‘This is How We Got Here’ deals with grief but there is more underlying the text. Playwright Keith Barker states his play “is about trying to find a connection after experiencing a devastating loss.” How very true this statement is.

The Ghost Project, a one person show created and performed by Karie Richards, offers the insight of thirteen characters each with a tale connected to these questions.  Playing this month at The Theatre Centre in Toronto, the performance winds its way into the darkness of these ethereal sightings, but some lack of depth prevents any substantive mining of these ghostly topics.

I can’t even begin to imagine the hardships that a Syrian immigrant and refugee encounters and experiences in leaving a homeland and beginning a new life somewhere else. Performers Ahmad Meree and Nada Abusaleh are quite good in capturing those moments of emotional intensity in both plays needed without it going over the top into histrionics

Reminiscent of ‘The Iceman Cometh’, Lynn Nottage’s bar teems with the lot of human frailty.  This cast’s strength is in stomping on the accelerator and not letting go, reminding us of Stan’s unfettered philosophy – “shit follows you everywhere.”

Director Chris Abraham made an extremely brave choice not to downplay the horrific violence that can, does and will probably ensue from the conflicting tension of ‘reason, and our belief that we can use it as an all-powerful tool to govern our own actions, and the actions of others.’

Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch viscerally overturned the #metoo movement on its head with a sizable goose egg bump at the premiere of her ‘Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes’ at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre on the Mainstage.

And it’s one helluva of a terrific play that demands to be seen…

In Act 2, Kaisha Lee’s sultry performance of St. Louis Blues was a knockout, and the sound of the applause at the end of her number reinforced it even further. It has been years since I’ve heard barbershop singing, and ‘I Open My Mouth to the Lord’ was captivating to hear and to listen to every single lyric and word sung.  Heavenly!

The odd thing about the songs in this opening night production is that not one of them has a catchy hook to it that will have you humming the song as you leave the theatre, yet most of the songs work well in their own context for the sake of story development and/or projecting the emotional impact of a situation.

Despite the fascinating nature of the story, the whole presentation could very well land with a thud if Mr. Combs didn’t have the charisma to pull it off…He keeps the story moving along at a fairly good clip, which helps save the show from the fact that it’s a tad longer than it needs to be.

A beautiful evening of Christmas music was delivered to December 15 by The Toronto Consort in the acoustically wonderful Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in Toronto… The heart of this evening’s fare was a grand telling of the Christmas Story by seventeenth century German composer Heinrich Schutz.

Once the show got underway, it was nothing short of magical. Every cast member had boundless energy, displaying not only solid acting chops but also incredible singing and musical abilities.

This Soulpepper preview performance of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ is just as lovely, touching and heartwarming even more after seeing it for the fourth time over the last several years.

This inventive production closely follows the storied work of Charles Dickens, with a few unique adjustments to add just enough freshness.  Appropriate for a family audience, it is a great new way to get into the Christmas spirit(s.)

Something is missing in this ‘Anastasia’. There’s no definitive substance lying underneath this gorgeous exterior of projectuals and costume designs..

It’s difficult for me to say that I enjoyed ‘A Million Billion Pieces’ because there’s a lot to digest about what Love stands for in this 70-minute production.

If this youthful, vibrant touring company is any indication at this opening night, ‘Cats’ still has a long life ahead of it, and audiences will continue to ‘let the memory live again’ even thirty years later.

“Coal Mine has a winner here.  It’s riveting, revealing, and reeling with emotional understatements. ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ is going to sell out quickly so rush to get a ticket.”

When a play took my breath away and gave me goosebumps mere minutes into the opening night performance, I knew I was in for something special.

At times, the banter is funny as hell. It’s also harshly visceral which made me cringe and reminded me of similar word play dialogue in David Mamet’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’. I found some of the twists Mr. Sherman’s script took were a tad jarring at times, but they did make sense as the plot progressed further.

“Burgeoning into ‘the ribald’ with a dash of ‘the raunchy’, ‘The Unconventional Holiday Revue’ cast gifts us some unconventional holiday fun ranging from Justin Trudeau’s brown face to Don Cherry’s infamous ‘you people’ which still baffles me why there is this continued interpretation on social media sites.”