Edward Willett

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Read My Book: Magebane

QC  and Bridges, weekly free-circulation entertainment/lifestyle magazines put out by the Regina Leader Post and the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, respectively, have both just run what I wrote for their popular "Read My Book" feature focusing on local authors' works. Here's what I had to say about Magebane (the online version here at the Star-Phoenix's website is slightly truncated): First things first: yes, Lee Arthur Chane, c’est moi, Edward Willett. The pseudonym (a marketing decision by my publisher, DAW Books in New York, because this book marks my move into fantasy from science fiction) is actually the middle names of my two older brothers and myself. If you’re not familiar ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 15:23, January 5th, 2012 under Blog, Books | Comment now »

My review of Globe Theatre’s production of Marion Bridge…

...has already shown up online, even though it won't appear in print until tomorrow. This is the first time I've seen something I've written pop up that far ahead of the ink-on-paper version, though maybe I just haven't noticed until now. The review begins: I confess that I went into the opening night performance of Marion Bridge at Globe Theatre feeling skeptical. The premise, after all, sounds like the set-up to a joke: "A nun, an actress and a soap-opera addict walk into a kitchen ..." Not only that, the fact the three are sisters home together — in Cape Breton, no less — for the first time in years because their mother is dying made me fear I faced a turgid ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 15:26, January 22nd, 2010 under Art Columns, Blog | Comment now »

My preview of this weekend’s South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra Christmas brunch…

...is in today's Leader Post. It begins: What could be better than a wonderful Christmas brunch onstage at the Conexus Arts Centre? How about a wonderful Christmas brunch followed by a performance by the South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra? That's exactly the hard-to-imagine-a-better-than event scheduled for this Sunday. A silent auction and food kick off the event at 11 a.m., with the concert to follow. Conductor Alan Denike will lead the 45-member orchestra, made up of players whose ages range from 12 to their early 20s, in Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite, selections from Carmen by Georges Bizet, and Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival, before finishing up with sing-along carols.

Posted by Edward Willett at 9:25, December 10th, 2009 under Art Columns, Blog | Comment now »

My preview of the Regina Symphony Orchestra concert featuring pianist Hung-Kuan Chen…

...is online at the Regina Leader Post. It begins: Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen isn't one to shy away from a challenge. Neither is Regina Symphony Orchestra maestro Victor Sawa.Which is why Saturday's Mosaic Masterworks concert at the Conexus Arts Centre features Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, which Sawa calls "arguably the toughest concerto ever written." "Normally, piano music has a bass staff and a treble staff," Sawa says. "This has three. There are so many notes he couldn't even get it on two staffs!" Because of the difficulty, the concerto is rarely heard. "Everyone is too afraid to play it," Sawa says. But not Chen.

Posted by Edward Willett at 9:47, November 26th, 2009 under Art Columns, Blog | Comment now »

My preview of Globe Theatre’s production of Peter Pan…

...is in today's Regina Leader Post. It begins: For Ruth Smillie, artistic director of Globe Theatre, the key to Globe's upcoming production of J.M. Barrie's classic tale of Peter Pan is that children don't differentiate between reality and make-believe the way adults to. Smillie, who is directing the production, recalls that this past summer she overheard a group of boys walking up and down the street, "very engaged in what they were doing," and overheard them say, "We have to save the president," with "enormous concern and conviction." It's that kind of immersion in the world of make-believe that Smillie hopes Globe's Peter Pan will provide to people of all ages.

Posted by Edward Willett at 8:46, November 19th, 2009 under Blog | Comment now »