Bugs Bunny, Brünnhilde and Me

 
 

Photo by Janice Saxon

“Being a journalist has taken me to places I never imagined as a kid — from crime scenes to the Juno Awards, up close with the pope, and now, the opera. During childhood, my understanding of opera came mostly from Saturday morning cartoons — Bugs Bunny in a tailcoat tuxedo, or whatever was playing on Teletoon that week.

Think of all the usual clichés: horned helmets, a voluptuous woman belting out high notes on a massive stage, an audience draped in feathered boas and monocles. And while Brünnhilde does make an appearance in this opera, what I experienced at the Edmonton Opera was nothing like what my imagination had prepared me for. Instead, it was emotional, intimate and physically dynamic.”

— Allison Stephen, Edify