FRINGE: 2 SPOOKY TEEN plays
These kids today – with their “fire” and their “wheel.” There’s going to be trouble, mark my words. Mark them, I say! Many uniformed opinions have been offered about modern teenagers, but few people (some parents included) have taken the time and effort to truly understand what it means to be a kid today. Some […]
FRINGE: 4 plays about SEX
It used to be that a guy could grab a brewski and check out some gratuitous female nudity at the Fringe festival – and not have to think about what it meant. Not so much anymore. Times have changed. For the better! From harbouring “shameful” secrets, we are in a modern age of lively and […]
FRINGE: You can’t HANDEL this brilliant musical!
You may have seen a touching coming-out-of-the-closet tale at the Fringe – but never one like this. And you may have seen a Broadway show tune revue – but never one like this. Elegantly combined in Handel: The Musical! (Stage 16), the result is sublime. George Frederick Handel is arguably the most popular composer who […]
FRINGE: 2 ‘One Man’ parodies
When faced with the rash of “one man” plays at this year’s Fringe – that is, single actors attempting to render an entire popular movie or TV series in a comedic manner – a nagging question comes up: Do you have to be a diehard fan of the original material to fully appreciate its lampoon? […]
Actor literally breaks leg, has to cancel Fringe show
It’s all fun and games to say “break a leg” to an actor – until he actually breaks his leg. It happened to Reed McColm, who was to star in the one-man Glen Berger play Underneath the Lintel at Stage 14 – but it has been cancelled in the wake of his injury. “Break a […]
PLAYBOT: Foolish Foreigner fights Fringe!
What a bonehead move: A bigass high-production jukebox musical is plopping into Edmonton to compete with the opening weekend of the biggest theatre festival in the Americas – and on the same weekend as the classic rock festival, too! What were they thinking? Literally a jukebox musical called Jukebox Hero, based on the songs of […]
PLAYBOT: 30 mini Fringe reviews
A marvelous thing happened at the Fringe HQ today – 30 different theatre companies each presented one-minute scenes from their upcoming Fringe plays. At the end of the strictly-timed event – those going over getting “played off” by an air horn – tickets went on sale for the 37th annual theatre festival, Aug, 16-26 in […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: 4 folk fest acts expected to ROCK
You know how it is. You look forward to seeing a “buzz” act at the folk fest, perhaps a legend of folk music, or maybe one of these mighty famous new bands the kids today are into, what with their fancy “fire” and their “wheel.” But then it turns out he – or she or […]
PLAYBOT: 2 Amigos live for comedy
“When Marty and I fly together,” says Steve Martin of his friend Martin Short, “we save a lot of money because Marty fits conveniently in the overhead bin.” Short says, “You look like Anderson Cooper frozen to death on New Year’s Eve.” Steve plays his banjo and sings, “Let’s count the awards you have won: […]
Carmen in the Badlands a mammoth undertaking for one night at the opera
Opera buffs have seen La Traviata in Chez Pierre, heard Nessun Dorma in a subway station, Un Bel di Vedremoon from a flatbed truck, and a full-blown Pagliacci at the Coney Island amusement park. Now it is time for another grand opera from the adventurous Mercury Opera company – in a location to end all […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Give K-Days a break!
Citizens of Edmonton have been bitching for decades about K-Days and how it sucks your wallet dry. It does. In these modern times, a family of four can blow $300 easy – and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day but another Pikachu stuffie crusted with cotton candy and grime, […]
INTERVIEW: Nunavut singer inspired by #MeToo
Evidence that the #MeToo Movement has reached almost every corner of the globe can be found in Riit – aka Rita Claire Mike-Murphy, a recording artist from Panniqtuuq, Nunavut. The Baffin Island hamlet is closer to Iceland than to any major Canadian city. Music on Riit’s debut EP she accurately describes as “dreamy folk pop,” […]
