WEST SIDE STORY: GREAT SURPRISES IN AN OLD FAVOURITE
If you don’t have a Tony and Maria, you don’t have a West Side Story. This CTORA production has both — in spades. And a lot more. Although it’s semi-professional, under the direction of Chris Adams, this is a startlingly strong mounting of one of the most breathtaking...
HERE WE GO: GO
Here we go. Where to start? I watched this production three times over a 25-hour period. Here We Go is a short one-act (in three parts) by British playwright Caryl Churchill — about 45 minutes in total. Churchill is one of the smartest playwrights I’ve encountered,...
THE FRONTLINERS TAKES TOO LONG TO ACCOMPLISH TOO LITTLE
In Act 1 of The Frontliners, playwright Zahida Rahemtulla’s storytelling is so unfocused it feels like nothing happens. Against all odds, Act 2 improves. The Frontliners is about an office force of three. Working for the fictional Canadian Newcomer Agency, their job...
CASEY AND DIANA: MAYBE YOU HAD TO BE THERE
A strange thing is happening to what is, to me, recent gay history: it’s being made holy. I’m thinking of director Joe Mantello’s TV version of playwright Mart Crowley’s 1968 script, The Boys in the Band, for instance. Mantello’s interpretation is an endless parade of...
9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL — 2.5 OUT OF 5 (because of the material)
It’s hard to overcome such inane material, but this production of 9 to 5: The Musical boasts three strong leads. This musical is, of course, based on the 1980 film, which grew out of an idea by Jane Fonda, and starred Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton in her first...
DANCE NATION: A FRACTURED STATE
The Search Party’s production of Dance Nation didn’t leave any residue, it didn’t leave a mark on me, which is disappointing. In an essential way, the world of Clare Barron’s script is a perfect fit for the themes she sets out to explore. She introduces us to a group...
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — AND COARSENESS
Jane Austen’s novels are known for their wry wit and nuanced observation of gender and class among the landed English gentry in the late eighteenth century. Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is more like… a cartoon? A panto? A very long...
DEAD DRONE: DEAD ON ARRIVAL
Dead Drone is one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen thousands of shows. It’s the writing. Even scripts this bad often start off with the best of intentions, of course. In Dead Drone, playwright David Mott takes on climate change, the toxicity of social...
BURNING MOM: DIDN’T LIGHT MY FIRE
It’s not terrible. That's the best I can muster. Playwright and director Mieko Ouchi’s Burning Mom, which is based on her own mom’s experience, is about a 63-year-old Calgary woman named Dorothy, who heads off to Burning Man with her adult son Kevin and his pal...
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