Ilana Lucas - Page 10

BroadwayWorld Toronto spoke to ALL IS LOVE star Brueggergosman-Lee about her love for the show and the company, the importance of taking risks, and how her upcoming Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award is really an encouragement to keep creating.

As the name suggests, UNCLEARING can be somewhat opaque in its messaging to the audience, but it doesn’t stop it from being a stimulating evening.

Produced by Côté Danse, Ex Machina and Dvoretsky Productions, THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET is on at the Elgin theatre for five short days, and it’s a respectable addition to Ham Mountain, a visually inventive production that never lets its stage magic overshadow the dancers behind and in front of the curtain.

When actress Jordan Baker opens her mouth, the voice we hear isn’t hers; it’s the voice of Dana H. playwright Lucas Hnath’s mother, Dana Higginbotham, recorded in a series of interviews and cut together to form a lip sync track. Dana herself speaks her truth as she remembers it, which in this case is definitely stranger than fiction.

Petch’s show blends stories of their experiences from behind the hot dog cart to behind the hospital desk with a discussion of the principles of de-escalation, along with highlighting incidents of when they feel they failed to properly follow these tenets. In turn, the show itself invites us to listen and witness.

Good Old Neon’s DEAD ELEPHANTS, now being performed in the Daniels Spectrum’s Aki Studio, packs more pachyderms into its devised script than you might think possible in such a small space, though none of the fine beasts are ever seen on stage.

BroadwayWorld spoke to Makambe K. Simamba of Soulpepper's THREE SISTERS, who plays Udo, the youngest of the three sisters, about the play's historical context and how playwright Inua Ellams finds new meaning in Chekhov's classic.

In AS I MUST LIVE IT, Reece’s poetic, autobiographical solo show at Theatre Passe Muraille, it’s clear that he’s found a voice that thoughtfully and lyrically grapples with the intricacies of life and identity. Reece’s narrative, beautiful from both a verbal and visual standpoint, is the type of immersive show that immerses you not just in design, but in a person’s soul.

The story of the ascendance of young Aladdin from “street rat” to sultan in Agrabah, this morality tale about the importance of pure-heartedness, self-determination and using your power to help others is a straightforward, fun show that expands slightly on the original film’s memorable musical numbers.

Flacks, a well-known writer who has provided material for anything from Workin’ Moms to Kids in the Hall, airs her dirty, guilty laundry with all five stages of grief and a side of sharp, rueful humour.

Shelby Handley, Armand Antony, and Alexandra Brynn read the miniscule cues you emit with the tiny movements of your eyes, the twitching of your facial muscles, and even the rhythm of your breathing, in order to figure out exactly what you’re thinking.

With important messages for policymakers and babymakers alike, the urgent performance is part political statement, part a cappella concert, and all cri de coeur about the frustrations of being a parent when nothing is affordable and nobody cares.

Green’s play is a terrific achievement; its urgent structure, indelible characters, and alternately witty and wrenching dialogue make it a highlight of this or any theatre season. But what really stands out is its great, gentle humanity in how it treats all its characters, fragile people just trying to reach out and grab hold of each other.

The tight, 70-minute DION is a visually compelling show which puts you right in the middle of the dangerous merriment, with terrific performances and some banger musical numbers. It only stumbles when, like one of its characters, it loses its head, trading its promising fluidity and timelessness to shackle itself to a single moment.

BroadwayWorld spoke to Jonathan Corkal-Astorga about Soulpepper's production of DE PROFUNDIS, a new musical based on the letter Oscar Wilde wrote to his former lover while imprisoned in Reading Gaol.

The musical is based on a section of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, but it’s anything but staid and traditional. In the midst of war, death, and constrained social circumstances, in fact, it’s enormously successful in feeling like a celebration of life.

Putting the audience onto the same boat as its characters and letting us feel the intense, heated gaze of its captain exemplifies what MIGRAAAANTS does best, which is to take us on a journey.

Steven Hao, playing Pirithous and The Wooer in THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, spoke to BroadwayWorld about the unusual aspects of Shakespeare’s last play, why Theseus is Iron Man, and the joys of putting on one of the few works in the Shakespearean canon that's a 'hidden gem' without 500 years of baggage.

It’s been a strong year for Toronto theatre. I saw 145 shows this year in Toronto and beyond, and am happy to report that theatre is alive and well. I’ve laughed, sobbed, coughed (discreetly into a mask), and cheered my way through our stages in 2023. Here are some local highlights.

In WITHROW PARK, Morris Panych’s new play at Tarragon Theatre, we see a view into a neighbourhood a little less than 7 kilometres away from where we sit. Panych’s script is quippy and fun with a philosophical bent about aging, mortality, and the ability to start again at any point, but just like its characters, finds it hard to achieve balance between those two states.