They’re Back and Better than Ever! Reviewed by Mary Alderson My eyes filled with tears the second the actors came on stage. It was like catching up with old friends. And it only gets better from that moment. If you haven’t seen Come From Away, you must! If you have seen it, I guarantee you will […]
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An 1840s Mockery of the Upper Crust Reviewed by Mary Alderson London Assurance, now on the Festival stage in Stratford, is a delightful romp, which has great fun pointing out the foibles of the upper class. Or maybe they are upper class only in their own minds. Written by Dion Boucicault, and Anglo-Irishman, in 1841,
Not Lost in Translation Reviewed by Mary Alderson It seemed like such an unlikely choice. A Chinese actor asked Arthur Miller to come to China to direct Death of a Salesman in Chinese in 1983. Now a new play about that project is on the Avon stage at the Stratford Festival: Salesman in China. Miller’s
The Beautiful Version of Pygmalion Reviewed by Mary Alderson Eliza Doolittle has returned to the stage at the Shaw Festival, just where she belongs. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady is a glorious treatment of Shaw’s 1912 play. It will be running until the Christmas season at the Shaw
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Whimsy and Delight Temper a Harsh Dose of Victorian Reality Reviewed by Mary Alderson The Secret Garden is set at the end of the Victorian era, as the Edwardian era was beginning. It was a time when the saying “Children should be seen and not heard” was widely used. Parents felt no responsibility in raising
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,
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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
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Love or Hate Shakespeare? Love or Hate Musicals? See Something Rotten! Reviewed by Mary Alderson Something Rotten! is the perfect show for the Stratford Festival. (Extended to November 18, 2024.) It mocks Shakespeare and musicals, ridiculing them both equally, proving there’s something for everyone. Despite poking fun at musicals, the dancing and singing are amazing.
What You Will Gets You What You Want Reviewed by Mary Alderson Apparently, someone in Shakespeare’s time considered Twelfth Night a Christmas show – although there is no obvious reason why. But that’s how the name Twelfth Night came to be. It was traditionally shown on the twelfth day of Christmas, which was a time
