Preview: Bigger Than Jesus

Rick Miller in Bigger Than Jesus. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Opening this evening on the Factory Theatre's mainspace is the second show in the trilogy of Rick Miller pieces being put on by Factory this fall. This second piece runs until October 9th.

For tickets please click the header! and for a great article on Rick Miller published by the Torontoist please click here.

Show Description:
Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks spent 3 years writing Bigger Than Jesus. The play premiered in 2003, and it has since become an international success story, having been performed in 5 countries and in 4 languages. In 2005, Bigger Than Jesus was nominated for 7 DORA Mavor Moore Awards, and won 3, including Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role (Rick Miller), and Outstanding Lighting Design (Beth Kates). There are currently 3 productions of Bigger Than Jesus on tour worldwide (in English, French, and German), making it one of Canada’s most far-reaching theatrical hits. Interest has been shown in countries as diverse as Israel and Iran! Given the universality and potency of the subject matter, we expect touring to continue well into the next decade.

Bigger Than Jesus is a “sinfully funny” and poignant multi-media ‘mass’ that questions the mysteries of life and historical and modern viewpoints on Christianity. Weaving together the Catholic liturgy, the gospels, and some good old-fashioned bible-thumpin’, Bigger Than Jesus is a truly unique theatrical experience. Director Daniel Brooks and performer Rick Miller carefully juggle reverence and irreverence, creating a show that has played equally well to commercial and avant-garde markets. At times educational, at times enlightening, Bigger Than Jesus is always entertaining. (Courtesy of biggerthanj.com)

Created by Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks
Performed by Rick Miller
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Designed by Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson

Preview: Musicals That Fly: Amelia

Up-and-coming, Toronto-based Theatre 20 is thrilled to present, in concert, Musicals That Fly: Amelia: The Girl Who Wants to Fly. This is the story of Amelia Earhart, her meteoric rise to fame, and her mysterious disappearance while attempting a solo World flight. Amelia's story has fascinated playwrights and storytellers for generations.

The production stars Theatre 20 founding artist Eliza-Jane Scott. The story-driven Canadian musical is written by John Gray of Billy Bishop Goes to War fame. This concert is the heart of Theatre 20's Musicals That Fly series.

Amelia: The Girl Who Wanted to Fly is directed is by Sarah Phillips, with Musical Direction by our friend Michael Barber. For more information on tickets click the header. And to learn more about the show visit the P.E.I county website, Festival Players.

We will be in attendance on Monday, October 3rd, for the only scheduled performance of Amelia: The Girl Who Wanted to Fly. The show starts at 8pm at the Panasonic Theatre. You can also purchase tickets here. Or by calling 416.872.1212, and in person at the Mirvish Box Office.

The Odd Couple Trailer

Here is the production trailer for The Odd Couple, which we previewed a few days ago(see below).

For tickets please click the header!

Preview: Another Africa

Canadian Stage is kicking off their 2011/12 season with the triumphant return of Volcano Theatre's Another Africa. This show was first seen as part of the 2010 Luminato festival, and was a critical success during It's original run.

Although set in Africa, Another Africa explores the global society. The piece features a multi-media approach and involves some dynamic and cutting edge technical staging, which we are very excited to see. A truly international work Another Africa was conceived during a research trip and It's development has spanned four years and three continents. The production at Luminato, then titled The African Trilogy, earned four Dora Mavo Moore nominations, including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production, (for which it won.)

Another Africa opens Thursday September 29th and runs until October 22nd.

Click the header for ticket and cast information

Preview: The Odd Couple

Opening down in the Distillery District at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts is Soulpepper's The Odd Couple. The piece is chalk full of some of our favourite actors and actresses in the city. With the fall season upon us, what better way to spend a few hours then in the warm embrace of Neil Simon's prose. This is a wonderful classic piece of theatre. Go see it!

For tickets please click the header!

Show Description:

Neil Simon's legendary exploration of the relationship between fastidious Felix and his sloppy roommate Oscar is one of the most iconic and enduring pieces of twentieth century American comedy. The pairing of Diego Matamoros' Felix and Albert Schultz's Oscar received rave reviews in 2008, and both will resume their hilarious, tender friendship.

