Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Do you subscribe? With theatre I never have, and tend to pick a show more or less at the last minute.
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Live Theatre in Toronto
- Thread starter Benc7
- Start date
Benc7
Active Member
I do subscribe, to Mirvish and a few others. Before I did, I'd mean to see something and then forget until it was too late. Or not get good seats. Or find the performance sold out....blah, blah, blah. I also needed a good incentive to get me out of the house on a cold winter night and tickets I've paid for are a good incentive.
Tewder
Senior Member
Ugh, 'Joseph' again? really??
Benc7
Active Member
The Patient Hour-Tarragon Theatre
I went to see "The Patient Hour", Kristen Thomson's latest work at The Tarragon. I'm more familiar with her as an actress on the Soulpepper stage, having missed seeing "I, Caudia", a play for which she won a Dora in 2001. This one is a good play; 90 minutes with no intermission, its premise revolving around a dying woman (the audience stands in for that character) and her adult children. She has a wonderful cast to work with (a special cheer for Todd Thomson who is great as "Charles"). BUT, sometime near the last third of the play, Thomson introduces a conceit, an artifice, that is totally unnecessary. I won't mention what it is, but I will say that it takes a perfectly good, linear, emotional play about characters I actually cared about and turns it into something else, as if she'd lost confidence in the strength of her work and decided to "spark it up". It's too bad, really, as the first two thirds of the play, grounded in realism, was heart wrenching and funny. With such good writing and such good acting "keeping it real" would have been to leave well enough alone.
http://www.tarragontheatre.com/season/0809/patienthour/
I went to see "The Patient Hour", Kristen Thomson's latest work at The Tarragon. I'm more familiar with her as an actress on the Soulpepper stage, having missed seeing "I, Caudia", a play for which she won a Dora in 2001. This one is a good play; 90 minutes with no intermission, its premise revolving around a dying woman (the audience stands in for that character) and her adult children. She has a wonderful cast to work with (a special cheer for Todd Thomson who is great as "Charles"). BUT, sometime near the last third of the play, Thomson introduces a conceit, an artifice, that is totally unnecessary. I won't mention what it is, but I will say that it takes a perfectly good, linear, emotional play about characters I actually cared about and turns it into something else, as if she'd lost confidence in the strength of her work and decided to "spark it up". It's too bad, really, as the first two thirds of the play, grounded in realism, was heart wrenching and funny. With such good writing and such good acting "keeping it real" would have been to leave well enough alone.
http://www.tarragontheatre.com/season/0809/patienthour/
Benc7
Active Member
The Color Purple
Took in "The Color Purple" this evening at The Cannon ( so odd spelling "colour" like that, ah well). The cast wasted no time in hitting the audience over the head with their talent, an astonishing range of voices from really good to really, really good. The sketchy sound system, however, seems to have only one level, LOUD, and that rendered some of the lyrics incomprehensible. The evening belonged to Kenita Miller in the lead as Celie, a fine actress with the pipes to carry off a role that takes her from 14 to late middle age. Felicia Fields, playing Sophia was a particular favourite of the audience, providing a lot of the comic touches in the play. And there was a LOT of play, perhaps a little too much. The second act opens on a scene set in Africa, reminiscent of something out of "The Lion King". Less might be more in this case. The show is at its best in its quiet moments and there are too few for my taste. But the audience would have disagreed with me; their standing ovation at the end was heartfelt and definitely earned by all on stage. I joined in. Good for them!
http://www.mirvish.com/colorpurple/
Took in "The Color Purple" this evening at The Cannon ( so odd spelling "colour" like that, ah well). The cast wasted no time in hitting the audience over the head with their talent, an astonishing range of voices from really good to really, really good. The sketchy sound system, however, seems to have only one level, LOUD, and that rendered some of the lyrics incomprehensible. The evening belonged to Kenita Miller in the lead as Celie, a fine actress with the pipes to carry off a role that takes her from 14 to late middle age. Felicia Fields, playing Sophia was a particular favourite of the audience, providing a lot of the comic touches in the play. And there was a LOT of play, perhaps a little too much. The second act opens on a scene set in Africa, reminiscent of something out of "The Lion King". Less might be more in this case. The show is at its best in its quiet moments and there are too few for my taste. But the audience would have disagreed with me; their standing ovation at the end was heartfelt and definitely earned by all on stage. I joined in. Good for them!
http://www.mirvish.com/colorpurple/
ganjavih
Senior Member
What about spelling "Canon" like that?
Tewder
Senior Member
I've never been impressed with sound at the Canon. I've seen a few things there and it always seems muddy. Maybe the place is too big. Musicals in general these days seem over-amped.
Benc7
Active Member
What about spelling "Canon" like that?
LOL! Reminder to self: DON'T write anything after 2 am; you are too befuddled.
You're right, Tewder, The Canon has never sounded quite right. It wasn't built as a theatre for live performance but surely something can be done about the sound system. Maybe a pair pf Bose wave sound speakers?
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Tewder
Senior Member
Yes, it's a great venue for those big ballsy shows like Mamma Mia where the audience is too busy singing along to really notice the sound quality. When I saw the Producers there the whole system actually went down for about 60 seconds, the cast sort of rewound to the top of the scene and started over. I loved it! It's nice to be reminded every once and while that these things are in fact live.
Tewder
Senior Member
... and speaking of subtle reminders that theatre is 'live':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Wh6DAFpW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Wh6DAFpW4
Benc7
Active Member
OMG! That was soooo scary! I "o-preciated" her outrage...and her contribution to the evolution of the English language: to be "luponed". I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that verb!
Tewder
Senior Member
LOL, yes she's scarey but was honestly amazing in Gypsy. Just saw it last Fall, unfortunately I think it closed recently.
Benc7
Active Member
Travesties-Soulpepper
Last night, I took in "Travesties" ,Tom Stoppard's 1974 play at the Young Centre in the Distillery. What an auspicious beginning to Soulpepper's 2009 season! I can only hope that the rest of the season is as good as this, their first presentation of the year. The play's central conceit is the fictional meeting in Zurich, 1917, of Lenin, James Joyce and Tristan Tzara, one of the founders of the Dadaist movement. Funny, pithy, instructive and hilarious all at the same time, the play turns time, history and language on its head, and weaves around and through, Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest" .How? Beats me, but it all makes sense in a nonsensical way, and the effort of listening to every word spoken is a reward in itself. Language is the real star of the play, and the excellent cast (featuring Soulpepper stalwarts, Diego Matamaros, Jordan Pettle, and David Storch)understand that. I'd go see this again in a heartbeat.
A word about the venue itself; The Young Centre for the Performing Arts had me hooked the first time I entered it. It's one of the most versatile and most comfortable performances spaces in the city. It's turned into the anchor for the Distillery District which has yet to fully integrate itself into the city. Time will address that, but until it does, the Young Centre draws people to the area, even on a freaking cold night like last night. Both theatres in the Centre offer an intimacy rarely found in other spaces, and Soulpepper's commitment to bringing classic theatre to the city has never faltered. I love seeing the same actors in different roles, in different plays. I love seeing them hone their talent on each season's challenges, often successfully. Thanks, Albert Schultz, for sticking around for more than a decade and seeing this through.
http://www.soulpepper.ca/performances/09_season/travesties.aspx
Last night, I took in "Travesties" ,Tom Stoppard's 1974 play at the Young Centre in the Distillery. What an auspicious beginning to Soulpepper's 2009 season! I can only hope that the rest of the season is as good as this, their first presentation of the year. The play's central conceit is the fictional meeting in Zurich, 1917, of Lenin, James Joyce and Tristan Tzara, one of the founders of the Dadaist movement. Funny, pithy, instructive and hilarious all at the same time, the play turns time, history and language on its head, and weaves around and through, Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest" .How? Beats me, but it all makes sense in a nonsensical way, and the effort of listening to every word spoken is a reward in itself. Language is the real star of the play, and the excellent cast (featuring Soulpepper stalwarts, Diego Matamaros, Jordan Pettle, and David Storch)understand that. I'd go see this again in a heartbeat.
