Wait Until Dark isn’t only a thrilling production of the high calibre one would expect from the Red One Theatre Collective, it’s also their first full-scale spectacle, inaugurating their temporary theatrical home base StoreFront Theatre at the corner of Bloor St. West and Dovercourt Road.
Continue reading Review: Wait Until Dark (Red One Theatre Collective)
I attended the opening night of Toronto Operetta Theatre’s 2007 revival of The Merry Widow, starring soprano Leslie Ann Bradley in the title role as wealthy dowager Anna Glawari.
Anna hails from the mythical province of Pontevedro which is encountering its own “fiscal cliff” and the Pontevedrian Ambassador to Paris needs her 50 million francs to stay in the country lest the Fatherland collapse into financial ruin. Of course, this means Anna must be charmed into marrying the only Pontevedrian man at hand – one Count Danilo with whom she shares a tumultuous past. Continue reading Review: The Merry Widow (Toronto Operetta Theatre)
Only in the world of dance can the most savage and base expression of human emotion appear fascinating and delicate. This was definitely true of last night’s performance of Gravity of Center at Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre as part of Danceworks 2012-2013 season. It was the kind of meaty movement you could really sink your teeth into, as the quintet of ultra-hip twenty-somethings popped, locked, and tumbled across the barren stage. Continue reading Review: Gravity of Center (RUBBERBANDance Group)
When I started writing for Mooney on Theatre a few years ago, I had no idea of the diversity or energy present in the Toronto theatre scene. I went to big box productions every year or so, and the occasional Fringe play. But this week alone, I’ve seen four plays, and on average I see a production every week. I now consider myself a bit of a theatre buff. (I’m certainly not buff in any other sense!)
Thursday night’s show, The Company Theatre/Canadian Stage’s Speaking in Tongues reminds me what makes me proud of Toronto theatre. It’s challenging, dynamic and slick. The staging is clever, the acting superb, and in the lobby afterwards, the audience was stirred to discuss the subject matter with perfect strangers. Australian Andrew Bovell’s contemporary script and the powerhouse quartet of actors upped the ante on what a theatre experience should be. And a few days later, I am still thinking about it. Continue reading Review: Speaking in Tongues (The Company Theatre/Canadian Stage)
I almost missed this show. My date Otis and I opted to race the lazy streetcar in the chilly Thursday drizzle to the 7:30 finish line. The streetcar may have won, but the show was conveniently held an extra few minutes for we soaked lolly-gaggers. Boy, am I glad.
What You Want: Toronto was an evening of deep-thinking, new ideas, and everything an evening of theatre should be. And it will be a new show every night.
Continue reading Review: What You Want: Toronto (MachineFair)