You are so wrong toronto- Page 3

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 6:29pm

Agreed... Lets not delete this thread. I find a lot of this interesting. And, like all threads, it will eventually run its course.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:35pm

Saw Aladdin tonight. I didn't follow what people said in Toronto, nor in previews here, but whatever it was, it got fixed. It was a well-paced, crowd-pleasing good time. After "Friend Like Me," they had to hold for around 30 seconds just because the audience refused to stop clapping. James Monroe Inglehart steals the show, and word of mouth plus Disney should see this running for a while, and deservedly so. I'd recommend it to anyone.

If there's a lesson here... previews exist for a reason. Base your decisions on the finished product.

Updated On: 3/25/14 at 10:35 PM

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:35pm

As a Toronto person who loves the NYC theatre scene and loves going to Broadway to see lots of musicals in one weekend, I have been pleasantly surprised at just how many musicals I can see in Toronto nowadays too - it seems like a lot more than just 5 years ago, or maybe I am justhearing about them more. This past December i saw 7 different musicals in two weeks, more than I can ever remember seeing in such a short time except for during the festivals (fringe and its follow-up for second stagings). Plus a lot of the companies mentioned above for plays. Some months i end up seeing 5-6 shows a week here. And yet even with all that, it is still thrilling to go for a long weekend in New York from time to time and see 8 or 9 musicals - people who live in NYC are very lucky. (On the other hand, it is nice to live here where rent is cheaper so that the occasional NYC trip is more affordable than if i were paying NYC rent.) I think this is going around in circles now, so I'll stop. :)

[allofmylife]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 11:34pm

If we are going to talk about Toronto theatre, we have to talk about the Herculean lifting done by a tiny man, no more than 5 feet high, named Ed Mirvish, who basically established theatre in Toronto. Ed was a dear friend of mine and one of the greatest showmen North America has ever seen. He purchased the rundown Royal Alexandra Theatre when it was a strip joint in the early sixties and began a theatrical empire which now encompasses half-a-dozen theatres. He personally - out of his own pocket - paid millions of dollars to refurbish and run the Old Vic Theatre in London, garnering the eternal gratitude of the British Royal Family. At one time, his theatre in downtown Toronto was surrounded by his six massive restaurants, seating over three thousand customers every night. In other words, he literally created a working and very successful theatre district where none had existed before. And he did all this (as well as run one of the most successful theatre subscription series in the world) as a second career, while running a massive department store which covered an entire city block. I spent many an afternoon in Ed's office, behind the shoe department, talking about theatre and literally learning from a marketing genius. His insight has stayed with me all these years and I can truly credit him with helping me succeed out here in Los Angeles. I miss Toronto, very dearly (well... I don't miss the snow) and if I had a chance to go back in time and spend one perfect day in my youth, it would be capped off with diner at Ed's Warehouse and a ticket to a show at the Alex. When Ed went, a great deal of the charm and excitement of the theatre in Toronto was buried in the coffin with him.

Chris Darling

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 11:59pm

Chris, sorry for your loss. It sounds like it was wonderful to know Ed Mirvish. His legacy is still very much appreciated by the many thousands of audience members who enjoy more wonderful theatre even today because of the traditions that he started here, still carried on by his son. Their contribution to the city has been truly wonderful.

[PeterPan2]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 9:40am

Does anyone know is they changed the ending. In Toronto it seemed to drag on for way to long.

[homeimp]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 11:44am

I also live in Toronto and saw Aladdin here. I thought it was a very enjoyable show at the time. I believe that Toronto critics do not like to rave about a show, only to be told later by NYC theater writers that they were wrong. So the Toronto critics prefer to err on the side of caution and either give qualified reviews or even negative. Trust me, the show did not change that much. Apparently the one element that was most disliked - the overly corny jokes - has not changed at all.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 12:56pm

Well I hope those Toronto critics are ASHAMED now to be so completely schooled as to how wrong they were in this thread. For shame.

Didn't Honest Ed's use to feature the giant cuckoo clock from the London Into the Woods? Whee is it now?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 1:21pm

The quote from the Encyclopaedia Britannia is very misleading and out of date, the world has moved on since then, with the internet, replacing encyclopedias and with that moving on the demise of the Toronto theatre scene, in its heyday in the nineties, the theatre scene was in the ascendancy. Then sadly came along 9-11 which meant Americans need passports to enter Canada now and the Canadian Dollar is now stronger against the US Dollar, therefore Canadian theatre tickets are more expensive for Americans, it's not so easy for an American pop over to Toronto to see a show, where 60% of the attendance at one time were from American citizens, a lot of Americans used to pop over to see The Phantom of the Opera, as it was cheaper alternative than Broadway.

What shows are playing in Toronto tonight?

The theatre scene has taken such a nose dive that Ed Mirvish is selling the Princess of Wales Theatre, to build apartments.

I wish Toronto well, I was there in November to see Les Miserables and Aladdin and both shows were very good and such a nice city.


Updated On: 3/26/14 at 01:21 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 1:22pm

Ed Mirvish died some time back...

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 1:38pm

That's probably why it's taking him so long to complete the sale.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 2:14pm

the point still stands though, now it is in his sons hand.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 11:22pm

I have not been to Toronto (yet), but I'm pretty darned impressed with some of the casts in Toronto productions. I don't know if Colm Wilkinson has appeared on Broadway at all, but he certainly was well known for POTO, in Toronto. (I'm having a brain freeze -- did he play JVJ in Toronto, as well, or only in London?) I saw Samantha Hill in her second or third performance as Christine on Broadway. Within days, she had become the primary Christine and within months, was wowing audiences in Toronto, I think as Fantine. Ramin Karimloo grew up near Toronto, and, although he became well-known in London, he, too, has risen to the stratosphere while appearing on the Toronto stage. (Amazing how incestuous those two shows are. ) In addition to theater, Toronto is making and breaking reputations with its film festival. It's definitely an artistic place.

A year ago, I would have said that, from what I know about the city, it's got only one serious problem: the weather. Now, I'll add Rob Ford to the list. At least, we Americans aren't the only ones with schmucky politicians.