Photo. Maria Vartanova

There is a very thin line between characterization and caricature and between stereotype and individual character.

In Come Blow Your Horn, playwright Neil Simon periodically steps over the line. So do director Sarah Hearn and her cast in the current Ottawa Little Theatre production. Even so, Simon’s 1961 debut play — semi-autobiographical as are several of the comedy/dramas that came later — holds up well, in part because Hearn wisely chooses to present it as a period piece and focus on character.

A number of Simon’s works offer examples of the ambivalence he felt for his older brother and this is particularly clearly demonstrated in Come Blow Your Horn when 21-year-old Buddy leaves the parental home to move in with 33-year-old Alan and emulate his playboy lifestyle. In addition, the sense of responsibility Alan feels for Buddy comes through loud and clear, which is why a number of his actions and words in Act II are a carbon copy of their father’s words and gestures.

…

Read More Read More

For just a few moments in the second act of Phoenix Players’ production of Murder at the Howard Johnson’s it seems that the show is finally coming to life. But the illusion of adequacy fades when the third character joins the two men on stage.

The problems are not entirely the fault of the director and performers although they must bear much of the blame for stilted delivery and constant shouting.

…

Read More Read More

It is not an easy task to convince an audience of the existence of a six-foot invisible white rabbit. And it never happens in the current Kanata Theatre production of Harvey by Mary Chase.

In fact, the biggest surprise, in view of this presentation, is that Harvey won a Pulitzer Prize. Even in 1944, there were surely more effective and worthy shows than this comedic chestnut.

…

Read More Read More

It is more than 15 years since friends celebrated the engagement of Bob and Janet in Toronto by putting together a collection of songs, entitled The Wedding Gift.

From this small beginning, the entertainment, now called The Drowsy Chaperone, evolved into a popular show at the Toronto Fringe, then on to larger houses in Toronto courtesy of top Toronto producer David Mirvish, until it became a Tony-award winner on Broadway with numerous productions in London’s West End, Los Angeles, Australia and Japan, not to mention touring across Canada.

Some might say there is more of a story behind The Drowsy Chaperone — a tale akin to the understudy who becomes a star overnight — than to the intentionally slight fictional plot. Certainly, the names of the bride and groom in the show are reminders of its origins and certainly it does exactly what it sets out to do: celebrate the genre while gently spoofing the musicals of the 1920s.

In the past, The Drowsy Chaperone, has run without intermission. While, at its current length, this would be hard on the audience, the first act is too long and drags towards the close. (However, it is difficult to see a better point to break the action.) …

Read More Read More

Photo from The Ottawa Citizen. Diana Krall at the NAC

A fine jazz pianist and singer with terrific timing and a great backup quintet. Isn’t that enough for a first-class concert?

Apparently, Diana Krall’s handlers do not think so. Rather than trusting their star, they clutter the show with a constant backdrop of irrelevant, distracting and often ugly visuals. Old movies are fine in their place, but when the sense of relief at the sight of a plain red curtain during the gaps between them is overwhelming, the clear indication is that this is not their place.

…

Read More Read More

A playground fight between two 11-year-old boys is the reason for a meeting between their supposedly civilized parents. But the veneer of civility and socially acceptable behaviour is paper thin and the two sets of parents are soon brawling with gloves off.

Christopher Hampton’s translation of French playwright Yasmina Reza’s social satire lays bare the insincerity and ugliness in the married couples’ relationships with each other and with their opposite numbers. Little wonder that their children are monsters with the example of their parents to guide them — or not.

In the Third Wall Theatre production of God of Carnage, director Ross Manson has chosen to retain the Paris setting, but other productions in the U.S. and UK have placed God of Carnage in their home countries — a recognition of the universality of the theme of savagery just below the surface. …

Read More Read More

Photo: Maria Vartanova

Condensing any novel into a two-act stage play is a challenge. Many have tried to present the key aspects of Jane Austen’s best-known classic, Pride and Prejudice, on stage and screen. In general, the screen versions have been more successful because they offer broader scope for conveying both the atmospher and content of Austen’s rich novel.

Ottawa Little Theatre selected the Helen Jerome version for its 100^th season as the 1930s representative (which it also included in its 1995-1996 season). Jerome is fairly faithful to the text of the novel, although she has removed two of the Bennett daughters and added a maid in the Gardiner household. However, in 2013, the wordiness of her adaptation creaks more than a little.

…

Read More Read More

Chris Ralph as Billy Bishop. Photo: Andrew Alexander

Billy Bishop shot down a record 72 enemy planes in the First World War. John Gray’s show about the fighter pilot’s exploits has the distinction of being one of the most produced works in Canadian theatre history since its premiere 35 years ago.

The story of how the worst cadet at the Royal Military College in Kingston became a war hero resonates in part because Billy Bishop started off as such unlikely material to be destined for stardom.

In the original stage version, the movie and a recent revival (with revisions) Eric Peterson played Billy and the numerous other characters, male and female, that he converses with through the narrative, while Gray accompanied him on the piano. Because Billy Bishop Goes to War has been so closely identified with its originators, it has been difficult for other performers to ring many changes with the view of the scrappy pilot from Owen Sound.

…

Read More Read More