THEATRE: Gordon the bleakest of black comedy
Director Bradley Moss’ production of Morris Panych’s play Gordon is billed as a black comedy – but might be called a bleak comedy because they don’t get much bleaker. Gordon is not for the faint of heart. It’s full of violence, both implied and real, awash in profanity with sudden death just a faltering heartbeat […]
REVIEW: ELOPE tackles City of Angels
For 33 years ELOPE (Ensemble for Lyrical Operetta Productions Edmonton) has been presenting musical entertainments for Edmonton audiences. They are not a professional or even semi-professional troupe. They come completely out of the community and represent an opportunity for those who might not find it elsewhere to plant their feet on a stage and sing. […]
REVIEW: Annie old, not tired
You might be thinking that the Broadway Across Canada production of Annie currently at the Jubilee Auditorium might be a little old and tired. You might think that in Edmonton, near the end of its long run of road shows, the cast might be phoning it in. Well, it doesn’t take more than 20 seconds […]
REVIEW: West Side Story a vibrant revival
Back in 2005 when director Bob Baker brought his superlative production of West Side Story to the Citadel there was a feeling of it being “unfinished” – the run ended too soon. Audiences were clamouring for tickets – the performers certainly felt they had more to offer. But it was a co-production with a Calgary […]
REVIEW: Hair a joyful 1960s revival
The 1960s were the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius” – Aquarius being the sixth sign of the zodiac. Society was in ferment, hippies were in the streets, the sexual revolution was upon us, the Vietnam war was polarizing American society – and Hair was on Broadway. Audiences both loved it (“…sloppy, vulgar and terrific”) […]
REVIEW: Shumka tells uplifting tale
In their first years in the early 1960s Edmonton’s Ukrainian Shumka Dancers were known for their bucolic rural dances, colourful costumes, broad folksy humour and their signature hyper-athletic style of dance. But the company’s ambitions reached far beyond that. They expanded their horizons by pushing forward the art of ethnic dance. They fused ballet and […]
Hateful men drive Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Playwright David Mamet hit the American theatre scene in the early 1980s with the brutal impact of a clenched fist in the gut. He did not write plays about delicate family dynamics or tender romance. His world was a savage one filled with rage and confrontation. The intensity of his colourful, lean, paint-peeling language at […]
Fractured fairy tale comes to life in concert
Into The Woods opened Thursday night at the Winspear Centre – and it’s much more than just a concert based on Stephen Sondheim’s 1987 musical of cracked fairy tales. The production comes from Edmonton’s enterprising Two ONE-WAY Tickets To Broadway company, a semi-professional troupe (which allows them to mix paid with the unpaid) with a […]
REVIEW: Plain Jane shines up Noel Coward
Sir Noel Coward enjoyed a career that extended over five decades. He penned many plays that are still performed today including Hay Fever and Blithe Spirit. He wrote poetry and was regarded as the wittiest man of his age. His contribution to popular culture was enormous. His Vegas act was a smash. And he traveled […]
REVIEW: Alice a psychedelic, hilarious trip
Alice Through the Looking-Glass explodes onto the Citadel Theatre stage with an all-Edmonton cast – all 15 of them – and the exuberance of an eight-year-old on a sugar high. Director Jillian Keiley and Edmonton designer Bretta Gerecke have dug deeply into their inner urchins and come up with a visually fantastic universe, based on […]
REVIEW: The wonderful Wizard of Oz
There is no way of escaping the infernal ear worm music of The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 MGM Technicolor extravaganza featured words and music from Harold Arlen and “Yip” Harburg and the songs have woven themselves into the fabric of our lives. If things are difficult we Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the […]
Fringe festival stuck with star system
Fringe artists hate the star rating system – and they love the star rating system. Is it time to get rid of it? Fringe artists recently replied, “Yes … but no!” Rest assured that any thespian bestowed a four or five-star review from one of the area print publications will be out there at the […]
