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BWW Review: SEX is Alive and Well at SHAW FESTIVAL
How does an author title a play? Well, there should be something descriptive, enticing or informative to engage the audience from the outset.The Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake has gone out of a limb and programmed a virtually unknown play that is rarely, if ever produced. Oh, and the title is ...
BWW Review: Unique Ensemble Makes TAKE ME OUT TO THE IMPROV Ridiculously Fun
The Second City's TAKE ME OUT TO THE IMPROV is a punchy collection of improv and sketch comedy that explores local politics, family dynamics, and dating and love a?" which is a lot more than the sports-themed title suggests. The Toronto Touring Company features Andy Assaf, Matt Folliott, Nicole Pass...
BWW Review: Soulpepper's FOOL FOR LOVE diversifies a complex story, but struggles to fully connect
Soulpepper takes on a classic American script in their new production of Sam Shepard's FOOL FOR LOVE, directed by Frank Cox-O'Connell. With simple staging and a compact ensemble, the production implements some interesting and timely ideas but overall leaves something to be desired....
BWW Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE Shimmers at The Shaw Festival
A pervading air of discontent and general unease looms over the lackluster St. Louis apartment of the Wingfield family in Tennesee Williams memory play, THE GLASS MENAGERIE. The Shaw Festival is presenting this classic with the loving care that it deserves, and the end result is a gripping produc...
BWW Review: ROPE is Riveting at the SHAW FESTIVAL
The Shaw Festival has a great history of producing murder mysteries and this season we are lucky to have Patrick Hamilton's play 'ROPE.' Probably more well known as the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart, ROPE had it's start in 1929 on the British stage. It's twist lies in the fact t...
BWW Review: GETTING MARRIED at SHAW FESTIVAL
To say that George Bernard Shaw's social commentaries were erudite would be an understatement. His keen eye and astute observations always allow the reader or viewer to take pause and contemplate life in a different light. The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the Lake is producing one of his lesser works...
BWW Review: Historic Deaf Theatre Piece THE BLACK DRUM Shines In Every Aspect Of Its Production
THE BLACK DRUM is a multi-sensory examination of oppression and self-expression that shows just how necessary deaf theatre is. Produced by the Deaf Culture Centre and Soulpepper and directed by Mira Zuckerman, the story, written by Adam Pottle, draws from classic tropes - placing a down-and-out hero...
Review Roundup: THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE at Huron County Playhouse; What Did The Critics Think?
Iconic television actor Cindy Williams, best known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the classic sitcom Laverne & Shirley plays the role of Mrs. Meers in Drayton Entertainment's production of the hit Broadway musical comedy, Thoroughly Modern Millie. The production launches the 2019 Season at the Hu...
BWW Review: BRIGADOON at Shaw Festival
The mystical land of BRIGADOON has emerged once again at Niagara on the Lake's Shaw Festival, and the now rarely produced musical still brings with it a sense of hope wrapped around Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's hauntingly beautiful lyrics and score. And while re-engaging with this Golden ...
BWW Review: 11:11 Balances Spirituality and Reality in Urgent, Moving Story of Black Transman's Life
Defined as a "bio-mythical monodrama," 11:11 is an introspective and deeply personal look into writer and performer Samson Bonkeabantu Brown's life. From childhood to adolescence and into adulthood, Brown constructs his own paths as he discovers more about his gender, his family, and his ancestry. T...
BWW Review: Soulpepper's Explosive Family Drama AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Crackles with Tension and Comedy
In a new production of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, director Jackie Maxwell guides a 13-person cast through the highs and lows of the Weston family during a family tragedy. In Maxwell and the ensembles' capable hands, Tracy Letts's delicate balance of comedy and cruelty is presented as fully as possible....
BWW Review: Intriguing, Personal Storytelling Struggles to Ground Itself in WELCOME TO MY UNDERWORLD
WELCOME TO MY UNDERWORLD, directed by Judith Thompson and produced by RARE Theatre Company in partnership with Soulpepper, is an interesting anthology of human stories. Its diverse ensemble draws on personal experiences to explain their perspective on topics like mental health, transgender and LGBTQ...
BWW Review: Familial Bonds and Tradition Ground THE BROTHERS SIZE in Moving Production
THE BROTHERS SIZE, directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu and produced by Soulpepper, is a look into the lives of two brothers following the youngest's return home from prison. Tarell Alvin McCraney's 2000 work is an emotional examination of brotherhood and redemption in the deep south....
BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL MAN Blasts Gender Roles in Film and Television Through Satire
What would a world where women held power and men were nothing more than eye-candy and tools for reproduction look like? How would women maintain that power, and what would happen to the men who lived there?
