As soon as I sat down in the Annex Theatre for my first-ever Toronto Fringe experience, I realized that I had already made my first Fringe mistake. I failed to select a seat that would allow for an easy escape. Striding across the stage in the middle of a performance in order to leave is neither a good idea […]
The two most recent productions in Soulpepper’s 2013 season have been lively re-interpretations of texts that can only be described as classics. The first, Michael O’Brien and John Millard’s anachronistic take on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, was a goofy romp-like good time and little more. The sublime pleasure of having the great Dan Chameroy […]
I seem to have terrible luck with The Toronto Fringe Festival. Actually, let me amend that: some years I have terrible luck with The Toronto Fringe Festival. I seem to remember 2011 being just full of win. 2013? Not so much. I caught more bad breaks in my attempts to cover this year’s festival than […]
Jack Your Body A dance performance that makes me want to go out and get my boogie on always boasts the audience leaving with smiles plastered on their faces. The Mix-Mix Dance Collective certainly brought in a mixed crowd but gave universal satisfaction. An elderly couple in front of me at the show commented “Well […]
A burlesque show modeled on the Bible when it was all smite and terror and sex? Sounds like it can’t get much better than that. For me, the pleasure in watching burlesque is as much about enjoyment of dance and sexuality as it is watching the performers have an amazing time. There was no denying […]
Cats may just be the most-mocked musical in the history of the world. But it’s also one of my favourites. First of all, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, once upon a time, was a uniquely magical composer capable of creations that were both lastingly beautiful and bizarrely unique. His best work will always be, and has always been, […]
The reason I chose Chamber Magic as one of the few Luminato shows to review this year was that it promised to be simply enjoyable in a way that most of the over-lofty festival fare isn’t. I was totally down to sit in my mandatory cocktail attire and be amazed by some trickery and a […]
The final production of The National Ballet of Canada’s 2012/13 season is a mishmash of four seemingly unrelated short pieces wedged into two hours with two intermissions. I wouldn’t call any of the individual works masterpieces of any sort and the performances themselves are not the most memorable in National Ballet history but the assemblage […]