Disney-themed show playing in Toronto is “a welcome spoonful of sugar”
Theatre in Toronto is a largely downtown enterprise, but I was happy to make the trek uptown to a venue I’d grown up five minutes away from and always wondered about, the Zion Cultural Centre, to see the Civic Light-Opera Company perform “A Disney Spectacular!”
The show, performed in a small, historic former church, chronicles Walt Disney’s involvement with the company’s productions, from the very beginnings of Steamboat Willie to Mary Poppins, the last film he oversaw before his death. Continue reading Review: A Disney Spectacular! (The Civic Light-Opera Co.)→
Soulpepper’s A Christmas Carol is “pressing, relevant and critical”
You’ve heard of Soulpepper’s A Christmas Carol, yes? Back for its seventh season, Michael Shamata’s adaptation is increasingly part of this city’s holiday furniture: Nutcracker at the National Ballet; a surfeit of Messiahs great and small; a star-billed rock musical in one of the commercial theatres — and over in the Distillery District, they bring out their Dickens.
Nobody seems to have an unkind thing to say about A Christmas Carol: critics and audiences alike are singular in their endorsement, and have been for nearly fifteen years. But isn’t fifteen years an achingly long time? Surely, by now, it’s begun to creak, just a little?
Mirvish brings a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera to Toronto
If you’re a Toronto theatre-goer of a certain vintage, The Phantom of the Opera will hold a certain significance for you. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s bombastic ‘80s mega-musical melodrama was a bonafide pop culture phenomenon. The original Canadian production opened in 1989 at the Pantages (now Ed Mirvish) Theatre and ran for over a decade.
For the musical’s 25th anniversary, the show was dusted off and a new tour was mounted with a brand new staging by director Laurence Connor. It’s this new touring production that Mirvish is currently presenting in Toronto at the Princess of Wales Theatre so the show’s “phans” can expect to see something new as they re-visit an old favourite. Continue reading Review: The Phantom of the Opera (Mirvish)→
Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale is a fun new holiday musical in Toronto through the New Year
This time of year always tends to result in slim pickings for good theatre — there are only so many versions of Christmas Carols, Nutcrackers, and Messiahs I can take. However, when I saw the ads pop up everywhere for Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale, playing at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of a rock ‘n roll Christmas musical written by and starring the likes of Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. As a fan of classic rock and metal, how could I not be? With a mixed amount of trepidation and anticipation, I attended.
I’m happy to report that I didn’t regret this decision at all.
Disney-themed show playing in Toronto is “a welcome spoonful of sugar”
Tricks brings Victorian-style parlour magic to the Young Centre stage in Toronto
Soulpepper’s A Christmas Carol is “pressing, relevant and critical”
Mirvish brings a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera to Toronto