All posts by Sam Mooney

Always a theatre lover Sam realized in middle age that there's more to Toronto theatre than just mainstream and is now in love with one person shows, adores festivals, and quirky venues make her day.

Review: Wit’s End III: Lovelife (Sandra Shamas)

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By Sam Mooney

Sandra Shamas in Wit's End 111: Lovelife

Sandra Shamas could have called her show ‘love life’ because any way she tells it, she does.  And I love Sandra Shamas. I doubt that there is a post-menopausal Canadian woman who wouldn’t.  She’s everywoman.  More observant, definitely has better timing, is more articulate but her life is our life in the same way that it was when she first performed My Boyfriend’s Back And There’s Going To Be Laundry 25 years ago. Continue reading Review: Wit’s End III: Lovelife (Sandra Shamas) →

L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits – March 2 to 5th, 2011, Toronto

Now that we have our tickets to see L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres at The Theatre Centre in Toronto I can finally write and tell you all about it so you can get your tickets now. (Note to ed.: We do have our tickets, don’t we?) The full name of the show is L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits and it’s (they’re) playing on March 2nd through March 5, 2011.

They played in Toronto last year for two sold-out nights so book your tickets now. I suspect this show will sell-out fast. We loved them last year.  Here are a couple of excerpts from the review:

  • “From the first bang of the suitcase to the last note of the encore L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performing the Music of Tom Waits was fabulous.”
  • “It’s not easy to classify the evening.  It’s not a concert, and it’s not a play; it’s a performance of music. As my play partner John said, “It’s Rube Goldberg music”.  It’s music you have to watch because so much depends on the sight gags.”
  • “This isn’t your regular run-of-the-mill Tom Waits tribute; it’s a rollicking, sometimes raucous, ride with Tom Waits as the  connection between the performers and audience.”

Here’s L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres’ Facebook page. I can’t wait to see them again.  And I promise you’ll have a great evening. It’s not a big venue so book your tickets now.

Details:

– L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits is playing at The Theatre Centre (1087 Queen Street West)
– The show runs from Wednesday March 2nd through Saturday March 5th, 2011, with performances at 7.30 pm (Performances run for about 2 hours)
– Tickets are $25.00 and are available by phone – 416-538-0988 – or online or in person at the box office one hour before the performance.

Review: The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (Mirvish)

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By Sam Mooney

The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash
You could be forgiven for asking whether The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash – a Mirvish production –  is theatre.  After all isn’t it just another tribute band? Yes and no. Yes, it’s theatre.  By my definition anyway.  And, no, this isn’t just another tribute band.  They’re terrific.  Shawn Barker is Johnny Cash.  He bears a striking resemblance to a young Cash and, as well as sounding like him, moves like him.

Think of the show as a musical with very few words or as a discography on the stage.

Rather than trying to reproduce an actual concert we’re treated to a what if concert.  The stories that Barker as Cash tells aren’t necessarily the things Johnny Cash actually said but are things that he could have said.

Continue reading Review: The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (Mirvish) →

Review: Floating (Hoipolloi and World Stage)

By Sam Mooney

Hugh Hughes in Floating at Harourfront World Stage 2011Wonderful, whimsical, warm-hearted, wacky, wayward, wry… Floating – now playing as part of World Stage at Harbourfront – is all of that and more.  Hugh Hughes and Sioned Rowlands have created a joyful 90 minutes of theatre.

Floating tells the story of the time that the Welsh island of Anglesy broke away from the bridge connecting it to the mainland and went floating around the Atlantic. The story really doesn’t matter, it’s an excuse for Hugh and Sioned to present the most low-tech multimedia show I’ve ever seen.  Other than a couple of PowerPoint slides the whole thing could have been done in the ’50s.

Floating is funny – I giggled, chortled, tittered and guffawed my way through the show.  Some of the humour is gentle, almost kind, some of it has an edge buried deep, and some of it is just weird.

Continue reading Review: Floating (Hoipolloi and World Stage) →

Review: Saint Carmen of the Main (Canadian Stage and National Arts Centre)

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By Sam Mooney

Saint Carmen of the Main - Canadian Stage

Michel Tremblay’s play, Saint Carmen of the Main, a co-production of Canadian Stage and National Arts Centre, opened last night at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto.

Michel Tremblay is a Canadian icon, one of those names that we recognize even if we don’t know his work.  The only other Tremblay play I’ve seen is For The Pleasure Of Seeing Her Again – a loving tribute to his mother that had me almost sobbing at times.  I’ve also read The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant, the fat woman being his mother.

I had read a couple of promo blurbs about Saint Carmen of the Main but other than that knew nothing about it. I was expecting a play with a feeling similar to For The Pleasure Of Seeing Her Again.  Other than both being set in Montreal the plays are not at all similar.

The most unexpected thing about Saint Carmen of the Main for me? It’s a classical tragedy, complete with chorus. A Greek tragedy set in Montreal and written in French.

Continue reading Review: Saint Carmen of the Main (Canadian Stage and National Arts Centre) →