To supplement their mainstage season of big American tours, Toronto’s one real commercial theatre presenter Mirvish Productions has been bringing in slightly smaller shows produced by Canadian companies to occupy the mid-sized mid-town venue formerly known as the Panasonic (it’s now the CAA Theatre, which I doubt I’ll ever get used to). In general, this […]
Pencil Kit Productions’ The Hungriest Woman in the World is certainly an interesting show. It bills itself as a ‘sexy and elliptical new play’ by Canadian poet and playwright Shannon Bramer. It follows a young woman – Aimee (Nora Jane Williams) – as she escapes from the loneliness and confusion of her own life into […]
Beginning and ending with the last performance of Vaslav Nijinsky, widely considered one of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century, choreographer John Neumeier’s “biography of the soul” is a contemporary ballet masterpiece. Nijinsky draws its audience in from the beginning. There is no reminder to turn off your cell phone, no dimming of […]
I went back and forth on the title of this On Stage in TO roundup, the options being “small to big” and “best to worst” because both descriptions apply to the shows I’m about to discuss in the order in which I’m going to discuss them. Read into the pattern what you will- perhaps small, […]
Over the last three months, Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective’s ensemble has been touring…
In a strange and morbid way, Echo Productions has exceptional timing. Their debut of Charlie: Son of Man, a theatre production about the murders orchestrated by Charlie Manson, opened just two weeks after the icon died in prison. It is inconceivable that Echo Productions could have planned this but their play was perfectly timed for […]
One of my favourite Toronto theatre activities is to pick a night to show up at the Bad Dog Theatre at Bloor & Ossington and just park it. I camp out all night, 8-12. I see three shows and get a few drinks all for very little money. I spend the half-hour breaks between shows […]
A&R Angels is a story about two songwriting guardian angels who use their music to pull people back from the brink of suicide. Though late in their career, their music is failing to connect with people the way it used to. They only have a few chances left to prove they still can still be […]