The Jesus and Mary Chain strangely Canadian
Maybe we were wiping away our tears after burying Gord Downie. Or maybe we’re still rolling our eyeballs over cowering in the shadow of Trump as NAFTA negotiations evaporate. Or maybe we’re just resigned to a fate of frozen sphincters on those ice floes that millennials threaten will make for a fitting farewell to those […]
REVIEW: Testament of Mary one of the best
The small house where Mary was supposedly taken by the Apostle John after the Crucifixion sits on a mountaintop in Ephesus in Turkey. Irish Playwright Colm Toibin sets his play, The Testament of Mary, in this modest abode. She is now an embittered old woman. Recently, two men have been appearing at her door. One […]
REVIEW: Halloween Scream a place of belonging
The sidewalks along Jasper Avenue were alive on the night of Scream Edmonton – one of the biggest Halloween raves in Western Canada. The line-up for entry to the sold-out Shaw Conference Centre on Saturday night was long, and you could sense that everyone was preparing themselves for the night of their lives. The fans […]
Constellations a moving multiverse rom-com
The multiverse is a scientific theory that suggests the possibility of not just one universe – but many. They all exist at the same time. So if you’re reading a review about a play at this moment – in another universe you are running a marathon, or lying on a beach in Bali. These universes […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Depeche Mode the best mode
Someone recently posted on social media: “You wanna go to Depeche Mode?” “Depends what year it is,” went the response. “Is it 1989? Am I in college? Am I high on ecstasy? Was ecstasy even invented in 1989?” Or words to that effect. See, now this is the sort of shade a cult favourite like […]
CKUA announcer says he was ‘elbowed’ out
Peter North had to do an awkward band introduction recently. “This is the first time in 17 years I’m not announcing myself as ‘I’m Peter North from the CKUA Radio Network.’ I quit on Wednesday … Ladies and gentlemen, Russell deCarle!” Wait, what? The news quickly spread that one of Edmonton’s resident roots music experts […]
Rogers Waters the real Pink Floyd
It was an adorable but edgy piece of political theatre. A group of schoolkids from the Boys & Girls Club of Edmonton joined Roger Waters on stage at Rogers Place on Tuesday night to perform in Pink Floyd’s biggest hit – the one that goes, “We don’t need no education! We don’t need no thought […]
PLAYBILL: Mom tells her side of the story
We’ve read the Book of Job, perused the respective Gospels of Matthew, Luke, Peter, John, Paul, George and Ringo. But where is the woman’s voice in all this? What did Mother Mary have to say? She was there for the whole thing, after all. Cue The Testament of Mary, the stage adaptation of the Colm […]
REVIEW: Lilies bloom in gay opera
The list of successful Canadian operas is a short one indeed. It is a pleasure then to note the emergence of Les Feluettes (Lilies), a full-length, fleshed-out Canadian production in the grand opera tradition, a work that shows all the signs of becoming a major hit. This superlative production by Edmonton Opera at the Jubilee […]
Opera creator speaks of forbidden love
People who’ve never seen opera before are being drawn to Lilies (Les Feluettes) – maybe because it’s billed as “Canada’s first gay opera.” But in the upcoming Edmonton Opera production based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s 1987 play, the opera’s creator isn’t making a big deal about the gay thing. It’s an opera. As such, it […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Deep Waters runs still
One could easily, and most happily, write pages and pages about the career of Roger Waters, never mind his personal challenges and triumphs – but here is what you really need to know: He’s taking no prisoners on his edgy new tour US + Them, which lands at Rogers Place next Tuesday and Wednesday. Donald […]
REVIEW: Pop just the tip of de Burgh
Chris de Burgh doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. A lot of people tend to focus on his saccharine love songs of the ’80s, particularly Lady in Red – ignoring the fact he also has a proven track record of powerful songs about social issues, both present and past. But this wasn’t news to […]
