Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:27 AM EDT
Alberta Theatre Projects to stage new Hawksley Workman musical
Hawksley Workman has written "a concept album for the stage" that will premiere in Calgary next winter, Alberta Theatre Projects announced Monday.
Described as a contemporary take on The Bacchae, The God That Comes is the first work of musical theatre from the Juno-winning singer-songwriter known for his theatrical flare. It is co-created by acclaimed director Christian Barry from Halifax's 2b Theatre.
The God That Comes will be part of ATP's Enbridge playRites Festival along with three other new works: Siminovitch-winning playwright Joan MacLeod's latest, What to Expect; Darrah Teitel's indie hit about sex and Mary Shelley, The Apology; and Jonathan Garfinkel and Christopher Morris's long-in-gestation Petawawa, an international collaboration about the conflict in Afghanistan.
Alberta Theatre Projects revealed the rest of its 2012 - 2013 season along with the playRites line-up. On the bill are hit American plays Intimate Apparel and Red, as well as the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Daniel MacIvor's latest solo show, This is What Happens Next.
Link to this postFriday, March 23, 2012 1:36 PM EDT
Review round-up: Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway
What's the buzz? The Stratford Shakespeare Festival's production of Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway Thursday night - and the New York reviews have been mixed. My take is here, but here's a sample of what the other critics had to say.
SAVIOUR: Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune. "As he did in Stratford last summer, McAnuff embraces one of the musical theater's most unusual, famous, bizarre, historically audacious and, in this instance, thoroughly enjoyable properties with a production remarkably in sync with the material."
BETRAYER: Christopher Isherwood, The New York Times. "If a musical were to be judged by the amount of time its characters spent gazing meaningfully into the audience, this production would be trumps… Las Vegas, where Mr. McAnuff’s Jersey Boys has recently reopened might be the ideal destination for this slick production of a show that turns martyrdom into a splashy pop spectacle."
SAVIOUR: Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg. "Jesus Christ Superstar recaptures a moment more precisely than the weak-kneed revival of Godspell a few blocks away. It got under my skin."
BETRAYER: Mark Kennedy, AP. "'I've been living to see you. Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this,' sings a lovely Chilina Kennedy as Mary Magdalene with lyrics that might as well refer to this production. 'Could we start again?'"
SAVIOUR: David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter. "Does the production make a great case for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s epochal take on the Passion play? Probably better than most. Either way, it’s an entertaining guilty pleasure."
BETRAYER: Elysa Gardner, USA Today. "Though intermittently moving and seldom dull, this account of Jesus' final days on Earth isn't recommended to anyone with a low tolerance for pomp. Or a headache, for that matter."
SAVIOUR: Howard Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer. "Josh Young's Judas is a standout, not just for his powerful singing but his ability to act through song. Chilina Kennedy's Mary Magdalene, Tom Hewitt's Pontius Pilate and Bruce Dow's goofy King Herod come off just so, and Lisa Shriver's choreography makes for dandy dancing disciples. While this revival may not present the superstar of our dreams, it provides solid musical reasons to walk in its ways."
SAVIOUR: Linda Winer, Newsday. "The slick and loud high-tech production, acclaimed from Canada to Southern California, is serious, passionate and handsome in ways that seem to grow from McAnuff's recent years directing Shakespeare and opera."
BETRAY-VIOUR? Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News. "The heartiest hosanna goes to Jeremy Kushnier (filling in for an ailing Josh Young) as Judas, whose betrayal of Jesus gets major focus. Kushnier is a fierce singer and blessed with full-throttle charisma. It was a stunning turn of events: The understudy shall inherit the role — and walk away with the show."
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 7:05 PM EDT
Michael Healey reads from his controversial political play
Andy McKim, the soft-spoken head honcho at Theatre Passe Muraille, asked Michael Healey once, and he said no.
Then McKim asked again, and Healey still said no.
But the third time, Healey said yes – and so, on Monday night, the Canadian playwright found himself reading publicly from his controversial play, Proud. You know, the one that’s allegedly too hot for Tarragon Theatre.
