Romeo and Juliet jazzed up in the park
Those two lovestruck teenagers are at it again out there under the moon – which is this time hung over Hawrelak Park for a zesty, stripped-down production of Romeo and Juliet. It’s part of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival until July 16. We are told that this is the third most popular of Shakespeare’s plays and […]
James Taylor’s got a friend in Edmonton
If an artist can ruin his music by acting like an ass – we’re looking at you, Kanye – would it follow that good conduct could actually improve an artist’s music? It’s all very subjective and personal, of course, but it’s worth thinking about. Think about the easy listening legend James Taylor, who donated proceeds […]
Varscona Theatre REBORN!
A packed house of enthusiastic friends and supporters helped raise the curtain on Edmonton’s newest theatre on Saturday night – the new Varscona. The curtain is more than a metaphor. For the first time in its history the Varscona actually has a curtain – a large, voluptuous wine coloured velvet drape that splits apart to […]
Selena Gomez a star above her music
In a world of love songs about love and dance songs about dancing, Selena Gomez is a pop star about being a pop star. They spent a lot of money and energy making her look great at Rexall Place Monday night – more effort than was spent on the songs themselves, so great was the […]
REVIEW: West Side Story a vibrant revival
Back in 2005 when director Bob Baker brought his superlative production of West Side Story to the Citadel there was a feeling of it being “unfinished” – the run ended too soon. Audiences were clamouring for tickets – the performers certainly felt they had more to offer. But it was a co-production with a Calgary […]
REVIEW: Hair a joyful 1960s revival
The 1960s were the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius” – Aquarius being the sixth sign of the zodiac. Society was in ferment, hippies were in the streets, the sexual revolution was upon us, the Vietnam war was polarizing American society – and Hair was on Broadway. Audiences both loved it (“…sloppy, vulgar and terrific”) […]
REVIEW: Shumka tells uplifting tale
In their first years in the early 1960s Edmonton’s Ukrainian Shumka Dancers were known for their bucolic rural dances, colourful costumes, broad folksy humour and their signature hyper-athletic style of dance. But the company’s ambitions reached far beyond that. They expanded their horizons by pushing forward the art of ethnic dance. They fused ballet and […]
Hateful men drive Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Playwright David Mamet hit the American theatre scene in the early 1980s with the brutal impact of a clenched fist in the gut. He did not write plays about delicate family dynamics or tender romance. His world was a savage one filled with rage and confrontation. The intensity of his colourful, lean, paint-peeling language at […]
Juno Awards celebrate star power
If you were Rip Van Winkle and sealed in a time capsule for the last 20 years, you might find the Juno Awards a bit different than you remember. More star power. Jann Arden is still there – but she’s the host! A competent host she was, too, at the show from her hometown Calgary […]
REVIEW: Alice a psychedelic, hilarious trip
Alice Through the Looking-Glass explodes onto the Citadel Theatre stage with an all-Edmonton cast – all 15 of them – and the exuberance of an eight-year-old on a sugar high. Director Jillian Keiley and Edmonton designer Bretta Gerecke have dug deeply into their inner urchins and come up with a visually fantastic universe, based on […]
10 Edmonton Bands Pushing the Envelope
The Top-10 list is a little different this year. Rather than extolling the virtues of the best albums, we’re tackling a list of a different sort – the who’s who of the Edmonton scene that’s pushing the limits of normal, tackling the experimental and laying down glorious chaos for the rest of us to follow. […]
Wacken 3D doc exposes joy of metal
Watching the film Wacken 3D: Louder Than Hell is the next best thing to being at the German metal festival. With less mud. Not that you could get in anyway. Ha, ha, nein. The 2016 edition of Wacken Open Air is already sold out (you can get on a waiting list), expected to bring around […]
