Toronto Theater Reviews

Review: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN HEART at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - August 26, 2024

He's done it again! The famous sleuth and his sidekick are back at it, solving cases with cunning precision and insight. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN HEART is playing in a fabulous production at the SHAW FESTIVAL in Niagara on the Lake. Audiences are intrigued, captivated and thoroug...

Review: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - August 06, 2024

Who doesn't love a good belly laugh, a groan and a perpetual smile on their face for 2-1/2 hours. That's exactly what you'll be in store for when attending the joyously silly production of ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS at the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake....

Review: DREAM IN HIGH PARK - HAMLET at Canadian Stage
by Samantha Wu - July 30, 2024

A summer in Toronto is not complete without spending a night under the stars at the High Park ampitheatre watching a performance by Canadian Stage. For Dream in High Park this year, CS brings back Hamlet with a highly acclaimed cast including Qasim Khan as Hamlet, Beck Lloyd as Ophelia, and Stephen ...

Review: FRINGE FESTIVAL 2024: FINAL ROUNDUP at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - July 29, 2024

The Toronto Fringe’s 12-day extravaganza has concluded! Over 40,000 tickets were sold to 76 different shows around the city, from companies both local and international. With plenty of free arts programming at the Fringe Tent behind the Tranzac Club, the Fringe is a thrilling glimpse into the future...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 8
by Ilana Lucas - July 13, 2024

Reviews of Madame Winifred's Circus of Wonders, Rooted: A Musical Poem, Girls' Night Cabin Fever, How Lucky Are We, The First Jew in Canada: A Trans Tale, and Are You Lovin' It?...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 7
by Ilana Lucas - July 12, 2024

Reviews of Gulp, Bus Stop, and Rosamund...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 6
by Ilana Lucas - July 11, 2024

Reviews of Monks, Stiff and Sons, Tape, Moe: A Rap Opera, and Crosstown...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 5
by Ilana Lucas - July 10, 2024

Reviews of Rat Academy, Poz, The Bluffs, and 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 4
by Ilana Lucas - July 09, 2024

Reviews of Gringas, Far-Flung Peoples, and Paternal Guidance...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 3
by Ilana Lucas - July 07, 2024

Reviews of Colonial Circus, Elephant Song, Daniel In Love (For One Night Only), and Cabaret of Murder at the Toronto Fringe Festival...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 2
by Ilana Lucas - July 06, 2024

Reviews of SEE YOU TOMORROW and ARTIFICIALLY INTELLIGENT at the Toronto Fringe...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: DAY 1
by Ilana Lucas - July 06, 2024

Reviews of Chloe and Meraki, Doctor Dolittle, Crime After Crime (After Crime) and Unfurnished...

Review: DEATHTRAP at Red Sandcastle Theatre
by Louis Train - July 08, 2024

I reckon it’s a stroke of producing genius to launch a run of DEATHTRAP, Ira Levin’s classic meta-thriller, on the same day that the Toronto Fringe Festival kicks off. Fringe plays tend to be edgy, experimental, personal, and always of their moment; DEATHTRAP, a sturdy two-acter about a playwright w...

Review: THE LAST TIMBIT at Elgin Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - June 29, 2024

THE LAST TIMBIT isn’t here for a long time; after all, doughnuts go stale quickly. It’s here to be an Experience, and an Experience it is....

Review: TINA - THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL at CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - June 26, 2024

When considering the most influential performers in the history of rock, Tina Turner's talent and legacy is counted among titans. Her voice, her signature growl, is unmistakable. Her determination to succeed and survive despite years of abuse at the hands of her husband set her apart from the rest. ...

Review: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at Soulpepper
by Ilana Lucas - June 24, 2024

Tennessee Williams’ sprawling classic about what happens when the unstoppable force, fading, fluttering Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Amy Rutherford), meets the immovable object of her brother-in-law, pragmatic, animalistic Stanley Kowalski (Mac Fyfe) proves a night of searing theatre, with Weyni M...

Review: ALL MESSED UP & NOWHERE TO GO at Second City
by Ilana Lucas - June 20, 2024

The frequently witty and always entertaining offering from the comedy troupe will make you happy that you put on pants and left the house....

Review: AGE IS A FEELING at Soulpepper
by Ilana Lucas - June 20, 2024

McGee snaps spellbinding shots of existence, exquisitely distilling an emotion, moment, or rumination until it’s almost unbearable. As she goes on through the decades, you can hear a pin drop; that is, when audience members aren’t laughing or sobbing with recognition....

Review: WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - June 17, 2024

Time travel back to the age of film noir when black and white movie dramas were played to the hilt with overarching mannerisms, full of prototypical characters and not too subtle close ups full of tension inducing musical scores. The Shaw Festival is producing one from that ilk with the classic Agat...

Review: R.A.V.E. at Outside The March
by Ilana Lucas - June 16, 2024

Like its main character, R.A.V.E. is weighed down by some overly ambitious intersectional goals; however, as a party and as an emotional experience, it earns a R.A.V.E. review.A.V.E. at Outside The March?...

Review: HEDDA GABLER at Coal Mine Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - May 19, 2024

Director Moya O’Connell’s take on Henrik Ibsen’s play, in a new version by Liisa Repo-Martel, emphasizes the power of triangles, relationship groupings that seem stable but which are easily unbalanced by such an act of bisection. With a dynamite cast, an accessible adaptation, and the claustrophobic...

Review: HADESTOWN at Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - May 21, 2024

Back by popular demand for a limited time is the multiple Tony and Grammy Awards winning new musical Hadestown - music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell, directed by Rachel Chavkin - for a limited run at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre until May 26. This modern, politically relevant tale combines two c...

Review: SWAN LAKES AND MINUS 16 at Harbourfront Centre
by Ilana Lucas - May 05, 2024

What did our critic think of SWAN LAKES AND MINUS 16 at Harbourfront Centre?...

Review: SHANIQUA IN ABSTRACTION at Streetcar Crowsnest
by Ilana Lucas - April 15, 2024

Directed by Sabryn Rock, behind Theatre Passe Muraille’s hit Our Place, watson’s show is an 85-minute series of sketches about the joys and frustrations of being a Black woman right here, right now....

Review: SPRING DOUBLE BILL at Toronto Dance Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - April 14, 2024

Toronto Dance Theatre’s Spring Double Bill, highlighting East Asian choreographers of different dance backgrounds, is as welcome as a spring bloom. The two trios run the gamut from serious to irreverent, but both highlight dance as a way to connect, whether between the present and past self, or betw...