REVIEW: Boatload of blarney, great music in new Newfoundland musical
With the astounding success of Come From Away – a musical about Newfoundlanders who took care of stranded travelers after 9-11 – it was just a question of time before another Newfoundland musical should heave into sight. The new work, with its sights set on Broadway (say the producers), has settled in for a four […]
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 […]
REVIEW: AIDS-era musical RENT holds up because it’s about the people
It was 20 years ago that RENT premiered on Broadway. Perhaps a couple of decades have blunted the musical’s ability to shock us – but it still is able to pack a considerable musical and emotional wallop. For a while, the musical was the longest running in Broadway history – 12 years. It won a […]
FRINGE 2019 HAT LINE: Street performers deserve our applause – and our money
So that’s it for the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. One more day. We’ve seen the 250 plays, give or take a play, gossiped about two different yet strangely related scandals (long story), and sampled fare from least three different curry stands. Now can we give a little love to our underrated and often poorly-treated […]
FRINGE 2019: Jesus battles Satan in convoluted adventure
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA: the remix Stage 35 (La Cite Francophone Theatre) Seattle’s innovative company Theatre Simple has been bringing challenging theatre to the Fringe for many years. Think Escher’s Hands and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Not just content to present original text, their work features imaginative movement and creativity and put their own unique […]
FRINGE 2019: The World’s Wife a dark, dangerous exploration of womankind
The World’s Wife Stage 8 (Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre) The World’s Wife is a three person play that takes the audience on a chaotic, tradition upending journey through history, mythology, fairytale and, well, real life. The work is adapted from a cycle of poems from Scottish poet Carol Anne Duffy’s wry book of the […]
FRINGE 2019: 3 more MASTERS
Crescendo! Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre) This Plain Jane Theatre (and Chorus Productions) show wins this year’s award for the most agreeable surprise. The premise, as outlined in the program, didn’t show great promise – but the result is one of the most genuinely enjoyable experiences of the week. Crescendo! is not only a new musical, […]
FRINGE 2019: Early David Mamet lacks impact of his later work
A Life In The Theatre Stage 29 (The Playhouse) David Mamet was just coming off a career as a failed actor in 1977 when we wrote A Life in the Theatre. It was a sardonic love letter to the theatre community, and a very young Mamet was just flexing his writing muscles. Later to come […]
FRINGE 2019: 2 dramatic DRAMAS
After Miss Julie Stage 22 (The Grindstone) It’s 1888, and that Swedish rascal August Strindberg has done it again. In his best naturalistic style, he’s written a play about a bored aristocratic young lady named Miss Julie, who goes searching for sexual adventure below stairs, and finds a ready accomplice with the well-travelled, cultured Jean, […]
FRINGE 2019: It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that SWING!
Swing Showcase Stage 18 (Sugar Swing Ballroom) Ah, the Fringe! At 258 shows, if you turn to the right you might enjoy one of a couple of burlesque shows. If you turn to the left – you might come up with Swing Showcase. Such was the case last year when we were pleasantly surprised by […]
FRINGE 2019: 2 amazing DANCE shows
Swipe Stage 4 (King Edward Elementary School) A few years back an inventive local dance company called Synaethesis Dance Theatre came up with a movement experience called Letters & Words. At its base, it was really a dance show but the company made it much more. It was a multimedia marvel – an immersing theatrical […]
FRINGE 2019: Field Zoology 101 lecture riddled with penis jokes
Field Zoology 101 Stage 37 (Auditorium at Campus Saint-Jean) Why has the world of science ignored the genius of zoologist and world adventurer Professor Bradley Q. Gooseberry? With his Tilly hat at a sober angle, his bony knees sticking out under his cargo shorts and his (suspicious) black mustache, he has set out on a […]
