Cats may just be the most-mocked musical in the history of the world. But it’s also one of my favourites. First of all, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, once upon a time, was a uniquely magical composer capable of creations that were both lastingly beautiful and bizarrely unique. His best work will always be, and has always been, […]
The final production of The National Ballet of Canada’s 2012/13 season is a mishmash of four seemingly unrelated short pieces wedged into two hours with two intermissions. I wouldn’t call any of the individual works masterpieces of any sort and the performances themselves are not the most memorable in National Ballet history but the assemblage […]
In North America for the first time as well as opening the first night of Toronto’s Luminato festival, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic is a beautiful and strange marriage of opposites that might be lost on an audience distracted by their thirst for celebrity worship. The annual ten-day Canadian celebration of the performative […]
Comedy Bar mainstays Bad Dog Theatre are in the middle of a horror show. On purpose. They have one week left in their current episodic adventure, portraying Torontonian walkers and the people who run from them. The show is a good one with a strong cast including director Peter Stevens in a happily more substantial […]
Sometimes, you want to be transported to a different time, a different city, and reminded of the simple pleasure of things long past. With a diverse score by Leonard Bernstein, On the Town is a whimsical 24-hour journey of three sailors in New York City in 1944. Lyric Stage Company surprises with this rarely-done show. […]
Angelwalk Theatre’s current production of the relationship song cycle I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is a diverting and likable trifle of a show. It’s fun and good-natured with a user-friendly structure that easily hooks the attention span-challenged but leaves those of us who crave a good arc feeling a little short-shrifted since the […]
SpeakEasy Stage Company’s newest production In the Heights dazzles as a proud piece of socioeconomic exploration. The musical took New York City by storm in 2008 as a Tony-winning Best Musical, and SpeakEasy stages its own production with the same passion. While the leads lack some of the star quality necessary to sell their stories, […]
Zeitgeist Stage Company offers a treat in its most recent production of Punk Rock, a rarely-performed British drama by Simon Stephens. Performed in the intimate Plaza Black Box and using an alley-way set design with simple chairs and tables, the focus of this production is on the actors and their characters. With few exits and […]