Wicked

I don't know if I've been changed for the better

But because I knew you I have been changed for good

I fell in love with the music from Wicked long before I saw the show or heard it on Glee. On my trip to NYC in 2007 I was hoping very much to get to see it but the tickets were unattainable. So I wished and waited for a touring production to come to Toronto. Finally in late 2010 my wish was granted and the touring show returned to the Canon Theatre in downtown Toronto.

The production did not disappoint! As much as I loved the show from hearing the soundtrack and learning the songs by heart, seeing it made me love it all the more. The costumes were exquisite even to my eye quite a ways back in the mezzanine. The sets were ingenious with the Time Clock Dragon and Glinda's bubble. And each song was brought to life by the acting and choreography done by the company. As much as I had imagined it in my mind while listening to the music I couldn't come close to what was actually done onstage.

Wicked is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Oz before Dorothy came along. At it's core it's a story of friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, two friends who shouldn't be friends at all but when the chips are down they are there for each other. There are added themes of oppression, class distinction and hate crimes. Then of course Dorothy comes in at the end and commits murder.

Elphaba and Glinda are the heart and soul of the show, everyone else is just a support. Their friendship is far from perfect but in the end none of that matters as much as who they are to each other.

Wicked is a production I would never tire of seeing and I'm looking forward to the next time I'm able to see it.

Camelot

Don't let it be forgot

That once there was a spot

For one brief shining moment that was known

As Camelot ...

I have a new favourite ....

*Stratford production

*Leading man

*Musical

Up until this point my favourite Stratford production has been West Side Story as put on in 2009. It is the production that made me fall in love with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and all the lovely things it has to offer.

Now West Side Story has been usurped from the top spot by Camelot on this years playbill. I saw it for the first time and fell in love with the music and actors but unfortunately my seat provided some poor sight lines due to the beautiful set dressings that blocked the extraordinary actors at some pivotal points. I was blessed with a complimentary ticket to see the show again and I fell even more in love with the music, the actors and the set design (the floor is amazing!!!)

There are so many great performances to love in this show. Geraint Wyn Davies is a comical but loveable Arthur who just wants to bring joy and goodness to the kingdom. Kaylee Harwood is a lovely Guinevere who brings vividly expressive emotion to complement her masterful voice in song. Jonathan Winsby's Lancelot is swoon-worthy (and I was swooning!)

Not to mention Brent Carver's hysterical Pellinore, Mike Nadajewski's devilishly boo-inducing Mordred, the fabulous singing and dancing Knights and Lucy Peacock's bewitching Morgan le Fey.

The production is beautiful to the eye, the ear and the heart. It is true magic! I already have tickets to see it a third time and I am sure it will not be my last.

Guys and Dolls has always been my favourite musical but I think Camelot has tied it if not entirely won me over. Perhaps if Stratford will put on Guys and Dolls again so I can properly compare then I can say which is my favourite for sure (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Run, don't walk to see Camelot while you still can. It is must see theatre!

The Grapes of Wrath

"On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food.

And the anger began to ferment."

What a heartbreaking story and a heavy one. John Steinbeck's novel set in the great depression turned into a play about a family trying desperately to hold onto one another, their lives and their hope in the midst of devastating crisis. I have to admit the first time I saw it I was too overwhelmed to appreciate it. The shock of what desperation could cause us to do was too much for me to take in and I didn't like it.

Thankfully I was lucky enough to have a ticket to a second performance (the first was a freebie thanks to the festivals annual Easter egg hunt for tickets). This time the beauty of the story, not the sadness of it all, but the beauty of the love this family has for one another and their desire above all to stay together is what hit me.

Acted beautifully by actors in the company the standouts for me were Janet Wright as Ma, Evan Builing as Tom and Tom McCamus as Jim Casy. The narrating band was also a great treat.

After the second viewing I got to thinking about the plight of migrant workers. Firstly they do still exist in Ontario, now manly comprised of poor immigrant families with no other choice of employment. Yet we choose to ignore the unregulated work they are forced in to. That anyone could be treated like the lepers the Joads were in our time appals me. It was an eye opener, seeing what folks went through, what they survived and what is still happening now.

John Steinbeck's book was controversial and convicting back then, I wish I could say it wasn't so relevant now.

My love of theatre knows no bounds

Settling into the balcony or orchestra, waiting with anticipation for the lights to go down and the curtain to go up ... all tantalize my senses with the hopes of another great theatre experience.

It began in high school with our school's productions of Guys and Dolls (which I wasn't in, sadly) and Lil' Abner (which I was in). I fell in love with the stage. Not so much being on it but seeing it unfold. I knew I was not an actor by any means. I had fun, sure, but it was not calling me to a career. I did know that my love affair with theatre would not end.

It did dwindle for a while as school got in the way. Then at the end of the summer in 2007 I took a trip to New York City with a friend and OF COURSE we had to go see something on Broadway. I was hoping to see Wicked but sadly those tickets were hard to come by and very expensive. Instead we saw Hairspray and Mary Poppins, both of which I loved. This time in a real theatre my addiction was born!

Then a year later I moved just north of Stratford, Ontario, home of the World Famous Stratford Shakespeare Festival where every year from April until October they put on 12 productions in 4 theatres. Of course there is Shakespeare every year but also musicals, Canadian playwrights and stage classics. It is truly a feast for the theatre-loving soul. And I fell hard.

I've lived here for almost 3 years now and I have been to see almost every Stratford production since, many more than once as they are just that good! I will look back and reminisce on the ones from seasons past and I will post after each show this season.

I am in no way affiliated with the Stratford Shakespeare festival other than that I am a devoted fan.