Finster Finds

Last Friday I went to Opening Night of the absolutely hysterical Stranger Sings presented by DarkStage Productions at the Backstage Theatre. It is what is sounds like it might be, a musical parody of the Netflix show Stranger Things . Like the TV show, it is set in Hawkins, Indiana, where four nerdy tweens play D&D and one of them (Will Byers - a puppet voiced by Melenie Reid, who also plays his mom, Joyce Byers) goes missing on his way home! All the folks you expect to see are there: D&D buddies Mike (Jeremey Zimmerman), Lucas (Jason Wong) and Dustin (Renell Doneza - who does an amazing imitation of Gaten Matarazzo), Steve Harrington with the hair (played by Brian Christenson who also plays Jonathon Byers with a quick switch of a wig and a moor slouch), Nancy Wheeler (Liz Janzen) and best-friend but forgotten Barb (Carly Pettit), Eleven (Jack Hunting), Hooper (Connor Foy) and, of course, the Demogorgon (the clearly never-shy in his life - Lucas Paterson). I mention them all

This October has quite a few cool options for those of you who like your theatre to have a Scare Factor! I must say, the Edmonton theatre community has really risen to the challenge this year! I was happy to catch 2 of them last week! First up is A Party to Murder at Walterdale Theatre. I quite enjoyed the unwrapping of this Agatha Christie inspired story. It's a layered story and things are not as they seem, and it channels elements of And Then There Were None , but with a more modern take.  I was reminded a bit of Knives Out in that not everyone is who they seem to be.   The twists and turns really start coming in the second act and it appears that everyone has a motive for murder, but just who did it is the question. Lots of laughs in this show too, mostly from the deadpan delivery of Erwin Veugelers as former football player, Willy. The whole cast is tight and you can tell that everyone is keeping secrets. When the whole thing spills out you'll be replaying earlier moments

It was a busy weekend of theatre for me! Felt like old times! Three performances in three days! On Friday, I took in The Invisible - Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare presented by Catalyst Theatre at the Eva O. Howard Theatre at Victoria School for the Arts. This was the last professional show i saw before the great pause and much of what I reflected on then, still holds true. You can read my original review here.  The show has had some cast changes, but they are still a phenomenal ensemble of actors with no weak links. It's a terrific piece of theatre that reveals stories of women during World War II - stories we don't often get to hear. As I said before, it is one of my favourites from the company and remains so!  The Invisible runs to October 5th with tickets priced between $26.83-$51.83. You can purchase them here.  On Saturday, I went to The Varscona Theatre Gala . It was a lovely night with a variety of performers (House of Hush Burlesque, Die-Nasty, Lindsey Walker, and th