The Proud reading was technically a fundraiser for Theatre Passe Muraille, which is about to eat a $60,000 loss due to the unexpected cancellation of Mary Walsh’s show, Dancing with Rage. The Queen West theatre has cancellation insurance, but it does not cover solo shows, and so they’re holding a series of alternate events and readings to try and soften the blow. (How can live performance lose money – let me count the ways…) But Monday’s sold-out evening (with a 70-person waiting list) was also proof positive that Healey has made lemonade out of the sour taste left in his mouth when Tarragon artistic director Richard Rose told him he wasn’t going to program Proud due to worries that it might libel Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (That’s Healey’s story; Rose will neither confirm nor deny.) Now that the dust has settled (a little), Healey has a hot property on his hands, a post-modern political Pygmalion that he plans to self-produce in the fall while the irony is hot.
Tarragon Theatre may not come out the other side of the ordeal as happily. The white-haired woman sitting next to me – who described herself as a “subscriber since day one” to Tarragon – isn’t happy with how Rose has handled things with Healey, a playwright she admires. She’s not sure if she’ll renew next season. (The lady in question, who also frequently disagrees with my reviews, didn’t want to give me her name.) Proud is still in a first draft, so consider the following a description rather than a review.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 11:26 AM EST
Season scoop: Tear the Curtain! to have Toronto premiere at Canadian Stage
Yes, it's that time of year once again: season-announcement season.
In Toronto, Theatre Passe Muraille was first out the gate, when artistic director Andy McKim revealed his ambitious plans for fall 2012 on Monday.
With the help of a 50th anniversary grant from the Metcalfe Foundation, the Queen West theatre will produce a whole line-up of site-specific, documentary and "guerrilla-style" plays about its (in)famous neighbourhood – from the taxis to the CN Tower to the 501 streetcar that passes nearby.
I was particularly pleased to hear about The Queen Street Project, conceived by Canadian theatre artist Deborah Pearson, who was named one of industry magazine The Stage's 100 most influential people in UK theatre a couple years back. Her Passe Muraille show will send audience members "beyond the walls" out into the street wearing headphones – where a dance will begin to take shape that only they will be able to hear the music for. You can read about the full season on the TPM website.
Next up, Canadian Stage is set to reveal its 2012-2013 season on Thursday – and the Globe and Mail has already learned what is sure to be one of the highlights.
I’m very glad to hear that Tear the Curtain!, an innovative live theatre/film hybrid from Vancouver's Electric Theatre Company, will travel to Toronto to open the season.
Friday, January 27, 2012 6:23 PM EST
Shaw Festival finishes 50th year $1.5-million in debt
The Shaw Festival ended its 50th season with a $1.5-million deficit, the Niagara-on-the-Lake theatre company announced Friday afternoon at its annual general meeting.
This is the second year in a row that the Shaw has ended a season more than a million dollars in the red.
But, there was some good news too: Molly Smith’s production of My Fair Lady was the best-selling show in the festival’s history, while overall attendance was up nine per cent and fundraising grew 12 per cent from the 2010 season.
Nevertheless, the Shaw Festival was unable to meet its aggressive revenue targets for a golden anniversary season that cost just under $30-million to produce.
“While the artistic success of 2011 and the growth in ticket sales and fundraising is encouraging, the Board and Senior Management take the deficit situation very seriously,” Shaw board of governors chair Gary Comerford said in a statement.
According to the Festival, management will be responding to the deficit by “implementing an organizational restructuring plan, setting conservative revenue goals, and instituting comprehensive plans to expand fundraising and increase ticket sales for the 2012 season.”
Thursday, January 19, 2012 1:15 PM EST
Antoni Cimolino to be interviewed for job of Stratford artistic director in February
Antoni Cimolino has not only openly expressed that he wants the job of artistic director at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival - he's currently the only candidate with an interview for the position lined up.
Stratford's seven-person artistic director search committee will next meet in early February, where Cimolino will be on hand to make his case for why he's the man to run Canada's largest theatre company.
No other interviews are scheduled at the moment. Does that mean Cimolino, general director at Festival, is a shoe-in for the job?
Friday, January 6, 2012 2:43 PM EST
Mary Poppins and Spider-Man break records in Canada and U.S.
Mary Poppins and Spider-Man combined forces to destroy box-office records in Canada and New York last week, as audiences flocked to live performances over the holidays.
On tour at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre, Mary Poppins set a new Canadian theatrical record for weekly gross, pulling in $2,088,824.50 over a nine-performance week that ended on Jan. 1.
