Normally, Shakespeare doesn’t compel you to do the macarena, but Canadian Stage‘s production of Much Ado About Nothing, one of its two Shakespeare in High Park summer performances, takes us on a colourful ride that injects some fun and originality into the tale of a “merry war”.
Continue reading Review: Much Ado About Nothing (Canadian Stage)
Canadian Stage returns with Measure for Measure in Shakespeare in High Park for Toronto audiencesCanadian Stage returns to the beautiful outdoor ampitheatre in High Park for another summer of Shakespeare in High Park. This year, the two selections from the Bard are Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing. A bit of a departure this year as Canadian Stage has opted to do a comedy and a, well, dramedy in Measure for Measure, directed by Severn Thompson. With witty shenanigans in a rather grim situation, mixing both period and modern costumes, this show is a fun experience under the stars.
Continue reading Review: Measure for Measure (Canadian Stage)
There’s still a few days left to check out the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival! If you want to make the most out of your theatre-going this week, here’s a look at a few rave reviews.
These are shows that blew our writers’ minds, got them talking, kept them enthralled, stuck with them, and made their editor write a list of exciting descriptive actions.
While we always encourage audiences to take risks at Fringe, here are some sharp picks that especially paid off for our team:
Continue reading July 12 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe
After reviewing all 149 shows* in this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival we shared our list of the shows our staff recommend.
Now it’s your turn; we reveal the list of our readers’ most buzzed-about shows based on the popularity of their Mooney on Theatre reviews. So here’s the list of the top ten (ish) most-read Fringe reviews on Mooney on Theatre this year**: Continue reading Mooney on Theatre’s Most-Read Reviews for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival
Leading Toronto immersive theatre company produces its first escape room-style experiencesWhen the iconic video rental store Queen Video closed its final location on Bloor Street this past March it felt like a sad inevitability. In the age of YouTube and Netflix, the video rental store is a relic from another era. Now, Outside the March, one of Toronto’s leading immersive theatre companies, has taken over the space and re-christened it The Tape Escape, to house three immersive, escape room-style puzzle experiences that harken back to that bygone era. Continue reading Review: The Tape Escape (Outside the March)
Week two of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival is upon us, and we’re counting up our rave reviews from our hard-won list of 149 reviews of the entire (review-eligible) festival! Plenty of those shows have been marked as RAVES by our reviewers, and we’re here today to highlight a few more of them!
What’s a rave, you might ask? Simply put: our reviewer loved it. Sometimes a rave is ‘I’d see that a second, third, fourth time’; sometimes a rave is ‘I’m STILL thinking about this show days later’; sometimes it’s as simple as ‘I had a really fabulous time at this show.’
Really, it’s all subjective, because theatre is subjective. These raves caught our reviewers’ attention, though–perhaps they’ll snag yours as well?
Continue reading July 11 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival
Mirvish brings the hit Broadway musical with songs by Sara Bareilles to TorontoThe North-American tour of Waitress is currently making a stop in Toronto at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. The hit Broadway musical with book by Jessie Nelson and songs by American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles is based on the 2007 film starring Keri Russell and centres on the story of a small-town diner waitress and skilled baker named Jenna (Christine Dwyer) who aspires to enter a pie-making competition to win the prize money she needs to escape her unhappy life. Continue reading Review: Waitress (Mirvish)
If you’re new to Fringing our rave reviews can help you decide which shows to see. They’re the ones with the little green Rave Review in brackets next to them on the Fringe Reviews list.
These are the shows that made our reviewers want to run out of the theatre, grab people, and tell them that they absolutely ‘have to go see this show, it’s amazing’. Well, they make me want to do that.
It’s not the only way to pick a show but it’s one way to get started. Here are a few that our writers have raved about.
Continue reading July 10 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival
Based on the synopsis of Murmurs in the Toronto Fringe Festival online program I was expecting a story – a monologue that focused on Drew Taylor and his relationship with his father. A tribute to his father; the tribute that Taylor didn’t deliver at his funeral.
Continue reading Murmurs (Drew Taylor Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
While you absolutely shouldn’t only stick to shows with rave reviews (there’s so much great stuff playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival!) they do give you a place to start.
Personally, I’m a big fan of picking a show that I’m pretty sure is going to be a good one and then just taking a chance on whatever is playing before or after it at the same venue. I have seen some really great stuff that way that otherwise wouldn’t have been on my radar.
In the meantime, here are some shows our writers have been raving about to get you started.
Continue reading July 9 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival