”Time, indeed, for the world of opera to unzip its laced-up image."

May 2007 Toronto

 

"Canada's most beloved and sexiest 'Carmen' has just released an album that, while including the most famous aria from Bizet's opera (Habanera), focuses on non-operatic fare which nonetheless retains a sense of that character's unbridled 'liberte'.

For this album, following on the heels of sold-out 'UnZipped' cabaret performances for Tapestry New Opera Works at the Distillery District, the gypsy/mezzo Jean Stilwell and pianist and famous Beaches 'bluestocking' Patti Loach provide a travel map of adventure and misadventure in love, as well as a guidebook for tattoos picked up along the way. 

There are whimsical and sensitive pieces by New York cabaret songwriter John Bucchino, as well as jazz, film and theatrical standards by Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, Friedrich Hollaender and Maurice Charlap.

Two selections in particular by the popular Manhattan song-writing team Heisler and Goldrich, Taylor the Latte Boy and Apathetic Man, are uproariously funny.

Lovingly recorded by Patti's husband John Loach, who also plays trumpet on Falling in Love Again, the homey atmosphere provides a warm but pristine sound quality that captures the extreme strength, vivacity and intelligence of these two gorgeous and talented women. 

Time, indeed, for the world of opera to unzip its laced-up image."

Dianne Wells