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.
Intricate puppets come to life in Ronnie Burkett’s The Daisy Theatre at Toronto’s Factory Theatre
I am going to review the show I saw, which was brilliant and delicious, but the show you see (when you wisely go and get tickets for this right away) will be different. The Daisy Theatre, which began as a commissioned work for the 2013 Luminato festival, is different every night at Factory Theatre. Ronnie Burkett and his cast of thirty-odd marionettes take the stage every evening in a cabaret-style show that changes according to whim and weather. Some numbers the audience gets to choose, some require the participation of audience members (many of them handsome young men, which I feel certain was a coincidence); politics, gossip, reviews and complaints all get mixed in. I left wanting to come back, to see it again, to see what changes, what other puppets and stories might take the stage.
Aladdin, playing at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre, has a Whizz-Bang Light Show–And A Few Gaping Holes
It’s clear, watching even just the first few minutes of Broadway-bound Aladdin at the Ed Mirvish Theatre that the Disney production team is hoping for another Lion King. The Toronto production is busy shoehorning in extra performances to meet ticket demand, and taking out advertisements all over New York to trumpet the arrival. Unfortunately, unless there are some significant changes made, I cannot with any confidence predict Broadway success.
To be sure, some things about the production are very good. Chief among them is James Monroe Iglehart who is ten kinds of fabulous, each with its own theme song. He plays Genie full-camp and full throttle. Iglehart is so relatable that we’re disappointed and delighted in turn when he is. Adam Jacobs as Aladdin has such a great, classic Broadway voice and does a pretty good job channeling a certain aw-shuckness that lets us like Aladdin. The costumes are great, and they seem endless – you might have thought that no scene on earth could require a single actor to wear four different colours of lamé harem pants, but you would be incorrect. They lend a sense of grandness to the proceedings that, frankly, it needs.
Discover up and coming opera talent at the Centre Stage Competition at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre
If you’re prepared to accept on principle that there’s some way, however small, in which General Director Alexander Neef is like Simon Cowell then the new – and frankly quite exciting – Centre Stage event at Canadian Opera Company on November 26 might be called a rarified version of American Idol. Nine young, talented, Canadian opera singers from across the country will battle it out live onstage for cash, glory, and – though it will be announced after appropriately more complex deliberations – possible invitations to join COC’s famed Ensemble Studio.
Annie is a spectacular family treat just in time for the holidays, playing at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre
On hand for the first performance of Annie at Young People’s Theatre, my small companion and I filed in between a kindergarten class and a band of gangly Grade 8s and I wondered – is this going to work? Will this production appeal to such a big range of kids? Well, yes.
This production of Annie, clocking in at 80 minutes plus a five-minute curtain speech, is the TYA or Theatre for Young Audiences version – it’s mostly songs: complex subplots are dispensed with. The worrisome abduction of Annie is deleted altogether and replaced by a version in which Mr. Warbucks’ contacts at the FBI discover Rooster and Lily’s ruse before they get anywhere with dear, orphaned Annie. It’s a solid production, just the sort of thing a whole family can safely enjoy together, and quite a nice stepping stone for younger theatre patrons — between kiddie shows and full-length musicals.
Toronto’s Campbell House transforms for an immersive theatre experience in A Room of One’s Own
Back at Campbell House for A Room of One’s Own and a taste of 1928 I went, curious to see how my experience of Girton College would differ from my experience of the same historic home as a hand-wavy, Regency-esque haunted house from two weeks ago. Campbell House stood in charmingly for both, and A Room of One’s Own also proved charming.
Upon my arrival, I found fires were crackling, hors d’oeuvres being passed, a (cash) bar for collecting a glass of wine and retiring to the sitting room to enjoy while a cellist played. The cello was a little much for the small room, but the effect was pleasant overall in its sense of leisure.
