REVIEW: Million Dollar Quartet a superb show from the supergroup that never was
On December 4, 1956, four great rockabilly artists met in Sam Phillips’ primitive Sun Recording Studios in Memphis. Two of the four, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, were there laying down a recording under Phillips’ direction. Johnny Cash dropped in, as did Elvis, who by that time was becoming one of the top acts […]
Can’t Stand the Rain – Folk Fest 40 a wrap!
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is one of those pivotal summer events that signal a forthcoming change in season. First comes the Folk Fest, shortly followed by the Fringe, and then the coming of First Winter. While the temperatures were definitely below average for August, the music in Gallagher Park certainly kept things hot. The […]
REVIEW: Carmen gets a gritty makeover in Mercury Opera production
The last time I was at Chez Pierre, about 25 years ago, I covered a mud wrestling match between two female behemoths. The venerable Edmonton institution was founded by a gentle, cultured Belgian fellow named Pierre Couchard. The club was the first in Edmonton to go topless (and then bottomless), introduce male nudity, stage the […]
Interstellar Rodeo: Consistent in Musical Diversity
Interstellar Rodeo always presents a diverse lineup that pushes boundaries of musical genres – and the comfort levels of the audience. And, for the second year in a row, the festival was subject to the whimsy of the unstable Alberta weather. With the kind of “summer” we’ve been having, that part really came as no […]
REVIEW: RING OF FIRE: The Music of Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was born in a shack in Arkansas and grew up on a hardscrabble farm. He started his career as a rockabilly singer in Memphis but from then on followed a path that was all his own. He defiantly turned his back on the growing glitz of what was called “country” music to join […]
Teatro la Quindicina embraces The Bad Seed
Rhoda Penmark is the perfect child. She’s 8 years old and the ideal 50’s realization of what ’30’s movie moppet Shirley Temple might have been in those times. She’s modest, intelligent, sweet, loving and with her perfect braids and freshly pressed dresses, she is a proper daughter for her loving parents. At school she gets […]
REVIEW: Cher turns back a LOT of time in Edmonton
Among my late mother’s LP collection is Cher’s 1966 self-titled album. As a kid, I would stare at the album cover, mesmerized by this dark-haired woman who looked both exotic and mysterious. The album was produced by her then-husband and collaborator Sonny Bono, and was largely folk-influenced. My mom was a big fan of ‘60s […]
REVIEW: Alessia Cara inspires little girls in Edmonton
Security sure had their hands full at the Alessia Cara concert in Edmonton on Wednesday night. What a tough crowd. Once the 22-year-old star started high-fiving and clasping hands with all the girls in the front row of the Jubilee Auditorium, everyone wanted a piece of her. Moms carried up their little ones to get […]
REVIEW: Literary mash-up a farce to be reckoned with at the Varscona Theatre
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a 2012 comedy written by Christopher Durang. His playful sense of humour can be seen in such hits as Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Beyond Therapy and The Idiot Karamazov. He also has written serious plays on child abuse, Roman Catholic dogma and homosexuality. […]
The Empress and the Prime Minister a gripping gay docu-drama
Darrin Hagen refuses to be catalogued. The actor, playwright, sound designer, composer and director has energized our theatre scene since his first play The Edmonton Queen premiered at the 1996 Fringe. Although he may be associated with gay theatre, his subject matters have ranged through a bewildering number of topics – and along the way […]
Slight of Mind takes flight of fancy at the Citadel – just not in a theatre
A couple of years back when current Artistic Director Daryl Cloran first arrived at the Citadel, he kept getting lost. Joe Shoctor’s big brick playhouse had empty rooms, long hallways and all sorts of dark nooks and crannies. Never one to let a theatrical idea go to waste, Cloran searched for a vehicle that would […]
THEATRE PEOPLE: Jesse Lipscombe running race
Jesse Lipscombe is perfect for the Citadel Theatre’s latest madcap adventure – two political comedies running simultaneously in two different theatres inside the building, one in the Maclab, one in The Club on the third floor, with the same characters played by the same actors – who have to literally run up and down the […]
