Toronto Theatre Reviews
Review: Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes (Second City Toronto)
By Megan Mooney
One of the things I love about going to a Second City show is that I know I’m going to get to laugh. Even if there are skits that drag, things that aren’t stupendous, there is *always* something I’ll like. I will *always* laugh.
Compared to the previous more theatrical revue, Second City for Mayor, the current one, Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes seemed to bring the company back to more pure sketch comedy roots, and it works.
Review: The Wormwood Prince
By George Perry
The Wormwood Prince played at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse on the University of Toronto campus. It is being mounted on by the Next Stage Production Company, whose mandate is to nurture emerging actors. I’m not sure if I would describe this play as guerrilla theatre, but I am positive that this was a most enjoyable night out.
Review: Love, Loss and What I Wore
by Ryan Kerr
Love, Loss and What I Wore is a 5-hander, cabaret-style reading, with a rotating cast of well and not-as-well-known celebrity women. I saw the second cast which features Lauren Collins, Wendy Crewson, Cynthia Dale, Linda Kash, and Margot Kidder until the third cast begins mid-September.
As the play “wears” on (pun intended) we hear stories about bras, breasts, shoes, boots, jackets, and even a conveniently torn sweat suit which proves advantageous for discreet prison rendezvous. Some connections were drawn – some of them quite tenderly – between what we wear and who we are. Certainly, in this context, who we wear is equally as important!
2010 Buskerfest in Toronto should be on your to-do list for this weekend
By Megan Mooney
I just spent a wonderful 6 hours at the 11th Annual Scotiabank Buskerfest in support of Epilepsy Toronto.
This kind of thing is just one of the many things that I love about Toronto. Front Street is closed off from Jarvis to Yonge Street and it’s packed with things to see and do. There’s all the requisite festival food (mmm, funnel cake), there some interactive festival stuff (face painting seemed to be a big hit), and it’s all held together by amazing performances from amazing people.
There are the big stages and spectacles, but then there are also little gems tucked away in surprising places. Like, the mini–musical-ride offered up by The Renfrews on a sidewalk by a cafe. Even with cardboard horses the Mountie uniform makes people look regal. It’s impressive really.
Review: Window On Toronto
By Amber Landgraff
Window On Toronto, Soulpepper’s latest Lab series, was completely surprising and totally charming. I was caught off guard by how much I enjoyed it. I went to see the show with my friend Simon and we both found ourselves laughing, along with the rest of the audience, for the whole whirlwind 50 minutes.
The show’s premise involves looking at a busy Toronto street from the point of view of a hotdog vendor. The audience joins him as he interacts with a cast of wacky characters. As another audience member stated upon leaving the show, “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Read the rest of this entry »
Sexual Perversity In Chicago – Red One Theatre
By Adam Collier
A local company called Red One Theatre is producing Sexual Perversity in Chicago. It plays at Unit C. 102 Foxley Place.
The venue is off an alley that runs parallel to Ossington.
“This is already terrific” – the words fell out of my mouth as I went in. There’s not a hint of pretense to the space, but there is a professional look to the set. And the space itself – tall, with an open loft facing the audience – is genuinely novel.
An anecdote that involves an extremely dangerous sexual fetish starts off the show. Though casual in delivery, to call it conversational is to understate its finesse.
Toronto Theatre Review: How Now Mrs. Brown Cow (Mrs. Brown’s Boys Ltd)
by Lucy Allen
From the opening musical number of How Now, Mrs Brown Cow, which opened this week at the Canon Theatre, I could tell this was going to be a different kind of comedy than I had been used to seeing on the stage recently. Where many comedic plays now are often a bit darker, How Now, Mrs. Brown Cow is pretty much like watching a sit-com on stage. Read the rest of this entry »
i was Barbie (venusmachine) – 2010 Summerworks review
by George Perry
i was Barbie (sic) is playing to sold-out houses at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. Nina Arsenault’s one-woman show is one of the most talked about plays at Summerworks. People seem to love a good freak show.
This monologue runs just over an hour. It is the story of Ms Arsenault’s one night stand playing Barbie at a red carpet event for Fashion Week. Actually, it was a “pink 219” carpet event.
The Emotionalists (Stuck in the Mud Productions) – 2010 Summerworks Review
By Crystal Wood
My first thought after watching The Emotionalists was “Wow, this is a really good play.” My second thought was “Wow, this is a Sky Gilbert play?” That’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed his other work, but it’s quite different in style and tone from most of his Buddies in Bad Times fare. Mr. Gilbert, if you’re reading this, more The Emotionalists please!
I’m probably the only person in the world who didn’t read The Fountainhead in my teens, so I know Ayn Rand only by name. You don’t need to know much about the woman or her philosophies before going in, though, because the play is clear and entertaining in its own right.
Molotov Circus (Squeezebox Mama) – 2010 Summerworks review
by George Perry
Molotov Circus is not a one woman show, but it is a one family show. It is playing at The Lower Ossington Theatre in Toronto as part of Summerworks. Anybody who has ever been part of a family can recognize their own youth, their own mothers, fathers and siblings in this play.
This is a family of gypsies, so they don’t have the typical domestic trappings. What they do have is each other and their great talents.