A Disney and Cameron Mackintosh co-production presented by Mirvish Productions, Mary Poppins marks the second Toronto box-office record for British director Richard Eyre and Mirvish of late. In the fall, Eyre's production of Private Lives, also part of the Mirvish 2011-2012 season, became the highest-grossing non-musical play in the history of the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Meanwhile, down in Gotham, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the superhero musical once considered troubled, pulled in $2,941,794 (US) last week – making more money over seven days than any Broadway show ever had before.
In second place, shattering its own previous record, Wicked, Stephen Schwartz’s long-running musical about the witches of Oz, pulled in $2,712,535 (US) over nine shows.
Wicked was the previous weekly box-office champ in Canada as well, having pulled in $2,030,245 at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre in June over 8 performances. (All records do not take inflation into account.)
Friday, December 30, 2011 4:06 PM EST
Singing the national anthem before American Idiot? No, Canada
Aubrey Dan has been producing musicals in Toronto for about a decade now, but he still hasn’t learned this theatrical lesson: The show begins before the curtain goes up.
Dancap opening nights have long been marred by Dan’s insistence on speaking before the show. The man may be a fine theatre producer, but he’s not the world’s smoothest orator. In his lengthy introduction to American Idiot Thursday night, for instance, after pointing out a couple of New York producers in the crowd, he told the audience that the show we were about to see had been nominated for “Best Tony.”
There can be something charming about Dan’s awkwardness, but it’s wearing thin in this context. For a producer who’s struggled to overcome perceptions that his theatre company is a rich man’s vanity project, these pre-show speeches aren’t helping the brand.
This is all preface to what I actually want to rant about, however: An exciting new speed-bump at Dancap openings, the “tradition” of singing O, Canada.
Frankly, I was embarrassed when Dan invited a former Jersey Boys cast member on stage to sing the national anthem.
There are times and places for O Canada. Important national events, for example. Or hockey games.
At the theatre, however, it’s not common practice here, or in other countries. There is, it’s true, a long-standing tradition of it at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival during their opening week – and I will heartily sing along as there’s often a Governor-General or Lieutenant-Governor or Christopher Plummer in the audience. (This tradition seems to be on the decline, however: At the Camelot opening this summer, the audience mistakenly stood for the overture.) And yet, Stratford is a kind of national theatre, or at least the place where Canadian professional theatre got its start. It’s a Canadian institution where the vast majority of the artists behind the scenes and on stage are Canadian. I can feel patriotic about it.
But what place has the national anthem at the Toronto opening of a North American tour of American Idiot?
Sure, there are a number of Canadians in the cast, but this is an American production created by Americans. Toronto is its only Canadian stop. Ultimately, it makes about as much sense to me as singing the national anthem before a showing of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked at the local cinema.
It would actually make more sense to sing The Star-Spangled Banner before the show. But, of course, that would be ludicrous – and I’m sure Green Day would blow a gasket.
American Idiot is hyper-critical of the United States and highly skeptical of patriotism. “Don’t want to be an American idiot,” sings Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong on the title track of the album, the song that also opens the musical. “One nation controlled by the media.”
That’s not necessarily my political point of view, but a theatre producer who presents this perspective should have some respect for it and the artists who voice it. Singing O Canada before a show like American Idiot undercuts it, at least if you view the musical as more than simply a commercial product – perhaps as piece of protest art that’s trying to say something?
Truthfully, I don’t really think the national anthem has a place before most theatre productions; I love singing the anthem and celebrating Canada, but in appropriate contexts. I don’t sing it before I flip on the television.
I’ll tell you what: If Aubrey Dan wants to produce a Canadian production of a musical in Toronto, I’ll get up and sing along and cheer at the end.
If he brings out another special guest to sing O Canada before the opening of Shrek: The Musical, however, I’m going to sit on my hands in patriotic protest. The national anthem deserves more respect that.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 2:20 PM EST
The top 11 of 2011: Toronto, Stratford and Shaw
This year, I visited Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Barrie, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Charlottetown as the Globe and Mail’s theatre critic. But, ultimately, Southern Ontario is my stomping grounds. So, while I wouldn’t pretend to be able to make a list of the best shows in Alberta this year, I do feel comfortable naming the top 11 productions in Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Stratford, Ont.
In alphabetical order:
Billy Elliot
Mirvish Productions
This touring production felt pretty Canadian with Kate Hennig as daunting dance instructor Mrs. Wilkinson and all those local Billys. Peter Darling’s choreography is what makes this sweet-and-saucy show – and made the audience stand up between numbers the night I saw it.
