Stage Fighting or Choreographed Violence for Violence’s Sake There are a few things that people always find memorable when they go to the theater. For my purposes, I’ll use Shakespeare’s Hamlet to illustrate (I have a theme, and I like to stick to it). People will always remember “To be or not to be” (but few […]
If you’re a theatre fan in the Toronto area this weekend, My Theatre and its parent company My Entertainment World would like to recommend No Strings Theatre’s production of Les Miserables (School Edition) playing today through Saturday at the Al Green Theatre. For the youth company’s 5th anniversary, they are taking on perhaps the most […]
When I was 13 years old I heard a voice like I’d never heard before. I was in the back of the chorus of HMS Pinafore as I listened to the Boatswain sing “For He Is An English Man” in a deep bass full of expression and power. That enormous sound was coming from a […]
The Stratford Festival took on something big this year in tackling Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Evita. For the title role of passionate icon Eva Peron, the company chose their favourite little girl: Chilina Kennedy, a tiny ingenue with a big voice and a knack for ditzy charm. Her husband, Peron, would […]
After taking a “Music Through the Ages” class on Onegin with Clayton Scott last summer, I knew I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t see one of the National Ballet’s only eight performances of the ballet this June. Onegin is an extremely rarely performed piece, licensed to only a handful of companies around the world […]
Urban Bard is unlike any company I’ve ever seen. It is exactly what its name suggests, urban bard, nothing more or less. This season’s contrasting productions of the uber popular Twelfth Night and the sadly obscure Two Noble Kinsmen are innovative to the point where I was literally giggling in delight at every scene change. […]
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced their 2011 roster. Here are the highlights (and lowlights): Richard III: it’s a great play, fascinating really. But it is 99.9% dependent on a truly solid leading man. It needs someone who will bring something new to the part and keep the audience interested pretty much single handedly. […]
