\It’s nearly impossible to watch Chicago Fire or Chicago PD without also following the other. The two NBC action-dramas from super-producer Dick Wolf are linked so closely that to use the usual expression that they “exist in the same universe” is like saying that spaghetti and meatballs are both foods. PD began a season […]
I was skeptical, at first, about this dystopian Noah’s Ark adapted from a French graphic novel and starring Captain America (forgive the unfairly depreciative evocation; I’ve always liked Chris Evans and know full well that most of the major superheroes right now are actually pretty good actors, but you know what I mean). The first […]
The Global Cabaret Festival came to an end with a rousing late-night performance from the great Jackie Richardson. I celebrated the first seven shows on my agenda in Part 1. Now that the festival is over (hopefully not forever- Global, tell us you’ll bring the festival back for year 8!), here are the rest of […]
The Bakelite Masterpiece (Tarragon Theatre) This new one-act by Kate Cayley tells the thematically rich (and fictionally embellished) story of Han van Meegeren (Georgie Johnson) whose sale of a Vermeer painting to a Nazi in occupied Holland put him on trial for treason at the end of the war. His life-saving argument that it was […]
I’m halfway through the 7th (and final?) Global Cabaret Festival weekend down at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. Here are the highlights so far: UPDATE: Read Part 2 HERE. Best Show (so far) The American Pie Songbook I know, I’m the most predictable person in the world, but the songbook show music directed […]
The newest theatrical anthology from Toronto’s geek theatre company is shaped around four instalments of “Sidekicks”, a rumination on the role of henchmen and second fiddles by Manda Whitney & Errol Elumir (of Debs & Errol). Starring Andrew Gaunce, adorable as a hapless but mouthy minion, and the charming Jordi O’Dael in the much more complex […]
Two strong but ultimately uninspiring productions are currently playing at the Four Seasons Centre as the kick off to the Canadian Opera Company’s 2014/15 season. Though they’re of comparable overall quality, Falstaff and Madama Butterfly have little in common. The former is visually grand with lots of awkwardly long breaks to change the elaborate sets […]
Netflix be damned, this month alone I raced through the first season of Game of Thrones, the third season of Mad Men and the fifth season of The Good Wife, all on the great and sadly dying medium of TV on DVD (Netflix, by the way, only has one of those three things available in […]