When they say Giselle is “the ballerina’s Hamlet”, there are lots of reasons that’s true (it’s a challenging, possibly infuriating title role that’s as self indulgent as it is beautiful) but part of it’s got to be the simple fact of name recognition. Other than roles made famous by another medium (Sleeping Beauty, Juliet, Carmen, […]
With The National Ballet of Canada since 1998 and promoted to Principal in 2005, Heather Ogden is one of Toronto’s most beloved performers and among the brightest stars in Canadian Ballet (and, as a guest artist, International Ballet). With lead roles in everything from contemporary works to The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, Heather is, in […]
I’m loving Bunheads. Have I mentioned how much I’m Loving Bunheads? It’s like an hour of pure joy once a week. And not guilty pleasure Bachelorette joy, actual Amy-Sherman-Palladino-Is-Back-On-TV joy. It’s like having Lorelai Gilmore back, but instead of Lauren Graham (with whom I have a love-‘annoyed by’ relationship) we get Sutton Foster (with whom […]
The National Ballet of Canada is a fascinating place. It’s where national treasures like Karen Kain and Rex Harrington earned their world-renowned reputations and are now guiding the current wave of tremendous talent as Artistic Director and Artist-in-Residence. It’s home to some of Toronto’s most beloved performers, some of the world’s most talented dancers and […]
La Fille Mal Gardee is a very old ballet, dating back to 1789. It’s an old-fashioned story featuring old-fashioned caricatures that walk the line of being offensive in today’s PC world. But it’s charming and it’s funny (really funny, actually) and there’s no point in throwing out Beethoven just because Bernstein came along. I love […]
I see so much theatre that sometimes a really great show can slip through the cracks and not get reviewed. If I see something without a press ticket, or on closing weekend, or when I’ve already got an overwhelming pile of playbills on my desk, I have a bad habit of telling myself I’m not […]
Toronto’s mayor is a Mr. Dursley-esque grump face with a popularity rate so low in the heart of the city that I’ve literally never met one of his supporters. They like him in the suburbs I guess, or so the electoral map suggested, but down where we use the TTC and go to the theatre […]
We were working hard this Toronto Fringe, taking in a total of 16 plays ranging from dance to drag to one-man displays or neurosis. There were companies of one, companies of ten, staged readings, fully-mounted musicals, lots of laughs, a couple of tears and grades ranging from A to D. Read on for all the […]