Beautiful (in some ways): The Carole King Musical
There are so many great songs in this show. And there’s so much talent on the Arts Club stage. But there’s so little story in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical that it often feels more like a concert than theatre. Douglas McGrath’s slim book follows the legendary...
A Flea in Her Ear: There are powders for that
All sorts of people call A Flea in Her Ear one of the great farces. I’m not sure if the script is salvageable. Written by Georges Feydeau in 1907 and seen here in the 2006 adaptation by David Ives, Flea concerns a woman named Raymonde Chandebise who suspects her...
God Said This: bluntly
Leah Nanako Winkler’s God Said This explores important experiences, but does so in annoyingly sentimental and on-the-nose ways. Fortunately, in this Pacific Theatre production, there are significant rewards in both the performances and physical production. In the...
Happy Valley: Great destination, but getting there involves a major detour
I won’t give away the confession in Derek Chan’s Happy Valley, but it’s the best part of the script. In this interdisciplinary solo, Chan sings and recites poetry — often in Cantonese with English surtitles. We also get Cantonese surtitles. Chan grew up in Hong Kong...
First Métis Man of Odesa: Fall in love with it
First Métis Man of Odesa is such compelling — and funny — storytelling. It’s charmingly performed, and exquisitely directed and produced. I hope The Cultch and Punctuate! Theatre can find pull quotes in those two sentences to use in their advertising because I want to...
Unexpecting: You’ve been warned
I hated this show so much that thinking about writing this review gave me a stomach ache. I don’t want to be cruel but, if I’m not frank, I’m not doing my job. I first encountered playwright Bronwyn Carradine’s Unexpecting in early 2021 when it was an audio play...
The Legend of Georgia McBride: Toot
The script is mixed up and the production is inconsistent, but this show is fun — and that counts for a lot. In The Legend of Georgia McBride, playwright Matthew López tells the story of an Elvis impersonator named Casey who’s struggling — and failing — to make a...
Under Milk Wood: sensuality and wonder
I don’t know if language gets more glorious than this. The poetry in Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, a radio play from 1954 that was adapted for the stage, is unabashedly beautiful. In it, two narrators introduce us to the fictional Welsh town of Llareggub...
Rubaboo means stew: This stew is bland
Artistically, Rubaboo is mostly terrible. But there’s no denying the project’s good intentions. Core creator Andrea Menard, who also stars in this cabaret performance, has set out to explore the history and wisdom of her Métis culture. She’s aiming for truth and...
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