The Homecoming
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Jennifer Tarver did a fabulous job balancing the comedy and menace in Stratford’s first production of a play by Harold Pinter. Heavy hitters like Brian Dennehy and Stephen Ouimette were the draws, but Aaron Krohn and Cara Ricketts emerged as stars – and have been rewarded with Henry V and Imogen next season.
I Send You This Cadmium Red
The Art of Time Ensemble and Canadian Stage
Who knew an exchange of letters about colour between critic John Berger and artist John Christie could be so mind-expanding and moving? Director Daniel Brooks and designer Bruce Alcock put together a gorgeous show that changed the way I looked at the world – for a few days at least. It was a strong fall for Canadian Stage and a great year for Andrew Burashko’s interdisciplinary Art of Time ensemble – I nearly put their presentation of War of the Worlds on this list, as well.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
A massive, Broadway-bound hit for a reason. Director Des McAnuff has riddled out how to make this rock opera work, while the young, sexy stars Stratford has been grooming – Chilina Kennedy, Paul Nolan and Josh Young – rose to the task vocally and dramatically.
The Normal Heart
Studio 180 Theatre, in association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
I went in thinking this was a dated AIDS play. Shame on me – Larry Kramer’s drama is as shattering as ever. At least it was in Joel Greenberg’s fine ensemble production, with particularly superb performances from Jonathan Wilson and Ryan Kelly.
Oleanna
Soulpepper Theatre Company
No one agrees with me on this, but I don’t care: I thought Lazlo Marton’s production was right on, critiquing the male paranoia in David Mamet’s script even as it milked the PC nightmare for all its melodramatic juice.
Ride the Cyclone
Atomic Vaudeville, Theatre Passe Muraille, Acting Up Stage Company
I’ve raved enough about Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s musical. Here’s hoping it’s back on stage somewhere soon.
The Ugly One
Theatre Smash
A curious German parable smoothly and cleverly staged by Ashlie Corcoran. It’s great to see a talented young director take that next step, and that’s what we saw here – at least, what I saw, when I caught up with it in its final performance.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Topdog/Underdog
Shaw Festival/Shaw Festival in association with Obsidian Theatre
Two productions at Niagara-on-the-Lake with animals in the title and filled with ferocious performances. Yes, I’m cheating by lumping them together – but how can you choose between the intergenerational rumbles of Jim Mezon vs. Gray Powell in Cat and Nigel Shawn Williams vs. Kevin Hanchard in Dog? This country is blessed with some fine acting talent.
When the Rain Stops Falling
Shaw Festival
It only played for a few weeks in the Niagara-on-the-Lake festival’s smallest theatre, but this fantastic family epic still haunts those who saw it. Australian playwright Andrew Bovell’s drama was exquisitely directed by Peter Hinton – and three generations of acting talent in the Shaw ensemble rose to the challenge.
Honorable mentions
If I was being less arbitrary with my number of picks or criteria I might add Ruined (Obsidian Theatre Company in association with Nightwood Theatre), Another Africa (Volcano/Canadian Stage), The Middle Place (Project: Humanity/Theatre Passe Muraille/Canadian Stage/GCTC), ONE (SummerWorks), Fela! (presented by Mirvish), Eternal Hydra (Crow’s Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (Soulpepper), Our Class (Studio 180 and Canadian Stage) and Brothel #9 (Factory Theatre).
A few highlights of my journeys elsewhere in Canada
Fiona Reid was awesome in August: Osage County at the Citadel Theatre; Robert Lepage’s production of The Tempest in Wendake stands as my favourite of recent years; Come-All-Ye at the Charlottetown Festival should be a part of everyone’s visit to the Island; and Blanche-Neige & La Belle au Bois Dormant (Snow White and Sleeping Beauty) at Montreal’s Espace Go was a variety of words I can’t print in the newspaper.
Apologies to those I missed. Happy New Year.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 2:20 PM EST
Highlights of 2011 from the West Coast
Now this is exciting: a guest spot on Kelly Nestruck’s theatre blog. He’s asked me for my top Vancouver theatre experiences of the year, and I’ve narrowed it down to five. I don’t get to as much theatre as I’d like – I wish I could see everything – so please don’t see this list as definitive, but rather as a walk through some personal highlights.
