S. Bear Bergman has great faith in the power of theatre to make change, and has been putting his money where his mouth is on that one for some time. A writer, performer, and lecturer, Bear works full time as an artist and cultural worker and loves to see as much live performance as possible – making this a fantastic gig for him.
Metis Mutt tackles some hard truths with lightheartedness, on stage in Toronto
As a reviewer, I’ve started to recognize certain markers and symbolic items upon arriving at a solo show: what’s on the stage while we wait tends to give solid clues about what’s in store. Métis Mutt, Sheldon Elter’s mobile and moving solo work (running at Aki Studio until February 5th) surprised me—and it kept surprising me.
Eric Gutman presented a personal show on the ins and outs of all things Broadway in Toronto
Eric Gutman, the creator and star of From Broadway to Obscurity, has a tremendous gift for impressions, especially musical impressions. There’s a while in the middle of his performance where he talks about his time working on Forbidden Broadway. Gutman sings a lively, story-studded medley of Gerald Allesandrini’s best-known and most pointed songs, and this 20 minutes of the performance is totally delightful. The rest of it, to be honest, I could have taken or left (and would have mostly preferred to leave).
At the beginning of a Songbuster – An Improvised Musical, one of the performers solicits a suggestion from an audience member for an exciting place where one meets people. The genius in the front row for the opening of Next Stage Theatre Festival offered: “ComicCon,” and we were off to the races. The absolutely hilarious and completely improvised races, through which we galloped for a very funny hour.
Who Killed Spalding Gray? takes a look back at the popular actor and writer, on Toronto stages
With Daniel MacIvor, one always leaves wondering: “how much of that is fact and how much is fiction?” Who Killed Spalding Gray?, at Canadian Stage until 11 December, is much the same — there are all manner of threads about loss and grief and imagination that get knotted up and smoothed out in this production.
When the show was over, it felt like I’d been served some very lovely window dressing that almost, but not entirely, concealed how very much this show is about neither the facts or the fictions, but the Truth.
Second Nature delights young and old audiences alike, now on stage in Toronto
For quite some time, my six-year-old has been very curious about opera. He’s attended every other kind of performance I can think of offhand, but opera has remained a great unknown — until the wonderful folks at Canadian Opera Company presented a single day of their touring children’s opera, Second Nature.
He LOVED it, and is now campaigning to see The Magic Flute when it plays in the wintertime (even after being told it’s three hours long).
Metis Mutt tackles some hard truths with lightheartedness, on stage in Toronto
Eric Gutman presented a personal show on the ins and outs of all things Broadway in Toronto
At the beginning of a 
Who Killed Spalding Gray? takes a look back at the popular actor and writer, on Toronto stages
Second Nature delights young and old audiences alike, now on stage in Toronto