Toronto Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 4

Review: BRIGADOON at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - November 27, 2023

The golden age of Broadway found lilting infectious melodies melding with captivating, if often whimsical stories. Lerner and Loewe's 1947 BRIGADOON ticked all the boxes in a world fresh off of World War II. The Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake has revived it's 2019 production and this version s...

Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - November 25, 2023

On stage until the weekend and then returning for a limited time in 2024, Mirvish Productions presents Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Lee's Pullitzer Prize-winning masterpiece. Considering the current political and also racially driven landscape, seeing To Kill a Mockingbird...

Review: LETTERS FROM MAX, A RITUAL at The Theatre Centre
by Ilana Lucas - November 19, 2023

Unadorned, beautifully delivered, linguistically gorgeous and both funny and wrenchingly sincere, it’s one of the most beautiful plays I’ve ever seen, and I think you should see it, too....

Review: THE LEHMAN TRILOGY at Canadian Stage
by Ilana Lucas - November 18, 2023

In Canadian Stage’s production of Italian playwright Stephano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy, three powerhouse performances, a surprising and meaningful staging, and a sweeping story outweigh the curious neutrality of the script to create a vital, must-see show with high stock value....

Review: CHAOS MENU: DISORDER UP! at Second City
by Ilana Lucas - November 17, 2023

Chaos reigns in Second City’s new sketch offering, CHAOS MENU: DISORDER UP! That’s not surprising; the best types of sketch comedy are, by their nature, somewhat chaotic. For the 88th mainstage show, though, the talented cast (PHATT al, Andy Assaf, Coko Galore, Devon Henderson, Liz Johnston, and Ron...

Review: BAD ROADS at Streetcar Crowsnest
by Ilana Lucas - November 13, 2023

It's a fascinating, disturbing work with a powerhouse cast, literally unsettling: never completely relaxing into a style or structure, it stretches deep into the monstrous before snapping back to remind us that the high and low road often originate from the same place....

Review: THE GUIDE TO BEING FABULOUS at Soulpepper
by Ilana Lucas - November 10, 2023

Sandra Caldwell is, indeed, fabulous. The classy triple threat brings her autobiographical show, THE GUIDE TO BEING FABULOUS, to Soulpepper’s “Her Words” festival. This version of the show triumphantly celebrates what Caldwell long kept hidden: her identity as a trans woman....

Review: ROCKING HORSE WINNER at Streetcar Crowsnest
by Ilana Lucas - November 05, 2023

Tapestry Opera’s production of Gareth Williams and Anna Chatterton’s ROCKING HORSE WINNER uses a son’s desperate attempts to provide for his mother’s desire for wealth as a cautionary tale about the perils of a hunger that is never satisfied....

Review: JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Princess Of Wales
by Samantha Wu - November 08, 2023

Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill defined a generation of teens and young adults growing up in the 90s. Morissette's songs encapsulated specific moments and feelings in life and with the rising trend of jukebox musicals, it was only a matter of time before this iconic album received it's ...

Review: A POEM FOR RABIA at Tarragon Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - October 27, 2023

In Nikki Shaffeeullah’s A POEM FOR RABIA, three centuries of women come together to explore the currents of change that shape their lives. Expansive and thoughtful, it’s a fearlessly creative play as messy and complex as the themes of colonialism and queer womanhood it investigates, both to its majo...

Review: WILDWOMAN at Soulpepper Theatre
by Samantha Wu - October 25, 2023

Soulpepper Theatre presents the latest addition to their Her Words festival with Kat Sandler's scandalous and hilarious romp Wildwoman. Based on the alleged true story behind Beauty and the Beast, Catherine de Medici from the infamous Medici family, a woman known for her scheming Machiavellian ways,...

Review: APPROPRIATE at Coal Mine Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - October 22, 2023

If you call to book a ticket to Coal Mine’s brilliant production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ APPROPRIATE, you might stumble over the pronunciation. Is it appropriate, the proper actions to take in a particular circumstance? Or is it appropriate, to steal? The answer, shown through a complicated famil...