Factory Theatre's BEAUTIFUL MAN, directed by Andrea Donaldson, looks at all of this and mor...
BWW Review: ERASER Drops Audiences Into the Chaos and Confusion of Elementary School
Eraser Theatre's ERASER, presented as part of Why Not Theatre's RISER project, is a highly interactive piece of theatre that forces audiences to walk and talk with students in a sixth-grade classroom. Directed and choreographed by Bilal Baig and Sadie Epstein-Fine, ERASER explores the lives of six s...
BWW Review: Greek Family Tragedy Receives a Contemporary Spin in ANTIGONE
Young People's Theatre closes their season with the world premiere of Jeff Ho's ANTIGONE, which stands as an impressive contemporary take on Sophocles' classic play. The story begins with the title character's brother Neikes (Jeff Yung) leading a breakout from the re-education facility he's held in ...
BWW Review: Ladies of The Second City Return with a Vengeance in SHE THE PEOPLE: THE RESISTANCE CONTINUES
The women of The Second City return to the mainstage to present SHE THE PEOPLE: THE RESISTANCE CONTINUES, a follow-up to 2018's SHE THE PEOPLE. While the cast and creative team remains mostly the same as the original show, this reimagining explores a wider scope of true-to-life and absurd comedic sc...
BWW Review: NEXT TO NORMAL Needs to Find its Rhythm
A high standard of musical drama is expected from the Musical Stage Company that sadly wasn't present at opening night of NEXT TO NORMAL. The three-time Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey is Musical Stage's latest undertaking in its line of family dr...
BWW Review: HAND TO GOD is a Disturbing, Complex, and Funny Look at Good Versus Evil…with Puppets
Dark comedy and puppets seem to be a natural link, given the number of film and theatre stories that have incorporated both in the last several years. Coal Mine Theatre's season-closing production of HAND TO GOD, written by Robert Askins, examines the duality of man and the struggle between good and...
BWW Review: Stellar Cast Brings the Ramones to Life in Psychological Bio Play FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN
End of the Century was the album that skyrocketed the Ramones into the public eye, and in FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN writer John Ross Bowie delves into the strain and tension that came with its recording sessions. The collaboration between the Queens, New York band and infamous producer Phil Spector exam...
BWW Review: THE COLOR PURPLE at Neptune Theatre
Neptune Theatre's production of The Color Purple is an effortless, empowering production that will be remembered for decades. The show opened April 9th and will end June 2nd...
BWW Review: Canadian Slavery and Women's Mistreatment Motivate ANGELIQUE in Gripping Toronto Premiere
Late playwright Lorena Gale's ANGELIQUE makes its Toronto debut in this Black Theatre Workshop and Tableau D'Hote co-production, presented by Factory Theatre and Obsidian Theatre. The play follows the true story behind Marie Joseph Angelique, an enslaved black woman, as she attempts to navigate the ...
BWW Review: Competing Ideas and Unrealized Plotlines Leave THE CHERRY ORCHARD Struggling to Take Root
In director Soheil Parsa's THE CHERRY ORCHARD, produced by Modern Times Stage Company in association with Crow's Theatre, the concept of nostalgia versus progress seems to be the underlying message. At several moments throughout it's brought front and centre, however the sheer number of characters t...
BWW Review: A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2 at Mirvish
Mirvish and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's production of A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2 does for theatre what is usually reserved for blockbusters and novels - it provides a sequel, many years down the road, to one of Henrik Ibsen's more controversial works (A Doll's House). Written more than a hundred year...
BWW Review: Robert Markus Triumphs in DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Pull out your kleenex now. The international premiere of DEAR EVAN HANSEN, written by songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with a book by Steven Levenson, has arrived in Toronto. The Grammy and Tony Award-winning musical comes to life at Mirvish's Royal Alex Theatre with an impressive, all-Canadi...
Videos
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Moonstruck Comedy Bar (10/09-10/30) |
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Gershwin, Porter n Me: Vancouver Vocalist, NYC Pianist, Toronto Rhythm Section - June 6th Waterloo The Jazz Room (6/06-6/06) |
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A Beautiful Noise Princess of Wales Theatre (4/28-6/07) |
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Matilda - Closing Night - Maggots BNZ Theatre (7/05-7/05) |
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Left of Centre Fest. Harmony United Church Hall (8/14-8/16) |
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Talangor (Trigger) Meridian Arts Centre: Greenwin Theatre (6/21-6/21) |
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Matilda - Maggots BNZ Theatre (6/28-7/04) |
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887 - Ex Machine / Robert Lepage The Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres (12/10-12/13) |
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bol, brown boy, bol Aki Studio (5/20-5/24) |
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The 70 Mile Yard Sale Theatre Orangeville (5/24-5/24) |
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