Look at the Record: An Album of Toronto's Lyric Theatres 1825-1984

Neal Johnson was Associate Professor of Languages and Literatures at the University of Guelph, Ontario.

The author, archivist of the Canadian Opera Company, has painstakingly compiled and annotated this album, which reproduces newspaper articles, drawings, reviews, programs, and photographs of the lyric stage. The result is a fascinating pictorial history of the Toronto opera scene, spanning a century and a half.

What must have been patient and resourceful archival digging has unearthed a wealth of material that will surprise those who assume that the roots of opera in Toronto are shallow and recent. We learn, on the contrary, that performances began as early as 1825 in the Assembly Rooms in Frank’s Hotel, and that operas have been presented in 50 different locations, of which Maple Leaf Gardens is the biggest and not the most unlikely.

These pages are copiously illustrated. The organization of the book (a chapter for each location) explains some duplication in the case of artists having performed in different halls: the same picture of a certain Anna Bishop appears in six different places, which is a bit much. The volume includes useful statistical analyses of operas and composers presented, number of performances, and lyric theatres used. What makes this history come alive, however, is the imaginative choice of maps, water colors, playbills, and old photos that have been reproduced.

This look at the record does not attempt to explain or comment critically upon the phenomena it so impressively documents. The reader nevertheless is struck by some features of the opera scene. Although we know that Gilbert and Sullivan operettas have long since disappeared from our high school auditoriums, Sullivan’s music is still very much alive in professional productions. Indeed, he ranks with Puccini, behind only Verdi, in number of performances, and no other composer is even close to these top three. We note above all that, despite an impressive amount of operatic activity, and despite a strangely euphoric review of the O’Keefe Centre (“an almost ideal theatre for opera… one of the world’s most magnificent opera houses,” Opera Canada, 1961), Toronto lacks proper facilities for lyric theatre.

This album is of interest not only to opera lovers but to those interested in theatre, architecture, the City of Toronto, and music criticism. When we read that in 1938 the Mephisto in Gounod’s Faust played his role for laughs, we realize that insights can be gained as well into the world of changing tastes in performance practice.