Every now and then, things get a little bit dramatic up in hurr. With a few resident drama queens in our midst, we’re thrilled to be working with some incredible performing arts clients this year, like Canadian Stage and Art of Time Ensemble (not to mention some great past shows like Potted Potter and Love Lies Bleeding) To stay on top of the season’s buzziest openings and hottest shows, we’ve enlisted theatre-blogger-extraordinaire, Christine Gresham of Theatre Isn’t Dead for a new monthly column called Stage Write. She’ll lend some theatre expertise each month and give you the goods on the latest and greatest theatre shows in Toronto.
To start, here’s what we’re most excited about this fall on the city’s stages.
Fall is one of my fave times of year – the leaves change colour, the weather becomes cooler, so my wardrobe options increase, and, Halloween arrives, bringing with it the self-mutilating urge to increase my sub-zero tolerance for scary things.
At the moment, I still can’t handle scary movies, stories or even photos. Case in point – someone told me the plot of Paranormal Activity, and I couldn’t sleep that night. I hadn’t seen a trailer for the movie, let alone ANY image from it and I woke up multiple times in the night convinced an (spoiler alert!) invisible hoofed demon was standing over my bed waiting to possess me.
So this year I’m looking to the theatre (where else?!) to help me become a tougher, more down-with-the-gore, more supernatural-loving person.
Here’s where I’m starting:
Tear The Curtain! an Electric Company production, presented by Canadian Stage.
Sunday, October 7 to Saturday, October 20 at The Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front. St. E.)
Sunday, October 7 to Saturday, October 20 at The Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front. St. E.)
A jaded theatre critic in a gritty film noir rendition of 1930s Vancouver falls for the screen siren Mila, and is caught dangerously between two warring mob families – one controlling the city’s playhouses, the other its cinemas. As the action moves from screen to stage and back again, Tear the Curtain! blurs the boundaries between film and theatre in a stylish psychological thriller that’ll knock your socks off.
Tickets: www.canadianstage.com
Bloodless: The Trial of Burke and Hare, a Theatre 20 production presented as a bonus in the Mirvish Productions subscription season.
Tuesday, October 9 to Sunday, October 28 at The Panasonic Theatre (651 Yonge St.)
Watch the true story of two 19th century Irish serial killers, who go into business selling corpses to anatomy schools in Edinburgh. Reminiscent of Sweeney Todd, this eerie tale of deceit, murder, and mayhem is told in memorable song, macabre humour, and compelling lyrics.
Tickets: http://www.mirvish.com/ticketking/
Bloodless: The Tale of Burke and Hare tells the story of two Irish serial killers.
Jekyll and Hyde, a Mirvish Productions musical.
Wednesday, November 14 to Sunday, November 18 @ The Ed Mirvish Theatre (244 Victoria St.)
The classic tale of good and evil is re-vamped and re-mounted with all of the chilling Broadway songs that first grabbed audiences by the throat and transformed the show into a theatrical phenomenon.
Wednesday, November 14 to Sunday, November 18 @ The Ed Mirvish Theatre (244 Victoria St.)
The classic tale of good and evil is re-vamped and re-mounted with all of the chilling Broadway songs that first grabbed audiences by the throat and transformed the show into a theatrical phenomenon.
This production stars Grammy Award nominee Deborah Cox and American Idol Star Constantine Maroulis, which, depending on your point-of-view, could also add to the creepiness factor.
War of the Worlds, an Art of Time Ensemble performance.
Tuesday, October 30 to Sunday, November 4 at The Enwave Theatre (231 Queens Quay W.)
Aliens have landed! Again! In the return of the sold-out 2001 production of the play based on Orson Welles’s infamous radio broadcast. The all-star cast of Sean Cullen (The Producers) joins Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci’s Inquest) and Marc Bendavid (The Border) is accompanied by an on-stage radio orchestra and remains chilling enough to cause Margaret Atwood to tweet “Brilliant! Not 2 miss!”.
Tickets: http://tickets.harbourfrontcentre.com
Tuesday, October 30 to Sunday, November 4 at The Enwave Theatre (231 Queens Quay W.)
Aliens have landed! Again! In the return of the sold-out 2001 production of the play based on Orson Welles’s infamous radio broadcast. The all-star cast of Sean Cullen (The Producers) joins Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci’s Inquest) and Marc Bendavid (The Border) is accompanied by an on-stage radio orchestra and remains chilling enough to cause Margaret Atwood to tweet “Brilliant! Not 2 miss!”.
Tickets: http://tickets.harbourfrontcentre.com
Even Margaret Atwood thinks you should see Art of Time Ensemble’s War of the Worlds.
Shows that are currently running and are scary GOOD are Nightwood Theatre’s Between The Sheets (at the Tarragon Extra Space now until October 7) and Soulpepper’s production of Arthur Miller’s faux/real witch tale (depending on how you view Abigail), The Crucible (at the Younge Centre for the Performing Arts until October 6). Wish me luck (and sound sleeps)!
