I needed a laugh and Songbuster: An Improvised Musical, a monthly show at Bad Dog Theatre delivered. The troupe takes two cues from the audience and improvises a musical from there, complete with solos, duets, and song and dance chorus numbers. Continue reading Review: Songbuster: An Improvised Musical (Songbuster/Bad Dog Theatre)
Canadian Opera Company presents a kid-friendly take on Cinderella, on stage in TorontoNot everyone knows about the excellent programming the Canadian Opera Company produces for children, youth and families. This year’s iteration of Opera for Young Audiences‘ annual kid’s opera, Wow Factor, was a modernized version of Rossini’s masterpiece La Cenerentola. Based on Cinderella, one of the most beloved children’s stories of all time, the opera is a great candidate for a kid-friendly reimagining. Wow Factor is in English and set in a middle school. Continue reading Review: Wow Factor: A Cinderella Story (Canadian Opera Company)
Weesageechak Begins to Dance is akin to a festival of extended, live trailers of Indigenous performing arts in development. It is an excellent opportunity to get a taste of what’s up and coming and the breadth of Indigenous creative ingenuity. This year’s festival, Weesageechak31, gave me the opportunity to see previews of two operas in development that explore themes of celebrating Native culture and mourning cultural genocide. Beyond Butterfly, the panel that followed excerpts from Canoe and Shanawdithit, asked “how do we bring more diversity into opera without perpetuating the stereotypes and exoticization that are part of the genre’s history?”
Continue reading Preview: Canoe/Shanawdithit (Tapestry Opera/Opera on the Avalon/Weesageechak31)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dazzles Toronto audiences of all ages with a musical sweet treatMy 6-year-old son and I had a blast at Mirvish Productions’ Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, currently on stage at the Princess of Wales Theatre until January 6, 2019. It was a very late school night for a little kid and sitting still for over two hours isn’t his strong suit at the best of times. There were certainly enough lights, sound, action and stage effects to hold his attention and he was still captivated when the final curtain went down at 10 PM. Continue reading Review: Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Mirvish Productions)
A double bill of George F. Walker’s plays is now on stage in TorontoHer Inside Life and Kill the Poor, presented by Low Rise Productions and Leroy Street Theatre respectively is curious as a double bill. The two plays are from The Parkdale Palace Trilogy by celebrated Canadian playwright George F. Walker and have the right mix of contrast and similarity for the juxtaposition to be interesting. Both works are also substantial enough to be standalone pieces. Playgoers have the option of seeing the show as a double bill or independently. Continue reading Review: Her Inside Life/Kill the Poor (Low Rise Productions/Leroy Street Theatre)