Next Stage Review

Reviews of shows in the Toronto Next Stage Festival

Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain (The KSLYPH Collective) 2020 Next Stage Festival Review

Photo of Bilal Baig by Tanja Tiziana for the show Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain

Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain, having garnered great interest in a shorter form during Soulpepper’s collection Welcome To My Underworld last spring, is a wild journey into a difficult and gripping story that emerges, slowly, under pressure. While still shaking out a few last hiccups, the show has an undeniable theatrical power.

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Morro and Jasp: Save the Date (U.N.I.T. Productions) 2020 Next Stage Review

Photo of Heather Marie Annis and Amy Lee in Morro and Jasp: Save the DateMorro and Jasp: Save the Date is being presented by U.N.I.T Productions as part of the 2020 Next Stage  Theatre Festival.  The show was originally performed as part of the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival.  It’s the latest installment in the on-going adventures of two clown sisters. I had never seen any of their previous shows, and I was glad to finally be able to catch one. I found it gentle and charming – a perfect antidote to all the bad news out there.

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Every Silver Lining (Silver Lining Productions) 2020 Next Stage Review

Photo of Allison Wither and Laura Piccinin in the promo photo for Every Silver Lining

Returning to the Next Stage Festival after a hugely successful run at the 2019 Toronto Fringe is Every Silver Lining, a refreshing new musical that is both light and youthful and a downright tearjerker. The story and music hit at just the right level; these characters sound like teenagers living through teenage lives, and as we’ve all lived through these years, you are bound to laugh, cry, and relate.

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