A word about the venue itself; The Young Centre for the Performing Arts had me hooked the first time I entered it. It's one of the most versatile and most comfortable performances spaces in the city. It's turned into the anchor for the Distillery District which has yet to fully integrate itself into the city. Time will address that, but until it does, the Young Centre draws people to the area, even on a freaking cold night like last night. Both theatres in the Centre offer an intimacy rarely found in other spaces, and Soulpepper's commitment to bringing classic theatre to the city has never faltered. I love seeing the same actors in different roles, in different plays. I love seeing them hone their talent on each season's challenges, often successfully. Thanks, Albert Schultz, for sticking around for more than a decade and seeing this through.
http://www.soulpepper.ca/performances/09_season/travesties.aspx
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Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Hmmmmm. Thanks, Benc7. Perhaps I'll go - I saw Tim Curry as Tzara in the Broadway production in the mid-'70s. The only other Stoppard I've seen live was the baffling Hapgood in London in the late '80s - Nigel Hawthorne, Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees - beautifully staged, especially a scene set in a zoo. So I'm due again.
Loot looks good, later this season. I wonder how they'll do it? Does it have any residual power to shock? I can't imagine so.
Loot looks good, later this season. I wonder how they'll do it? Does it have any residual power to shock? I can't imagine so.
Benc7
Active Member
Miss.Julie-The Canadian Stage Company
I saw Miss Julie:Freedom Summer last night. Or, rather I experienced it. It's a free adaptation of Strindberg's 1888 play, (that caused a scandal in its own time) now set by Stephen Sachs in Mississippi, on July 4th, 1964 in the thick of the Civil Rights movement. What's wrong with this play? Where do you go when you START loud and nuts? The three actors on stage are pros, no doubt about that. Caroline Cave I've seen as a complete success in other plays, in other theatres. But in this one she takes on the dysfunctional southern belle and that's Tennessee Williams territory, a character that he's made almost a cliché. To play this well she and the director have to find some new ground without teetering over into the ditch of caricature. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't and often she does both unintelligibly; her Southern accent is so thick you could stand a spoon in it. What's right with this play? Kevin Hanchard is wonderful as John: angry, afraid, angry, manipulative, angry, trapped. Raven Dauda, as the cook Christine, provides a rock to hold onto whenever she appears in the maelstrom of sex and power struggle going on around her on stage. I liked the new adaptation; I think the examination of freedom and servitude, love and lust in that setting, in that time, is spot-on. Does it still shock? I suppose so in that violence, racism, misogyny, anger and suppression must always shock (or at least, one hopes, they always will). I can't question the commitment of the three actors mentioned; they immerse themselves into their characters, one of them almost drowning in hers.At the end of 90 minutes (no intermission), regardless of all that had been thrown at me, I wanted more of something. Restraint, perhaps?
http://66.59.179.124/index.php?moduleId=7X5nialJ&pageId=homepage
I saw Miss Julie:Freedom Summer last night. Or, rather I experienced it. It's a free adaptation of Strindberg's 1888 play, (that caused a scandal in its own time) now set by Stephen Sachs in Mississippi, on July 4th, 1964 in the thick of the Civil Rights movement. What's wrong with this play? Where do you go when you START loud and nuts? The three actors on stage are pros, no doubt about that. Caroline Cave I've seen as a complete success in other plays, in other theatres. But in this one she takes on the dysfunctional southern belle and that's Tennessee Williams territory, a character that he's made almost a cliché. To play this well she and the director have to find some new ground without teetering over into the ditch of caricature. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't and often she does both unintelligibly; her Southern accent is so thick you could stand a spoon in it. What's right with this play? Kevin Hanchard is wonderful as John: angry, afraid, angry, manipulative, angry, trapped. Raven Dauda, as the cook Christine, provides a rock to hold onto whenever she appears in the maelstrom of sex and power struggle going on around her on stage. I liked the new adaptation; I think the examination of freedom and servitude, love and lust in that setting, in that time, is spot-on. Does it still shock? I suppose so in that violence, racism, misogyny, anger and suppression must always shock (or at least, one hopes, they always will). I can't question the commitment of the three actors mentioned; they immerse themselves into their characters, one of them almost drowning in hers.At the end of 90 minutes (no intermission), regardless of all that had been thrown at me, I wanted more of something. Restraint, perhaps?
http://66.59.179.124/index.php?moduleId=7X5nialJ&pageId=homepage