Tag: Community

OLT’s Cliffhanger sparing in its entertainment value

OLT’s Cliffhanger sparing in its entertainment value

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Image thanks to OLT

 

 

Cliffhanger by James Yaffe. Directed by Joe O’Brien. Playing at the  Ottawa Little Theatre to Nov. 3

Cliffhanger is at best an indifferent play, and whatever strengths it does possess are not well-served by Ottawa Little Theatre’s current production.

Playwright James Yaffe’s apparent intention was to write a dark comedy-thriller about the world of academia while also attempting to bolster it with the more serious intent of examining the true meaning of ethical conduct. …

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Cloudburst: a tribute to lasting love

Cloudburst: a tribute to lasting love

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Cloudburst    Photo Maria Vartanova.
Maureen Quinn McGovern (Stella), Arlene Watson (Dotty)

 

By Thom Fitzgerald, TotoToo Theatre.  Directed by Sarah Hearn

Stella and Dot have loved each other for 31 years. Now in their 70s, they are threatened with separation when Dot’s granddaughter decides that “for her own good” Grandma should be moved to a retirement/nursing home, which also handles final arrangements when death comes knocking. …

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Arsenic and Old Lace:A highly entertaining evening at Kanata Theatre

Arsenic and Old Lace:A highly entertaining evening at Kanata Theatre

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Arsenic and Old Lace Photo Wendy Wagner

 

 

Arsenic and Old Lace By Joseph Kesselring; Kanata Theatre
Directed by Jim Clarke

Judging from the packed houses and the enthusiastic audience response, the Kanata Theatre production of Joseph Kesselring’s dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace has been unaffected by another local company (Ottawa Little Theatre) mounting the show earlier in the same season. …

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Dead Accounts: this dark at times jarring comedy moves swiftly under Geoff Gruson’s direction

Dead Accounts: this dark at times jarring comedy moves swiftly under Geoff Gruson’s direction

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Dead Accounts. Photo. Maria Vartanova

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. …

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Dead Accounts: a good production of a mildly entertaining script

Dead Accounts: a good production of a mildly entertaining script

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Dead Accounts.   Photo: Maria Vartanova

Dead Accounts By Theresa Rebeck, an Ottawa Little Theatre production, directed by Geoff Gruson

From the outset, there’s little doubt that Dead Accounts is the work of a playwright used to writing for television. And Theresa Rebeck, a writer for such TV series as NYPD Blue, Law & Order and Criminal Intent, regularly resorts to short scenes, detailed visuals and blackouts TV-style in Dead Accounts. This is not necessarily a problem, though the choppy format does become somewhat repetitive. Rather, it is an indication that this dark comedy, premiered in 2012, is more concerned with immediate response than resolution (as clearly shown in the open-ended conclusion). …

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Kanata Theatre comes up trumps with Sleuth

Kanata Theatre comes up trumps with Sleuth

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Sleuth, Poster of the Kanata Theatre production.

 

By Anthony Shaffer, a Kanata Theatre production,   directed by Beverley Brooks

There’s more than one reason for seeing Kanata Theatre’s revival of Sleuth.

The first is Dale MacEachern’s robust performance as the scheming Andrew Wyke, a flamboyant crime novelist with a deadly penchant for game playing.

The second is provided by Jarrod Chambers as the hapless victim of this gamesmanship, a guy named Milo Tindle who’s been messing about with Andrew’s wife and ends up being drawn into an infernal web as a result. …

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Annie not Suzart’s finest hour

Annie not Suzart’s finest hour

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 Annie, Book by Thomas Meehan, Music by Charles Strouse

Lyrics by Martin Charnin, Suzart Productions

Directed by Kraig-Paul Proulx

 Success is elusive, especially when the product seems simple but actually requires a great deal of subtlety and skill to make it more than a sickly sweet vehicle for kids looking cute on stage.

Annie, the 1977 musical inspired by the Orphan Annie cartoon strip of the 1930s, is such a product. While the musical, with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, has its share of catchy tunes and even a near-classic number in Tomorrow, it drips with sentiment and requires a massive suspension of disbelief to become even mildly credible.

…

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Tick…tick…BOOM

Tick…tick…BOOM

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Tick..tick…Boom
Photo Maria Vartanova

 

 

 

Tick…tick BOOM, book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, Script adaptation by David Auburn,  Orpheus Musical Theatre Society

The countdown on the chance of success as a composer is near. Jon (aka Jonathan Larson) sees his thirtieth birthday as the deadline for delivering a hit musical or leaving theatre for a lucrative alternative.

Therefore, anxiety and anger have equal time in his autobiographical chamber musical tick…tick…BOOM! Originally written as a solo rock monologue mourning the fact that the workshop of his musical, Superbia, did not progress to full production, David Auburn (author of the play Proof) turned the show into a piece for three performers after Larson’s death: the anxious composer, his girlfriend, Susan, and his best friend, Michael. …

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Tick, Tick Boom! Intimate and Powerful!

Tick, Tick Boom! Intimate and Powerful!

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Tick..tick…boom!
Photo Maria Vartanova

I was very intrigued to attend the Orpheus production of Tick Tick Boom. It would be my first time seeing a production in Centrepointe’s more intimate studio theatre. The play is an autobiographical tale of Jonathan Larson’s early years as a struggling artist attempting to write the great American musical while toiling as a waiter and watching his friends prosper in more conventional professions. He would succeed of course, in writing the monstrously popular Rent, but tragically dying a sudden death of aortic dissection caused by Marfan syndrome before he ever got to see a single performance. The spectacular 12 year run on Broadway, was awarded a plethora of awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Larson, sadly posthumously.  …

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Ghost of a Chance: Production offers some uneven pacing

Ghost of a Chance: Production offers some uneven pacing

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Photo courtesy of Rural Root Theatre Company

Ghost of a Chance
By Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus
Rural Root Theatre Company
Directed by Valerie Jorgensen

The three most annoying things about Ghost of a Chance are: its heavy borrowing from the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit early on; the unreasonable return of one thieving character, simply to engineer a happy ending; and the misdating of deer hunting season by a character who is supposed to be a hunting/shooting/fishing macho type.

There is also an issue with the 1996 comedy by husband-and-wife writing duo Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus being cluttered with too many complications and silliness. Even so, this ‘spirited’ sit-com includes a number of funny lines. But, unless a production of this type moves at a consistently fast pace, it stands more than a ghost of a chance of falling flat. …

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