by Leanne Milech
Feast your eyes on five eclectic Toronto theatre options – all of which cost $20 or less. This week, we suggest opera (for free!), improv at Toronto’s Bad Dog Theatre, radiant physical theatre, a coming-of-age tale and theatre about art (think thought-provoking rather than hoity-toity). Here are the dirty deets on our cheap theatre picks for the week of March 29, 2010:
by Leanne Milech
Toronto-based Why Not Theatre has nailed it again – “it” being contemporary, experimental, physical theatre of the highest order; this time in the form of I’m So Close. . ., a fresh re-working of the company’s I’m So Close It’s Not Even Funny, which won a SummerWorks Festival Spotlight Award in 2008. The revamped I’m So Close. . . is currently running at The Theatre Centre as part of the Free Fall ’10 Festival in association with Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage.
Inspired by Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, I’m So Close. . . centres around Steve (Troels Hagen Findsen) and Stella (Katrina Bugaj), a young couple living in a world of technological “connectedness”. Steve is an ambitious inventor who’s got the next big eco-friendly product in full production swing, which takes him all around the world on business jaunts as poor Stella is stuck at home watching documentary after documentary to entertain herself.
by Leanne Milech
Last week, Toronto theatre got a little bit slapstick, a little bit silly and a lot of funny with the opening of Mirvish‘s Young Frankenstein at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Remember the 1974 Mel Brooks-Gene Wilder film collaboration of Young Frankenstein? I do, and I remember peeing in my pants laughing at the stuff as a kid, so I wasn’t sure that the story would be quite as funny now that I’m pushing thirty.
My fears were unfounded. It could have easily turned out to be one giant, spoofy flop, but, the hilarity of the music, the talent of the cast and the show-stopping ensemble dancing all made this production come together.
by Leanne Milech
This week we highlight five more inexpensive theatre options, including a play about fate, a fresh work from venerable playwright Sky Gilbert and a storytelling festival. Ah, the good old days, when life was simple, and school consisted of sitting in a circle on the carpet, listening to your teacher read a story. This weekend, relive your childhood for just a few dollars. Or spend just a little bit more and see one of the other shows that caught our frugal eye.
By Leif Conti-Groome
On Valentines Day, I had the pleasure of taking my girlfriend out to see a very entertaining night of burlesque at the Gladstone Hotel. Two of the most popular troupes, Skin Tight Outta Sight and BoylesqueTO, presented Be Mein Valentine, a night full of song and tease inspired by the cabarets of 1920s Germany.
Our three hosts for the evening joked back and forth with their over-the-top German characters and accents and held the show together between performances. Ginger Darling and Bologna Wry, the usual hosts from BoylesqueTO, were joined by Skin Tight’s Sexy Mark Brown. Throughout the night, they proved that three is definitely not a crowd.
Continue reading Review: Burlesque by Skin Tight Outta Sight and BoylesqueTO – Be Mein Valentine