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The Hills are Alive The Sound of Music can be a daunting production to mount — it’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most familiar musical. Everyone knows story: a carefree, young nun is sent to be governess to the seven children of a very strict navy captain in Austria. She teaches the children how to sing, and […]

Playing that Silver Ball There was plenty of buzz in the audience for Tommy at Stratford’s Avon Theatre on opening night. Pete Townshend (The Who) and Randy Bachman (The Guess Who), both guitarists extraordinaire, were in the audience. Then the orchestra hits that first loud note of the rock opera, the buzz ends, and the

The Perfect Musical, Presented Perfectly  (Extended to Oct. 27) Fiddler on the Roof is the perfect musical, and Stratford Festival has presented it perfectly to mark its 2013 season. The story of Fiddler on the Roof, based on the memoirs of Sholem Aleichem, transcends all cultures. The lives of the Russians and Jews in 1905

A Time-Warped Romeo & Juliet In 1992, I took a reluctant group of young women, students in a Communications class I was teaching at the now-defunct Centralia College, to see Romeo and Juliet at Stratford Festival. Antoni Cimolino, currently Artistic Director at Stratford, was the handsome young Romeo, and Megan Porter Follows, of the movie

The Show Created for the Talent Fiddler on the Loose is billed as “Country, Celtic and a Dash of Classical” – and yes, it’s all that and more. They could have added Broadway, jazz, and comedy. With regards to other musical revues, I’ve said in the past “There’s something for everyone” but in Fiddler on

Rolling the Dice with Guys and Dolls The action begins in Guys and Dolls with a plethora of characters moving around the stage in all directions. You don’t know where to look first – the bum drinking out of his flask hidden in a paper bag? The bobby-soxers giggling? The lady tossing her fur stole

These Dancers ARE the Stars! If you are sitting at home watching Dancing with the Stars on TV, shame on you! Get off the couch right now, and go to the Grand in London to see Dance Legends. It is so much better! This is a high energy show, with thrilling choreography, guaranteed to impress

Changing Traditions… Fiddler on the Roof is a show for singers and Stage West’s current production is well cast with amazing voices. George Masswohl is the quintessential Tevye: He has the rich full voice to sing the favourite songs, such as Tradition and If I were a Rich Man. He has the look, and portrays

Follow the Yellow Brick Road… Promoted by the TV reality show and with an updated script, The Wizard of Oz has shaken off its 1939 look and moved into the new millennium. Even some of the old dialogue has been modernized with new jokes and puns. Since its opening earlier this year at the Ed

For Crying Out Loud – You’ll Laugh Out Loud Back in the 1990s a group of actresses got together when they became new moms. Like most new mothers, they were exhausted, frustrated and feeling overwhelmed. They decided to write about their experiences, and these short stories evolved into a play – a series of vignettes