EDEN PLANTED

Eden Planted is an exercise in futurology. Eden Planted contemplates 'the fall of man' reversed, the concept of returning to a new paradise in our technological age. (programme note)

William Yong - Director/Choreography

The themes of this work are timely and urgent, touching upon human evolution and how we envision the future....Eden Planted proposes a cautionary view of a re-engineered world, through movement, sound and visual design. The musical score by Anishinaabe dancer/composer Joshua DePerry (DJ Classic Roots) evokes the heartbeat of the land, integrated with techno beats. The work challenges us to consider carefully the legacy we're creating for future generations.

Mimi Beck, Dance Curator

Perhaps one of the most striking moments, among many, occurring during this hour long tour de force of sci-fi proportions, is a triumvirate of couples - two men, two women, one woman and one man - in pas de deux like configurations elegantly hoisting and gesturing, possessing an engaging flair for gender relations that imagines an enigmatic Eden where all kinds of couplings may occur.

But this Eden, in the hands of director/choreographer William Yong is also a beauteous and potentially monstrous place where the past lurks behind each new technologically inclined movement. One scene, replete with high tech stilt-like appendages attached to a taut shirtless male dancer maneuvering through the space presents an eloquent form of measured, athletic awkwardness as he attempts to interact with another dancer - both somewhat unable to completely complete the connection the stilted and the unstilted seem to be attempting - suggesting a new kind of human that may have difficulty becoming fully integrated into the 'future.' But with time, Eden Planted intimates the possibility of integration, growth, and ultimate demise.

Gorgeous projections by Afaq Ahmed Karadia, complemented by intriguingly beautiful costumes by Lisa Mann, give the piece an almost Hunger Games tone - without the high terror - that moves in and out or gauziness, plastic adorned bodies, futuristic appendages, and a lone black tulle figure with a delightfully manipulated bird midway through the evening.

A panoply of language - Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese - is spoken by other lone figures, inserting global and faint biblical implications that move through ideas of nurturing gardens to spinning deceptive horizons, tempests about to deploy, and decisions that must be urgently made.

This is no simple Eden. The ensemble of six dancers, through great skill and subtle movement, mixed with a softly emphatic acrobatic sense, roll a sharply bent body around the stage like a mechanical human being puppeteer'ed about - some contorted, wheel-like breathing form staying true to a circular origin. The sheer strength and varied physicality of this moment, and the overall work, never fails to enthral as a timeworn sense of a flawed yet perfect Eden replays itself in a future sci-fi like environment, begging the question, "If I don't have the courage to commit to reimagine creation, who will?" (programme translation from Spanish)

William Yong's re-imagining is gorgeous, meditative, simultaneously haunting, empowering and forewarning as it moves through many possibilities for a future paradisiacal garden framed by high tech prowess that intersects with the evolution of human bodies in perpetual motion.

RUNNING AT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE THEATRE UNTIL FEBRUARY 8TH

It’s a complicated thing, grief.

I tend to avoid the word when talking about this play - mostly due to people’s discomfort with it. Often, in response to their reaction to the play, I say, “but it’s also funny” which, let’s face it, further complicates things.

Keith Barker - Playwright/Director’s note

l-r Tamara Podemski and James Dallas Smith

Keith Barker’s critically acclaimed play,’This Is How We Got Here’ - a finalist for the Governor General’s Award in 2018 - possesses a comic elegance that underscores the profound tragedy at the heart of the story. A gifted ensemble of actors, under Barker’s direction, are able to take the subtly crafted, fast paced dialogue and find the eloquence and the poetry, the lighthearted and the sorrowful of day to day conversational strategies of people in the throes of prolonged grieving. Something almost Chekvovian, in part domestic drama, as characters stumble through the smallest details of their daily lives, often avoiding the over-arching burden of past trauma.

