“I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?” -Benedick to Beatrice (IV.i) The 2012 Stratford season isn’t very good. 80% of the reason I say that is Much Ado About Nothing. There are places to improve Henry V, Charlie Brown, The Matchmaker and so much else, but they […]
Present Laughter isn’t particularly remarkable. It’s a pretty standard Shaw production despite being written by Noel Coward and not George Bernard Shaw (who only wrote two plays slated for the 2012 season, actually). The costumes are pretty, the set is impressive if not interesting and everybody has British accents. Shaw’s Festival Theatre is a typical proscenium arch- […]
In a season where Stratford is struggling a bit, I haven’t seen a bad Shaw production yet. Ragtime is Fantastic (more on that later) and His Girl Friday is pretty good (again, more to come) but it’s French Without Tears that surprised me the most. I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into at […]
It drags in a middle but The Sunshine Boys is the best comedy Soulpepper’s done since they last did Neil Simon (in last season’s The Odd Couple). Simon is hilarious, with a wonderfully human touch of sadness, and the seasoned, naturalistic Soulpepper company fits perfectly with his style. Ted Dykstra smartly doesn’t add too much […]
If you’re a theatre person, Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s self-inspired meta-musical [title of show] is something you will undoubtedly love. If you’re not a theatre person, you will likely enjoy it slightly less, but it’s still a funny and affecting story of creation, even if you don’t get every Sondheim reference. With very few […]
I have seen a lot of Shakespeare in parks, but I am fairly new to other theater presented outdoors. The last show I saw from Apollinaire was Cyrano de Bergerac, also in Mary O’Malley Park. Even though it was not Shakespeare, that text has a certain poetic bombast that doesn’t feel out of place when […]
“Even if I have to dig ditches for the rest of my life, I’ll be a ditch digger who once had a wonderful day” – Cornelius Hackl, the brightly optimistic heart of Stratford’s uneven but partly adorable oldschool comedy. I was highly skeptical of The Matchmaker, knowing that it would be even more dated […]
Big-dreaming, well-intentioned Mirvish rival Dancap Productions is leaving Toronto in just a couple weeks after an inspiring but unprofitable 5-year run. Before they go, they have two big musicals taking stages uptown (Million Dollar Quartet– Toronto Centre for the Arts) and downtown (Beauty & The Beast– Four Seasons Centre). Neither is perfect but one is […]