Hadestown one HELL of a musical
The first thing you see when you enter the theatre is a vast empty space with a huge bleached tree reaching out with leafless arms. Winter’s coming. It’s a powerful invitation and a warning of the wonders and dangers that are to come in the new musical Hadestown. It’s a simple enough start to a […]
Mayfield’s ‘80s sequel a riot of gnarly fun
The 1980s decade was not the best of times. Following just after the cultural explosion of the ‘60s, it brought us bad hair, gay bashing, Margaret Thatcher and AIDS. But after the astonishing success of the musical revue Back to the ’80s in 2015, the Mayfield Dinner Theatre has deemed to go back to the […]
Jabberwocky a union made in puppet heaven
Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The Jaws that bite, the claws that catch! So warned Lewis Carroll back in 1871 in his famous nonsense poem in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. But, by all means, don’t take the author literally when it comes to the latest puppet show from Calgary’s Old Trout […]
REVIEW: John Ware gets the story he deserves
John Ware was the most famous Alberta hero you’ve never heard of – and the subject of a remarkable new play by Calgary playwright Cheryl Foggo. John Ware Reimagined is an absorbing and ultimately touching production from Edmonton’s Workshop West (from the original 2014 Ellipsis Tree Collective production in Calgary). It plays until Nov. 19 […]
PLAYBILL: John Ware comes to life
Not much is known about the life of John Ware – which of course means it’s open season for curious biographical playwrights. As long as their poetic license is up to date with not too many demerits. The record of Calgarian playwright Cheryl Foggo appears to be clean, and her celebrated play John Ware Reimagined […]
PLAYBILL: Sing, Little Women!
It would be interesting to go back in time and tell Louisa May Alcott that her coming-of-age novel Little Women would one day be made into a musical. Indeed, this would be the best use of a time machine. “Prithy, sir, what is this ‘musical’ of which you speak?” the Victorian authoress might’ve replied. So […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
PLAYBILL: Get out – while you can!
That’s “get out,” as in “get out and see some live theatre, ya lazy bums!” And that’s “lazy bums” with present company excepted. Didn’t mean to scare you. It being Halloweeny season and all, it’s worth checking out a spooky tale being spun by Catch the Keys Productions at Fort Edmonton Park – verily one […]
