Wayne Leung (1981-2019)
Wayne was the Managing Editor of Mooney on Theatre from 2012 - 2019 and will be sorely missed. His death from an apparent heart attack was a loss not just to Mooney on Theatre, but also to the Toronto Theatre Community at large. You can read our publisher Megan Mooney's tribute to him here here.
Wayne was a writer, editor and corporate communications professional who was thrilled to be a part of the Mooney on Theatre team. Wayne loved theatre ever since his aunt brought him to a production of Les Misérables at the tender age of ten . . . despite the fact that, at that age, the show’s plot was practically indiscernible and the battle scenes scared the bejeezus out of him. Wayne’s current list of likes ran the gamut from opera, ballet and Shakespeare to Broadway musicals, circus and Fringe theatre. Outside of the theatre Wayne’s interests included travel, technology and food.
The National Ballet of Canada brings its production of Swan Lake back to Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre
Swan Lake is an enduring classic and one of the most famous ballets of all time. Tchaikovsky’s score is iconic and the ballet itself is pervasive in popular culture; its popularity is currently buoyed by the recent Oscar-nominated film Black Swan. It really does feel like one of those pivotal works of art that one ought to see in their lifetime.
Canadian Stage presents the Toronto premiere of Nina Raine’s award-winning play Tribes.
We rely on tribes to build our sense of identity. Liberal or conservative, iPhone or Android, Leafs Nation, Ford Nation, LGBT, metalhead, vegan; these are groups that people use to identify others who share common values. British playwright Nina Raine’s play Tribes is a timely examination of our bent toward tribalism. In our digital/web culture we increasingly segregate into individual tribes; online communities become echo chambers where we seek affirmation for our world views. But does this reliance on tribalism inhibit our ability to actually connect with people?
Mirvish presents a new production of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis in Toronto
“One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.” So begins Franz Kafka’s absurdist novella The Metamorphosis which has been cleverly adapted into a surprisingly moving production by British theatre Lyric Hammersmith and Icelandic theatre company Vesturport. Metamorphosis is making its Canadian premiere in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Continue reading Review: Metamorphosis (Mirvish)→
Canadian Stage presents Alecky Blythe’s quirky verbatim musical experiment London Road in Toronto.
In 2006, the bodies of five prostitutes were discovered in Ipswich, England. A man named Steve Wright, of 79 London Road, was convicted of the murders and the glare of the media spotlight was cast on this nondescript street in the quiet, rural town. In the aftermath of the trial playwright Alecky Blythe conducted extensive interviews with the residents of London Road. The recordings of those interviews are the basis for London Road.
