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MOVIES
CHUTZPAH! FEST City Opera will perform songs parodied by Marx Brothers
by Charlie Smith
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That’s Groucho Marx (lower left) in this picture from the 1935 film A Night at the Opera, which will kick off this year’s Chutzpah! Festival along with a live performance by local opera singers.
City Opera Vancouver says on its website that it’s possible for opera to tell any story in any time and place. In that spirit, the profes“We’re not trying to be the Marx Brothers by any stretch of the imagination,” Corbishley emphasized. e aforementioned special guest will be sional chamber opera company will be at the Norman & Annette Rothstein eatre on ursday (November 4) to deliver opera at, of all things, a Marx Brothers movie.
This isn’t just any Marx Brothers film—it’s the riotously funny A Night at the Opera, a 1935 classic that’s been preserved in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry for its cultural, historic, and aesthetic significance.
City Opera Vancouver’s interactive concert—featuring mezzo-soprano Megan Latham and tenor Martin Renner Wallace— will launch the Chutzpah! Festival, which runs from November 4 to 24. ey’ll sing music parodied in the lm, accompanied by pianist Roger Parton and a “special guest”. at will be followed by a screening of the movie.
In a phone interview with the Straight, City Opera Vancouver’s director of concerts, Alan Corbishley, said that there will be a “few little antics” throughout their performance, but certainly nothing that will upstage the Marx Brothers. Corbishley himself, impersonating U.S. actor Margaret Dumont, who played opposite the Marx Brothers in seven of their movies. at included a smash performance as Mrs. Claypool in A Night at the Opera. “She was always the one who never seems to get the joke,” Corbishley noted. Audience members are being encouraged to dress up as Margaret Dumont or as either Groucho, Harpo, Chico, or Zeppo. e winner of the costume contest will win a Chutzpah! Festival all-access pass. As City Opera Vancouver’s director of concerts, Corbishley’s goal is to make this art form very accessible and less intimidating for audiences. “So this [show] kind of helps us along the road—and in a fun way that just doesn’t feel pretentious,” he said. g
On Thursday (November 4) at 7 p.m., the Chutzpah! Festival: The Lisa Nemetz Festival of International Jewish Performing Arts presents City Opera Vancouver and A Night at the Opera at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre. November 4-11 / 2021
11 COVER
Former Vancouverite Ophira Eisenberg has reasons to celebrate as host of a radio show on 400 stations, admired comedian, and successful author.
By Charlie Smith Cover photo by Arin Sang-urai
4 REAL ESTATE
Some neighbourhood activists worry that the NDP government is planning to scrap public hearings on Vancouver rezoning applications. By Carlito Pablo
8 MUSIC
Vancouver producer Whipped Cream reveals the contents of her fridge, along with her life-changing shows and favourite records. By Mike Usinger
e Start Here 12 ARTS 6 BEER 22 CLASSIFIED ADS 17 CULTURE CRAWL 9 FOOD 21 HEART OF THE CITY 7 LIVING 2 MOVIES 19 MUSIC 22 SAVAGE LOVE 15 THEATRE e Listings 20 ARTS
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REAL ESTATE City watchdog predicts end of rezoning hearings
by Carlito Pablo
On October 26, the B.C. NDP government introduced legislation to remove the requirement for public hearings on rezoning applications.
In a media release, the province stated that the proposed amendment to the Local Government Act will speed up development and the delivery of new homes.
The planned change does not cover the City of Vancouver, because it is governed by a separate law called the Vancouver Charter. This means that the new measure, if passed, will apply only to municipalities outside Vancouver.
However, Vancouver city hall watcher Randy Helten believes that the move to amend the Local Government Act is just a first step.
Helten is a director with the CityHallWatch Media Foundation, a nonprofit that operates a website focused on city issues. In an interview, the watchdog laid out how Vancouver is actually the intended “bull’s-eye”.
“This is the endgame of the developer complex, which includes powerful developers and their friends in government,” Helten told the Straight by phone.
The Vancouver Charter empowers city council to adopt an ODP. The Local Government Act, which applies to towns other than Vancouver, uses a slightly different term, which is official community plan, or OCP.
In the province’s proposed legislation, local governments will no longer be required to hold public hearings on zoningbylaw changes as long as these are consistent with OCPs.
Helten asserted that the next step is to change the Vancouver Charter so the City of Vancouver no longer has to undertake public hearings for rezonings if development projects are in line with the Vancouver Plan or its ODP.
“That will then do a complete end run around public process for any rezonings in Vancouver, as long as these fit in with what they claim is the official development plan,” Helten said.
He said that if the provincial government eliminates public hearings for rezonings that fall under a community’s OCP, that’s “step one”.
“It would be a short next step to amend the Vancouver Charter correspondingly,” Helten said. “Then, anything that is equivalent to an OCP or ODP would be under similar processes: straight to development permits with no rezoning public hearing.”
Helten noted that he has yet to hear what city councillors think about what’s going on.
When reached for comment, councillor Jean Swanson indicated that she has yet to look deeper into the issue. However, one thing is clear to the first-term city councillor.
“It means that developers have got the ear of the province,” Swanson told the Straight in a phone interview. She added: “I think developers want faster permitting, and I think they’re trying to get the province to force that on the municipalities.”
However, Swanson also said that although it’s good for people to be able to have their input on a rezoning through the process of a public hearing, a case can be made that “sometimes it takes too long”.
As for herself, Swanson wants to see developments for social and nonmarket housing speeded up.
Joseph Jones keeps an eye on development in his East Vancouver neighbourhood, and he comments on city issues in his online Eye on Norquay site.
When reached by the Straight for comment, Jones agreed with the view that the measure removing public hearings will make things easier for developers.
Both Swanson and Jones indicated that based on the province’s official pronouncement, the change does not affect Vancouver.
Community advocate Jak King shares the same opinion but offers a different take on the matter.
The Grandview-Woodland resident said that Vancouver has been doing what the proposed provincial legislation intends to do for other municipalities.
“What they’re doing is catching up with what Vancouver has already done, which is to reduce public engagement as much as they can,” King told the Straight in a phone interview.
King pointed out that although Vancouver does not have an official ODP or OCP, it has prezoned huge areas of the city through community plans.
These plans cover Grandview-Woodland, the West End, the Downtown Eastside, Marpole, and Cambie.
“Pretty soon, we’ll have the Broadway Plan and the Vancouver Plan,” King said.
The City of Vancouver has also adopted policies such as the one council approved on April 20, 2021, which shelved rezoning and public-hearing requirements for six-storey social-housing projects in certain areas.
The change covered the following neighbourhoods: Fairview, GrandviewWoodland, Hastings-Sunrise, Kensington–Cedar Cottage, Kitsilano, Marpole, and Mount Pleasant.
Prior to the April 20 decision by council, these areas provided for residential developments up to three to four storeys.
City hall watcher Helten compared the situation to what author Naomi Klein described in her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
Klein wrote about how a crisis is often used to force through undemocratic processes. Helten said he believes that this is happening with the housing problem in Vancouver and many parts of B.C.
“The crisis is partially created by a perfect storm of many factors, but public hearing for rezonings is not the major factor causing housing unaffordability,” Helten said.
He added, “I just don’t think its fair, and it really shifts the balance of power in the wrong direction.” g
Veteran Vancouver city-hall watchdog Randy Helten says that “powerful developers and their friends in government” are planning to change the Vancouver Charter. Photo by Stephen Hui.
– City hall watcher Randy Helten
