Here is what’s going on in Toronto theatre this week. There are several great shows to catch for the week of April 7th, 2014. ** Shows marked with the double asterisks and in red are the ones that make Wayne, our Managing Editor, wishes he could exist in multiple parallel universes so he could check them all out.
Continue reading Play Listings for the Week of April 7, 2014
Studio 180 Theatre is known for producing thought-provoking works with social and political significance. Following their recent productions Clybourne Park which touches on race and neighbourhood gentrification, and The Normal Heart which traces the early politics of the AIDS crisis, the company is presenting the Canadian premiere of Cock, a new play by prolific British playwright Mike Bartlett that takes on bisexuality. Continue reading Review: Cock (Studio 180 Theatre)
If you’ve noticed a haze of sexy steam rising up from the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts these past couple of nights, it’s probably thanks to the touring production of 50 Shades! The Musical that’s rolled into town.
A musical parody of the smutty bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey, the show follows a threesome of housewives in a book club who choose the E.L. James novel as their next read. Through a bevy of clever musical numbers and raunchy choreography, the story of the innocent and naive Ana, and her unorthodox sexual awakening at the hands of the elusive Christian Grey, unfolds on stage with much hilarity and a few unexpected turns.
I went to the Red Sandcastle Theatre to see Eric Woolfe and Michael O’Brien’s workshop production of The House at Poe Corner. When I came out again, I was at loss for words. What exactly had I just seen? And what the heck was I going to say about it?
A deep breath.
This is a fusion of Winnie the Pooh and Edgar Allan Poe. A.A. Milne‘s iconic woodland creatures have been re-imagined as gothic and gloomy figures. Pooh Bear is “Poe Bear”, Piglet is “Cutlet” and so on. They are stuffed toys refashioned into sinister forms. Continue reading Review: The House at Poe Corner (Eldrtich Theatre)
A washed-up quack of a self-help therapist startles awake in his apartment-office to the sound of the doorbell and the arrival of a possible client, his second one ever. Which is perfect because the bills are piling up. There’s just one interesting problem, this guy demands to sing like an opera tenor in six easy sessions. Is he insane or a virtuoso waiting to be discovered? Either way — he’s paying in cash up front.
And thus Soulpepper‘s The Gigli Concert begins in what will be a heavy hitting two-and-a-half hour piece of structurally dynamic and eye-opening theatre. It’s a piece of theatre that has just the right amount of well-placed laughs without turning it into a full on comedy, the right amount of tender moments to be touching and heartfelt without being overdrawn, and most importantly the right amount of well-written and intriguing dialogue and commentary between characters to keep you enthralled.