OTTAWA THEATER REVIEWS

I was invited to attend Ottawa Musicals' opening night performance of Robin Hood at the Gladstone Theatre. Each holiday season, Ottawa Musicals puts on a pantomime performance specifically geared to families. This production of Robin Hood is full of song and dance numbers, as well as plenty of jokes...

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley reunites Jane Austen fans with many of the characters from the author's most celebrated work, Pride and Prejudice. Mary (Ciana Van Dusen) and Jane (Chelsey Prince) join Elizabeth (Katie Torresan) and Mr. Darcy (Kurt Shantz) over the Christmas holiday at the Pember...

As the antidote to our impending winter blues, Drew Hayden Taylor's Cottagers and Indians transports us to the serenity of Ontario's cottage country in summertime. We meet the story's two characters, Arthur Copper (Herbie Barnes), an Indigenous man of humble means, whose family has lived in the area...

Matilda The Musical is based on the book written by Roald Dahl of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame. It tells the story of Matilda Wormwood (Shelby Shannon-Caines, in a role that is alternated nightly with Sophia Pierce), a young girl with extraordinary intelligence and imagination. Her talents...

The Ottawa Little Theatre's production of Patrick Hamilton's psychological thriller, Gaslight, takes the audience back to nineteenth century England and into the home of Bella (Heather Archibald) and her husband, Jack Manningham (J.T. Morris). Bella seems to be slowly going out of her mind, just lik...

Canadian playwright Kat Sandler's Bang Bang is part of the Great Canadian Theatre Company's 2019-2020 season. It is a show that addresses controversial topics, including gun violence, police brutality, mental health, and the court of public opinion....

Broadway Across Canada has finally brought the much anticipated 20th Anniversary Tour of Jonathan Larson's acclaimed rock opera, Rent, to Ottawa. Rent is loosely based on the classic Puccini opera, La Bohème but, instead of 1890s Paris, Larson's scene is set in the gritty back alleys of New York's ...

I was invited to attend Orpheus Musical Theatre's opening night performance of Falsettos at the Gladstone Theatre. Falsettos was originally performed on Broadway in 1992, where it was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won two. It was then revived to high acclaim in 2016, where it was nominated fo...

Come From Away, the most anticipated show of Broadway Across Canada's 2018-2019 season, is based on the real life events that occurred when the United States closed its airspace in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Planes were instructed to land in Gander, Newfoundland, a tiny town with an airpo...

Priscilla: Queen of the Desert the Musical was adapted from the 1994 Academy-award winning Australian film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The 2006 musical version also originated Down Under and was slightly changed for American audiences when it first hit the Great White Way in 2...

Broadway Across Canada's performance of the Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved classic, The King and I, is everything you expect it to be: luxurious, with sparkling costumes and convincing set design, as well as talented vocals and choreography. The story is set in the mid-1800s, with the arrival ...

I was invited to the opening night performance of Orpheus Theatre's new production of Sister Act at the Meridian Theatre @ Centrepointe. Sister Act is based on the 1992 movie of the same name, starring Whoopi Goldberg as the singing nun. Another story about a singing nun, you ask? Well this isn't yo...

The National Ballet, under the guidance of its artistic director, the legendary Karen Kain, brought Ottawa a treat this week. Three short ballets, each with a vastly different feel, graced the stage of Southam Hall....

I was invited to the opening night performance of Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, the hit Broadway show celebrating the life and music of Carole King. The show is infused with many number one hits of the era, written by King (Elise Vannerson) and her husband, Gerry Goffin (Ben Biggers), incl...

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a performance of the Great Canadian Theatre Company's (GCTC) production of Bed and Breakfast. I was unsure what to expect, as I knew it was a two-man play and I am often wary of these types of shows because so much rides on the actors' ability, with very littl...

Orpheus Musical Theatre's production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang coincides with the 50th anniversary of the classic movie of the same name, starring Dick van Dyke. The movie itself was based upon a children's book authored by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. Orpheus' starring role was given to the ca...

As we wait for the show to begin, a large metal cube, open on three sides, hangs suspended over the stage, gently turning. As the lights dim, the cube is moved to a corner of the stage closest to the audience. Two figures appear on stage and move as if they are running towards the cube, first slowly...

Prior to the performance, André Lewis, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet's (RWB) Artistic Director and CEO, gave a talk to members of the audience, where he stated that artists are able to express themselves through new interpretations and the deconstruction of classic pieces of music. The RWB's Vespers is...

For its first Pops Series performance of the 2018 / 2019 season, the NAC Orchestra is paying tribute to the famous composer / lyricist team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II by performing some of their most beloved songs in the newly renovated orchestra shell of the National Arts Centre. ...

Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit Broadway show, School of Rock the Musical, is based on the 2003 movie starring Jack Black. It tells the story of Dewey (Rob Colletti), a down and out rock n' roll guitarist, who has just been kicked out of his band. Under false pretences, Dewey gets a gig teaching at Horace...

As its name implies, The Last Five Years takes place over a five-year period. The cast is comprised of only two individuals, Cathy (Michelle Gendron) and Jamie (Louie Rossetti). Cathy and Jaime are a couple and the story takes us through their five-year relationship, from its inception to its bitter...

A.R. Gurney's Sylvia is a story about one man's relationship with his dog. The opening scene unfolds with Greg (Paul Williamson) at home with the newly adopted Sylvia, an excitable, fluffy pooch played by Emily Walsh. Greg has brought Sylvia, an apparent stray, home from the park unbeknownst to his ...

I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the premiere of The Great Canadian Theatre Company's production of Kate Hennig's The Virgin Trial, directed by Eric Coates. Although this production is the sequel to Hennig's The Last Wife, the play stands on its own so no prior knowledge is needed. The ...

The Unexpected Guest is based on a play written by Dame Agatha Christie, first staged in London in 1958. The show begins on a foggy night, when Michael Starkwedder (Jesse Lalonde) comes to a home looking for shelter and finds the body of Richard Warwick crumpled over his wheelchair with Laura Warwic...

Orpheus Musical Theatre's production of the smash Broadway hit, Mamma Mia, features over twenty ABBA songs incorporated into the storyline. The premise: a young girl, Sophie (Meaghan Chapin) has three possible fathers, Sam (Geoff Beck), Bill (Michael Schilder) and Harry (Rejean Dinelle-Mayer). Sophi...