Directed by Stuart Hughes
Featuring Derek Boyes, Kevin Bundy, Oliver Dennis, Raquel Duffy, Michael Hanrahan, Diego Matamoros, Michelle Monteith, Albert Schultz.

On now at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts:
55 Mill Street,
Building 49
Toronto

Preview: Spring Awakening

It has arrived Toronto! For tickets to see one of our favourite musicals of the past decade please click the header!!!

Show Description:

Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, SPRING AWAKENING’s alternative rock score by Duncan Sheik is "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade" (Entertainment Weekly). Based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial play of the same name – effectively banned from performance for nearly 100 years – the musical follows a group of teenagers as they come of age in late-19th century Germany. Stephen Sater’s book and lyrics for SPRING AWAKENING grapple with the difficult issues of sex, gender, and identity with refreshing energy and honesty.

Directed by Michael Rubinstein (Theatre 20, The Wylde Project, BirdLand Theatre), LOT’s production features a talented cast of emerging artists whose ages mirror those of the characters they play, artfully blurring the lines between fiction and reality. The musical employs the unconventional staging used to such great effect in the Broadway run – integrating the audience along the wings for a close-up view of the on-stage action. Join this group of talented young performers as they navigate teenage self-discovery and coming-of-age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion – the daring, remarkable SPRING AWAKENING.

The Lower Ossington Theatre
100A Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON (Ossington just below Argyle)
September 21 to October 8, 2011
Wed-Sat at 8pm & Sun at 4pm
Tickets: $45 (Regular Seating) / $65 (Premium Seating)

HIS GREATNESS at the Factory Theatre

photo of RICHARD DONAT as the "Playwright" by SEÁN BAKER

EAP is attending the media night this evening of Daniel MacIvor's HIS GREATNESS. It officially opens tomorrow! For tickets and more information please click the header!

independent Artists Repertory Theatre presents
HIS GREATNESS
Written by Daniel MacIvor * Directed by Ed Roy
Starring Richard Donat, Greg Gale & Daniel MacIvor
Set and Lighting Design by Kimberly Purtell
Costume Design by Nina Okens o Sound Design by Lyon Smith

NOW ON STAGE until October 23, 2011
Tuesday - Saturday @ 8pm, Saturday @ 2pm, Sunday @ 3pm
Ticket prices range from $40-$60
Students, Seniors and Arts Workers save $5
Limited number of PWYC tickets available for Sunday matinee

Preview: Iphigenia in Tauris

Opera is back! Opening tomorrow night at the COC, for eight performances only, is Gluck's incredibly moving, Iphigenia in Tauris. This electrifying opera sees the return of Robert Carsen to the COC as director. The stelar cast includes Susan Graham, Russell Braun, Joseph Kaiser and Mark S Doss. Several of whom, including Carsen, Graham and Doss, performed Iphigenia in Tauris to critical acclaim in the San Francisco Opera Company production, in 2007. The show has since travelled the world, with stops in Chicago and London. This production is produced in part by Lyric Opera of Chicago, The San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Graham, in her COC debut, is said to be unmissable in this one, so if you are a fan of the opera, or would just like to try it out, this is your chance. Iphigenia in Tauris launches what is sure to be a terrific 2011/12 season at the COC. Don't forget if you are under 30 you can get tickets as cheap as $22 dollars. Single tickets for any opera this season are also available. Click the header for more information or call 416.363.8231.

Check out what conductor Pablo-Heras Casado has to say about the show below.

Preview: BITCH SALAD Goes Black to School

BITCH SALAD Goes Black to School tonight! Check it out!

Tuesday, September 20th
Buddies In Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander St.)
Doors at 8, Show at 8:30
$10 at the door

Preview: What's on at Factory

On now until September 25th, at the Factory Theatre, is MacHomer, starring creator Rick Miller. Billed as a one man show featuring over 50 voices, from Shakespeare to The Simpsons. MacHomer has run for 14 years and been seen in over 150 cities, worldwide. This show gets audiences laughing out loud at Rick's spot on impressions. Don't miss this imaginatively staged comedic version of the famous tragedy, MacBeth.

