Archives

Family Tradition Reviewed by Vicki Stokes A sign of a great theatrical production is its sticking power: revisiting it in your mind the next day, the following week, or even years later. Some performances will never be forgotten. So where does Fiddler on the Roof stand? I know this one will stick for a long […]

A Lite Musical, Heavy on Talent Reviewed by Vicki Stokes How do you finally emerge from your nagging mother’s basement without getting a job? You enter a talent contest and rehearse your heart out! Having a run at the Drayton Festival Theatre last year, Drayton Entertainment has brought Sh-Boom! to the South Huron Stage at

Kicking off the Summer Side of Life in Petrolia Reviewed by Adam Hobbs Lake Superior is no lake at all. It is an inland sea and it has seen wrecks of several ships throughout the centuries, including the Edmund Fitzgerald. The sea of sound and emotion took me through a journey of Canadian legend, Gordon

Charming Canadian Crooner Reviewed by Sookie Mei The new show at the PSFT is not a play but a stylized concert, starring Jay Davis in a tribute to Canadian singer Michael Bublé.  The show also stars Neil Henry on guitar, Gord Mowat on bass, Matt Newton on piano, and Tim Shia on percussion.  This band

Beautiful Voices Sing Dear Rita’s Songs Reviewed by Mary Alderson Rita MacNeil was a great Canadian singer-songwriter and Cape Breton’s First Lady of Music. But did we really know anything about her?  In a new show, Dear Rita, A Musical Toast to Rita MacNeil, on stage with Tweed & Co., I learned that I knew

Losing at the Dating Game. Again. Reviewed by Mary Alderson Ironically, two happily married acting couples star in the dating game – Sarah Quick and James Barrett, Artistic Director and Artistic Producer at Globus Theatre, and well-known to the audiences as the pair that do everything. With them on stage are comedy power couple Lisa

The Ageless Love Story Returns to Stratford Reviewed by Mary Alderson The world’s best known love story and possibly Shakespeare’s best known work is back on Stratford’s Festival Theatre stage. Romeo and Juliet, the timeless love story, is making its return. You know the story: Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are “star-crossed lovers” who meet,

A Loving, But Unconventional Family Story Reviewed by Mary Alderson When a gay couple’s son wants to marry a girl, one man asks the other, “Where have we gone wrong?” That bit of reverse humour sets the tone for La Cage aux Folles, now playing on the Avon Theatre stage at the Stratford Festival. (Extended

An Astounding Study in Narcissism and Manipulation Reviewed by Mary Alderson The production of Hedda Gabler, now on stage at the Tom Patterson Theatre, is a newer view, from a recent translation. It is, to my eyes and ears, a study in narcissism. Hedda is a manipulative, power-hungry, controlling woman who even resorts to her

Strong and Interesting Casting Improves Cymbeline   Reviewed by Mary Alderson In this year’s Twelfth Night at Stratford Festival, two of the main characters have been changed from men to women. The same thing has been done in Cymbeline, now playing at the Tom Patterson Theatre. Cymbeline is a Queen rather than a King, and