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Aisle Say.ca

An Independent Journal of Review and Opinion

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Of Zelensky and Havel: Ukraine’s Heroic Leader Recalls Another Artist-Turned-President

April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 Robin Breon

(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 …

The Music Man is in trouble, lots and lots of trouble!

March 29, 2022November 23, 2022 Robin Breon

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 …

From Show Boat to West Side Story: racialisms in the musical theatre canon.

February 19, 2022February 24, 2022 Robin Breon

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 …

MICHEL TREMBLAY and ANDRÉ BRASSARD WIN HERBERT WHITTAKER AWARD

January 31, 2022February 15, 2022 Robin Breon

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 …

Update: CUSHMAN ON SONDHEIM

December 11, 2021January 3, 2022 Robin Breon

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 redux

November 12, 2021December 12, 2021 Robin Breon

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 …

TROUBLE IN MIND, speaks to the moment

October 2, 2021November 6, 2021 Robin Breon

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 …

COME FROM AWAY Streaming on Apple TV Plus

September 10, 2021September 17, 2021 Robin Breon

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 …

EXHIBITION: AFGHANISTAN, A Glimpse of War at the Canadian War Museum. Originally published in rabble.ca, May 11, 2008

August 19, 2021August 22, 2021 Robin Breon

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 …

National Ballet of Canada picks new Artistic Director: an interview with dance critic Deirdre Kelly

July 15, 2021July 30, 2021 Robin Breon

Long time arts journalist, Deirdre Kelly, is the former dance critic for the Globe and Mail and currently serves as editor of The York University Magazine. She holds a masters degree in English from University of Toronto and is a Read More …

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  • Langston Hughes: A conscience under siege
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Langston Hughes: A conscience under siege

February 1, 2023
THE LIFE OF LANGSTON HUGHES VOLUME II: 1941-1967 I DREAM A WORLD By Arnold Rampersad Oxford, 512 pages Review by Robin Breon for The Globe and Mail, February 18, 1989. February 1st kicks off Black History Month and is also...
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Hallelujah! the National Portrait Gallery of Canada is born again!

January 19, 2023
Recently, my inbox received the always informative newsletter put out by Lord Cultural Resources in Toronto which drew my attention to a recent article published in The Art Newspaper concerning the re-emergence of plans to resurrect the Portrait Gallery of...
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Announcing the winners of the 2022 Nathan Cohen Awards

December 19, 2022
By Aisling Murphy The Canadian Theatre Critics Association is pleased to announce this year’s winners of the Nathan Cohen Awards for Excellence in Critical Writing. Nathan Cohen (1923-1971) is often regarded as Canada’s preeminent theatre critic. Cohen wrote for the...
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Book Review: Forget the Alamo

November 20, 2022
FORGET THE ALAMO, The Rise and Fall of An American Myth By Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford Penguin Press, New York 2021, 386 pgs Reviewed by Robin Breon The following article is reprinted here from the current issue...
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