Theatre artist and musician Chase Padgett has been traveling with the “6 Guitars” show for a long while. I saw it as a preview at Havana Theatre (its Fringe run is at The Cultch), but this was not a preview from the artist’s perspective.
Although it is called "6 Guitars", but it's really about musical philosophy, as viewed from the perspective of six archetypal American musicians in six genres (Blues, Jazz, Rock, Classical, Folk and Country). I enjoyed the musical philosophy, and the bits of music theory scattered throughout.
This is a theatre artist who loves music, who loves thinking...
Does the name Jean-Francois evoke a charming, graceful speaker of French who moves elegantly and lithely across the stage as he acts, sings, and dances? A stereotype, yes, but it is true here. This one-man musical gains an immense degree of its charm from its lead actor, playwright, and composer Jean-Francois Plante-Tan.
I was assigned to review La cravate bleue, and I was immediately hesitant. My understanding of French is quite limited. I love hearing Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Fatoumata Diawara, and many other Francophone singers, but I don't understand their songs, at least the first time around....
I left this musical theatre offering from Theatre Howl, Saskatoon, SK, with mixed feelings. [WARNING SPOILER: I won’t give away any details specifically, except to say that there are spoilers to give away].
Matchstick is the coming-of-age love story between a girl from an undesirable country and boy from the land of freedom and opportunity. The story is told with music, drama and a simple set made of projected ink drawings, instruments, photos and tin cans. The music is all the best parts of Canadian singer-songwriter folk. The melodies were lovely and the lyrics poetic...
Et voila! The first-ever Plank Magazine tweet-along of a Vancouver Fringe play! Welcome to a tweet-along of ca.Sandbar which is an outdoor show at the Creekside Courtyard near the Sandbar restaurant on Granville Island. Brought to you by Forest Crone Productions, it's part of the Fringe Onsite program in collaboration with the Only Animal. Look at the map if you can't find it (my ticket said 1398 Cartwright Street which is incorrect). Here we go!
Start of ca.Sandbar - it's BYOV E at this year's Fringe!
Many vollies and usher types are wearing golden soldier-type helmets. I want one
On the long weekend I saw Hamlet and Man Of Steel. Bizarrely enough, the two were remarkably similar. Plots featuring a well-known hero, vile evildoers, innocent victims - all leading to lots of death and destruction. Each production had a strong creative team which offered stunning designs and visual images. Yet in each case, the resulting product was a mess. In trying to honour a wide variety of themes, the creators of both pieces let the work get away from them.
Directed by Kim Collier, Hamlet at Bard on the Beach features Jonathon Young in the ico...
Jonathon Young as Hamlet at Bard on the Beach 2013
This musical took Broadway by storm about 10 years ago - and it’s still a damn funny show. It has puppets! Naked puppets! Sex with naked puppets!
And even better, Avenue Q aims to make you think. Featuring puppets of all colours, races and orientation, the show mercilessly mocks our age of political correctness with dazzling musical numbers such as “If You Were Gay”, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet Is For Porn.” Though Avenue Q is not authorized or approved by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, puppets such as porn-addicted Trekkie Monster and...
As Director Bill Millerd rightly states in the opening sentence to his written message contained in the program for DREAMGIRLS, “musicals are a special breed, and they have their ardent fans and equal ardent detractors.” Certainly detractors were thin on the ground at the opening on Wednesday evening of DREAMGIRLS, the final show of the season at the Stanley Industrial Alliance stage. Instead, “ardent fans” practically tore the place apart with some of the most robust cheering I have heard - anywhere - in many years of attending and appearing in productions.
Recently at the Havana Cafe, I was having lunch with David Bloom (Artistic Director, actor, writer, fight master - all-round Renaissance Man of Vancouver's alternative theatre scene). To arrange this meeting was an exercise in perseverance. Why? Bloom is a dervish of activity - just finished a role in Three Sisters, already gearing up to teach at Capilano University and now plunged into rehearsal for his next appearance in Brief Encounters.
At that my mind reels. Brief Encounters?! I cry out, “Why would you do a Noel Coward play?! Is there an audience for that in small theatre? Isn’t...
Brief Encounters is produced by the Tomorrow Collective
Tea: A Mirror of Soul is an exotic, symbolic, operatic exploration of the role of tea in Eastern culture. This unique piece is playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for four nights only: May 4, 7, 9 and 11.
Mirrors are about perception. Is a reflection truth or its opposite? I found this opera full of contrast and juxtapositions, perhaps a more accurate reflection of the muddled and conflicted human spirit than I had expected to see.
The piece opens with a bare stage, a zen garden...
ChenYe Yuan (Seikyo) Ning Liang (Lu), photo by Time Matheson