Review: HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING at Streetcar Crowsnest
by Ilana Lucas - October 09, 2023

Arbery’s play is a fascinating and multifaceted look into the unexamined front of a burgeoning culture war. The Howland Company gives this 2020 Pulitzer finalist the thoughtful, unsettling and passionate production it deserves. It’s the kind of show that you’ll still be talking about weeks later....

Review: THE LAST EPISTLE OF TIGHTROPE TIME at Tarragon Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - October 05, 2023

Walter Borden at 81 is a powerhouse of a Shakespearean actor. His warmly stentorian diction, the core of THE LAST EPISTLE OF TIGHTROPE TIME, echoes invitingly through the Tarragon mainspace as he tells stories about his life. It’s not always the easiest work to follow, but Borden’s presence serves a...

Review: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG at Canadian Stage
by Ilana Lucas - October 04, 2023

By focusing on the slower, more structured rounds of boxing over the fast-paced hustle of a card sharp, M’Carthy’s production invites us to watch the hands when we really should be watching the eyes. It’s a thoughtful idea that doesn’t fully pay off in dividends of energy and connection to the audie...

Review: IN DREAMS at Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - October 04, 2023

Roy Orbison's legendary music become the touching soundtrack for In Dreams - a moving new musical from writer David West Read and director Luke Sheppard, the masterminds behind the smash hit musical & Juliet - about cherishing loved ones and the life you have, on stage at the Ed Mirvish Theatre unti...

Review: SIX THE MUSICAL at Royal Alexandra Theatre
by Samantha Wu - September 30, 2023

Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived. If you happened to fall into the (mis)fortune of being married to one of England’s most notorious kings, your fate was sealed. Six The Musical, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, takes the tragic fates of Henry VIII’s six wives and weaves th...

Review: WORK.TXT at The Theatre Centre
by Ilana Lucas - September 28, 2023

From its initial roll call of types of audience members, Ellis’ thought experiment becomes a sort of interactive poem that comes both to satirize work and to praise it, a funny sort of feel-good cooperative enterprise that is surprising and delightful....

Review: ASSES.MASSES at The Theatre Centre
by Ilana Lucas - September 27, 2023

Choosing to attend asses.masses at The Theatre Centre is a big commitment to an intriguing premise. The show, a collaboratively-played video game with a sweeping narrative about a donkey revolution, takes at bare minimum seven hours. It's a long ass show. But despite its outward silliness, with its ...

Review: SPACIOUSNESS at Fort York with Toronto History Museums in Partnership with Soulpepper Theatre
by Samantha Wu - September 27, 2023

Spaciousness welcomes the audience to experience Toronto’s historic Fort York in a unique and interactive way. Actors portray fictional yet historically accurate characters of everyday people immediately affected by the War of 1812. Spaciousness asks the audience to consider the ramifications of con...

Review: THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT At Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - September 12, 2023

Unearthing a hidden gem is always intriguing- whether it be a true fossil, pirates booty, discarded musical manuscript, or perhaps a virtually unknown play. The Shaw Festival is the lucky producer who gets to produce a never before seen mystery by the celebrated author Edith Wharton. For the first t...

Review: FRINGE FESTIVAL: FINAL ROUNDUP at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - September 01, 2023

This year, the Fringe Festival returned more than half a million dollars to its talented, hardworking artists. Toronto Fringe may be over, but other festivals aren't! Our critic saw 59 shows in this year's festival. Here are some of her final comments as we look forward to Fringe 2024....

Review: SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER at Sorry Studios
by Ilana Lucas - August 17, 2023

In a small, intimate office space near Queen and Dufferin, Riot King’s production of one of Tennessee Williams’ lesser-performed plays, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, feels like you’ve been invited into someone’s Southern Gothic living room....

Review: ON THE RAZZLE at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - August 03, 2023

A good story often bears repeating. Such is the case in Tom Stoppard's ON THE RAZZLE, currently playing on the Royal George stage of the Shaw Festival. It's storied provenance has beginnings dated back to the 1842 play  'Einen Jux will er sich machen'  by Johann Nestroy....

Review: BLITHE SPIRIT at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - July 27, 2023

The  perennial festival favorite BLITHE SPIRIT is making a welcome to return to the Shaw Festival stage after 30 years. The result is a breezy romp that is sure to delight, thanks to the fine casting showcasing some of the company's best players....