By Meaghan Brackenbury Within the zeitgeist of small Canadian towns, hockey culture is present and persistent in every aspect of life. Kids, parents, and community members alike all speak the same sporty language, punctuated by rituals: school days are to be used for studying, weeknights are spent practicing on the rink, and Saturday nights are … Continue reading “The Hockey Sweater” at the NAC is a musical romp jam-packed with nostalgia
Orpheus’s “The Last Five Years” is all about finding its characters – and the show – along the way
By: Meaghan Brackenbury With its competing chronologies, musical storytelling, and a cast of only two people, The Last Five Years is a play that demands nothing less than the utmost attention to detail in order to properly explore the intricacies of the plot. The story revolves around Cathy and Jaimie, a young couple who are … Continue reading Orpheus’s “The Last Five Years” is all about finding its characters – and the show – along the way
Student Production Sees Success With ‘Legally Blonde’
The University of Ottawa’s Musical Theatre Society has just served up what might be the most fun production of January. If you missed this sold out show, I can understand your feelings of FOMO. It’s been just over a week and I’m still thinking about this production. Legally Blonde: The Musical (book by Heather Hach … Continue reading Student Production Sees Success With ‘Legally Blonde’
Go See “Mr. Shi (and His Lover)”!
2018 might be off to a rather chilly start, but the even the sub-zero temperatures failed to keep theatregoers from attending the opening night of Macau Experimental Theatre’s Mr. Shi and His Lover at the National Arts Centre (playing until January 13th). Given the high accolades that this production has received coming out of Toronto … Continue reading Go See “Mr. Shi (and His Lover)”!
“Ordinary Days” Goes Small and Wins Big
Musicals, with their outrageous sets and costumes, 11 o’clock numbers, and dance breakdowns, aren’t a common sight at Great Canadian Theatre Company. Their current production of Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days, however, shows that none of those things are necessary to produce quality musical theatre that still maintains a significant degree of theatricality. Ordinary Days follows … Continue reading “Ordinary Days” Goes Small and Wins Big
Musical Stage Company Navigates Problematic Stereotypes with Strong Female Lead in “Onegin”
The National Arts Centre’s English Theatre kicked off their newest season Friday night with Veda Hille and Amiel Gladstone’s foot-stomping new musical Onegin. Based on the verse novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera adaptation, The Musical Stage Company (in collaboration with NAC English Theatre) have respun this classic tale … Continue reading Musical Stage Company Navigates Problematic Stereotypes with Strong Female Lead in “Onegin”
Review: “Children Of God” at the National Arts Centre
A musical about Residential Schools. The beauty of works in the musical genre, from my perspective, is that they have the ability to transcend the bounds of the theatre in ways most other kinds of productions cannot to become cultural phenomena. They can bridge the gap between addressing things that remain unspoken in popular society, … Continue reading Review: “Children Of God” at the National Arts Centre
Little Shop of Horrors a Delightful Black Comedy
Black comedy often presents a challenge for directors and performers: if you go too subtle with it no one will laugh, but if you’re too heavy handed with it the audience will feel you’re shoving it down their throats. Fortunately with Theatre Kraken’s Little Shop of Horrors, director Don Fex and the performers get the … Continue reading Little Shop of Horrors a Delightful Black Comedy
Sláinte! “Vigilante” Arrives at the NAC
If you’ve ever heard of the ‘Black Donnellys’, it’s no doubt it’s because they’re central to an infamous Canadian tale that ends with their family’s massacre. Vigilante, written, composed and directed by Jonathan Chistenson, is an electric retelling of this dark and mysterious story that deals in blood feuds, vengeance, and murder. The deliciously macabre … Continue reading Sláinte! “Vigilante” Arrives at the NAC
“Next Thing You Know” Has Style If Not Substance
Next Thing You Know takes the Broadway musical formula and applies it to four young people in New York who realize they aren’t getting younger. The show’s creators have a solid grasp of the Broadway style, but the show suffers from a lack of dramatic substance. Waverly moved to New York to become an actress … Continue reading “Next Thing You Know” Has Style If Not Substance
The New Ottawa Critics 