Fall is in bloom, and so is Toronto’s theatre scene, from long-run major productions, to shirt-run indie shows. If you aren’t sure what to pick, our Assistant Editor Jess is here to help! Her most anticipated shows are highlighted (in red). Check them out below the cut:
Continue reading Playlistings in Toronto for the week of October 30th
Nightwood Theatre’s nuanced play takes to the Toronto stageLo (Dear Mr Wells), a Nightwood Theatre production in association with Crow’s Nest, tells the story of a sexual relationship between a high school student and a teacher. Going into it, I expected the teacher to be a “bad guy”, obviously predatory, allowing the audience to comfortably condemn him. Instead, Mr Wells is a developed character, a likeable human person. I believed that he really did love Lo. Continue reading Review: Lo (Dear Mr Wells) (Nightwood Theatre)
Kiinalik “deserves to run forever”, now on the Toronto stageAfter seeing Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, watching the interplay of languages — English and Inuktitut and the low embellishment of the cello, theatre and dance and music, folk song and throat singing, tools and weapons — I am sure that my attempts to describe this extraordinary, affecting performance in a single-dimensional medium can only fall short. If you want to experience it for yourself — and oh my stars, I believe you do — click over and get tickets this minute (the run is deservedly almost sold out already).
Continue reading Review: Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools (Buddies In Bad Times)
Opera Atelier takes on The Marriage of Figaro on the Toronto stageLe nozze di Figaro is one of the most known works in the operatic canon. Opera Atelier’s 2017 remount of their Dora award-winning production made me realize that while everyone knows of Figaro, I will never truly “know” Figaro. Continue reading Review: The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Atelier)
Like many people, I value opera as much for the spectacle as the artistry. Canadian Opera Company, obviously recognizing this fanciful desire in many of its devotees, has for the last few years thrown a gala competition in the fall to help choose the new members of its Ensemble Studio, aka Canada’s most glamorous internship. The Centre Stage Gala gives audience members a little bit of opera’s inside baseball, letting patrons choose early favorites and savor the pleasure of following them as they launch their careers.
Continue reading Preview: Centre Stage Gala (Canadian Opera Company)