Murder On The Orient Express At Drayton Entertainment Agatha Christie specialized in writing murder mysteries, the solutions of which invariably made me exclaim “Oh, gimme a break!” And none more so than Murder on the Orient Express whose denouement reaches monumental heights of improbability. Maybe that’s why it has become
Into The Woods At Drayton Entertainment Forty years after it debuted in 1986, Into The Woods is getting a crackerjack revival at Drayton Entertainment’s St. Jacobs Country Playhouse under the incisive eye of director/choreographer David Connolly. Add a superb cast, great sets, costumes, lighting, projections, and tastefully muted sound design
A Woman’s Love List At The Lighthouse Festival I saw A Woman’s Love List by Norm Foster last season at the Orillia Opera House and liked it quite a bit. This season I took friends to see a remount of the play, with a different cast and director, at the
Tao Of The World At The Stratford Festival Playwright-director Jovanni Sy, whose magisterial Salesman in China (co-written with Leanna Brodie) was the smash hit of the Stratford Festival’s 2024 season, is back with an intermittently funny bit of cultural appropriation called The Tao of the World, set in the world
Suzannah At Here For Now Theatre Suzannah, a meditation on the life of Henrik Ibsen’s wife, by Norwegian Nobel laureate Jon Fosse in a translation by Dr. May Brit Akerholt, is receiving a reverential production under the precise direction of Peter Hinton-Davis at Stratford’s Here For Now Theatre. Fosse presents
Saturday, Sunday, Monday At The Stratford Festival Among the many good things retiring Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has done during his nearly forty years at the Stratford Festival is championing the work of Italian playwright Eduardo de Filippo (1900-1984). His Saturday, Sunday, Monday from 1959 is receiving a resplendent production
The Hallelujah Girls At The New Theatre I ventured into deepest, darkest Overland Park, Kansas, to sample the fare at the New Theatre & Restaurant, a dinner theatre currently serving up The Hallelujah Girls starring Richard Karn, best known as second banana to Tim Allen in the 90s hit sitcom
Rhinoceros At The Yale Rep The Yale Rep is mounting a spirited revival of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist masterpiece Rhinoceros in a new adaptation by Frank Galati (from a translation by Derek Prouse) under the direction of Liz Diamond. Ionesco’s parable depicts a small French town whose residents are turning, one
English At Long Wharf Theatre English, the first play by Sanaz Toosi, comes to New Haven with impeccable credentials – a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 following its Off-Broadway debut in 2022 and then a Broadway remount in 2025. Even though English is now getting a solid production at Long Wharf’s
A Christmas Carol at KCRep Having just seen two modern Canadian adaptations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Blyth Festival and the Foster Festival, I found it fascinating to take in a good, old-fashioned production of the perennial holiday favourite in Kansas City, Missouri. The KCRep is one of
Spunk at Yale Rep The Yale Rep in New Haven, Connecticut, has unearthed a treasure in Zora Neale Hurston’s exuberant 1935 play with music, Spunk. It was never produced and lay forgotten before being rediscovered in the Library of Congress in 1997. Refurbished and lovingly fleshed out with new songs
Make England Great Again Upstairs At The Gatehouse Scathing political satire seems to be in short supply on North American stages (if I’m wrong, please correct me in the Comments), but thanks to Francis Beckett’s perfectly timed Make England Great Again it’s alive and well in London. Make England Great
Will The American Theatre Community Support Canada? What, if anything, is the American theatre community doing to support Canada in its existential struggle with the madman in the White House? What if every theatre company in the country programmed at least one Canadian play? There are a lot of great
Stratford Casting 2027 The Stratford Festival has announced casting for its 2027 season a scant eleven days before tickets go on sale to members. While you are sharpening your pencils and before I pass you on to the official details, allow me a few observations. Stephen Ouimette returns after a
Stratford’s 2027 Season The Stratford Festival has announced its 2027 season. Here’s what we know so far: Festival Theatre Mary Poppins – April 29 to November 6 – Vanessa Sears stars as Mary. Directed by Jonathan O’Boyle and Stephen Mear. Chicago – May 24 to November 7 – A remount
Looking Ahead To The 2027 Season So what joys does the 2027 season have in store? The crystal ball is still a bit hazy with only a few companies announcing their 2027 seasons. Here’s what we know so far. The Shaw Festival The Shaw Festival’s 2027 season should prove to
Chong Is Wrong Joshua Chong, the Toronto Star’s chief theatre critic, recently wrote a think piece with the headline “Canada must not freeze out American artists as Donald Trump attacks cultural institutions.” It was written in response to the “scores” of letters and comments he has received from people who
It’s Not A Cult, It’s A Salon Recently, I spent a fascinating evening at The Leonor and the memory has been haunting me ever since. The occasion was a reading of a work in progress by Canadian actress and, yes, superstar, Chilina Kennedy. The piece she is developing with the
