Toronto Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 12

BWW Review: GHOST QUARTET Transcends Theatre In This Hauntingly Evocative Production
by Isabella Perrone - October 21, 2019

It's a circular story that's both deeply complex and utterly simple. It's a puzzle that reveals itself, side by side and track by track, slowly and then all at once. There are moments of chaos, dissonance, and fury which battle with the quiet, solemn, tranquil ones. It's laden with feeling and will ...

BWW Review: THE PARTICULARS burns slow at The Theatre Centre
by Louis Train - October 20, 2019

If we're going by technical categorisation, THE PARTICULARS, on now at the Theatre Centre, is an experimental piece of drama that incorporates elements of dance and movement; if we're going by my own personal descriptor, THE PARTICULARS is a Fringe show with wings. ...

BWW Review: CATACLYSM's Outdoor Staging Makes For a Spooky Evening Out
by Isabella Perrone - October 20, 2019

Classic horror movie tropes meet an inclusive, immersive experience in Aberrant Theatre's second annual Ghost Light Anthology production, CATACLYSM. The story follows a group of former campers and their counsellor as they return to their old haunt after a tragic incident. As they're reunited, old te...

BWW Review: Profound Beauty in ALMIGHTY VOICE AND HIS WIFE at Soulpepper
by Louis Train - October 19, 2019

ALMIGHTY VOICE IS AND HIS WIFE is an enormous play, spanning an incredible breadth of theatrical technique and exploring, in depth, some of the most challenging questions of Canadian cultural memory....

BWW Review: IN THIS HOUSE  Is An Honest Take On Millennials And Mental Health
by Isabella Perrone - October 17, 2019

Talk Like You Theatre's IN THIS HOUSE, premiering at the Rendezvous With Madness Festival, explores the lives of four 20-something roommates living downtown. The house is old and owned by the introverted Minka (Ciana Henderson), who received it from her grandparents, but the cost of living leads her...

BWW Review: RUSALKA is a Shining Example of a Dark Fairy-Tale Opera Done Right
by Isabella Perrone - October 16, 2019

The Canadian Opera Company's RUSALKA utilizes Lyric Opera's 2014 production under the direction of Sir David McVicar, making his COC debut. This retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' draws on a more sinister angle of the folk tale than what most people might know, utilizing com...

BWW Review: THE FLICK Explores The Anxieties And Issues Of Working-Class Young Adults
by Isabella Perrone - October 14, 2019

Set in one of the last American cinemas with a 35mm projection system, THE FLICK examines the lives of three employees who are struggling with romantic relationships, finances, family, and themselves. It's a bleak look at life that suggests some interesting perspectives, although a lengthy runtime m...

BWW Review: Against the Grain Theatre Champions Accessibility in Their Cozy, Emotional LA BOHÈME
by Isabella Perrone - October 14, 2019

One of the most unique opera experiences in Toronto this year is that of a classic story brought to life in a dive bar. The Tranzac Club's unassuming entry makes it easy to miss if you aren't looking for it, but upon entering the building there's an unshakeable feeling that something special is happ...

BWW Review: See Toronto up close in THE JUNGLE at Tarragon Theatre
by Louis Train - October 12, 2019

THE JUNGLE is a boldly political new play, argumentative and direct and a bit radical. It is also a touchingly honest drama, brimming with humor and pathos. And it is also another category: a Toronto play, a play that is both of and for our beautiful, challenging city. ...

BWW Review: Lush Orchestration and Raunchy Humour Makes for Smooth Sailing in SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS
by Louis Train - October 14, 2019

Imagine On the Town with a bunch of dick jokes and you'll sort of get a picture of SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS, a new Canadian musical by Eli Pasic. The show is equal measures charming and raunchy, with a good deal of humour and an excellent - actually, surprisingly, really good - score. Inspired by mus...

BWW Review: IF I COULD #THROWBACK TIME is a Love Letter to the Past and a Stark Reminder of Our Present
by Isabella Perrone - October 12, 2019

It's not unusual for The Second City to take a political angle with their sketch comedy, and their latest revue is no exception. Climate change, racism, sexism and Canada's long history of genocide are all fair gamea?"and in the hands of director Rob Baker and the talented mainstage ensemble, there'...

BWW Review: Carmen Aguirre Breaks Down Her Life Story Through Dance in BROKEN TAILBONE
by Isabella Perrone - October 08, 2019

In Nightswimming's BROKEN TAILBONE, presented by Factory Theatre, playwright and performer Carmen Aguirre does double duty as a dance and history instructor. A traditional seated theatre is swapped for a bare dancefloor, with a handful of chairs against the walls and a bar at the back of the room. P...