Ride the Cyclone
Atomic Vaudeville’s tragicomic musical (written by Jacob Richmond with lyrics and music by Richmond and Brooke Maxwell) has stayed with me since I saw it almost three months ago at the Revue Stage on Granville Island. Six high school kids lose their lives in a roller coaster accident, but before they take off to that big amusement park in the sky, they each sing a final song encapsulating their lives. Smart, funny, sad and unforgettable, I fell for each character harder than the last. I was so entranced with Rielle Braid’s performance as the overachieving mixed-faith schoolgirl Ocean Rosenberg that I spent the next day Googling her (I don’t usually do this; I swear).
1984
On opening night of Virtual Stage’s new production of 1984 at The Cultch, adapted from George Orwell’s chilling novel by Andy Thompson and Andrew Wheeler – who played party official O’Brien – received what was described as a blow to the head early in the second act. The performance stopped for about 10 minutes. (Alex Lazaridis Ferguson, who played Winston Smith with a British accent, came on stage and made the announcement, sans accent, which was kind of weird.) Then the show went on, Wheeler sporting a bandage over his left eye.
After the performance, Wheeler went to the hospital where he received five stitches. The next day, he was back on stage – for two performances. Wheeler’s tenacity was not the only remarkable thing about this production: it was a dark whirl of chaos and fear, and I mostly loved it (re-reading my review, I recall that I felt the show lost momentum in the second act, and wondered if it was because of the injury; it might have been). I hope this smart adaptation resurfaces, but fear its cast of 27 (mostly graduating Studio 58 students from Langara College in this case) will prove cost-prohibitive.
Ronnie Burkett’s Penny Plain
The Cultch is a few blocks from my home in East Vancouver, and after the two-minute drive home (normally I would walk, really, but there were extenuating circumstances), I walked in the front door of my house and then turned around again. “I need a moment,” I said. The fact is: This show terrified me.
Using puppets, Burkett has created an experience more real than apocalyptic feature films; one that stands up to chilling documentaries full of frightening facts about the consequences of what we’re doing to the planet. This puppet show put a pit in my stomach, jolting me out of a complacent calm. The story of an old woman in the final days of the world, interviewing potential candidates to replace her faithful dog, was smart, dark, funny and real. And the puppets – wow. Burkett’s intricate marionettes are beautiful, and despite the longer-than-usual strings in this production, he handled them with great mastery. It’s little wonder this was the most successful production in the history of The Cultch.
Hairspray
When Jay Brazeau, playing Edna Turnblad (the role is traditionally played by a man), suffered a minor stroke during a preview performance of the Arts Club’s production of Hairspray last May, the show’s future was thrown into question. There was no understudy – the Arts Club can’t afford such luxuries, its artistic managing director Bill Millerd explained to me, as he scrambled for a solution (he was also directing).
Enter Andy Toth. Timeline: Brazeau’s stroke happened on a Thursday night. Toth was secured by early Friday afternoon. The Friday night and Saturday performances were cancelled as Toth rehearsed like a madman, and the curtain went up Sunday, opening the following Wednesday. I saw the show a few days later and Toth was wonderful. There was no suggestion whatsoever that he was less-than-prepared for the part. Brazeau returned to the show in June. I was away, but Globe reviewer Michael Harris called it a “committed and assured comeback” and audiences responded with big laughs and standing ovations. P.S. Jennie Neumann was terrific as Tracy Turnblad.
Grim and Fischer
This extraordinary Fringe show had us laughing and in tears – and finally on our feet – at Performance Works on Granville Island in September. Mrs. Fischer (Kate Braidwood) leads a quiet existence in a retirement home, and misses her husband. But when Grim – as in Reaper (Andrew Phoenix) – comes for her, she puts up a fight. She’s not ready to go just yet. The characters’ masks – Braidwood’s creations – were so well constructed and Braidwood and Phoenix’s physicality so on the mark that I swear I felt the expressions on those masks transform. Amazing.
I’m looking forward to more great West Coast theatre in 2012. It kicks off in a big way, with The Electric Company’s take on Tad Mosel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Way Home – directed by 2010 Siminovitch Prize winner Kim Collier; Red at the Vancouver Playhouse; and the always interesting PuSh Festival.
Nestruck on Theatre Contributors
J. Kelly Nestruck
J. Kelly Nestruck has covered theatre in Canada, as well as in New York, London, Dublin, Edinburgh and other thriving international scenes. He joined The Globe in February of 2008 and has been blogging in some form or another since February of 2003.
