A Conversation with Edith Head brings the famous Hollywood designer to life at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times

Edith Head was one of the most prolific designers in midcentury Hollywood: her costumes appear in over a thousand films, and on several of the biggest stars of the era–Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, Natalie Wood, Barbara Stanwyck, and, of course, Elizabeth Taylor–who requested her by name. Over her 54-year career, she pinned, sketched, fitted and darted non-stop: ten hours a day, six days a week. For her efforts, she won more Academy Awards (eight) than any other woman to date, and made both friends and enemies among the Hollywood in-crowd.

She died in 1981, but for the last several years, Susan Claassen has been bringing her back to life in a one-woman tribute show, A Conversation with Edith Head, and by grace of CAFTCAD, Ms. Claassen has brought this production–which sold out at Edinburgh, broke records in New York, and has played for ages in cities all over the world–to Buddies in Bad Times.

Continue reading Review: A Conversation with Edith Head (Invisible Theatre / Buddies in Bad Times) →

The Lover is a provocative tale of sex and domesticity, playing at Toronto’s Sterling Studio Theatre

Up until now, I had never seen or read a Harold Pinter play. I was vaguely aware of, and intrigued by, his reputation as a dramatist, specifically his penchant for sinister comedies. So it was with some excitement that I made my way out to the Sterling Studio Theatre to see their production of The Lover.

I love the Sterling Studio. It’s an intimate venue which seats, depending on how those seats are arranged, only about thirty to fifty people.  That intimacy allows directors to take full advantage of theatre’s unique strengths and Brett Haynes does just that. He introduces us to the characters and their world with what I like to call a soft opening: the actors are on set and in character while the audience takes their seats. Also, the lighting for this production is entirely practical (actual lamps that the actors manipulate instead of overhead stage lighting).

Continue reading Review: The Lover (Sterling Studio Theatre) →

The Wedding Singer is a lively musical filled with ’80s nostalgia playing at Toronto’s Hart House Theatre

Out of the classic Adam Sandler movies, The Wedding Singer is one of my favorites. Free from his repertoire of signature vulgar humor often done for sheer shock value, The Wedding Singer is light, comical, filled with great ’80s musical nostalgia, and it’s romantic — and I’m usually not one for romantic movies. Until recently I didn’t realize that The Wedding Singer was made into a stage musical and that U of T’s Hart House Theatre was taking it on.

With my head filling with the chorus to Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round”, I was eager to see how they took the movie to the stage and wondered how many of those classic songs I’d be able to rock out to in my seat.

Continue reading Review: The Wedding Singer (Hart House Theatre) →

Enjoy a trip to Ecuador in the 30’s in Pith playing at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille

Last night I saw a preview performance  of The Theatre Department’s production of Pith by Stewart Lemoine. It opens tonight at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace.

Normally theatre companies prefer that we don’t review preview shows but it was the only night I could go. Thanks to director Ron Jenkins and the cast for being understanding and letting me join them on a trip to the Ecuadorian jungle. I had a lovely time. Continue reading Review: Pith (The Theatre Department) →

Piety collides with extravagance in Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary playing at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times

The trouble with seeing a show at Buddies in Bad Times is that the audience is often more interesting than the performances.

The woman with the frizzy grey hair, ranting about how her new girlfriend has been fucking her yoga instructor for years. (“I mean, Jesus Christ, I know dykes are meant to be incestuous, but SERIOUSLY?”) The bald man dishing about the atrocious denim jacket someone else is wearing. (“I thought we stopped wearing that shit in the ’90s.”) The confused-looking francophone woman, who exclaims–in an aside to her companion–“Mille tonnerre, y’a des tapettes partout!” (“Good lord, they’re all faggots!”)

There’s a quality of reunion in the place: of a community coming together. Rings to be kissed, clothing to be judged, old friends to greet, new friends to impress. The theatre–the putative purpose for the visit–is almost secondary by comparison.

But not tonight. Michel Tremblay’s Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary, freshly-resurrected after decades of obscurity, swallowed the room whole. Simultaneously warm, incisive and savage, his Manon embraces us, welcomes us, warms us, and invites us to confess our sins–our excesses, our assumptions, our identities –then leaves us as little more than vanquished children before the communion rail.

Continue reading Review: Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary (Pleaides Theatre / Buddies in Bad Times) →