Toronto Theatre Reviews

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.

Review: Gavin Crawford: Shitting Rainbows (2014 Toronto SketchFest)

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Gavin Crawford brings his signature top-notch impressions to the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

The Gavin Crawford show at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival started twenty minutes late, but the venue sold beer and cookies, so it was a pleasant wait. When he did appear onstage it was in the persona of Kathleen Wynne, which I loved because I am a political junkie and because he really did look a lot like her. Granted, Crawford is quite the chameleon who almost eerily becomes the person he is spoofing, but Wynne seems a particularly perfect character for him. It’s also particularly apt for Ontario’s first lesbian premier to feature in a show as gay as this.

How gay is it? Well, the title is Shitting Rainbows. Continue reading Review: Gavin Crawford: Shitting Rainbows (2014 Toronto SketchFest) →

Review: 2 Humans, The Rulers of the Universe, and The Templeton Philharmonic (2014 Toronto SketchFest)

Toronto Sketchfest kicks off to high laughs with the Templeton Philharmonic

The night began with nuns, and yes, the nuns were horny. “I think I’ve heard this one before,” I thought to myself as I settled in with my friend at the back of Comedy Bar for comedy troupes 2 Humans, Rulers of the Universe, and The Templeton Philharmonic. I was wrong.

Continue reading Review: 2 Humans, The Rulers of the Universe, and The Templeton Philharmonic (2014 Toronto SketchFest) →

Review: The Wanderers (Cahoots Theatre Company)

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Photo of Kawa Ada and Dalal Badr in The Wanderers photo by Dahlia Katz

Rich performances breathe depth into The Wanderers at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

The Wanderers, presented by Cahoots Theatre Company, is one of those pieces that is so filled with richness that it’s hard to write about because there’s just so dammed much to say.

Kawa Ada has produced a script layered with light and darkness that travels between Afghanistan and Canada, real and imagined, lore and legitimacy. And director Nina Lee Aquino has worked beautifully to bring both extremes to life.

Continue reading Review: The Wanderers (Cahoots Theatre Company) →

Review (Kid + 1): Where The Wild Things Are (Young People’s Theatre)

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Impressive audience interaction adds flare to Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre’s Where the Wild Things Are

“Is it going to be scary?” asked Stanley, my four-year-old review partner, for the eleventeenth time. “Will there be real monsters? There won’t, right? It’ll be people in monster suits, right? (long pause) Will the suits be scary looking?”

There are several quite brilliant things about the production of Where The Wild Things Are at Young People’s Theatre, but among them, the most reassuring to me as a parent was this: there are no monsters. No external monsters, anyhow; in the story, all the Wild Things are played by the audience. By the time Linda A. Carson (in a dual role as Max’s mom and Our Narrator) is instructing the children to scare their own toes, everyone’s located and made some peace with their inner Wild Things – which is, of course, the whole point of Sendak’s original book. With a relatively simple, whimsical staging and a lot of audience interaction and participation, Where The Wild Things Are is honestly the best littlest-kids show I have ever seen.

Continue reading Review (Kid + 1): Where The Wild Things Are (Young People’s Theatre) →

Review: Swan Lake (The National Ballet of Canada)

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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.

Luckily for those of us in Toronto, the National Ballet of Canada is presenting its magnificent production of Swan Lake for an eight-performance run at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, just in time for March break. Continue reading Review: Swan Lake (The National Ballet of Canada) →