When I was six years old, I fell madly in love with The Sound of Music. And I mean madly, as in I went absolutely mad. My poor parents and older brother were subjected to an endless stream of six-year-old Julie Andrews imitation on an 8-hour drive to Montreal. 8 hours, nothing but “do-mi-mi-mi-so-so-re-fa-fa-la-ti-ti!” (see, […]
Performing with a symphony orchestra is a tricky thing, especially for a musical theatre performer. On a stage that likely has better acoustics than your usual proscenium, in a space traditionally occupied by concert cellists and world-class operatic sopranos, without the help of your costume or your co-stars, the story or the special effects, you […]
Take a bow, Imelda Staunton. The national treasure is mesmerising as Mama Rose in this perfect West End revival of the 1959 classic, Gypsy. Having been lucky enough to see the production at the Chichester Festival Theatre prior to its West End run, I couldn’t wait to see it again at the Savoy and certainly […]
Cawrk Theatrical Productions is back with their first production in five years. Last seen directing and starring in the company’s My Theatre Award-nominated production of The Glass Menagerie, Cawrk founding members Matthew Yipchuck and Cat Bernardi have moved on as artists and become specialists in different fields. For the company’s return to the Toronto stage, they’ve smartly […]
Katy Perry’s music is very theatrical and generally rooted in storytelling, two qualities that pretty much guarantee that one day we will see her songbook turned into a Broadway show. That Broadway show will be a commercial blockbuster production and she will be paid millions of dollars for the rights to the hit songs around […]
Broadway’s golden boy will be taking the Roy Thompson Hall stage tomorrow night to sing Stephen Schwartz songs alongside the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Fresh off his pre-Broadway run in the new Finding Neverland musical and a movie star turn as Jamie in the Last Five Years film adaptation, Tony-nominated (and My Theatre Award-winning!) Newsies star/Smash saviour […]
Regarded as one of the biggest flops in Broadway’s history, following its five-day run in the late 1980s, this revamped and modernised version of ‘Carrie: The Musical’ does an excellent job at leaving its past failures behind and revitalising itself for a new audience. Based on the Stephen King novel, made timeless by the […]
What a turnaround. It is not often that a show can improve so much between its Acts. From the first Act’s close, it seemed like High Society was an extremely middling production, which is not at all expected from the Old Vic. However, the change is unexpected and grand. It is not clear whether the […]