Glory at Drayton Entertainment — A Review
Glory at Drayton Entertainment As an American visitor to Canada and an inveterate theatergoer, I take great pleasure in seeing plays and visiting theaters that few visitors manage to discover. In the process, I often see plays that don’t seem to have any real equivalents south of the border. (No, not that border!) A case […]
The Penelopiad at the Grand Theatre – A Review
The Penelopiad at the Grand Theatre Blame The Handmaid’s Tale. With the popularity of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian tale of a toxic patriarchy there is a temptation to view all her work as feminist screed. Never mind that Atwood herself rejects that label, the zeitgeist will not be denied. It is to director Megan Follows’ credit […]
The Drowsy Chaperone at St Jacobs: A Review
The Drowsy Chaperone at St Jacobs St Jacobs, Ontario, is known for its Farmers Market and its antiques, but it also boasts a small gem of a theater. The current show at the St Jacobs Country Playhouse (through April 15, 2018) is The Drowsy Chaperone and it’s a winner. With a book by Bob Martin […]
Lear at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto – A Review
Lear at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto Director Graham Abbey and his Groundling Theatre Company continue their gender bending ways with Lear, starring Seana McKenna, which drops the King from William Shakespeare’s title and presents the tragic monarch as a woman. The results are mixed. Once again, Abbey proves himself a masterful interpreter of Shakespeare. The […]
Four Christmas Carols
Four Christmas Carols How do two Americans keep themselves occupied when visiting Canada during the deepening cold of early December? Why take in four very different versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol of course. The initial plan was to see just one, but…well, you know how these things go. First up was our original […]
Angels in America’at KC Rep – A Review
Angels in America at KC Rep Tony Kushner’s two-part Angels in America is receiving a sturdy revival at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s downtown Copaken Stage. This sprawling two-part epic, subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, is at turns surreal, whimsical, hallucinatory, bitchily funny, poetic, brutally blunt, and ultimately quite moving.
Shaw Festival 2014
Shaw Festival 2014 The picture-postcard-perfect town of Niagara-on-the-Lake was abuzz with shoppers and theatergoers when we arrived on a resplendent summer day for Shaw Festival 2014. You could be very happy just strolling the streets of this upscale village, admiring homes straight out of a glossy magazine, or shopping in the chic boutiques, or dining […]
A Review: Psst! Feelthy Acrobats — Absinthe in Las Vegas
Absinthe in Las Vegas LAS VEGAS, NV – Everyone loves acrobats but not everyone will have a tolerance for the non-stop, filthy, vile, obscene, and often very funny patter that accompanies them in this sui generis offering on the Vegas Strip. Absinthe is housed in what looks like a temporary storage shed in a courtyard […]
A Review: ‘Love,’ Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles Show at the Mirage, Las Vegas
‘Love,’ Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles Show LAS VEGAS, NV – I entered with high expectations but, alas, I found myself merely in like with Love, Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles show. Cirque du Soleil’s high-powered homage to the Fab Four is chock full of Cirque’s trademark glitz and over-the-top surreal creativity but oddly lacking in the […]
Craving For Travel Off Broadway: A Review
Craving For Travel Off Broadway There are plenty of laughs for everyone in Craving For Travel, the delightful comedy at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on New York’s Theater Row, but travel agents will take special delight in the savvy inside jokes that lay bare the hidden aspects of the profession. Co-writers Greg Edwards and […]