000 people. The design of the hall of the show room has been accomplished by the painter/sculptor Casimir Ferrer."
In practice, what this flexibility means is that the seats are basically folding chairs (like in a school auditorium); for tickets that cost more than $100 apiece, that is asking a lot of an audience. In addition, workmen were spotted the morning of the first concert, and clearly much remains to be done. A video of the opening ceremony, including Lara 'cutting the ribbon' is available (thanks to Domi on the official site) at espace.canoe.ca/JulieBlackburn/video/
The new duet between Lara and Gigi d'Alessio, now called "Un Cuore Blesse" arrived on our doorstep (and those of French radio stations) this week; while it is a little odd to hear Lara intone French words in place of those we've been getting used to in the Italian version, it still maintains the same spirit and her powerful singing. Since Lara is a full participant in the chorus, which is still in Italian, she is also obviously still singing in Italian on a lot of the song. And since the chorus still says "Un Cuore Malato" the song has a title that never appears in the lyrics. The additional French words are, as somebody said, sort of banal. People have suggested it is a good 'summertime' song for the French airwaves. It is available on the web, thanks to Inlasco on Laradom. A promo for it is available on Youtube.
In other events this past week, Lara actually did appear on the Mirastar charity program last Sunday, singing a live version of Aime. A video of this is available on the web. In addition, she was on the Canadian radio program "Tout l'monde debout" on Rock Détente for a good long interview last Wednesday. On the show she sang both "Aime" and "Angel", and emphasized that Sarah McLachlan, the writer of 'Angel' is Canadian. The program is available on the web (e.g., lara-fabian.net).
She also announced that she will be in a theatrical performance - it takes place on May 14th, at the Théâtre de Paris, for the 21st Molieres ceremonies. This is apparently like the "Tony Awards" for American theatre. She will be in a piece with another actor, a comedian, in a selection dealing with the 'pain of death' (not an obvious comedic theme…). This would seem to be Lara's way of introducing herself to the theatre world. Along with her re-introduction to Canada, and her new introduction to Italy, she is certainly branching out. The acting role was obviously what she was referring to in the 'pourquoi pas' interview several weeks ago. It does raise the question of whether the other theatre production, scheduled for the fall, is actually still in place; Lara's interview had seemed to refute the published report that she had dropped out, but it may be that that was correct after all. As usual, we will find out by seeing what she ends up doing…The Molieres will be shown on French 2 TV.
The date and place for the concert in Moscow is now set. It is scheduled for May 28 in the "Théâtre de l'Opérette", an Italian room in Moscow - not at the Kremlin, as first indicated. Lara will leave Canada this week for her show in Portugal on May 5th. Also on what now appears to be the near-term agenda are shows in Turkey and Algeria; furthermore, she indicated that the Italian album promo would be occupying her time in May, with television appearances already lined up in Italy (not to mention work on the album). Most likely, this past week was the last we will see of Lara in North America for some time to come.
David
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Lara gave her two Montreal concerts this weekend, to inaugurate the re-opening of the Olympia Theatre. They were very strong, sometimes emotional performances, with Lara very much at ease; although her singing was a bit stronger Saturday night, she was in command throughout. A more complete review of the concert, including a translation of a review from the Montreal Journal, is provided in the post concerned with the show. Suffice it to say here that Lara has to have come away from this, her one Canadian venue (for perhaps the whole year), with a renewed enthusiasm for all things Quebec, buoyed by a sensational reaction from the audience. If she wanted to reintroduce herself to the Canadian public (and perhaps critics), she couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
The renovation of the hall is discussed in an article at canoe.com (thanks to nais08 on the official site). Here is a translation of the relevant parts:
"Quebec now has a new show room, The Olympia of Montreal.
Built in 1925 and initially called Theatre Amherst then Theatre Arlequin, it has been rebaptized in accord with the team of the mythic Olympia of Paris.
The room conserves its theatrical vocation but becomes moldable to adapt to different events. One can therefore transform it into cabaret, into a concert hall with our without seats, into an auditorium or a stage to parade fashions.
The interior of the old building was entirely renovated. The entrance has been widened to welcome up to 2000 people. The design of the hall of the show room has been accomplished by the painter/sculptor Casimir Ferrer."
In practice, what this flexibility means is that the seats are basically folding chairs (like in a school auditorium); for tickets that cost more than $100 apiece, that is asking a lot of an audience. In addition, workmen were spotted the morning of the first concert, and clearly much remains to be done. A video of the opening ceremony, including Lara 'cutting the ribbon' is available (thanks to Domi on the official site) at espace.canoe.ca/JulieBlackburn/video/
The new duet between Lara and Gigi d'Alessio, now called "Un Cuore Blesse" arrived on our doorstep (and those of French radio stations) this week; while it is a little odd to hear Lara intone French words in place of those we've been getting used to in the Italian version, it still maintains the same spirit and her powerful singing. Since Lara is a full participant in the chorus, which is still in Italian, she is also obviously still singing in Italian on a lot of the song. And since the chorus still says "Un Cuore Malato" the song has a title that never appears in the lyrics. The additional French words are, as somebody said, sort of banal. People have suggested it is a good 'summertime' song for the French airwaves. It is available on the web, thanks to Inlasco on Laradom. A promo for it is available on Youtube.
In other events this past week, Lara actually did appear on the Mirastar charity program last Sunday, singing a live version of Aime. A video of this is available on the web. In addition, she was on the Canadian radio program "Tout l'monde debout" on Rock Détente for a good long interview last Wednesday. On the show she sang both "Aime" and "Angel", and emphasized that Sarah McLachlan, the writer of 'Angel' is Canadian. The program is available on the web (e.g., lara-fabian.net).
She also announced that she will be in a theatrical performance - it takes place on May 14th, at the Théâtre de Paris, for the 21st Molieres ceremonies. This is apparently like the "Tony Awards" for American theatre. She will be in a piece with another actor, a comedian, in a selection dealing with the 'pain of death' (not an obvious comedic theme…). This would seem to be Lara's way of introducing herself to the theatre world. Along with her re-introduction to Canada, and her new introduction to Italy, she is certainly branching out. The acting role was obviously what she was referring to in the 'pourquoi pas' interview several weeks ago. It does raise the question of whether the other theatre production, scheduled for the fall, is actually still in place; Lara's interview had seemed to refute the published report that she had dropped out, but it may be that that was correct after all. As usual, we will find out by seeing what she ends up doing…The Molieres will be shown on French 2 TV.
The date and place for the concert in Moscow is now set. It is scheduled for May 28 in the "Théâtre de l'Opérette", an Italian room in Moscow - not at the Kremlin, as first indicated. Lara will leave Canada this week for her show in Portugal on May 5th. Also on what now appears to be the near-term agenda are shows in Turkey and Algeria; furthermore, she indicated that the Italian album promo would be occupying her time in May, with television appearances already lined up in Italy (not to mention work on the album). Most likely, this past week was the last we will see of Lara in North America for some time to come.
David
