MJ Photographics The talented teens of 13 In 13, Lachlan Topshee plays Evan, a big-city boy trying to fit into a painfully-small small town after his parents divorce. Evan is drawn to the outcasts Patrice (Nika Gantar) and Archie (Evan Matthews), but realizes his popularity is dependent on winning over the junior high school alpha-male […]
Neptune Theatre
Posted inArts + Music
A Christmas Carol
I revisited my “reviews of Christmas past” and was surprised to see that the 2009 Neptune production of A Christmas Carol left me so cold. Surprised because this year I left the theatre quite buoyed up by the Christmas spirit and tickled and touched by the show itself. Although the pace of the script still […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Theatre Production
Gold Winner Legally Blonde: The Musical, Neptune Theatre Silver Winner Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare by the Sea Bronze Winner Sissydude, trrrash Productions Oh. My. God. Isn’t it the BEST when they take a totally awesome book, turn it into a blockbuster movie and then transform the script into a wicked piece of musical theatre? […]
Posted inArts + Music
RED
“What do you see?” asks abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko (Geordie Johnson) as he and his brand new assistant Ken (Noah Reid) stare into the audience which stands in, momentarily, for one of Rothko’s Seagram paintings. Rothko is digging for—no, demanding—a very specific answer, and Ken tries valiantly to please. But even in this early […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad
There’s romance and comedy aplenty in Michael Melski’s Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad, but this two-hander ends up being more than just a pleasing “romantic comedy”. There’s real depth to the story of a couple of single parents who connect at the local rink (very local for the Halifax crowd, as this production is set on […]
Posted inArts + Music
Refuge
Six actors stand on the catwalk above the stage against a backdrop of boney, wintery trees. They’re suffused in a cold blue light. Eerie, prickly music ebbs and flows around them. One sighs. Another yelps. One breaks into a keening wail. So begins Mary Vingoe’s Refuge, the story of an Eritrean soldier named Ayinom who […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Coast’s Fall Preview 2013: Dance & Theatre
DaPoPo Theatre’s Live-In October 1- 31 at The Living Room, 2353 Agricola Street dapopolivein2013.blogspot.ca Five years ago, the members of DaPoPo Theatre hatched a clever idea for financing rehearsal space. Why not book the TNS Living Room theatre on Agricola for an entire month, rehearse during the day and host paid performances and readings at […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Comedy of Errors’ twins for the win
The Neptune Theatre production of The Comedy of Errors is set on a Greek Island in 1974, and according to Mauralea Austin, the details are just right. “I travelled in Greece in the ‘70s,” recalls Austin, who is playing the parts of the gruff maid Nell and the upright Abbess Amelia. “I lived in those […]
Posted inArts + Music
Compañía Azul flames on with flamenco
Flamenco. It’s a centuries-old art form that has its roots in southern Spain where Andalusian Gypsies first used solo voice, and later added guitar and dance, to express the pain of persecution. It’s also a wonderful medium for telling stories of all kinds, says Dan MacNeil, guitarist and composer with the Halifax-based flamenco troupe Compañía […]
Posted inArts + Music
A Little Night Magic
I’m not a Sondheim fan. (As I type this, I already feel virtual tomatoes being pitched my way.) His music alienates me. His shows exhaust me. And this is why I’m shocked by how much I love, love, loved the Halifax Summer Opera Festival production of A Little Night Music. I was enraptured from the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Get a sneak peek of Stages Theatre Festival
For years Eastern Front Theatre has been making a bang with its SuperNova Fest, but this year they’ve renamed and overhauled the entire package. Stages Theatre Festival is still committed to showcasing some of the best work the Maritimes has to offer theatrically but with a new twist—a focus on “stages,” featuring works in different […]
Posted inArts + Music
Forever Eighteen
Admit it. You’ve sometimes wished that life would give you a mulligan, a chance to go back and do things differently. Well, in Michael Melski’s Eighteen, unhappy senior citizens Ben and Claire (played by Robbie O’Neil and Elizabeth Richardson) get that chance when they fall into the Fountain of Youth. But it soon becomes apparent […]