Grease: Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Orpheus Musical Theatre Society
Directed by Chantale Plante
For some, Grease is all about nostalgia for the 50s and yearning for a simpler time. But, was it really simpler or were expectations, social roles and rules simply different? …
First published on artsfile.ca March 9 2018
Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak
Music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
9th Hour Theatre Company
Directed by Jonathan Harris
Godspell was a major hit when it premiered 47 years ago. In 1971, writer John-Michael Tebelak — who also directed the original — delivered a rock musical of the “make love not war” era, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (whose later works included Pippin and Wicked.)
In its earliest version, Jesus was a flower child and the focus was on the parables, the teachings of Jesus and the music. The 9th Hour Theatre Company version is presented as being “adapted and reconceived for a contemporary audience.” …
Godspell is a musical about faith in the real world. How do words of wisdom and kindness said millennia ago resonate with us today? The social picture has changed significantly since the time of Jesus and we are engaged in different battles. Or, are we? 9th Hour Theatre’s words shows us what happens when those ancient thoughts are put in a contemporary environment. …
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, a Toto Too Production. Directed by Jim McNabb and Shaun Toohey
Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart is a play fuelled by anger.
Anger at the political, medical and media establishment of the day for its reluctance to accept the reality of a mounting AIDS epidemic.
Back in 1985, Kramer made enemies on all sides with a play that is an only slightly fictionalized account of his real-life efforts in New York City to awaken the prevailing culture — including a gay, closeted mayor — to the reality of the frightening plague enveloping it. And because it takes no prisoners in its indictment, it remains perhaps the most unsettling play to emerge from the AIDS era
Kramer’s dramatic alter ego in the play is an outspoken crusader named Ned Weeks — and Shaun Toohey’s performance in this role supplies ample reason to take in TotoToo Theatre’s sometimes uneven revival of a seminal late 20th Century stage classic. …
The Normal Heart
Photo Maria Vartanova
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, Toto Too theatre, directed by Jim McNabb and Shaun Toohey.
A friend smiled as he recalled the late 1970s as a wonderful time of emotional and sexual freedom. We had met for lunch after his weekly doctor’s appointment. He reported that he had lost a little weight and that one or two more dark marks had shown up on his body. But he was fine, he said. The year was 1990. Less than three months later, he was dead, another victim of the AIDS crisis.
By this time, the scourge of acquired immune deficiency syndrome had been recognized as an epidemic. The black, purple, brown or red marks of Kaposi’s sarcoma were understood to be signs of the dangerous progression of the killing disease.
When Larry Kramer wrote his angry autobiographical play The Normal Heart, first presented off Broadway in 1985, he was continuing his fight to make people understand and respond to the ever-increasing death toll. Yet, because AIDS in 1981 (when HIV/AIDS was officially recognized as an epidemic) and earlier primarily affected gay men, it was extremely difficult to raise political or personal awareness of the depth of the problem. And, in The Normal Heart, Kramer gives no quarter to the members of the gay community, who were too timid to fight or too hung up on sexual liberation to recognize that abstinence might stem the spread of the disease. …
Lors de la lecture scénique de ce texte qui a eu lieu à Ottawa en 20171, nous étions enchantés par les paroles d’Ouellette et la présence d’une comédienne remarquable, la fine et délicate Céline Bonnier dont le visage avait déjà brillé dans l’espace symboliste des productions de Denis Marleau, (Les Aveugles entre autres. ) Cette fois-ci, les intentions du texte semblent un peu différentes alors que la mise en scène fait ressortir la complexité des voix et les sources variées de ce conte moderne qui présupposent le fond d’un monde des origines! …
Dead Accounts by Theresa Gruson, An Ottawa Little Theatre production directed by Geoff Gruson
If someone were to comb through the annals of theatre in search of truly irritating characters, Theresa Rebeck’s play, Dead Accounts, would provide a prize specimen.
The name of the guy is Jack and in Ottawa Little Theatre’s current production he’s been brought to manic, over-the-top life by cast member Phillip Merriman. …
The Clean House. Photo: Andrew Alexander The Clean House presented by Three Sisters Theatre Company at the Gladstone on Wednesday is a well crafted comedy that does not exploit cheap laughs. Rather it deftly explores relationships, anxiety, love and death with thought provoking and illuminating experiences. Sarah Ruhl has crafted a play that explores relationships between women with a sharp focus on love, mortality, rivalry, jealously and forgiveness with balance and wit. …
Reviewed by Natasha Lomonossoff on Sat. February 17
When a play has a very long title, one knows that some degree of comedy or meta-theatricality is involved. Forstner & Fillister Present: Forstner & Fillister In: Forstner & Fillister, directed by Madeleine Boyes-Manseau at the undercurrents festival at Arts Court, incorporates both. As the audience members enter, they are given credentials for a woodworking conference at which the play takes place. The two wood-working brothers, Forstner (Will Somers) and Fillister (David Benedict Brown) introduce themselves to the audience and give out their business cards. From there, the audience is thrust into the brother’s project of building a table, as well as their world of rivalry and pressure from an increasingly automated industry. …