Ilana Lucas

BroadwayWorld spoke with HYPOTHETICAL BABY playwright Rachel Cairns about the goals behind telling her story, finding humour in a seriously complex subject, and the play's uniquely Canadian lens.

The extremely snowy night I saw THE WOLF IN THE VOICE, an exploration by three professional singers into the joys and pitfalls of a life spent nursing the soulful but capricious vocal instrument, I had spent all day rehearsing my trusty soprano for a choral performance of my own, a live-scored film opening downtown the next night for a sold-out crowd of thousands.

Vivian Chong premieres her new solo theatre piece, BLIND DATES, at Theatre Passe Muraille. Directed by TPM artistic director Marjorie Chan, Chong's show invites audiences to experience the highs and lows of love through true stories from her dating life, interspersed with original songs. Chong's THE SUNGLASSES MONOLOGUE, which detailed her experience with a rare skin disorder, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), which led to permanent blindness, was a digital entry in the 2022 Next Stage Festival. Chong's subsequent ensemble dance work, DANCING WITH THE UNIVERSE, was nominated for a Dora for Outstanding performance. Her graphic novel, DANCING AFTER TEN, won the US Library Journal Award and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Chong's advocacy for accessibility and inclusion continues in her work as an audio description consultant and weekly accessible yoga classes. The run of BLIND DATES is Blind Friendly and live-captioned; all shows are Relaxed Performances. 

What did our critic think of WINTER SOLSTICE at Canadian Stage?

What did our critic think of ALLIGATOR PIE at Soulpepper?

What did our critic have to say about Toronto's Top Theatre of 2024?

It’s a treat and a half; I can earnestly say: If you miss out on Cirque, you will be désolé.

Whether ORACULUM effectively navigates the space between drag show and narrative is up for debate, but Drag Race fans will likely enjoy themselves at the cheeky, irreverent show.

Discover CRAZE at Tarragon Theatre, a co-production with Modern Times Stage Company. This play, inspired by 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', features a diverse cast and an AI unit named Buddy. Directed by Mike Payette, the show delves into themes of global issues and generational flaws in a modern context.

Featuring generations of Harris' family as creators and performers, the production employs a handcrafted raven cloak and raven transformation mask, as well as original compositions and projections, to celebrate the Gitxsan people. 

If the 2020s have occasionally uncomfortably reminded you of the 1920s, you’re not alone. Two Toronto theatre companies are currently using work from and about that turbulent decade to comment on present issues. At the Red Sandcastle, The Flare Productions presents Sophie Treadwell’s seminal work of feminist and Expressionist theatre, MACHINAL, a 1928 play very loosely based on the real-life story of Ruth Snyder, executed at Sing Sing Prison for the murder of her husband. At the Theatre Centre, Tall Poppy Productions presents a new work written and directed by Judy Reynolds, THE BEE’S KNEES, a fictional tale of one of the first women to run for Canadian parliament in the early 1920s.

Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, a Second City comedy duo who are also married in real life, present a funny and meaningful meditation about what our things mean to us in BIG STUFF, using anecdotes and gentle audience participation to commune over the items we just can’t bring ourselves to toss.

Schreck’s script, a hit in New York that made its way to Broadway in 2019, is extremely accessible and sprightly in its deconstruction of the mythic text.

The Next Stage Festival, curated and run by Toronto Fringe, plays at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre until Sunday, October 27, 2024.

Read our critics coverage of the first three shows in Toronto Fringe's annual curated festival.

BroadwayWorld spoke to co-creator George Reinblatt about the show’s 20-year trajectory, translating its local references for European and Asian audiences, and how the horror-comedy is really more comedy than horror, despite all that blood.

The 1999 ABBA jukebox juggernaut is back again at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, full of cheery, dance-heavy numbers, a simple, wacky plot, and plenty of shiny spandex outfits. <span style="background-color: rgb(238, 245, 249);">See what our critic had to say. </span>

Read BroadwayWorld's review of THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, which has made it to Toronto as part of Mirvish’s 2024/25 season. Learn more about the play by Larissa FastHorse.

In a contest between the hungry, unstoppable id of the wolf and the thoughtful, selfless superego of the crane, the audience comes out the winner.

As the characters erase and rewrite the messages that both literally and figuratively surround them, shaping the story with little other than chalk and resolve, Lauzon and Riordan’s complex, beautiful play surprises in its ability to create joy in the midst of heartbreak.