Kristopher Bowman as Paul has a softly powerful vocal range that gives the character an engaging presence and allows his sorrow to smoulder throughout, rising and falling with bouts of dignity, distress, and disappointment from one moment to the next. Michaela Washburn as Lucille matches this subtly and powerfully, bringing moments of great authenticity and grace to a woman barely able, yet consistently trying, to cope with what life has given her. Tamara Podemski’s Liset offers a sharply contrasting portrayal as the concerned sister, and creates a character filled with both physical and emotional power as she struggles to help her family through ongoing emotional crises. James Dallas Smith as Jim becomes a frustrated, supportive and compassionate uncle ultimately administering to a lost soul who stands at the core of the narrative.

And then there is the much discussed yet unseen fox, a recurring ‘character’ providing both comedy and sadness from start to finish - ranging from a garden menace to a symbol of hope and spiritual retrieval in the midst of loss. The story of fox, sprinkled throughout the play effectively fractures and unites various threads, similar to the ways in which Barker has dismantled and re-arranged the time frame, bringing us in and out of a story at contrasting moments, toward an unexpected ending that promises hope and comfort through the memory of a love that could not be sustained.

There is a beautiful elegance in the structure of Barker’s play. He fractures narrative like the moments of a fragmented memory, giving his characters great moments of conflict and daily detail that creates both comedy and pathos. There is a scene dealing with ‘fruit’ that resonates deeply within a friendship that reveals itself as both complex and filled with self doubt - both quirky and comic in its repeated identity squabble. Barker does all of this in a deceptively simple set of conversational scenes, split by the presence of an elusive and mischievous creature. Ultimately he deconstructs story, allowing an audience to be constantly engaged in the broken aspects of a timeless drama regarding familial love and the relentless aftermath of sudden and inexplicable tragedy. He shows us how his characters got there, to the places they were, the places they are, and the places they may be by bringing all of the pieces together.

RUNNING AT AKI THEATRE UNTIL FEBRUARY 16TH

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes - TARRAGON THEATRE

RUNNING UNTIL FEBRUARY 22ND

Matthew Edison and Alice Snaden in Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes - Photos by Joy von Tiedemann.jpg

A riveting drama, with complex and contrasting comical moments that turns the teacher student relationship inside out and provides post modern strategies that give no easy answers but lots to consider.

Alice Snaden and Matthew Edison are compelling as the blighted 'couple' who traverse a circuitous route through the confusion, the betrayal, and the multi-marriage/family/fidelity discourse that attempts to hold one man's self-fractured life together in the face of his own greatest obsessions - and ensuing lack of self-restraint under the guise of 'love' and all its pithy foibles.

Given the fact that the professor character, played with great angst and power by Matthew Edison, utlilizes on a few occasions, complex almost parodic allusions to literary theory, misidentifying the terms performance and performativity repeatedly, the script is at times a bewildering journey through sexual misconduct in the academy and its many implications. It is hard, at times, to take this professor seriously when he refuses, perhaps unconsciously, to take himself seriously. And that may be what the script gets at in what could be an unconscious, somewhat unrealized way when it comes to the complexity, or lack thereof, or particular academic pursuits..

By imposing a self-reflective/referential structural pose within the script, playwright Hannah Moscovitch gives the character of of Annie a deceptively upper hand element as she navigates her role as young student and aspiring playwright. This allows the drama to unfold in an at times bewildering manner. And yet, this may very well be the dramaturgical genius of Moscovitch as she supplies no simple solutions, or even layered resolution by the end of this emotionally demanding two hander.

Alice Snaden takes on her role as Annie with great emotional layering as the character moves in and out of the very confusion, attraction, desire, and self-doubt that the power imbalance, initiated by her professor, Jon (Edison), creates at the outset. She moves gradually toward a creative solution/anti-solution that affirms and questions the power of art as a simultaneously healing and hurting agent in the lives of the two people involved, and anyone in the audience susceptible to their own forms of identity crises.

Sarah Garton Stanley's carefully measured direction, combined with Michael Gianfrancesco's pulsing blood red set of almost farcical doorways, lending a kind of Georgia de Chirico surrealist angle to the dizzying narrative, creates a powerful setting and blocking landscape that effectively absorbs and alienates an audience and an actor drawn into both participation and observation.

Rife with doubt and self betrayal on the part of the male character, and peppered with both self empowered engagement and necessary retreat by the young woman, Sexual Conduct of the Middle Classes raises many questions through a kaleidoscope of near impossible answers.
   

THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL - APOCALYPSE WOW!!!

THE 

SPONGE

BOB MUSICAL

NOT TO BE MISSED, FROM START TO FINISH, WITH THE SHOW STARTING / SHOW STOPPING NUMBER BIKINI BOTTOM, 
THE SPONGEBOB MUSCIAL IS 

A FAMILY FEEL GOOD MUSICAL ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

Standout numbers include I'm Not A Loser - a classic kick line tap dancing ensemble backing Squidward Q. Tentacles, a loveably unloveable character who turns the plight of the misunderstood, unsung character into a spectacular four-legged creature that everyone loves to hate and hates to love. Cody Colley takes the part of Squidward and milks every musical move and moment for all its worth. A collision between Busby Berkeley and A Chorus Line, his feature number is a fabulous culmination of a two hour, one intermission, high power non-stop tour de force of fun and fantastical frolic.

A seamless ensemble brings the breakneck pace of this astounding musical tour de force to life with impeccable executed choreography, music, and physical gags galore.

The Sponginess of SpongeBob becomes a metaphor for all the nuance and splashiness that this extravagant and crowd pleasing show absorbs from every classic Broadway musical that has come before it. 

Lorenzo Pugliese in the title role showcases his amazing vocal range as he sings dances and leads the story of an apocalyptic moment in the lives of Bikini Bottom inhabitants. His strong vocals move effortlessly from powerhouse belting out to quiet moments that possess a childlike storytelling quality - providing a contrast that warms the heart with memorable moments, finding a wonderful finale near the end of act two when a supposed doomsday moment is represented in the song BEST DAY EVER.

l-r Daria Pilar Redus, Lorenzo Pugliese, Beau Bradshaw

Beau Bradshaw as Partrick Star, SpongeBob's bumbling sidekick matches his comrades vocal power and charms in every scene and powerful musical features. 

Daria Pilar Redus as Sandy Cheeks delivers a powerhouse performance as the Bikini Bottom newcomer who assists the team of co-saviours as they attempt to thwart a threatening volcano that could destroy their underwater world.

The perfect holiday musical for the times, when it is hard to feel good about a world on the brink, SPONGEBOB THE MUSICIAL moves from the brink and back again over and over in this magically apocalyptic musical pastiche of glorious sight and sound.

THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL 
AT MERIDIAN HALL, 1 FRONT STREET EAST UNTIL DECEMBER 22

cash me if you can

DON'T MISS THIS FEEL GOOD ABOUT FEELING BAD ABOUT BANKS SHOW!!! AN ENGAGING SOLO PERFORMANCE BY PATRICK COMBS THAT EXPOSES THE INTRICATE DETAILS ABOUT JUST HOW NASTY BANKS CAN BE AND HOW ONE MAN TRIED TO BEAT THEM 

AT THEIR OWN GAME

The incredible true story of a down-on-his-luck man who cashed a $100,000 phony, junk mail check as a joke, and fought the world's biggest bank when it actually cleared. A true life David and Goliath tale that captured the imagination of millions. The international smash-hit comedy has been featured on The Late Show, ABC Evening News, NBC Nightly News and The View. For more information go to: stageandfilm.com 
 

“One of the FUNNIEST, most FASCINATING and FASTEST moving plays to hit New York”

– BROADWAYWORLD

RUNNING AT CANSTAGE, BERKELY STREET UNTIL DECEMBER 21ST

Artistic Director - Tatiana Stepanova

The Nutcracker 

ft. Stars of Bolshoi Ballet

Meridian Hall ( Formely Sony Centre)

aturday December 14, 2019 Time: 2:00PM & 7:00P

RED ROBIN HOOD AT THE WINTER GARDEN

LIL RED 

ROBIN 

HOOD

STARRING:
ROBERT MARKUS, AJ BRIDEL, EDDIE GLEN, SARA-JEANNE HOSIE, LAWRENCE LIBOR, MICHAEL DE ROSE
AND DANIEL WILLISTON
 November 29, 2019 – January 4, 2020 at 

the Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto

The Family Musical That Targets Your Funny Bone!

