Reviews of productions based in Toronto – theatre includes traditional definitions of theatre, as well as dance, opera, comedy, performance art, spoken word performances, and more. Productions may be in-person, or remote productions streamed online on the Internet.
Parade, presented by Acting Up Stage Company and Studio 180 Theatre, is a musical about rape and murder based on a true story. It is not Sweeney Todd or Little Shop of Horrors. When I read about Parade I thought rape was a strange subject for a musical. Obviously some crimes are more unspeakable than others.
A lot has been swirling about in my head since I went to see Birdland Theatre and Talk is Free theatre’s production of Assassins. It’s a remount of their wildly successful, award-winning, production of the show in 2010. This time though, the timing has been a bit inauspicious. The show, which revolves around political assassination and assassination attempts, opened the same day as the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona.
The show, despite the unfortunate timing, is fantastic. I’m not a Sondheim buff, so I didn’t know anything about the show before going in, I always like going into a show that way. So, I’m not going to tell you about it that much, just about what I liked. Continue reading Review: Assassins (Birdland Theatre and Talk is Free Theatre)→
Toronto’s Nextstage Theatre Festival is more than just another theatre festival. Likewise, Tom’s a-cold is more than just another play about Canada, or even Toronto. The Factory Theatre hosts this gem, and of course The Factory is more than just another theatre.
Watching At The Sans Hotel tonight – written and performed by Nicola Gunn – reminded me of the times that I’ve decided to buy a book based on the cover blurb, started to read the book, and felt as if the person who wrote the blurb hadn’t read the book. Doesn’t mean I didn’t like the book, just felt a disconnect.
Here’s the blurb from the Next Stage Theatre Festival site – ” A psychological detective story, told with delicacy and subversive humour, about a woman in a bathtub in a hotel in a desert who plunges into the case of a mysterious, disappearing German Woman. It’s about the terror of loneliness, confusion and indecision. And a French woman called Sophie who works in a community centre.”
The play tells the story of an interracial couple living in Toronto, whose idealistic views on love and life have been challenged as the aging couple begin to cope with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Paralleling their own 40 year relationship, is the tale of Maria, a white Hispanic ballerina living in Cuba, with dreams of her own to pursue.
