Theatre fans and writers long for a world where celebrities dropping into a local show doesn’t raise an eyebrow. The Brothers Size drew the attention of a wider audience thanks to Drake’s appearance at Soulpepper on opening night and kept it with a memorable and thoughtful performance. Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney rose to prominence […]
Second City’s 82nd and current Mainstage revue, Walking On Bombshells, opens on a stage that’s a convincing mock-up of the dingy Osgoode subway station. It’s the backdrop for the show’s opening musical number, a ditty about the perils of subway travel entitled “Is It Warm or Is It Wet?” That specificity is unusual for […]
The Resistance Continues. That’s the sub-title of The Second City’s latest run of their feminist sketch phenom She The People. And there are a lot of things to resist: those who are against vaccinating their children, men telling women what they can and can’t do, or double standards that women have to deal with. Carly […]
Initially staged at SummerWorks in 2015, Erin Shields’ Beautiful Man features Jennifer, Sophie, and Pam (Ashley Bottling, Mayko Nguyen, and Sophía Rodríguez), who perch on stools facing the audience. They chat about their favourite show featuring a woman detective who investigates violent crimes targeting beautiful young men. They gush over her darker side – she’s […]
Michel Marc Bouchard’s classic play Lilies (Les Feluettes) was made into one of the most beautiful Canadian films in the 90s, and more recently an opera (2016, Opéra de Montréal) that has been described as containing an “uncommon dramatic intensity.” This latest staged adaptation Lilies; Or, The Revival of a Romantic Drama, unfortunately, misses that […]
What caught my attention for Tarragon Theatre’s performance of OLD STOCK: A Refugee Love Story was Ben Caplan. I read that he did the music for the show, and immediately knew I would give it a try. Caplan, a Halifax native, has been on my musical radar for years, ever since I heard “Stranger”, from […]
The Canadian Opera Company’s production of Otello is passionate, bleak, dramatic, and nearly everything one could want from an opera. Based on Shakespeare’s tempestuous tragedy, it is far from a comedic opera one might imagine with giggling maids, young lovers, and sets dripping with brocade and jewels. The set is modern and stark, a creative […]
Looking at the programme before the start of The Musical Stage Co’s production of Brian Yorkie & Tom Kitt’s domestic rock drama Next To Normal, it’s hard to miss the design inspiration taken from The Brady Bunch’s opening title credits. But that familiar imagery sets up expectations Next to Normal is quick to knock down. The […]