MacHomer

starring: Rick Miller

direction by: Sean Lynch

sets, lighting and costume: Beth Kates

sound design: Rick Miller

at Factory till September 25th

click here for ticket info.

Rick Miller can also be seen in this seasons' Bigger Than Jesus and Hardsell

call 416.504.9971 to find out how you can subscribe to all three Rick Miller productions.

Starting next week at Factory is independent Artists Repertory Theatre, (iART)'s production of His Greatness. This is iART's inaugural production, and a Toronto premiere for His Greatness. Daniel MacIvor's award winning play, about a potentially true story centres around the great American playwright Tennessee Williams.

His Greatness is directed by: Edward Roy

starring: Richard Donat as the Playwright, Daniel MacIvor as the Assistant and Greg Gale as the Young Man

His Greatness runs at the Factory's Studio Theatre from September 20th - Oct 23rd.

Click here for specific ticket information.

Preview: In the Next Room or the vibrator play

The opening season show at Tarragon has hit the stage friends. Here is the show description below and for more info or to book tickets please click the header! I am really intrigued by this choice I must say. The piece runs until October 23rd.

At the dawn of the age of electricity an ambitious doctor uses a newfangled device—the vibrator—to induce paroxysms in his female patients. His young wife is fascinated with the sounds emanating from the next room. Can this new gadget solve the age-old problems of love?

A co-production with The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg).

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Richard Rose
Starring:
Trish Lindstrom
Melody A. Johnson
Marci T. House
David Storch
Elizabeth Saunders
Ross McMillan
Jonathan Watton

Preview: Private Lives

Opening at the Royal Alex is Sir Noël Peirce Coward's Private Lives. The piece is starring Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross. It premiered in London and is heading to Broadway via Toronto. For tickets click the header!

Spring Awakening hits Toronto

Get ready Toronto... it's coming!
September 21st.
Lower Ossington Theatre

Studio 180 Season Launch Party

Come one come all! Tonight is the launch party for Studio 180 Theatre . The company recently announced that they will present The Normal Heart in the fall and Clybourne Park, in association with Canadian Stage, in the spring. The company has strengthened it's connection to the Toronto theatre community and grown before our eyes. And to celebrate they are inviting the community to their season launch party tonight from 5:30 - 7:30 at 918 Bathurst. If you are interested in attending please RSVP to Kristina McNamee at kristina@studio180theatre.com. Or call 416.962.1800. Hope to see you there!

Preview: The Maids

Jean Genet, Playwright, The Maids - photo by Tanja-Tiziana, doublecrossed.ca


Another exciting year is about to begin at Buddies. Dora Award winning director Brendan Healy is back opening the season with Jean Genet's The Maids. The piece (show description below) sounds really dark and provocative. We need not forget that this psychosexual thriller is brought to us by the creative team behind last season's explosive production of Sarah Kane's Blasted.

Show Description

1933. French police find Madame Lancelin and her daughter face down, in their living room, mutilated. Upstairs, two maids are found naked, huddled together in one of two single beds. Their motive: self-defense against an abusive mistress. This true story was the inspiration for queer iconoclast Jean Genet's masterpiece. A powerful statement against servitude.

For tickets please click here.


Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE MAIDS
By Jean Genet
Translated by Martin Crimp
Directed by Brendan Healy
Starring Diane D'Aquila, Ron Kennell and Maria Ricossa
Production Designer Julie Fox
Lighting Designer Kimberly Purtell
Music and Sound Design Richard Feren
Stage Manager Laura Baxter

September 17 - October 9, 2011

Toronto Dance Theatre's 2011/12 Season Preview

Toronto Dance Theatre has announced their 2011/12 season. Christopher House's Pteros Tactics launches the season, running October 28-9th, November 2-5 at 8pm and October 30th at 2pm. The show runs at the Winchester St. Theatre. Followed by Severe Clear, which has been hailed, by Paula Citron as, "one of the greatest pieces in the Canadian contemporary dance repertoire." Severe Clear marks TDT's first Southern Ontario tour. The show opens November 19th in St. Catharines, at the Centre for the Arts. The show moves to the Markham Theatre on the 24th of November and finishes in Kingston, at the Grand Theatre, on November 26th.