BWW Review: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Bursts with Emotion in the Hands of a Stellar Cast
by Isabella Perrone - October 08, 2019

Set in Bob Dylan's hometown of Duluth, Minnesota in 1934, writer and director Conor McPherson's GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY is equal parts bleak and beautiful. The busy story centers on the Laine family and their guest house; stressed father and husband Nick (Donald Sage MacKay) is busy caring for h...

BWW Review: Inclusivity raises up a roaring production of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
by Isabella Perrone - October 07, 2019

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, produced by Hart House theatre and directed by Jennifer Walls, takes everything fans love about the cult classic musical and film and brings it to glorious, vulgar life on stage. The beloved story opens on the recently engaged Brad (William Mackenzie) and Janet (Katie Miller)...

BWW Review: UN POYO ROJO leaps and teases at Canadian Stage
by Louis Train - October 05, 2019

If UN POYO ROJO is about anything, it is about the ambiguities and duplicities of masculinity - a source of both competition and camaraderie, domination and kinship....

BWW Review: A Solid STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at Soulpepper
by Louis Train - September 29, 2019

Weyni Mengesha's new production of the Tennessee Williams classic is a solid undertaking, a technically precise, error-free interpretation of a story we know well. ...

BWW Review: The Complex Female Relationship in PIAF/DIETRICH Lifts the Show to Stunning Emotional Heights
by Isabella Perrone - September 27, 2019

The names Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich still hold weight decades after their glory days, and Mirvish's production of PIAF/DIETRICH (directed by Gordon Greenberg) makes it easy to understand why. The sheer star power of the two titular women, embodied here by a powerhouse cast and set at major poi...

BWW Review: Fantasy, Thrilling Feats, and a Lovable Clown Couple Usher ALEGRIA Into a New Era
by Isabella Perrone - September 27, 2019

The reimagining of Cirque du Soleil's ALEGRIA: IN A NEW LIGHT features all the spectacle and intrigue that the company is famous for, with a few updates that are sure to win over the hearts of even the most hardcore fans of its original staging. This time around, the story of balance and harmony dra...

BWW Review: Complex Themes and Sharp Dialogue Make for a Cutting Production of KNIVES IN HENS
by Isabella Perrone - September 27, 2019

The examination of existence, language, and self is nothing new within the walls of a theatre, but KNIVES IN HENS manages to expand on all these themes a?" and then some a?" using straightforward and highly effective text in this new production of the 1995 David Harrower play....

BWW Review: Follow the Dark Winding Path to YAGA at Tarragon Theatre
by Louis Train - September 27, 2019

Kat Sandler's new play, YAGA, is breezy and dark; goofy and mournful; bleak, gothic, shadowy, and really damn funny....

BWW Review: THE BAND'S VISIT is a Quiet, Gorgeous Study of Human Connection
by Isabella Perrone - September 21, 2019

The premise is simple: it's the 90s and the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra is travelling from Egypt to Petah Tikva to perform in a concert. Due to a language barrier, they end up in the tiny desert town of Bet Hatikva with little money, no hotel to check into, and a full day's wait until the...

BWW Review: NO FOREIGNERS examines culture and identity from within a fantastical Chinese mall
by Isabella Perrone - September 21, 2019

A shopping mall is an ambitious setting for a play, and a Chinese mall perhaps even more so given the cultural significance they have for their communities. NO FOREIGNERS attempts (and does well) to weave between lore, existentialism, comedy, and myth, revealing the struggle many people face when tr...

Review: Positive Thinking and Difficult Choices in Canadian Stage's THE BOOK OF LIFE
by Louis Train - September 20, 2019

Odile Gakire (Kiki) Katese, the Rwandan humanitarian and artist, has brought her voice and wisdom to the Canadian Stage Company this autumn in THE BOOK OF LIFE. Brimming with insight and charm, THE BOOK OF LIFE is also a difficult and provocative piece of political theatre that test the limits of id...

BWW Review: AMERICAN SON's urgency and powerhouse cast make the best of this stage-to-screen transition
by Isabella Perrone - September 17, 2019

AMERICAN SON is the most recent Broadway-based story to be reimagined for film, but what makes it particularly special is the fact play's original cast reprise their roles, allowing audiences the chance to take in the timely story and gripping performances from the comfort of their homes. Adapted fr...

BWW Review: Emotion, autonomy and passion reign in Soulpepper's BETRAYAL
by Isabella Perrone - September 05, 2019

Considered one of Pinter's most popular works, BETRAYAL tells the story of an affair in reverse. Directed by Andrea Donaldson, this Soulpepper production remains set in the 1970s a?" the same era it was written in a?" and is a gripping thriller centered around human emotion and autonomy....