Shakespeare meets Bollywood in Tarragon Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing in Toronto

To be fair, Much Ado About Nothing is one of my favorites of Shakespeare, and so when it comes around again — as it has at Tarragon — I pounce upon an opportunity to enjoy a new staging. It’s flexible and broadly comic and tends to show the best of an actor, in my experience. Described as “Beatrice and Benedict take on Brampton in this Bollywood-inspired adaptation of Shakespeare’s most clever comedy” and full of the promise of amusing fusion, This version of Much Ado About Nothing delivered on most of its promises in spades.

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A silly, sparkling, Canadian operetta Earnest, the Importance of Being  returns to the Toronto stage

Earnest, the Importance of Being has at least one interesting historical distinction. Originally staged by the Toronto Operetta Theatre in 2008, it marks the first Canadian operetta to be produced in over 100 years. Based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the TOT is returning to Wilde’s rollicking comedy with a winning revival of their previous hit at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.

Jack (Cameron McPhail) is ‘Jack’ in the country, but ‘Ernest’ in town. The deception is part of an elaborate ruse he’s concocted in order to carry out his bachelor lifestyle without hassle. Unfortunately, Jack’s fiancée Gwendolyn (Michelle Garlough) has always dreamed of marrying a man named Ernest, and considers any other name to be unacceptable in a husband.

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A “witty, whimsical” look at madness, The Madwoman of Chaillot takes the stage in Toronto

In order to change the world, all we need is a can-do attitude and the right mad woman. At least, that’s what Amicus Productions‘ adaptation of The Madwoman of Chaillot, playing at the Papermill Theatre, suggests.

When madwoman Aurelia (Janice Hansen) learns that her city of Chaillot is being taken over by corrupt, greedy, oil-seeking prospectors and business men, she enlists the town to help her take care of the problem.

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Family drama Therefore Choose Life, currently on stage in Toronto, has “all the makings of a hit”

If you can find your way through the maze that is the Toronto Centre for the Arts these days and locate the newly opened Greenwin Theatre, you’ll find yourself witness to a very special show. Brush past the half dozen people who will remind you that the show runs 90 minutes with no Intermission. Find your seat. Then take a few deep breaths. The world premiere of Therefore Choose Life, presented by Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, is not a light show. It is deep and important and lovely, and it will make you feel a whole lot of things. Continue reading Review: Therefore Choose Life (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company) →

Dance ode to playing dress-up, This is a Costume Drama plays on stage in Toronto

This Is a Costume Drama is not a costume drama. There are lots of costumes in this gruellingly fun piece of dance theatre, making its world premiere at the Harbourfront Centre, but no drama. In order for there to be drama, there has to be something to care about. Something has to matter.

Of course, no costume drama is going to call itself a costume drama. So what is this show, if not that? It’s a display. Choreographer DA Hoskins and his collaborators in The Dietrich Group offer audiences little else but a vision of their own droll posturing. They’re good at making a spectacle of themselves, and no doubt some people will enjoy watching them do that.

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