Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque has just about the best programming strategy I’ve seen for a small company, especially one serving a remote community without a ton of access to live theatre. Managing Artistic Director Brett Christopher smartly programs all the big fun musicals you’d expect, crowd-pleasers that never fail to slap (this season has […]
A light style and dark material sets the contrasting tone for the Capitol’s blockbuster musical of the summer. The Full Monty vibes like silly fun but the story is packed with simmering sadness, overwhelming stress, and dark gender norms. Striking that balance is a tricky proposition but director Julie Tomaino smartly keeps the action […]
Fiddler on the Roof is a marvel of a musical: classic yet poignantly evergreen with a book as funny as it is devastating, packed with great roles (especially for women; imagine such a thing!) and endless musical earworms. If you haven’t seen it live in awhile, or ever, it’s easy to think of Fiddler as […]
London’s Grand Theatre is a crown jewel in the non-Toronto Ontario theatre scene. The historic Spriet Stage is a gorgeous venue that hosts an ambitious and well-balanced season of crowd pleasers while the company’s secondary space, the versatile Auburn Stage, allows the company some much-needed creativity with slightly more daring programming. The Grand has an […]
After four months, 12 towns, and 98 productions, our most ambitious summer of theatre coverage came to an end in Gananoque. With good food, cute accommodation options, fun tourist activities, and one of the best single-production showings we saw from any company on the Ontario Theatre Tour, our last stop might be remembered as our […]
Canada’s most famous theatre town is famous for the company that bears its name. To “go to Stratford” means to attend a play at the Stratford Festival, North America’s most prestigious classical institution. But the real lifeblood of a theatrical landscape is not the most established, wildly well-funded companies with their bus stop advertisements and […]
Prince Edward County is known as one of the most beautiful places in Ontario, a prime spot for well-to-do cottagers and family beach-goers alike. It’s also one of Ontario’s transit failures, a place so completely reliant on car access that, despite years of interest, I’d never stepped foot in the area until this summer. In […]
2023 isn’t the Shaw Festival’s strongest season but the floor is really high out in Niagara-on-the-Lake and even a so-so season that’s getting a bit eclipsed by Stratford’s best work in years is still full of some really great theatre. CLICK HERE to read about the shows in the Spiegeltent & Outdoors at the […]