You’re almost guaranteed to have a light-hearted, good time at The Big Bang, playing at the York Woods Library Theatre. This silly, funny production tells the history of the human race with musical numbers in the same sketch-like format that you’d see on a variety show or on Saturday Night Live.
The cast is comprised of two characters, Boyd (played by David Haines) and Jed (played by Joe Cascone), two men whose on-stage chemistry makes it a delight to watch. They are joined by Aunt Rivka (played by Susan Sanders) at the piano along with the occasional cameo appearance by Schatzi (played by Flicka), the dog. Continue reading Review: The Big Bang (Civic Light Opera Company)→
Hooking up love and loneliness in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Drake’s old recording studio in Toronto
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is performed in a new theatre space that was formerly Drake’s recording studio. It contains strong language and sexual content, and was written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony and Emmy Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley. And that’s just my teaser.
The play is intense. While it may be about “two of society’s rejects,” we’ve all, to some extent, been there – to the depths and highs of making love and making war. So it becomes, as good theatre does, an exploration of the self. But it is intense, and also extremely harsh.
Julie Sits Waiting is a modern, gritty opera playing at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille
My partner is very opera-oriented so in the last couple of years that we’ve been together I’ve been experiencing and learning about the genre. I’ve discovered that, while I can definitely enjoy old school offerings, I am particularly taken with more modern fare, which has a tendency towards more abstract music, experimentations with atonality, etc. This was a big part of why I was interested to see the brand new opera Julie Sits Waiting by Good Hair Day Productions. Continue reading Review: Julie Sits Waiting (Good Hair Productions)→
An ancient secret language and political intrigue; Eventual Ashes presents its new show Hiding Words (for you) by Gein Wong at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre
Nushu is a writing system developed in ancient China possibly as far back as 400 AD. Based on a simplified version of Chinese characters, Nushu was hidden in embroidery patterns and was developed as a means for Chinese women of the time to communicate despite the fact that they were forbidden from formal education.
The ups and downs of outdoor theatre in Toronto in September.
As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s classic comedies, telling the tale of heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle’s court (in this case, aunt’s) to find safety, and eventually love, in the Forest of Arden. In the UC Follies version, Rosalind (Lauren Goodman) and her cousin Celia (Siobhan O’Malley) are “les filles des roi” in New France (part of which is now present-day Canada) being married to French Canadian dukes.