In the New Year TDT, will work in residence at York University. The company will work with the York graduate and undergraduate students. House will perform iconic American choreographer Deborah Hay's solo At Once for the York Dance Department, and the full company will perform his Pteros Tactics at York's Accolade Centre February 2-3rd.

In February and March the company returns to Cabbagetown with Four at the Winch Quebec. This year's version will feature new work for TDT by Montreal-based choreographers Estelle Clareton, Lina Cruz, Deborah Dunn, and Jean-Sebastien Lourdais. Performances run February 23-25, 29, March 1-3rd (8pm) and February 26th ( 2pm.)

The company is also scheduled to perform Christopher House's new work Rivers April 25-28th (8pm) and April 28th (2pm.) The show will run as part of the Harbourfront Centre's NextStage series at the Fleck Dance Theatre. There will also be a FREE preview of the work at the Winchester on April 16th.

For more information about these performances or any TDT events check out their website here

or give them a call at 416.967.1365. Please contact Nicole Cornish at ext. 28. You can also email her directly at info@tdt.org.

Soulpepper's 2011 Fall Season

(Photo: The Odd Couple)

A message from Soulpepper:

Toronto, ON - September 6, 2011: Soulpepper Theatre Company opens three shows this fall to conclude its 2011 season, The Odd Couple, Ghosts and Parfumerie. The new lineup includes two celebrated remounts - the enduring antics of The Odd Couple and the romance of Parfumerie - plus a sharp, new adaption by Morris Panych of Ibsen's Ghosts. Soulpepper's fall season runs from September 22 to December 31 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

Continuing summer season productions include: The Glass Menagerie until September 6; Exit the King until September 9; Billy Bishop Goes to War until September 17; and White Biting Dog until October 21. Eric Peterson and John Gray's classic production of Billy Bishop Goes to War also makes its cinematic debut this month at the Toronto International Film Festival, with public screenings at TIFF on September 15 and 18.

Soulpepper's 2011 Fall Season

The Odd Couple
A hit at Soulpepper in 2008, The Odd Couple returns to the stage with the original cast in leading roles. Neil Simon's legendary exploration of the relationship between fastidious Felix and his sloppy roommate Oscar is one of the most iconic and enduring pieces of twentieth century American comedy. This production features Diego Matamoros as Felix and Albert Schultz as Oscar with Derek Boyes, Kevin Bundy, Oliver Dennis, Raquel Duffy, Michael Hanrahan and Michelle Monteith.
The Odd Couple is directed by Stuart Hughes.
Runs from September 22 - November 19.
Opening night is September 23.
Production sponsor: Herzig Eye Institute

Ghosts
With its frank discussion of relationships, morality, and family values, Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece caused a sensation on its debut in 1882. In Morris Panych's vital new translation, the ghosts that haunt the lives of a family's shattered glory are as haunting and provocative as ever. Ghosts is directed by Morris Panych and features three Founding Members, Diego Matamoros, Nancy Palk and Joseph Ziegler, with Michelle Monteith and Gregory Prest.
Runs from October 10 - November 18. Opening night is October 14.
Production sponsor: CIBC

Parfumerie
Another Soulpepper favourite returns for the holidays. Adam Pettle and Brenda Robins' adaptation about two clerks in a Budapest perfume shop who feud by day and unknowingly exchange anonymous love letters by night is one of the world's most beloved stories. Soulpepper's Parfumerie received the 2010 Dora Award for Outstanding Production. Parfumerie is directed by Morris Panych and features Maev Beaty, Stacey Bulmer, Kevin Bundy, Oliver Dennis, Patricia Fagan, Jeff Lillico, Miranda Mulholland, Brenda Robins, Mike Ross, Michael Simpson, Kristina Uranowski, William Webster and Joseph Ziegler.
Runs from December 8 - December 31. Opening night is December 8.
Production sponsor: National Bank Financial Group