Chekhov Makes Me Laugh! Yay!

This past week was insane!  I had two Openings: Proof on Wednesday and A Christmas Carol on Thursday.  As Director of the first and Marketing Administrator for the second I was very busy!  Fortunately both went very well.  I have been very pleased with Proof and it was great to share it with an audience.  Although the weather kept the turn-out smaller than I would have liked, they were extremely appreciative and I received glowing reviews from audience members at the reception following the show.  I hope that you all can take the time to see it.  I guarantee a great night of theatre worth braving the cold for. It runs until December 14th and the tickets range from $12-$16 so it's really an affordable theatre opportunity.

A Christmas Carol also went well.  It is so cool to see the people coming to Opening Night for this show.  Many of them have seen it before and they all look so excited to be back for it.  For many of them it is the kick-off of their Christmas season.  I also liked meeting the parents of the kids in the show. The pride and expectation is visceral.  If you haven't seen it before it is definitely worth checking out.  If you have, you know it's worth a return visit.  There's a very good reason why so many people have made this part of their holiday tradition!

Today, I saw the penultimate performance of Broken Toys Theatre production of The Three Sisters at the Varscona.  IT WAS SO GOOD!  I really wish I could have seen it earlier so I could have told you all how good sooner (but this literally was the first chance I had to get to it...).  The last show is currently underway so if you missed it you are out of luck. Clinton Carew did a fantastic job as both translator and director.  It's the same play by Chekhov, but he made it accessible and engaging. I'm really hoping this qualifies for Sterling 'new work', I am not sure how the category works for adaptations/translations.  He really tapped into how funny Chekhov should be.  The direction is also very elegant.  His use of the space is brilliant and often there are three clusters of action onstage, but never are you focused on the wrong grouping.  It moves briskly so that the 3 hour running time flies by.  Great performances from all involved.  Indeed the cast list is amazing.  It's so cool to see so many bodies onstage in an indie theatre production.  Everyone is in the same world.  Hard to pick a favorite when everyone is so strong.  Well done!  This is their second production and they are certainly proving themselves to be a company to watch!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SUMMER READING! #yegbookclub

Image
On May 26th we had a lively chat on twitter with author Thomas Trofmiuk about Waiting for Columbu s .  It was wonderful to be able to ask questions about the characters and their possible paths and has the author answer them.  It was very clear that they all continued to live outside the book.  We begged for a Consuela sequel as she was a favorite of many of us readers. It was also great to learnt hat there is a Waiting for Columbus movie in the works.  When I read the book I was struck by how cinematic it was and, like The English Patient , I thought it would lend itself to film. Following the discussion I indicated that there would be some Summer Reading Choice(s) for the next #yegbookclub.  I don't know about you, but I am always hard to pin down for the summer.  With holidays and day camps for the kids and, for this year, directing two Fringe Shows I thought we could have 2 selections to read over the summer and then in September we could take two evenings to chat about th
Read more

Fringe #42 - Sat, Aug 19 - Three Great Musicals and More WORD OF MOUTH Recommendations!

Image
I saw three great musicals on Saturday. They were very different, but enjoyable in their own ways! First I took in Morningside Road , a new musical by Mhairi Berg and Simon Abbott. It was so beautiful. having written a play about a similar topic I thought the way that the story was told was very well done. The music is lovely and sung very well - tight harmonies and gorgeous voices. At the end, I estimate 50% of the audience (if not more) was in tears and there was an instant standing ovation. This is a terrific pick!  Next up was The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes which in the spirit Schmigadoon, the lead character Howard wakes up to find himself living in a a musical and wanting to get out of it. It was a super fun ride of a show. It hit on so any musical theatre tropes and references what feels like a thousand specific shows. The Musical Theatre afficionado should not miss this show! I loved how they really leaned into all the ridiculousness because that's the only way this k
Read more

Bringing The Color Purple to the Stage with Joyous Song and Truthful Storytelling!

Image
Sometimes when you are very excited for something, it fails to live up to your expectations. This is NOT the case with The Color Purple currently running at the Citadel Theatre . As I wrote earlier, I loved Alice Walker's novel and I am happy to report that the production is everything and more than I could have hoped for. From the first few seconds of the show, when Celie (Tara Jackson) and Nettie (Allison Edwards-Crewe) sing a child's rhyme together, you know that musically you are going to be treated to something magnificent. This grows as the full cast joins them onstage and the world of Celie is created. The power and beauty of this cast in their vocals is majestic. It's the kind of music sung so well that it makes you want to lift from your seat. The Citadel has done an incredible job of bringing together this cast which has no weak links, each voice expressive, joyful and strong. Kudos to the cast and to Music Director Floydd Ricketts for creating such amazing sou
Read more