Shadow puppets help bring Alex in Wonderland to life at the Solar Stage Children’s Theatre in Toronto
Alex in Wonderland at Toronto’s Solar Stage Children’s Theatre is full of colourful characters that are sure to please the kindergarten set. Its adaptation by Derek Genova includes a good dose of audience participation, too.
The play begins with Alex’s long fall into the rabbit hole, vividly evoked using shadow puppets. It was a captivating downward journey that made the young audience go quiet as we listened to Alex’s narration and slightly scary sound effects. I think the kids thought the puppets were just plain cool, as we saw Alex drop down and meet objects and other characters along the way. Continue reading Review (Kid +1): Alex in Wonderland (Solar Stage Children’s Theatre)→
The Confidential Musical Theatre Project wows Toronto audiences with Bells are Ringing for their third production
Last Thursday a friend and I went to see Bells are Ringing, the latest production from The Confidential Musical Theatre Project. We didn’t know that we were going to see Bells are Ringing; that’s the confidential part. The audience doesn’t find out what musical is being performed until it starts. And the cast members don’t meet each other until an hour before the performance.
Mirvish presents BOOM in Toronto, a solo show documenting the baby boom starring Rick Miller
BOOM, written, directed and performed by Rick Miller is an interesting beast. The show is sort of a live documentary about the lives and times of the baby boom generation; the large cohort born after the Second World War. BOOM is part history lesson, part nostalgia trip, part musical tribute concert and part multimedia slide show. It’s not nearly as academic an exercise as it sounds and it’s surprisingly entertaining. Continue reading Review: BOOM (Mirvish/Kdoons/Wyrd Productions)→
If you are in the Toronto theatre industry you may have heard about the impromptu forum that happened on Sunday January 11, 2015 spurred to life from a status on Facebook posted by Derrick Chua on December 3, 2014 where he said “At some point, I’d really love to have an open and frank discussion / forum to hear people’s thoughts and opinions on how to attract a larger audience / how to convince the general public to attend more original Canadian theatre!”
Then, he did it, as Derrick is wont to do. He didn’t do it alone, he also enlisted the help of Sue Edworthy and Sheila Sky. Between them, by eight days later they had announced Disappearing Act? A Public Forum on Canadian Theatre & Toronto Audiences with time and location. Location eventually had to be changed because the interest in the event was so high that the original venue wasn’t big enough.
There’s something special about catching a show for the few days that it’s playing. Sure, there are shows that play for months, if not years – but isn’t it nice knowing that you’re one of the few people who get to see a particular production? This week’s Cheap Theatre listing contains a variety of shows that have short runs. They all cost $25 or less per ticket, so, that’s even more of a reason for you to catch them while you can!
