Experimental reality show at the Citadel reveals our true selves – and it’s not pretty
It’s Fight Night – and we’ve been conditioned to expect what comes next. It’s a boxing match. There’s a ring. A pool of light. A mic drops down from the darkness and a droll soft-spoken dude in a suit and bow tie announces the battle to come. What follows seems to be a random series […]
REVIEW: Richard III feels like Trump I
If ever a play was written for our times it is Shakespeare’s Richard III – even if it was penned in 1593. Now is a time when global politics seems to be sliding deeper into cynicism and gaslighting. “Don’t believe what you’re seeing and hearing – just believe ME!” This production is another in a […]
REVIEW: Taj Express a bombastic bonafide Bollywood bonanza!
Last year, India’s Bollywood film industry sold more tickets than Hollywood. The plots of these films are as thin as a Bombay fakir but are tricked out in massive production numbers featuring a combination of traditional and modern elements. The films tend not to take themselves seriously, are self-aware, funny, bright and entertaining. Because of […]
REVIEW: Silent Sky Showcases Struggles of the Sisters of Science
They even have a name for it. It’s called the “Matilda Effect” – coined in 2013 in a report stating that scientific research papers by men were regarded as stronger than those by women. The long, sad story of women in science who were ignored, had their findings stolen by others (physicist Lise Meitner) or […]
REVIEW: Ditzy old Lemoine sparkles with fresh cast
Playwright Stewart Lemoine writes in many genres. He has penned funny plays that say something about human relationships, and funny plays that have nothing but entertaining us on their ditzy little minds, plus everything in between. Vidalia, an older work last seen here in 2002 and remounted at the Varscona Theatre until Oct. 12, squarely […]
REVIEW: The Color Purple gets superb treatment it deserves at the Citadel
When I first saw the Broadway production of The Color Purple adapted from Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning best seller, I was unimpressed. As is often the way with Broadway, when they get their hands on an intimate story they produce the living daylights out of it. Walker’s tale is certainly a decade-spanning epic but […]
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: 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, […]
