OTTAWA THEATER SHOWS

BWW Review: THE SECRETS OF PRIMROSE SQUARE at The Gladstone
by Courtney Castelino - May 29, 2022

Claudia Carroll's The Secrets of Primrose Square is the first show at The Gladstone since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered it and every other theatre in the city over two years ago. Her fifteenth novel, Carroll's The Secrets of Primrose Square was first published in 2018 and this marks the debut of t...

BWW Review: HEARTLINES at the Great Canadian Theatre Company
by Courtney Castelino - March 27, 2022

Heartlines, presented by TACTICS at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, is based on the true story of two artists living and creating surrealist art together at a time when neither unconventional art nor homosexuality, was widely accepted....

BWW Review: CATS Makes A Triumphant Return to Ottawa at the National Arts Centre
by Courtney Castelino - March 15, 2022

Broadway Across Canada's touring production of CATS was abruptly cut short in March 2020 when theatre venues were shut down because of COVID-19. It is now the first to emerge in Broadway Across Canada's 2022 season lineup....

BWW Review: BLISSFUL STATE OF SURRENDER at The Great Canadian Theatre Company
by Courtney Castelino - February 27, 2022

Blissful State of Surrender is the first play by Bosnian-Canadian playwright, Sanita Fejzić. Fejzić fled the Bosnian genocide as a child and spent her formative years as a refugee in Europe before settling in Ottawa. Her experiences are reflected in her work and, given what is happening in Ukraine r...

BWW Review: DAISY MAKES A WORTHY RETURN TO LIVE THEATRE AT THE GCTC
by Courtney Castelino - December 05, 2021

Daisy tells the true story of the controversial ad campaign surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's presidential run in 1964. The attack ad that was created to support Johnson used fear marketing, playing on people's emotions to convince them that a vote for Johnson's rival, Barry Goldwater, would send Amer...

BWW Review: Broadway Across Canada's Touring Production of CATS Proves Its Enduring Appeal
by Courtney Castelino - March 11, 2020

The touring production of CATS has changed in the more than fifteen years since I first saw it, but all of the elements that make the Andrew Lloyd Webber show a classic remain intact. The set is fairly simple: a junkyard where the cats congregate to celebrate the annual Jellicle Ball, when Old Deute...

BWW Review: Orpheus' ROCK OF AGES Will Have You Rockin' in Your Seats at Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe
by Courtney Castelino - March 08, 2020

Orpheus Musical Theatre's production of Rock of Ages is designed to get you in the rock 'n roll mood from the get-go, starting with the voice-over introduction warning the audience to prepare to have their 'faces melted'. The show has its very own narrator, Lonny (Brennan Richardson), whose energ...

BWW Review: Jivesh Parasram's TAKE D MILK, NAH? Tackles Identity and Self-Awareness at Ottawa's National Arts Centre
by Courtney Castelino - January 18, 2020

Jivesh Parasram is a Hindu-Indo-Caribbean-Canadian, born and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Parasram spends the first twenty minutes of the show explaining what an identity play is and why he finds it so distasteful and pretentious (and for some odd reason, very trendy in Canadian theatre). He th...

BWW Review: Broadway Across Canada's WAITRESS Will Leave You Feeling Warm and Fuzzy - and Craving Pie
by Courtney Castelino - January 02, 2020

Waitress, adapted from the 2007 film of the same name, tells the story of Jenna Hunterson, a pie-maker/waitress working at Joe's Pie Diner somewhere in the southern United States. Jenna (Bailey McCall) is unhappily married to Earl (Clayton Howe), who is physically and emotionally abusive. When she f...

BWW Review: Ottawa Musicals' ROBIN HOOD is Fun for the Whole Family
by Courtney Castelino - December 31, 2019

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...