Rumspringa Break! is a lot like if Little Shop of Horrors, Book of Mormon and Sound of Music had some sort of polyamorous lovechild. Take two Amish girls determined to see the world before committing to their faith once and for all, add in the gritty city and an illegal weed growing operation, and the result is Rumspringa Break!, a new musical currently playing as part of the Next Stage Theatre Festival. Continue reading 2018 Next Stage Theatre Review: Rumspringa Break! (Marigon Productions)
By this point, I’ve practically made a career of seeing and reviewing Sex T-Rex’s fantasy parody epic Swordplay, which is currently playing at the Factory Theatre as part of the Next Stage Theatre Festival. It’s the sort of play I saw initially at Fringe 2015, then took a friend to see, then bought tickets for my mother to see (conveniently with me), etc. Turns out, I’m still finding excuses to see this wild, chaotic, hilarious rush of a play again and again.
Continue reading 2018 Next Stage Theatre Review: Swordplay (Sex T-Rex)
Soulpepper’s annual Christmas Carol returns to the Toronto stageIt’s that time of year again. The holidays are upon us, and a regular army of Dickensian ghosts have begun to haunt the city–specifically, those of Christmases Past, Present and Future, found in a myriad of Christmas Carol adaptations across Toronto. When it comes to Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story and moral fable, Soulpepper‘s annual adaptation is a dependable tradition down in the Distillery District. And for good reason. Continue reading Review: A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper)
Fabulously staged Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time comes to the Toronto stageWhen you enter the Princess of Wales theatre for Mirvish’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, you’re essentially walking into a giant cube made up of grids and pinpoints of light. Everything is mathematically precise, with the entire world of the stage sectioned off into regimented squares and shapes. This is the world of Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old math genius who has what the book the play is based on describes as “behavioural difficulties.” Continue reading Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mirvish)
Canadian Opera Company brings shades of grey to Arabella on the Toronto stageThe final collaboration of Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Arabella is either a deceptively grim meditation on love in society, a typical comedy of manners, a proto-feminist parable of the volatile position of women in the marriage market, or a light and frothy romance. Sometimes it can be all of these things at once. I’m not entirely sure which The Canadian Opera Company‘s adaptation of Strauss’ Arabella wants to be — but that very ambiguity is what makes it interesting. Continue reading Review: Arabella (Canadian Opera Company)