After a 2 year hiatus from writing reviews due to the pandemic, I was welcomed back by Driftwood Theatre’s Bard’s Bus Tour opening performance of King Henry Five. In keeping with the past few years, it was fitting that the show did not go off without a hitch. Due to weather conditions, the performance was forced […]
Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt’s 2 Pianos 4 Hands is considered one of the great success stories of Canadian theatre. Spinning a tale about parallel adolescences tied together by classical piano training, this elegantly simple two-man production balances a double life as crowd-pleasing goofball act punctuated by well-played concertos and a darkly funny memory play […]
Read Part One and Part Two of my Alaskan Couple’s Cruise series. In Part Three I talked about our approach to planning port days and excursions including three different strategies for different types of trips and travellers. Below I’ll chronicle our itineraries in each port and share the details of the fantastic excursions we […]
The first thing that happens in the 50th Anniversary Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, aside from those iconic guitar riffs and the exuberant cast storming down the theatre aisles, is Judas stealing the microphone as Jesus prepares to tell his own story. Over the course of a mere 90 minutes, the mic stand that will […]
Les Ballets Trockadero has returned once more to Toronto, and we couldn’t be more excited. The crowd was a varied wonder on March 8, ranging from eager children, to professional dancers, to drag artists, and everyone in between. I had been one of those children growing up- ever since I saw my first Ballet Trockadero […]
For those who enjoy booking a play without knowing anything about it, Us/Them may provide a shock. It did for an elementary school teacher in attendance. The subject matter was very close to home: Us/Them tells the story of the 2004 school siege in Beslan, Russia, when hundreds of children, mothers and grandmothers were killed. […]
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is the smashiest smash hit to ever smash on Broadway and it has subsequently inspired a cult-like devotion that strains the limits of the word “cult-like” (the intensity is there but the breadth of the fandom defies limitation). It’s a consensus masterpiece- a dense, inventive, skillful revolution of form cheekily set against the […]
The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical, presented by TO Live at Meridian Hall, was a breakout Broadway success in 2017/2018 garnering 12 Tony Award nominations and is the first in what TO Live is hoping to be an ongoing Broadway series. It is a production that will delight the children in the audience and entertain their adult […]
It’s Christmastime, which means that many people are either celebrating beloved family traditions or searching for some moderately pleasant activity the whole family can agree on. The solution Toronto’s commercial theatre producers are offering up is musical theatre. And not just any musical theatre- big, shiny, happy, mostly stupid but very nice Musical Theatre. The […]
We all love a David and Goliath story, and Patrick Combs’ is a good one. In 1995, he received a cheque for $95,093.35 from a junk mailing scheme. Broke in San Francisco, he thought he would try to cash it as a joke. To Combs’ astonishment, the cheque deposited, and he soon became the bank’s […]
I’m going for a big metaphorical stretch here guys so I just need you to bear with me- seeing Cats live is like going to church. Inside the theatre you’ll find deep skeptics and true devotees sitting side by side with people who are only there because it means a lot to their mother. There’s music, chants, […]
Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective’s annual Shakespeare in Hospitals gala is coming up very soon so we caught up with Artistic Director Victoria Urquhart to find out how this season’s show came to be, why the program is as crucial as ever, and how we can get in on the gala festivities. For anyone unfamiliar with the program, […]
Minorities has a provocative set, mannequins placed across the back of the stage are costumed in various traditional Chinese clothing, with red duct tape placed across eyes, mouths and torsos. The backdrop is a large red screen with a projection of line drawn figures filling out a crudely constructed crowd featuring Chairman Mao in the […]
David Yazbek & Itamar Moses’ slinky musical adaptation of the 2007 Israeli film The Band’s Visit is one of those artistic oddities that wins incredible acclaim and most people still have never heard of it. Its 2017 Broadway premiere earned 10 Tony Awards, including all the big ones, including Best Musical, but it hasn’t captured […]
Some stories take a few tries to find their perfect medium. Les Miserables, for example, is a meandering bore of a novel (hot take? Whatever, I don’t want to hear about it) but, when it found its rightful home in musical theatre, everything clicked. Eugene Onegin is a poem, an opera, and a musical, but […]
If you ever get the chance to see The Lion King on Broadway, you have to take it. Stop me if you’ve heard this lecture before but I honestly believe Julie Taymor’s visionary adaptation to be one of the great feats of human imagination in theatrical history. First some crazy person in a Disney boardroom […]
The Book of Mormon has returned to Toronto, and thank Heavenly Father it has! A hit since the beginning, the show has traveled to Toronto a few times and always packs an audience in. The deliciously sacrilegious show first opened in 2011 after years of development. It still feels fresh and poignant, with some interpreted […]
Celebrated Russian choreographer Boris Eifman brings to life the story of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), and it is a tale of beauty and tragedy. Eifman, inspired by the composer’s life, utilizes Tchaikovsky’s historic works to draw out evocative imagery of the man’s inner demons and public life. At the start of the ballet we […]
I came out of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical with a smile on my face. Seeing a musical is always a night full of fun and passion, and this show provides the audience with no less. There were flashing lights, impressive costume changes, and an evening of music we all know and love. However, despite […]
It’s very easy to understand how Jersey Boys has been such a big hit with audiences around the world. Combining the feel-good hits of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons with the lively story of how it all came together, the show really puts other jukebox musicals to shame. Now in its 13th touring season, […]
Cirque Éloize captures perfectly the bustle and glamour of a 1920’s art-deco hotel in their most recent show. Performed at the St. Lawrence Centre, Hotel is a great success, pleasing audiences from giggling toddlers to circus regulars and cynical viewers. Cirque Éloize tries an interesting new tactic for the world of contemporary circus in this […]
From success in the UK to sinking on Broadway, The Last Ship has enjoyed a mixed reception around the world. Though not always plain sailing, Sting’s musical has launched successfully at its new home in Toronto. Director/book writer Lorne Campbell’s revamped production is by no means perfect, but boasts a number of strong performances and […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Known for his lightning-fast dialogue and twisting narratives, celebrated Fringe favourite Martin Dockery earned his second career nomination at last year’s festival- Outstanding New Play for Inescapable, a mind-boggling timeline-jumping two-hander he performed with Jon Paterson. As quick […]
At Mirvish Productions’ The Play That Goes Wrong, only the title is an understatement. Audiences are quickly enveloped in a fully immersive farce that never lets go- not during the curiously long intermission, and not even leaving the show as fears linger that the ‘fuh-caydes’ of the whole world could collapse at any moment. It’s […]
At first glance, magicians would seem to have it rough in the twenty-first century. No matter how much practice and skill goes into mastering a seemingly inexplicable trick, one whose origins may go back centuries, the audience’s wonder is more likely these days to be tempered by a quick google search, where a mercilessly quick […]
The return of Slava’s Snow Show to Toronto, staged at the Bluma Appel Theatre, is a resounding success. The show is everything it promises to be – truly a night of wonder, magic, and childlike joy. Although there were many families with happily giggling children in the audience, Slava’s Snowshow is by no means a […]