EVENT: The Gondoliers

Theatre for Thought, February 4, 2012

Londa Larmond, Arlene Duncan
(Photographer: Joanna Akyol)

CAROLINE CHANGES THE THEATRE

joel fishbane

Early last year, a panel of experts sat down for New York Magazine and debated which musical should be named the greatest of all time. I won’t quibble with the merit of the question or the result (a three-way tie for Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and – really, guys? - Guys and Dolls). What was more interesting was the process. Each expert made a list of 36 musicals. When the lists were compared, they struck away any show that only had one vote. This left 23 musicals in consideration. Of that list, only one show had made it onto everyone’s list.

That show – Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s eclectic show, Caroline, or Change – is having its Canadian premiere right now and you’re running out of chances to catch it. A co-production between Acting Up Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre, the show is one of the most unique, not just in the canon of American musicals, but in the history of the modern stage. 

Review: In Absentia

Paul Hopkins, Jilian Fargay, Jade Hassouné

(photo: lucetg.com)

Who says absence makes the heart grow fonder?

In Absentia at the Centaur Theatre

By Richard Burnett

Hopes were high for Centaur Theatre’s world premiere of In Absentia by Calgary-born Morris Panych, the celebrated playwright and director who has won two Canadian Governor General’s Literary Awards for Drama. 

But rest assured, Panych will not win a third for In Absentia.

The Friday Five, February 3, 2012

Five Reasons Why The Friday Five Is Always Five

by Kyle Gatehouse of Matt and Kyle and Matt

1. A regular room has six surfaces, the ceiling, the floor and four walls. The stage of a theatre has only five, the ceiling, the floor and three walls, the fourth wall has been removed to allow the audience to experience the magic of theatre. Whenever you say "five" to anyone, this is immediately what they think about, so it was a no-brainer to have a list about theatre be comprised of five walls, oops I mean five entries (sorry I accidentally wrote "five walls").

2. It was almost called "The Friday Six", but everyone was worried that it might be misinterpreted as a blog about Satan, since six is the first of his three numbers (the other two are also six, his number is six six six or 666 or six6six). 

Charpo's Real Theatre!, February 3, 2012

Review: Tough!

Kirsten Rasmussen gets Tough

Fringe darling workshops a solo show

by Sarah Deshaies

A one-two punch of quirky characters duke it out in Tough, Montreal Improv and Fringe darling Kirsten Rasmussen’s new solo work at Theatre Ste. Catherine.

Two personae are toughing it out in two different arenas of life: Amanda Paine as a fledgling fighter in the boxing arena and gym, and Lucy Diamond as a singer on the stage of the Swan Song, a small-time club. They’re surrounded by other characters populating this vaudeville-ian world including the golly-gee boxing coach James Carter, the Swan Song’s hapless bartender and owner Al, and Amanda’s boxing foe, Stacy Fingers, the formidable “two-time city champion.” 

CPM's Picture (Video) of the Week, February 2, 2012

Chekhov's masterpiece, Three Sisters

closing this weekend at Dawson College

(Read our review)

Beyond Our Fourth Wall, February 1, 2012

Remount of an unforgettable piece by Denis Marleau, A/D Ubu Theatre,  presented ten years ago. Accurately described as technological phantasmagoria.

Les Aveugles

Feb. 22-Mar.11 Musée D’art Contemporain de Montréal

(photo credit: Stéphanie Jasmin)

Theatre…en français

by Estelle Rosen

Where the title tells you all...and not much!

Caligula (Remix) 

Feb. 15-17

Gésu 

Focus on  moments from classic Cyrano de Bergerac.

Pour en finir avec Cyrano

Feb. 17-Apr. 21

Maison de la Culture

Shadow and light are in a constant battle.

L’Oratorio de Noel by Michel Tremblay

Feb. 15-Mar.24

Cie Jean-Duceppe

After Dark, January 31, 2012

Playwriting for Today's Canada
How should artists create when there is no money?
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

When I was 13 my father gave me a Brother portable typewriter for Christmas. On New Year's day, following, I spent the entire day on the machine writing my first full-length play: A Time For Madness. A woman is alone, her husband and two friends have escaped from prison and hole up at her place. Somehow it turns into a bloodbath with woman covered in her husbands blood and - like Lucia di Lammermoor (opera influenced by early writings - she does a long-ass mad scene. The only thing it had going for it was that it was a small cast and one set - cheap to produce. My next full-length play would have required 40 actors, was about six hours long and had a similarly pretentious title: A Life in Damascus. I dreamed as I wrote it, almost certainly aware it would never be done as we descended into a recession.

The Upstage Interview: Jade Hassouné

Nobody knows who my character is.

Upstage and CharPo contributor Sarah Deshaies  spoke with actor Jade Hassouné about  In Absentia playing at Centaur Theatre.  Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo Editor-in-chief.

UPSTAGE

Our first guest Jade Hassouné has been referred to as the collector of talents in the 2012 Montreal Mirror Noisemakers. Jade Hassouné joins us in studio. I hope you liked that introduction!  

HASSOUNÉ

I’ve never had an introduction before! Thank you.