Eclipse Theatre’s limited run of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at Toronto’s Jam Factory last March was one of the last pieces of theatre we got to see before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. Thankfully, that excellent production gave us the memory of Tess Benger’s effervescent and thoughtful performance as Dot, which helped […]
Tooting Arts Club’s production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre is the perfect thing to see this fall: part dark theatrical masterpiece, part haunted house. It’s the most creatively staged production of Sweeney Todd that I have ever seen: the show is set in a pie shop (with fresh pies baked by the former White House pastry […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2016 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Hugh Ritchie as Cinderella’s Prince might have been the most perfect piece of casting all year in Toronto theatre. In Hart House’s excellent production of Into the Woods, Hugh combined winking swagger with his brilliant vocal chops to […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2016 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Dan Chameroy is a very big deal to me. He’s a big deal to a lot of people in the Canadian musical theatre scene but he’s especially important to me. He’s the first live performer I remember being […]
Little Night Music All I knew about A Little Night Music going in was “Send in the Clowns”, arguably the crown jewel of Sondheim’s canon. It would have been best to leave it that way. It turns out that Hugh Wheeler’s book has none of the subtle ache or bittersweet poetry of the musical’s standout […]
“Master Harold”… and the Boys This South African-set one-act by Athol Fugard takes a long time to get going but, once it does, it’s a gut punch. The idea is that James Daly’s charming brat Hally is super chummy with the two black men who work at his family’s diner (his parents are offstage dealing […]
Three singers, two pianists, and a whole lot of Sondheim—a thoroughly enjoyable evening by the AC Group for the avid or even casual fan of the great lyricist/composer, though this charming production is unlikely to convert any sceptics of his extensive catalogue. Quite remarkably, ‘Side by Side by Sondheim’ was first performed over 40 years […]
“Into the woods you go again, you have every now and then.” If you have never been Into the Woods, now is the time. Between Hollywood’s adaptation of this beloved musical, the availability of the original Broadway cast production on Netflix, and stage productions of Stephen Sondheim’s best work popping up across the country, there […]
The summer night may smile three times, but it might have smiled a fourth time on The Arlington Friends of the Drama’s 429th production A Little Night Music, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler. The community theatre boasts some wonderful talent on the small stage, and mostly succeeds in orchestrating the […]
The Lyric Stage Company does Sondheim well. Director Spiro Veloudos speaks Sondheim’s language as if it were his natural tongue, and he does a good job of translating to the stage with the help of his accomplished cast. Except the entire production felt afraid to push the boundaries or explore the nuances of Sondheim’s dense […]
StageWorks Toronto is an incredibly ambitious company, especially when you consider that they’re really a community theatre organization (mixing new theatre grads with part-time performers, I’m pretty sure all un-paid). Year after year they choose an interesting, contemporary and thematically challenging musical and mount a full-scale production, never shying away from a hard vocal score. […]
Theatre 20 occupies a very specific and somewhat strange space in Toronto theatre. They produce work very rarely but, when they do, it’s event theatre- a big musical with a top-notch cast; something worth dressing up and hiring a babysitter for. Company is their biggest show yet. My favourite Sondheim piece, the contemporary musical’s complicated […]
Into the Woods may be one of my favorite Sondheim musicals, if not one of my favorite musicals. I have seen and participated in countless productions of this show, so I come to The Lyric’s production with a wealth of knowledge and experience. For any other production, this burden would be insurmountable; I would be […]
Characters in theatre almost always know more about themselves than audience members; the characters have lived in a fictional world before the play’s action. However, it’s a rare treat when an audience knows more about the play’s world and characters than the characters themselves. Such is Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, an innovative musical (for […]
Company features one of my favourite openings to a musical; the haunting tones of the “Bobby” (and the many variations on this name) echo throughout the theatre, the mythical and almost fantastical element of storytelling about turning the dreaded thirty-five years old, and the overwhelming introduction to the many fast-talking, always-moving supporting characters offer so […]
I have unrealistic expectations for Assassins. It is easily one of my favorite shows, falling behind only Into the Woods as my favorite Sondheim. I know how odd that makes me, as a person and a theatre aficionado, and I give you free reign to judge me. F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company’s production of Assassins has some […]