Director and Choreographer Tracey Flye
Writer Matt Murray
Music Director Joseph Tritt

Starring Robert Markus, AJ Bridel, Eddie Glen, Michael De Rose, Sara-Jeanne Hosie, Lawrence Libor, and Daniel Williston
 
Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto
November 29, 2019 – January 4, 2020

photos by Rachel McCaig

After 23 years of acclaimed holiday extravaganzas Ross Petty productions does not disappoint in it's near quarter of a century Toronto Holiday tradition. A wonderfully entertaining version of Lil Red Riding Hood meets Robin Hood is a slick, beautifully designed tale for all ages. 

Eddie Glen shines in his 17th year with the show and plays a devilish two-sided sidekick to the dreaded Sheriff of Naughtyham, portrayed with powerful vocals and comic skill by Sara-Jeanne Hosie, returning after her fabulous stint as the wicked witch of the west in last years show. 

Glen rises to the occasion with opportunities to present his astounding vocals as he leads an amazing cast through a forest of wondrous and entertaining scenes filled with music and intricate choreography.

The entire creative team and performing ensemble excels at bringing this mixed tale of Lil Red who leaves the trials of high school in his little red vest in order to move back in time and discover how to succeed in a past filled with a new challenge and a new spectacular musical interlude - moving him through the lives of Maid Marion, Robin Hood, and the always fabulous Plumbum and all their attending characters. 

Don't miss yet another spectacular Ross Petty production that brings in the holiday season with plenty of witty political import, lots of fun for children to interact with their favourite characters, to cheer them on and boo their detractors at every delightful opportunity. 

In its first year at the beautiful Winter Garden this is a delightful and action picked show running until January 4th.

Lil Red in the opening high school scenes

Plumbum with Maid Marion

Sara-Jeanne Hosie as the Sheriff of Naughtyham

PRESS RELEASE:

TORONTO (September 24, 2019) Rich or poor, the whole family will be hood-winked by Ross Petty Productions’ original musical, LIL’ RED ROBIN HOODthis holiday season. After 23 years of holiday cheer in Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre, Ross Petty Productions’ 2019/20 Family Musical is moving to the Winter Garden Theatre on the 6th Floor of the same venue. The Winter Garden has a uniquely magical forest setting that inspired the creation of our brand-new 24^th production, LIL’ RED ROBIN HOOD, onstage November 29, 2019 to January 4, 2020.

This original family musical stars Robert Markus as Lil’ Red. Robert was the sensational star of Dear Evan Hansen, and showed an entirely wacky side of his talent in the celebrated Stratford production of The Rocky Horror Show. Returning for her 3rd Ross Petty Production, AJ Bridel, in the role of Maid Marion, previously played Sleeping Beauty and followed that with the role of Jane in A Christmas Carol, the Family Musical with a SCROOGE LOOSE! And of course, everyone’s favourite farceur, Eddie Glen, now in his 17^th Ross Petty production!
 
The adventure begins in 2019 Toronto where the hero, Lil’ Red is magically transported to the 16th century and lands in Sherway Gardens Forest. Robin Hood, played by Lawrence Libor (Grease, Footloose, and American Idiot), Maid Marion, and Friar Tuck, played by Daniel Williston (Rose, Spoon River, and Kinky Boots), join Lil’ Red in defeating the evil Sheriff of Naughtyham, played by Sara-Jeanne Hosie who was a hit as last year’s Wicked Witch of the West. Also returning from last year’s The Wizard of Oz is Michael De Rose, raucous and strangely alluring in the role of SugarBum.
 
Tracey Flye will once again bring her many talents to direct and choreograph the production and Matt Murray will create his 3rd hilarious script. Joseph Trittis the music director and conductor of LIL’ RED’s rockin’ live band.

With pop tunes, ad libs and raucous audience participation, this musical production is a uniquely Toronto family tradition, and not to be missed.

BMO returns as Presenting Sponsor along with Associate Sponsors The Toronto Star, Hilton Toronto and Mucho Burrito Restaurants.

LIL’ RED ROBIN HOOD will play for 42 performances at the Winter Garden Theatre from November 29, 2019, to January 4, 2020.

 

BMO presents a Ross Petty Production