Blood Wild is produced by Rabbit in a Hat Productions from Montreal, which kind of sucks for their opening night at the Next Stage Theatre Festival. If you’re a Toronto company your family and friends come to your opening so you have a nice sized audience. The audience tonight was sparse which was a shame because it’s a very funny show. I wasn’t the only person snickering at the death scene.
Continue reading 2016 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Blood Wild (Rabbit in a Hat Productions)
Rebecca Perry’s From Judy to Bette: The Stars of Old Hollywood is a loving tribute to Bette Davis, Betty Hutton, Judy Garland, and Lucille Ball, four strong female stars. It’s part of this year’s Next Stage Theatre Festival.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the 30 minute piece – not a bad thing. I get to wonder in advance how Perry will approach it and then get to spend 30 enjoyable minutes watching a combination of storytelling and singing. Continue reading 2016 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: From Judy to Bette (Rebecca Perry Productions)
Timeshare’s Mockingbird was a wonderful way to start my exploration of the Next Stage Theatre Festival. There are 11 people in the cast – 11 people! And they’re all terrific. They all have significant parts; this isn’t a play with a couple of major characters and a bunch of bit players.
Continue reading 2016 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Mockingbird (Timeshare)
Tricks brings Victorian-style parlour magic to the Young Centre stage in TorontoThe very best way to see a magic show is with a kid. My grandson Max (almost seven) and I saw David Ben’s Tricks — part of Soulpepper’s Family Festival — on Saturday afternoon at the Young Centre. We had a terrific time.
Max kept saying “Wow!” and “How did he do that?” and leaning forward to try and see how the trick worked. Continue reading Review: Tricks (Magicana and Soulpepper)
Last Wednesday I saw the most ill-conceived production of Sherlock Holmes imaginable at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. It reminded me of a not very good community theatre production that scored high on the technical and design sides but low on the overall production side.
My friend Elaine and I were left with a lot of questions. Continue reading Review: Sherlock Holmes (Starvox Entertainment and June Entertainment)