TORONTO THEATER REVIEWS

Without a doubt, Soulpepper Theatre Company's Global Cabaret Festival is my favorite Toronto arts festival. It's like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. Forrest Gump would dig it. Each year I'm tempted to bring my sleeping bag and just camp out for the weekend....

The award-winning one-man play 'The Art of Building a Bunker' now on at Factory Theatre Lab, is about a desperate outsider named Elvis Goldstein who is incapable of experiencing love and the consequences that follow. His namesake, of course, was the King of Rock n' Roll. This homunculus is the Kin...

While reviewing What Makes a Man (WMAM), now playing at the Berkley Street Theatre, it's tempting to comment on what's not there, what could and should be there, rather than what is there. What is on display is a marvelous musical stage portrait of Charles Aznavour, the world renowned French singer/...

I don't know how to even being describing the sheer joy I experienced while attending last night's performance of Rebel Without A Cosmos at the Second City. The entire production is smart, sharp, and lough out loud funny....

Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play An Enemy of the People is a powerful examination of the difficult and disturbing relationship between truth and power. It examines what happens to a scientist, Dr. Stockmann, and his family when he exposes ugly truths about health concerns related to the economically-vital b...

The play Our Country's Good had its opening night last night at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. The play, which has been brought across the pond by presenter David Mirvish is about a colony of convicts who are cast in a play by an officer of the navy at the urging of his captain. Of course, ...

The film adaptation of 'The Last Five Years,' based on the musical by Jason Robert Brown, had its world premiere last night at the Toronto International Film Festival. 'The Last Five Years' is a musical chronicling a relationship taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wallerstein is a young, ta...

One can't help but leave the Ed Mirvish Theatre on a high after a performance of 'Wicked,' a musical now in its 11th year on Broadway. The Wizard sings a tune in the show which begins with 'I am a sentimental man,' and as I watched him call the guards just before Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) takes fli...

Ben Power's 2009 play A Tender Thing is a creative re-imagining of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with the two title characters as older figures in a lifelong relationship. Soulpepper Theatre Company's current production (on at the Young Centre through October 1st) features real-life couple Joseph ...

THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM, directed by Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino opened to raucous laughter and thunderous applause Friday night at the Stratford Festival. With a cast like this, I would not expect anything less. This fun and thoughtful restoration comedy by George Farquhar, pr...

William Shakespeare's ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA opened on Thursday night at Stratford Festival's Tom Patterson Theatre. Last performed at the festival in 2003, this production stars Geraint Wyn Davies and Yanna McIntosh as the famed Roman General and Queen of Egypt, respectively. Directed by Gary Griffin...

Underneath the riotous comedy of Moliere's 1664 play Tartuffe is a tough family drama examining ideas of trust, power, and hypocrisy. Soulpepper Theatre Company's new production (on now through September 20th at the Young Centre) underlines these themes while providing plenty of laughs and a smart, ...

The classic story turned epic musical has finally made its way to Grand Bend's Huron Country Playhouse. Based on Victor Hugo's novel, LES MISERABLES follows the life of prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean, who was thrown in jail for stealing a loaf of bread for a hungry child....

King John, who reigned as the monarch of England from 1199-1216, was the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the father of Henry III. The Shakespearean script concerning his reign is one of the true history plays by the Bard and is one of only two of his plays, the other being 'Richard II,...

From the moment the Stratford Festival production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: A CHAMBER PLAY begins, it is clear that it will be an experience unlike any production of 'Dream' you have ever seen before. In fact, it will likely be a new experience to most Stratford Festival audiences....

I am a huge fan of the Toronto Fringe Festival! It's a great platform for new shows to be presented to audiences. Some get picked up for the Mirvish Season - or by other theatre companies, and one has even made it all the way to Broadway (The Drowsy Chaperone.)...

When you think pink, law, and music, it's hard to not think of LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL, the show based on the modern classic film of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon. The musical adaptation of the story features just as much sass and quirkiness, but just a little bit more singing and danc...

Huron Country Playhouse has a heart-warming home run hit with Damn Yankees, now on the main stage. This little-known Broadway musical dates back to 1955, and while you might not be familiar with the show, you will certainly recognize some of the tunes. Based on the Faustian legend about a German sch...

Theatre20's production of COMPANY is now playing at the Berkeley Street Threatre in downtown Toronto, and the production - which opened on June 27 hits most of the right notes, but I found it to be lacking the finesse it needed to be the first class production it had the potential to be. The story s...

SPAMALOT may be based on the Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the musical differs greatly from the film on which it is based. While both the musical and film have hilarity in common, the story's transition onto stage provides some interesting differences. The musical, which pre...

Following up on the success of last season's production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, the Stratford Festival is presenting another Noel Coward favourite this year. HAY FEVER recently opened at the Avon Theatre, and judging from the raucous laughter it produced from the opening night audience, it i...

Spend an evening with Judy Garland, America's Sweetheart, as she tells of the TV show she'd preferred to have done. Get to know again the Judy everyone loves, without all the booze and drugs. Share songs, laughs, and tears with Judy as portrayed by Kimberly Roberts, a Vanity Fair featured Garland do...

The celebrated 1957 film 12 Angry Men is a drama that began its life on television as part of a CBS series, Studio One, where it premiered in 1954. The work, penned by ex-serviceman Reginald Rose and inspired by his direct experience as a juror, went on to win an Emmy, and in its later form, an Acad...

Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical SOUTH PACIFIC (book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan) is currently playing at Drayton Entertainment's Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend, Ontario, under the direction (and choreography) of MICHAEL LICHTEFELD and it is an absolute delight!...

Stones in Her Mouth is a powerful theatrical experience that examines and explores women's lives. Brought to life by an ensemble of ten Maori women, the production, recently part of Toronto's annual Luminato Festival, has been feted worldwide since its premiere in 2013. As its choreographer Lemi Pon...