Friday, May 8, 1998 — North Shore News — 23 NORTH SHORE imaginative Barber closes Opera season @ The Barber of Seville (U1 barbiere di Siviglia) Vancouver Opera production. Three performances remaining May 9, 11 and I4 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Ben D'Andrea Contributing Writer Vancouver Opera's Barber uf Serilfe is as delectable a producuon of Rossini’s age- less comic opera as vou will ever tind - despite some singing that tell short of all- our Rossinian exuberance. The opening- night audience denionstrated its approval by cheering thunderously at the end. Director David Gately kept the comic antics moving at breakneck speed throughout the performance, without ever setting them on a collision course with the music. (Hurrah!) And as difficult as it often is for opera singers to be truly funny, Gately coaxed wonderfully detailed See Mayhem page 36 THE Barber of Seville cast includes: Mariateresa Magisano, Kevin Glavin, Peter Volpe, John Osborn, Tracy Dahl and Nathan Gunn. NEWS E NTERTAINMENT GUIDE THINGS TO COME Independent film producer Raymond Massey planning three new projects *An independent film is a film that’s made by a group of filmmakers who aren't financed by a studio or network.” I’M listening to Raymond Massey talk about the busi- ness of producing independent films. He speaks with the drive and determination needed to be successful in this business. It’s no wonder that he has three features lined up for production all by the end of this vear. West of Sarajevo, the first of his partner- ship with Mort Ransen and Louis Spitzer as Ranfilm Productions, Shegalla starring Lynn Redgrave, and The Prece starring Christopher Walken. He comes from a family full of actors: Dan and Anna Massey, who worked in England on both the stage and screen; Walter Massey, a television actor living in Montreal; and his grandfather, Raymond Massey, whom he would visit as a child in LA. “He would pick us up at the airport in his gold Rolis Royce and take us for a haircut on our way to the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hilly Hotel,” he reminisces. Oddly enough though, it is thanks to his brother's persistence that they start a production company together thar got him into fimmaking. “It was a process of elimination really, T wanted to be a manne biologist — Jacques Cousteau was my hero. When [ did some research and found out how long ir would take me to reach that position, the romanticism died.” . St Maria Verdicchio Maria Verdicchio: What were you doing before you started producing? Ravmond Massev: I finished my business degree trom Simon Fraser in 1983, then my brother (cin ematographer Nathaniel Massey) and T were in business for about nine years. We did work on CALENDAR: 24 NEW BO Glass sculpture by Marina Papais + soe page 29. Photo Brian Cyr Raymond Massey's grandfather starred in the 1936 sci-fi classic Things to Come. almost anything ve could get our hands on, even radio commercials. We went our and Loughr a 16mm camera and I recorded sound and he shot and we soid oursclyes to any job we could get, anything at all — got ourselves in all kinds of trouble, learned a lot of lessons. It was good prep for what came later on, that’s for sure. MV: So you had your own production company. RM: Yeah, I had a bachelors degree in business from SFU and he went to Brooks Institute of Cinematography in Santa Barbara. All through those years I knew that [ wanted to make feature films bur I didn’t know much about story and the process. In those davs there wasn’t any type of a mentor system or anything like that so it was luck by which vou got into the feature business at all. The time became nght, finally, and a fiend of mine got a grint from the Canada Council to dea film and asked me to produce it with him, so that was my first experience. MV: What was that called? RM: [t was called The Traveler, Bruno Pacheco wrore and directed. That was my first experience with distributors and broadcasters and all of that. From then on its been a constant progression in budgets and frequency to where we are know. MV: Have you been concentrating since then on features? RM: Yeah, mainly. There’s been all kinds of other things along the way, some pilots for FV. Dnever went out and made myself available for hire except for one small period of time. My wile and J were pregnant with wins so Thad to go get a “real” job for a while and make some money. MV: So whai are you saying, that producing isn't a profitable business? RM: No. The part of it that F'm in is full of idealists. We all want to go out aad make a point with the films that we make. The challenge that we're ficing right now as a new company is we have See West page 36 OK COLUMN: 30 CINEMAS: 31