… but he’s not living in Paris. He’s in Stratford, hanging out with Brent Carver and having a grand old time. Jaques Brel himself may just be the star of this show, no offense to the four sensational performers featured in The Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s staging. It’s his songs that really make the piece fly. […]
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is my favourite production at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival this year. If you know me at all, it wouldn’t have been very difficult to predict that. First of all, it’s the first show I’ve ever seen in the festival’s relatively new studio theatre (a beautiful and intimate space with a […]
That quote is actually referencing Lear but seems somehow appropriate to The Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s current production of The Tempest. First of all, it’s from Slings and Arrows, a television show based on the festival. Second, it’s addressed to William Hutt, a Stratford star with insurmountable gravitas (not unlike Christopher Plummer), who’s final role before […]
The Stratford Festival took on something big this year in tackling Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Evita. For the title role of passionate icon Eva Peron, the company chose their favourite little girl: Chilina Kennedy, a tiny ingenue with a big voice and a knack for ditzy charm. Her husband, Peron, would […]
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced their 2011 roster. Here are the highlights (and lowlights): Richard III: it’s a great play, fascinating really. But it is 99.9% dependent on a truly solid leading man. It needs someone who will bring something new to the part and keep the audience interested pretty much single handedly. […]
The summer will soon be upon us and that means many things. It’s baseball season, Dream in High Park starts (relatively) soon, al fresco dining is back within the realm of possibility. But most important of all, it means the start of a new season at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, my personal favourite destination for […]