It is the story of the daughter of a deposed king with an eye on the throne and a determination to return to glory. A blonde-haired outsider from across the sea, managing duplicitous politics, shifting allegiances, and an army of soldiers to defend and maintain her claim to power against warring factions with claims of […]
Jason Robert Brown is one of the most well-respected composers working in musical theatre today. His credits include Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years and Parade (my personal favourite musical). In 2007, he premiered a show called 13, a musical written for a cast consisting completely of, as the name suggests, 13-year-olds. […]
I’m a big fan of Antony Raymond whom I consider one of the city’s rising star playwrights. He creates rich unique characters with clear voices. As tensions and emotions inevitably build throughout his plays, the characters are primed to clash with each other. That said, the plot of his latest play, Apartment 301, feels undeveloped […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE Icône Pop (A) The scene for Icône Pop is set as the audience walks into the blackbox theatre at The Theatre Centre with singer Mykalle Bielinski crooning in the most beautiful ghostly way, and with dancer Mélanie Demers silhouetted in the doors of the studio thrown open onto Queen West, […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE The Only Good Indian (B+) It’s difficult to grade this solo show from Pandemic Theatre because half its runtime is just a “long table” discussion that will surely be completely different every day (the one I attended was heady and somewhat confrontational though smartly moderated by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard) […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE Explosions for the 21st Century (A-) My favourite SummerWorks show this year, Christopher Ross-Ewart’s philosophical and practical lecture on sound design is both an inventive theatrical presentation and a simply fascinating subject engagingly explained. With direction and dramaturgy by expert storyteller Graham Isador, Explosions for the 21st Century […]
Jessica, a play written by Patrick Vermillion, showing at the IRT Theater brings science fiction and artificial intelligence to the stage. But an overly ambition script falls short in execution as too many plot points must be explained in unnecessarily complicated detail, such as the minutia of implausible technological advancements As a result, it is […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE Pearle Harbour’s Chautaqua (A+) [Ed. Note: A+ is the highest grade we give but, just for the record, MM’s official submission was “A+++++++”] This is everything I want to see, want to hear, want to be. Pearle Harbour’s stage presence is strong enough to cause you to fall […]