EAST VAN PANTO: WEST VAN STORY – DOES NOT GO SOUTH
See East Van Panto: West Van Story if you can. Tickets are already in short supply, but The Cultch’s executive director, Heather Redfern, hinted heavily on opening night that more tickets will be available soon. Here’s where to watch for developments. Theatre...
BURNOUT PARADISE: WHY?
You know the moody kid, the one hanging around at the edge of the playground at recess, the one watching all the other kids chasing each other and screaming with an enthusiasm that’s inaccessible to him? That’s who I felt like at Burnout Paradise: everybody else...
BETWEEN BREATHS: WAITING TO EXHALE
It takes too long to land but this production does, finally, make it home. Robert Chafe’s script, Between Breaths, is a meditation on death and joy, confinement and freedom, as embodied in the experience of real-life academic and conservationist Jon Lien. Lien, who...
THE EFFECT: A CONTAMINATED STUDY
I admire so much about this production and many things about the text. That discussion starts in the paragraph that begins “In other ways…” But first I’m going to talk about elements that kept me from fully investing in the script, including what I perceive as the...
DISNEY’S FROZEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL: FREEZE-DRIED
Disney’s Frozen, The Broadway Musical is as commercial and superficial as it sounds. It’s also incoherent, which is worth talking about. Because the show’s symbolism is a mess, it doesn’t make sense thematically. Jennifer Lee based her book for the musical on the...
WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE: Not This Time Either
One of these days, I hope to see a fully realized production of playwright Fraces Končan’s Women of the Fur Trade, a production that might allow me to see the script’s true potential — or lack thereof. This remount of the National Art’s Centre’s interpretation is not...
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: BEASTLY GOOD
For the second time in 48 hours, I’ve seen a show in which performers previously unknown to me have floored me with their talent. I encourage agents, directors, and everybody who loves good theatre to do their best to see both Rent and now The Animal Kingdom. Glenn...
RENT: VIVA!
Such an extraordinary production! In the lead roles, wildly talented performers —most of whom I’ve never seen before. Such strength and depth in the ensemble. Everybody on the Metro Theatre stage is givin’ ‘er — and they have the chops to deliver. Just wait till you...
A DOLL’S HOUSE: ODDLY CONSTRUCTED
I could not get a bead on Act 1, but I found Act 2 rewarding, which sucks, I guess, for the people who left at intermission. In the theatre, style is often the trickiest thing to get right, and this script exists in a stylistic hall of mirrors. Henrik Ibsen, who wrote...
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