Friendship and Opinion Art, currently on stage at St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, could simply be a play about art appreciation.  But in fact, it’s a play about disagreements among friends.  Must a difference of opinion mean the end of a friendship?  In today’s Trump era, it seems as if friendships come to an end if […]

A Gentle, Touching Story of What Might Have Been Normally we go to theatre to see heartwarming, uplifting stories that unfold before our eyes.  The Band’s Visit is a poignant tale, but it’s more about what might have been, than what we see happening on stage.  On Broadway, this show was nominated for 11 Tony […]

The Crucible’s Message is Missed   Arthur Miller’s works may be having a little revival here in southwestern Ontario.  In 2016, Stratford Festival offered a brilliant production of All My Sons in the old Tom Patterson Theatre, a gut-wrenching lesson in greed.  In 2017, Drayton Entertainment produced an equally powerful Death of a Salesman at […]

Inside the Press Room at the Courthouse The more things change, the more they stay the same.  As we approach 2020, we are concerned about corrupt politicians and fake news.  About 100 years ago, it was the same – unethical politicians lining their pockets and sensationalized news. The Front Page, now on stage at the […]

There’s Still Magic in the Updated Brigadoon The Legend of Brigadoon lives on in the Shaw Festival’s current production.  Brigadoon retains its magic as the village in Scotland that disappears into the misty moors, and only reappears once every hundred years. The disappearing village is actually a German myth and originally the creators, Lerner and […]

Are the Merry Wives the Real Housewives?    The Merry Wives of Windsor, currently on stage at Stratford’s Festival Theatre, takes us back to the good old days of the 1950s when kids played outdoors all day, Mom was always at home being a good wife, and Dad was the sensible bread winner.  You know, […]

Little Shop of Horrors Provides More Laughs than Horror!   Following on the fantastic popularity of The Rocky Horror Show on the Avon stage last year, Stratford Festival plans to attract the same crowd with another horror musical.  They should be successful because this production of Little Shop of Horrors is presented with the same […]

Not-So-Private Love-Hate Relationship    Quick thrusts of witty dialogue and knock-down drag-out fights are the hallmarks of Private Lives.  Noel Coward’s 1930 epic battle-of-the-sexes has opened at the Avon Theatre as part of the Stratford Festival’s 2019 line-up. Elyot and Amanda were once married to each other, but when the show opens they have been […]

Billy Elliot The Musical: A Perfect Blend of Laughter and Tears    From laughing out loud at hilarious instances, to tears flowing in heartbreaking moments, the audience at Stratford Festival’s Billy Elliot The Musical is taken on an emotional ride through a little mining town in northern England to the big city of London.  Billy […]

Iago and the Great Manipulation   Iago is a nasty manipulator in the latest production of Othello, which just opened in Stratford on the Festival stage.  Gordon S. Miller’s hate-filled Iago portrays him as an ordinary man who becomes the puppet master, pulling everyone’s strings, unfolding his evil plans. Othello is a Moor (a black […]