Mimi (or A Poisoner’s Comedy) set in seventeenth century France, is a modern musical, with a clever and creepy feel that I loved. In this Touchstone production currently on at the Firehall Arts Centre, lavish costumes and wigs transport the audience to a world where debauchery rules. The opening scene is a rich romp in a Paris boudoir with sex, music, and Louis XIV's lavish draped material. Even the pianist plays in costume and wig.
Debauchery is fun but when Mimi’s lover introduces death to her it proves even more titillating. Mimi uses pigeons to bake her poisonous pies so...
Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical tragicomedy miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. The team wrote the musical during the WGA writers' strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.
Yes you can see the award winning internet production on YouTube, or purchase it through i-tunes but first see it mounted as the extraordinary live production at this year's Fringe.
This is how I was introduced to the musical and time stood still.
If you’re looking for a fun romp, that doesn’t make you think too much, or at all, with a talented cast, a not-bad musical score, good voices, then Happily Ever After is the show for you.
From Proper Entertainment, this frothy musical take on the behind-the-scenes world of product demonstrators and trade show presenters (a job more than a few of Toronto’s actors are familiar with) is sharp, fast paced, and funny.
The touring production of the Broadway version of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein is currently at the Princess of Wales theatre in Toronto, and anyone who spent their youth spouting lines from the original movie to whomever was in earshot would be well advised to check it out. In fact, anyone with a taste for the zany would find their bum-in-plush-seat time well spent.
Roger Bart and Sutton Foster; photo by Paul Kolnik
John Pippus is a brave man. He's taken his musical career and parlayed it into a one-man show. Trouble is, I think I'd rather be watching him perform a straight-up music concert rather than witnessing this play.
