Ah, Romance! welcome as spring breeze
“In spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love,” burbled Tennyson in 1835. Apparently, so does the fancy of Edmonton’s accomplished Plain Jane Theatre Company, whose latest offering Ah, Romance! A Revue of Song, Dance and Other Passionate Musings, is on stage at the Varscona Theatre until Feb. 25. The Plain Janes, […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Billy Talent braves the Shaw
Something has to be done about the horrible sound in the Shaw Conference Centre. It hurts the ears, and more importantly, it hurts the bands that hurt the ears. Unless they have a good soundman, a rock band that likes to play loud can sound like a wall of mud. The kick drum echoes off […]
Garth Brooks moves to Edmonton
Garth Brooks loves to be on top. Just ask him. He’s moving to Edmonton – temporarily – taking up a nine-show residence in Rogers Place starting Friday, Feb. 17. Drinking game! Chug a beer for every Garth Brooks sighting around town. No one has ever done nine shows in a row at our hockey arena […]
REVIEW: Kinky Boots a really good shoe
Back in 1983, a punk princess in goofy makeup, bargain basement wardrobe and disordered hairdo told the world that Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The world listened. Cyndi Lauper’s music and fizzy personality was bright, happy and upbeat. She became the queen of the newly emerging MTV, went on to reign in every nook of […]
Jazz marries classical in Obsessions
So a string quartet and a jazz combo walk into a bar, hit it off, fall in love, and spend the rest of their lives making beautiful music together. It happened almost exactly like that for the Obsessions Octet, a uniquely original Edmonton group playing the release for its third CD, Steppin’ Up, Thursday at […]
PLAYBILL: Let’s talk about love
There have been more love songs on the subject of love than any other self-referencing genre, such as rock ‘n’ roll songs about rock ‘n’ roll, or dance songs about dancing – although “love” is technically not a musical genre, so never mind. OK: There are more love songs than any other kind of song. […]
Detective farce a riot at Mayfield
We’re going to get quite a bit of Ken Ludwig in Edmonton in the next while. On March 4, the Citadel opens his Gershwin musical, Crazy For You – and in the meantime, until April 2, fans can see his comic take on the sleuth of 221B Baker Street at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre: Baskerville, […]
Bust hits close to home for Theatre Network
For a company dedicated to presenting local productions, it’s hard to imagine a more Albertan show than Theatre Network’s current offering, Bust. At the Roxy on Gateway until Feb. 26, Matthew MacKenzie’s play takes place in Fort McMurray just after the great fire in May of 2016. It features two couples trying to cope with […]
Everybody Footloose in marvelous MacEwan musical
Sorry, all of you who fondly remember the 1984 film Footloose as a quintessential part of your teen years – it really wasn’t much of a movie. No one expected much from it. And who was this kid, Kevin Bacon, anyway? Anyone who knew about those things was surprised when a whole generation of restless […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Hoyer homecoming
Unless you’re Blue Rodeo, big acts seem reluctant to schedule tours at this time of year, especially through our part of the country in what is supposed to be the depths of winter. So while it’s a pretty light weekend star-wise, there’s a little bit of everything going on somewhere: Reggae, some metal, some hip […]
Edmonton folk singer on a roll
Maria Dunn will use some of the $8,000 she won for the Edmonton Music Prize to travel to Ottawa in April for the Juno Awards – where her album Gathering is nominated for Traditional Roots Album of the Year. “It warms my heart,” Dunn says of the recent double honour, and this is no faint […]
