Student showcase offers a wide variety of dance pieces, now on stage in Toronto
The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT) presents IMPULSE 2019 at the Winchester Street Theatre, showcasing work from all three years of their professional training program. Celebrating fifty years of dance education, the modern/contemporary conservatory program produces some of Canada’s top performers.
Since it’s a student showcase we’re not offering a traditional review, but instead an overview of the piece. Giving you a flavour of what to expect.
Mirvish presents the new Broadway musical Anastasia in Toronto
Anastasia, the musical, is the animated movie come to life. On stage now through the holiday season is the tale of a young peasant girl with a troubled past and a dazzling future. Could she be the long lost grand duchess Anastasia? This new musical, presented by Mirvish and directed by Darko Tresnjak, transports the audience from a winter wonderland in Russia to a glitzy Paris in the roaring 20’s.
“Riotously funny” Figaro adaptation is a “must see” in Toronto
Figaro’s Wedding, Against the Grain Theatre‘s remount of their critically acclaimed 2013 production, provides a much needed 21st century facelift to one of the most beloved operas of all time, Le nozze di Figaro. Da ponte’s libretto is full of fluff and nonsense, with a large pinch of subtle (and not so subtle) class critique. However, there are plot points that don’t time travel well, and jokes that are simply not funny to modern sensibilities.
AtG artistic director Joel Ivany’s adaption in modern English cleverly retains the main plot points of the original work and incorporates most of the opera’s iconic musical numbers. But Ivany’s version departs from the original at leisure to tell a very familiar modern-day tale of a millennial wedding beset by family drama, financial woes, and questionable friends. Continue reading Review: Figaro’s Wedding (Against the Grain Theatre)→
Every Day She Rose is compelling and complex, now playing in Toronto
Three years ago, Black Lives Matter Toronto was the Grand Marshall group of Toronto Pride, and used the opportunity to stop the parade and present to then-ED of Pride Toronto Mathieu Chantelois a list of demands relating to Black inclusion and centering in Pride. The surrounding controversy, which still feels fresh and difficult, is the subject of Nick Green and Andrea Scott’s new play, Every Day She Rose (a Nightwood production playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre).
Pinocchio’s Adventures are Dark and Beautifully Costumed
Directed by Sheila McCarthy, The Adventures of Pinocchio is a fast-moving musical at Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. This beloved classic by Carlo Collodi is cleverly produced, and it is darker and more eerie than the Disney version. After being carved out of by wood by Gepetto (Shawn Wright), Pinocchio (Connor Lucas) rejects the idea of effort, responsibility and learning his ABCs. Instead, he leaves his kind father and joins mischievous Lampwick (Noah Beemer) on his misadventures, while the Blue Fairy (Malindi Ayienga) intermittently watches over him.
Student showcase offers a wide variety of dance pieces, now on stage in Toronto
Mirvish presents the new Broadway musical Anastasia in Toronto
“Riotously funny” Figaro adaptation is a “must see” in Toronto
Every Day She Rose is compelling and complex, now playing in Toronto