Anne of Green Gables: The Musical — This production outshines the material
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical is brainless but chipper and Gateway Theatre’s polished production includes a couple of remarkably strong performances. In case you don’t know the story, the musical is based on L.M. Montgomery’s 1908 novel. Marilla and Matthew...
A Christmas Carol — straight up
For me as kid and even as a young adult, watching the annual TV appearance of the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol was a religious experience. I watched it every year, preferably by myself so that others who might be less devout wouldn’t distract me. I have...
The Wonderful is misnamed
The Wonderful is not wonderful. You can’t beat the venue, but Luke Reece’s script is bad. A riff on the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life, The Wonderful is Caravan Farm Theatre’s winter show. That means it takes place outdoors on a farm near Armstrong in the north...
Me Love Bingo!: Best in Snow — Save your money. Don’t waste your time.
How did this show ever get programmed into the Arts Club’s season? The Arts Club is a professional company. Me Love Bingo!: Best in Snow is not of a professional standard. For Best in Snow, set designer Ted Roberts has turned the Newmont Stage into a bingo hall, so...
The Messiah: The silliest story ever told (That’s a compliment.)
You have to be smart to be dumb. Or wily. Or at least have good instincts. Okay, I don’t really know how they do it, but, playing a couple of goofballs in Pacific Theatre’s production of The Messiah, Peter Carlone and John Voth are very funny and very engaging. For...
Stiles & Drewe’s The 3 Little Pigs: disappointing
Absolutely the best thing about going to a kids’ show is that you get to take a kid. My friend Mathias, who’s six, accompanied my partner and me to Carousel Theatre’s production of Stiles & Drewe’s The 3 Little Pigs. Mati had never been to the theatre before and,...
Wittenberg: You might want to consider another school
Director Adam Henderson and his team are giving Wittenberg a precise, committed, and creative production. But, despite its intellectual ambitions, the play itself is boring. Writer David Davalos has set his script at Hamlet’s university, Wittenberg, in Germany, and...
Courage Now: We need this production
I was afraid that Courage Now might be ploddingly literal, but it’s a moving piece of art. There is no doubt that more people need to know the real-life story of Chiune Sugihara, who was Japan’s vice-consul in Kaunas, Lithuania near the beginning of World War II. In...
East Van Panto: The Little Mermaid – underwater heaven
It’s spectacular, a stupidly good time — and I mean that in the most enthusiastic way possible. For this year’s East Van Panto, playwright Sonja Bennett has turned the 1989 Disney animation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid inside out, so it...
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