TORONTO THEATER REVIEWS

Nothing is guaranteed in life - not our relationships, our health, the time we get, or even how we’ll be remembered once we’re gone. In Daniel Brooks’ latest work OTHER PEOPLE, he ruminates on all of the above (and more) in the context of his participation in a 10-day silent meditation retreat...

It’s unlikely that there’s ever been a production of AS YOU LIKE IT quite like this. Presented by Crow’s Theatre, Cliff Cardinal’s adaptation is promoted as a “radical retelling”—which is an apt descriptor, as it’s as unexpected as it is engaging....

The Stratford Festival’s production of the FINALLY THERE’S SUN Cabaret allows us to reflect on the challenges, triumphs, hope, and self discovery that accompanied the past year and a half. No two people had the exact same experience, but this cabaret manages to capture the commonalities between ...

Director Kimberley Rampersad and a fine company bring Marcia Johnson's delightful and important story to life at the Stratford Festival. Fans of the Royal Family, fans of 'The Crown' and fans of good theatre will all enjoy this re-telling of a historical event from a perspective that has long been m...

Every year, the Stratford Festival mounts a production geared towards young people and I was thrilled to see that despite the unique season that COVID protocols have demanded, the Festival still made this a priority. What’s more, they have made a truly interesting and fun choice in I AM WILLIAM - ...

In BLINDNESS, people resort immediately to cruelty and selfishness. Not only have they lost their decency, Stephens’ script has deprived them of everything else that makes us human: culture, religion, art, and love have been stripped away from the story, leaving nothing but animalistic urges....

The fresh new PLAY ON! Cabaret at the Stratford Festival offers an impressive celebration of what popular music pulls from Shakespeare, what Shakespeare has to say about music, and what themes are frequently explored in both. Described as a “Shakespeare-inspired Mixtape,” this 90 minute cabaret ...

The Tomson Highway play, THE REZ SISTERS was supposed to debut on a Stratford Festival stage in the 2020 season, but of course those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic. Over a year later, the Festival made sure to include it in its unique 2021. The show opened Wednesday night under the Tom P...

After what feels like an eternity, Shakespeare has made its triumphant return to the Stratford Festival. Peter Pasyk’s production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM opened last week and this writer had the opportunity to take in a midday production at the Tom Patterson Theatre Canopy on Sunday. With ...

After over a year without live theatre pretty much anywhere in the world, Canadian musical theatre lovers made it known just how much they missed this art form by quickly scooping up tickets to YOU CAN’T STOP THE BEAT - a Cabaret at the Stratford Festival curated and directed by Thom Allison. This...

This exquisite cabaret delves deep into the catalogue of African American Musical Theatre and not only poses the titular question of WHY WE TELL THE STORY but also leaves audiences wondering why theatres haven’t been telling these stories nearly enough. ...

Toronto, Theatre, Review, WhiskyKids, SketchComedy, CLAREBLACKWOOD, RYANF.HUGHES...

It's a tale that's captivated audiences for hundreds of years, and although it contains some of the most iconic lines in theatre, it transitions to a non-spoken tale of forbidden love and tragedy seamlessly in this remount of the National Ballet of Canada's 2011 production....

All-male ballet companies aren't uncommon, but one of the world's leading groups in the genre have taken classical ballet to a whole new level with a laugh-out-loud program of iconic works, performed gorgeously by a talented ensemble....

I was born too late to enjoy disco, too early to quite understand what Billie Eilish is. Fortunately, good music knows no generation, and when a?oeEnough is Enougha?? comes on the playlist, I expect everyone from ages 8-80 to jump up and dance with me. And, indeed, we did dance at SUMMER: The Donna ...

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical inspired by the pointillist painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte', has always felt to me like a you-had-to-be-there musical....

PIECE OF MINE Arts and Theatre Passe Muraille's THE NEGROES ARE CONGREGATING is a wickedly smart, biting examination of what it's like to be a Black person in Toronto today. Through a series of vignettes, the three-person ensemble transform into dozens of characters to portray scenes focused on subj...

OIL, which premiered last night at Geary Lane, is an epic story, an eat-before-you-arrive play that will take up your evening and take over your mind. It consists of five vignettes across five periods of history, beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into a bleak, imagined future. The sc...

Lower Ossington Theatre's MOTHERHOOD THE MUSICAL is exactly what it sounds like, plus a little bit more. When a group of friends throw a surprise baby shower for a soon-to-be new mom, they end up exploring the highs and lows of motherhood, all they do for their families, and their relationship with ...

The National Ballet of Canada's multi-work program is, at its core, an examination of humanity. CHROMA is a hyper-modernist piece designed to show the capabilities of the human body; MARGUERITE AND ARMAND is a tale of love, pain, and death; and the central piece, the world premiere of Crystal Pite's...

When tragedy strikes, most people can only try to imagine what the victims have experienced; and when children are among the affected, outside opinions tend to overtake individual in favour of a narrative of collective outrage....

When the musical OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR! premiered in London, in the 1960s, World War One was relatively fresh in the minds of the audience, most having either lived through it or being the child of someone who had. Today, the show, which strings together British songs from the Great War through a se...

Factory Theatre's LADY SUNRISE, directed by Nina Lee Aquino, tells the story of a group of vastly different diasporic Asian-Canadian women living in Vancouver. Despite their different places in life they all come to be connected through a single business deal, brought to life through ex-pageant girl...

Emotive, demanding dance pairs gorgeously with booming percussion in Red Sky Performance's AF, presented by Canadian Stage. Drawing inspiration from Anishinaabe mythologies, director Sandra Laronde and choreographer Thomas Fonua (in collaboration with performers) explore the foundations of George Or...

The music industry is a looming part of popular culture, and we so often hear its success stories a?' on the radio, in biographical novels and films, through documentaries, and more. What we don't normally get to hear is the experience of those who have tried, and tried, and tried to break into the ...