The war in Ukraine has seen the destruction of industrial sites, residential neighborhoods, farmland, hospitals and schools. And although the loss of human life has been devastating there is also the increasing vulnerability of the cultural heritage sector, that is Read More …
(The following article is re-posted (slightly amended) from Critically Speaking (Spring 2022), the newsletter of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association.) It is spring in Kyiv and right now there is a playwright who is trying to capture the horrific events as Read More …
With an opening zinger worthy of George S. Kaufman, one of Jesse Green’s theatre critic predecessors at the New York Times, his recent review of The Music Man, a Broadway revival starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, began: “There comes Read More …
In the run-up to Steven Spielberg’s now Oscar nominated film re-make of the musical, West Side Story (streaming on the Disney channel), a hubbub of concerned opinion pieces began to appear in the press and online media regarding the historically Read More …
Last month the Canadian Theatre Critics Association announced that the 2021 recipients of the Herbert Whittaker Award were the playwright and director team, Michel Tremblay and André Brassard. This biennial award from the CTCA honours individuals for outstanding long-term contributions Read More …
With the recent death of Stephen Sondheim, interest in his music, books and shows has produced an outburst of Sondheim-o-mania. A new, gender-bent revival of his acclaimed musical, “Company”, just opened on Broadway; the revisionist film adaptation of “West Side Read More …
Copenhagen Written by Michael Frayn Directed by Jillian Keiley Featuring: Allegra Fulton, Jesse LaVercombe, Rick Roberts Costumes by Robert Schultz At the National Arts Centre, November 6 and 7th. The welcome opportunity to view streamed performances of plays across Canada Read More …
One of my great disappointments this summer was not being able to travel to Niagara-On-The-Lake to review Philip Akin‘s breakaway hit of the season, Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress (continuing at the Shaw Festival until October 9th in the Read More …
Ten years ago today, David Hein and Irene Sankoff found themselves in Gander, Newfoundland, on a research trip with the assignment of putting material together for a musical based on the events of September 11, 2001, when 38 commercial flights Read More …
When I wrote this review of an exhibit at the Canadian War Museum thirteen years ago, I had no idea how accurately it would presage the current debacle unfolding in Afghanistan today. It is also a rather shameful example of Read More …
