The Globe and Mail

I'm back in Toronto and ready to hit up the Fringe Festival once again. Any suggestions? What's the buzz?

I would have binged on Fringe this weekend, but was up at sunny Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival's latest round of openings. (There is a final set two weekends from now.) Today, the critics' verdicts came in for Morris Panych's production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which is being staged in the festival's intimate Court House theatre. I gave it two and a half stars out of four:

The smallness of venue is a mixed blessing. Director Morris Panych has made maximum use of the minimal space, with designer Ken MacDonald's coat-hook-like trees on wheels neatly dividing and redividing his blue, green and white set....

On the other hand, the nearness of the actors brings the production's shortcomings into sharp focus. The show, you suspect, would look good from far, but up-close it is far from good. Well, far from great anyway.

Chief among the problems is a trio of male leads whose acting leaves much to be desired. [Read on]

ON THE OTHER HAND: Over in the Toronto Star, Richard Ouzounian also gives the production 2.5/4 stars, but seems to have the opposite opinion from me on almost every aspect of the production, while the Toronto Sun's John Coulbourn gives it 4/5 stars even though he admits two of the male leads give "one dimensional and wooden performances".

Last but not least, John Law, from the Niagara Falls Review, whose reviews are picked up by the Canadian Press wire service, can only muster 2.5/5 stars: "It's based on an Ingmar Bergman film. It has music by Stephen Sondheim. There are Tony Awards in its closet. Why, then, does it feel so disposable?"

ON THE OTHER OTHER HAND: Thom Allison, who stars in A Little Night Music as Count Carl-Magnus, keeps an entertaining blog that gives you a behind-the-scenes peek at what it's like to be an actor. He put his own "review" of his own opening night yesterday, scooping all the critics: "There was a great flow, everyone was on their game. Beautiful performances. The audience was a listen-y audience so they weren't as vocal as some have been but they were clearly enjoying it. And at the end, they jumped to their feet which was lovely."

OK, so that may be a slightly slanted perspective... I did see a Shaw Festival audience jump to their feet this weekend - and I wanted to join them too - but you'll have to wait a couple of days for the review of that production to appear in the paper.