When I was 13 years old I heard a voice like I’d never heard before. I was in the back of the chorus of HMS Pinafore as I listened to the Boatswain sing “For He Is An English Man” in a deep bass full of expression and power. That enormous sound was coming from a […]
Kelly Bedard
The Stratford Festival took on something big this year in tackling Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Evita. For the title role of passionate icon Eva Peron, the company chose their favourite little girl: Chilina Kennedy, a tiny ingenue with a big voice and a knack for ditzy charm. Her husband, Peron, would […]
Kelly Bedard
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced their 2011 roster. Here are the highlights (and lowlights): Richard III: it’s a great play, fascinating really. But it is 99.9% dependent on a truly solid leading man. It needs someone who will bring something new to the part and keep the audience interested pretty much single handedly. […]
Kelly Bedard
The Last Five Years is one of my favourite things ever written for the stage. In it, composer Jason Robert Brown shares a uniquely personal story of the 5 year relationship between him and his wife that ended in broken vows, a broken marriage and broken hearts. Standing in for their real life counterparts are […]
Kelly Bedard
Last weekend BU on Broadway premiered their spring mainstage production: a lighthearted and uplifting musical, a favourite of mine, Seussical. Though plagued with the occasional flaw, the production was for the most part absolutely wonderful and easily one of my favourite things I’ve seen in my time in Boston. Seussical itself, written by Ahrens and […]
Kelly Bedard
Last week I saw the touring production of The Lion King at The Boston Opera House. It was okay. I say it was only okay not because it was anything less than a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience but because the piece itself is capable of being so much more. During its extended stay in Toronto […]
Kelly Bedard
In fact, the best SHOW in town, and perhaps the greatest thing I’ve seen in quite some time, is called My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. Playing now at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto, MMLJWW is the latest great product of the Toronto Fringe Festival, the same festival that started The Drowsy Chaperone on its way […]