A young cast gives new life to Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme. This production by The Canadian Opera Company charmed audiences if not critics at the opening April 17 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Frédérique Vézina as Mimì and David Pomeroy as Rodolfo La Bohème; photo: Michael Cooper
David Mamet is often considered the godfather of machismo, his works populated by the manliest men to ever grace stage and screen. The ‘Mamet Man’ is a chest-thumping, fast-talking, swaggering force of nature, and this is never more evident than in his masterpiece *Glengarry Glen Ross*, currently being staged by Toronto’s "Soulpepper Theatre Company":http://www.soulpepper.ca/. In Mamet’s world you’re either predator or prey, and it’s thrilling to watch his characters battle it out to decide which category they fall into.
In the 1997 film "Sick":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1713997, performance artist Bob Flanagan nailed his penis to a board, cracked jokes and urinated on the lens of the camera that was filming him. I saw this excerpt of the film and it made me cringe. But here’s the thing, Bob Flanagan was a sado-masochist who had cystic fibrosis and spent much of his life making art about how he used pain to live with the pain of his disease. Does this make for good art? I’m still not entirely sure, but at least it was purposeful....
Pierre-Paul Savoie and Marc Boivin in Mi-un ni d’eux.
This "Ruby Slippers":http://www.rubyslippers.ca/ production of Serge Boucher’s *Life Savers* (translated by Shelley Tepperman) is like a puzzle where the pieces don’t quite fit together. Although the production is super slick, the script itself has the rare distinction of hitting not one but two of my pet peeves. First peeve: shows that purport to be exposés of suburban life that are really just extended, mean-spirited sneers.
Life Savers, families can be murder: Colleen Wheeler, Wendy Morrow Donaldson, Deborah Williams, Maria Oldeen, Mike Wasco, Naomi Wright, Kevin McNulty, Patti Allan
Occasionally, a live theatre piece is so physically and visually stunning that I cannot imagine a better medium for presenting beauty. *Studies in Motion* by the "Electric Company":http://www.electriccompanytheatre.com/ is one of those pieces. The play is an explosive collision of theatre, dance and multimedia centered on historical figure Eadweard Muybridge, a late 19th century photographer who captured the beauty of animals and humans frozen in time.
“Is this how artists think of science?” remarked my scientist roommate as we exited the mixed-media show *Dedicated to the Revolutions* by "Small Wooden Shoe":http://www.smallwoodenshoe.org/index.html, “as a series of convenient metaphors to explain life?" The production was founded upon the ambitious manifesto of understanding the effect of scientific progress on our world, and I'd asked my roommate along to contribute his expertise in the field.
Dedicated to the Revolutions, science as understood by artists
At the outset of *News of the World*, a clip from "Flight of the Conchords":http://www.conchords.co.nz/ plays. It is their song _Issues (Think About It)_. It sets the tone for what presumably will be a funny irreverent take on the issues of the world and the news that delivers it to us.
David Bloom and Tricia Collins have news of the world
Cancer - a deluded, egotistical ASS - goes on his own journey of denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance when he discovers that the whole world hates him. That's the description of *This is Cancer?* the play that I'm just about to watch.
The one-person show can be a tricky format to navigate. The best of them are intimate and unfettered; the worst are akin to being stuck in an elevator with an irritating bore. Toronto presently has two one-person shows on stage that are markedly different in style and content but provide an interesting contrast.
I hope I look like this at 50, Ivea Lucs in Tijuana Cure; photo: Martha Haldenby
After the thoroughly disappointing touring production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang":http://plankmagazine.com/review/theatre/chitty-chitty-bang-bang-all-car-..., there is a collective sigh of relief amongst Toronto’s musical fans that "Mirvish Productions":http://www.mirvish.com/ has imported a new production with a great deal more bite. *Spring Awakening* is that toothy show and although it may not wholly live up to the hype of its eight Tony awards, it is still a vibrant and dynamic work that pushes the boundaries of the often doughy musical genre....
Finally, a musical for horny teenagers, Spring Awakening
