Tuesday September 29/15 - Fall for Dance - Sony Centre - we have just witnessed the greatest dance programme ever....when the Alvin Ailey company isn't in the top 5, something is wrong. The Ailey company wants to watch out for the sensational Atlanta Ballet, whose Minus 16 choreographed by Ohad Naharin, is one of the greatest dance shows ever, worth a trip to Atlanta. Unfortunately the opening night programme is not being repeated, instead we get two evenings of Program 2. Also in the top group was Toronto Dance Theatre's great Vena Cava, choreographed by Christopher House, the National Ballet's 24, and Vibhakta, by the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble. The Sony resounded with an appreciative audience the likes of whom I have never seen or heard there before. Looking forward to Program 2 tomorrow, and cannot imagine it could ever be better than this evening's glorious event. An enlightening talk by members of the 6 companies preceded the event.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Panasonic Theatre, was somewhat of a disappointment for me, in spite of a bravura cast, the play was just not that funny. It ran for 201 performances on Broadway with Sigourney Weaver, Billy Magnussen, and David Hyde Pierce, and won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award. The reviewers seemed to love the show and found it hysterical, and our cast with Jennifer Dale, Fiona Reid and Steven Sutcliffe are all great actors, so I can only blame the director for misdirecting the humour in the material.

Spoon River

Soulpepper's revival of Spoon River, written in 1915 by Edgar Lee Masters, reminds me of many things, another trip to "Our Town," "Once" set in a graveyard instead of a bar, Agnes DeMille's spirited dances Fall River Legend and A Bridegroom Called Death. Entering the theatre is quite an occasion as one is greeted, in blackness, by the families of the deceased, mourners, even a coffin with a person inside. Seating sections are family, passerbys etc. The 90 intermissionless minutes pass by very quickly with epitaphs and poems on 212 separate characters (many based on real people) in the fictional town of Spoon River. In 2011 it was adapted into a theatre production, and Soulpepper have pulled out all the stops. One can see why it was a hit last year, and I am sure it will be in their repertoire for years to come.

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit at the Princess of Wales, with Angela Lansbury (winner of Tonys for Anyone Can Whistle, Mame, Dear World, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd), is the best production of Noel Coward's play that I have had the pleasure to see. Brilliantly directed by Michael Blakemore, and beautifully set by Simon Higlett and lit by Mark Jonathan, co-starring Downton Abbey's Charles Edwards, one could not ask for more. I have seen many productions of this play starting in the late 1950s at the Red Barn Theatre, at the Royal Alexandra, and Stratford with Seana McKenna. and of course the 1945 David Lean film with Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford, which won Oscar for special effects. Broadway has had Angela, Mildred Natwick, and Geraldine Page play Madame Arcati.

The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years - Jason Robert Brown's musical brought to the big screen with great performances by Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick. We got to see this on stage in 2008 at the Bread and Circus Theatre Bar, a very small venue near Kensington Market. Also got to see Jason Robert Brown in concert at the Glenn Gould Theatre, with some guest artists, and his brilliant Songs for a New World at Tank House, and Isabel Bader theatres, also Parade at the Berkeley in 2011, which at the moment is being done in concert in NYC. He is a brilliant songwriter/composer and it is always a treat hearing his songs sung. In addition the New York photography is brilliant, and the time passes much too quickly. I am already ready to see it again. There are few composers/songwriters who can bring off these almost soliloquy performances, only Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown and Jacques Brel come to mind. Songs like Still Hurting, Moving Too Fast, A Summer in Ohio and If I Didn't Believe in You. The film is filled with love, and heartbreak, and I am afraid too few will see this magnificent filmed musical.

Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield at the Avalon Ballroom, has tremendous energy for a 65 year old Australian, and had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the US, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. He followed with four more top 10 US hits, "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody". His two US top 10 albums are Working Class Dog (1981) and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982). As an actor, he portrayed Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime drama General Hospital, from 1981 to 1983 and during 2005 to 2008 and 2012, returning in 2013 for the show's 50th anniversary with son and actor Liam Springthorpe. In 2010, Springfield published his autobiography, Late, Late at Night: A Memoir. Other films include Hard to Hold, Legion, Nick Knight, Californication, tv series High Tide, has appeared at MGM Las Vegas, and was in the original Broadway cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe, and will appear in an upcoming film with Meryl Streep.

Our Country's Good

July 14/13 – Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story – a great way to spend 80 minutes for an afternoon or evening is Red Sandcastle Theatre's production of the off broadway hit. The two stars Oscar Moreno as Nathan and Sergio Caldron make it very worthwhile, and the direction by Larry Westlake is very taut and makes use of every nuance. The score by Stephen Dolginoff gives the men a chance to show off their splendid voices, and numbers like “Thrill Me,” “Way Too Far,” and “Keep Your Deal With Me,” work well and help to further the plot. These real people, whom many remember from the powerful film Compulsion, make for a very sinister love story. Try to catch it July 12-27th!