Plum Viewing

Welcome to the latest edition of Plum Viewing, my weekly roundup of arts and culture to view online. Happy viewing!

Well, dear readers, this is Valentine’s Day weekend and I will share a little secret with you. We in the Fairs’ household are not celebrators of this day (unless of course, you count buying half price chocolates on the day after Valentine’s Day as celebrating but I digress…). That said, I suspect many readers may be, so just for you, this week’s recommendations include a few online Valentine themed suggestions.

Let’s start with Canadian singer/songwriter Jill Barber. For those of you not familiar with her, this is indeed a real treat. Jill Barber has one of those voices and styles that you associate with the roaring ‘20’s. To give you a frame of reference, she could have easily been featured in the movie Midnight in Paris — standing at the piano with Cole Porter.

Mr Fairs and I were luckily enough to have discovered Jill in the most magical of places: a barn attached to By Chadsey’s Cairns winery in Prince Edward County. The winery’s owner, the very jolly Richard Johnston, would host concerts there for about 50 people. So we sat on hay stacks, surrounded by fairy lights, enjoying Richard’s vintages and discovered this wonderful entertainer. As soon as Jill opened her mouth, everyone was completely captivated. A truly special experience!

Well, it’s not a barn in Prince Edward County but this Sunday, courtesy of the National Arts Centre, we can all discover the charms of Jill Barber through a live streamed performance. Starting at 8 pm ET, Jill, along with her band, will delight us with many of her old favourites including songs from her French album, Entre Nous This is not to be missed (regardless of how you feel about Valentine’s Day :) Tickets start at $17 and can be purchased here.

Let’s go from the National Arts Centre to the National Ballet of Canada who recently launched Spotlight Series, a curated programme of digital presentations of both new and existing work presented as part of the 2020/21 virtual season. In this week’s series, we have The Dreamers Ever Leave You, which premiered in 2016 as part of The Idea of North, a Lawren Harris exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This new adaptation for film was shot at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre under the direction of Robert Binet who described the immerse dance as an opportunity to “give people some of the intimacy and connection we are all missing so much.” Gosh, we are ALL here for that.

This production runs just 28 minutes and it’s just glorious!! You can find it here.

Ok, let’s move from one dreamy experience to another with what else, Romeo and Juliet. Set in the aftermath of a pandemic, this production was directed by Nick Evans and filmed during the pandemic with the artists performing individually against a green screen. The final version uses CGI lighting and scenery including the backdrop of a stage and auditorium. The result really is a masterclass in creativity. It’s available to stream online from February 13–20 and can be found here.

NY Philharmonic has recently launched NYPhi+, an online streaming service featuring new and previously recorded concerts. The first concert recorded exclusively for this service is Mozart’s Piano Concerto №9 featuring Emanuel Ax, who masters the technical challenges of this piece beautifully. It also includes Jessie Montgomery’s multicultural rhapsody on the theme of The Star-Spangled Banner as well as works by Elgar and Richard Strauss. For a monthly amount of $6.37 Cdn ($4.99 U.S.), you can enjoy the full back catalogue of the NY Phiharmonic’s performances plus new concerts recorded specifically for NYPhil+. You can check them out here.

Okay, let’s go now for something VERY unromantic. Shook was staged in 2019 at London’s Southwark Playhouse and was meant to move to the West End in 2020 but alas…. Hailed as one of the most anticipated new plays in London, one of the performances was filmed (thank goodness!) so we can enjoy it. We meet our three main characters, teenage boys, inside a young offenders’ institution. Each is due to become fathers while serving their sentences. It’s the role of their teacher Grace to teach them how. This production is streaming until February 28 and tickets can be found here.

Regardless of how cynical and jaded you are (and let’s just say to match me, the bar is high!), this will make us all smile. Everyone’s favourite bartender, the always charming Stanley Tucci has a new series airing on CNN called Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. In this six-part series, we are along for the ride as Mr. Tucci takes us across Italy where we discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines. For fans of Big Night, which is still one of my all time favourite movies, we know that this man takes his food very seriously. It premieres on Sunday evening at 9 pm ET. So, decant your best bottle of barbaresco and settle in!

And, and ask: While we’re enjoying these wonderful performances, let’s remember that for the arts organizations producing this incredible content, this is their livelihood; not a hobby. If we can, now is our time to continue to support our incredible arts community!

And, if you’d like to receive Plum Viewing weekly, send me a note at maggiefairs@gmail.com and I will add you to my mailing list.