Laughter of Recognition The laughter echoed throughout the sold-out house as Victoria Playhouse Petrolia marked its 2014 season opener with Church Basement Ladies. And it is laughter of recognition, whether the audience has memories of cooking in a church basement in the sixties, or feels the discomfort of hot flashes today. The Church Basement Ladies […]
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Altruism to the Extreme The laughs are many as the Shaw Festival stages The Charity that Began at Home: A Comedy for Philanthropists. An early 1900 comedy, it has retained its humour, thanks to this superior cast. Lady Dennison and her daughter, Margery, are just too nice. When a self-styled reverend tells them that they
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Maybe This Time… Deborah Hay as Sally Bowles is a brilliant light shining in this otherwise very dark production of Cabaret, on stage this season at the Shaw Festival. Hayes has captured Sally completely, and in doing so, captivated the audience. Her rendition of “Maybe This Time” is so convincing that you believe she really
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When Oil & Water Mix When introducing Oil and Water on opening night, the Grand’s artistic director Susan Ferley described it as “profound, playful, powerful”. As the true story of a disaster off the coast of Newfoundland it is profound. When the results of this disaster turned into something very positive, this play is powerful.
It’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! After seeing the movie “Saving Mr. Banks”, one has a new take on the story of Mary Poppins. The movie is about the life of P. L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins book series. It offers insight into the battle she had with Walt Disney when the popular movie musical was
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How Do You Spell F-U-N-N-Y? If you’ve never seen an actual spelling bee, especially those leading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the U.S., then you probably won’t ‘get’ The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, now playing at London’s Grand Theatre. In Canada, we don’t take our spelling bees quite as seriously and
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Rose’s Turn The production of Gypsy, now on stage at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, is indeed Rose’s turn. Canada’s own Louise Pitre commands the stage as Rose with such passion that there is no doubt she means it when she says “With what I got in me, I could have been better than any of
Comedy Turns Dark in Immigrant Story The Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago has a reputation for sending its best works to Broadway, so I was excited about the opportunity to visit it recently. We saw the play Russian Transport, and it didn’t disappoint. Sometimes I find dysfunctional family dramas, especially those with a lot of yelling,
Fascinating Story presented by Amazing Actor Two Canadian greats rolled into one – Kyle Blair, one of Canada’s best musical theatre actors portraying Billy Bishop, one of Canada’s greatest war heroes. Now on stage at the McManus Theatre (downstairs at London’s Grand Theatre) Billy Bishop Goes to War is an excellent evening of entertainment produced
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No Fun in Dysfunctional Other Desert Cities strange tale similar in style to the great studies of dysfunctional families – it’s a modern version of O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey into Night, or Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The production, currently on stage at London’s Grand Theatre, is an interesting study in family dynamics. It’s
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