On Stage This Month in Toronto
High Life
Continues to March 28th, 2012
A fantastic and celebrated black comedy about four inept criminals trying to rip off a bank in the 80s.
• By Ontario's own Lee MacDougall
• Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill Street, Building 49, The Distillery District
Soulpepper Theatre Company
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Continues to March 31st, 2012
"A haunting story of family, isolation, addiction and despair, Long Day's Journey Into Night explores how bitterness and unsaid truths can pull a family apart at the seams". (Read about Long Day's Journey Into Night on About.com: Plays/Drama)
• By Eugene O'Neill
• Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill Street, Building 49, The Distillery District
Soulpepper Theatre Company
The New Ideas Festival
Continues to April 1st, 2012
"The New Ideas Festival is an annual, three-week, juried festival of new writing, works-in-progress, and experimental theatre, with a different program of plays each week and a staged reading on Saturdays at noon."
• Alumnae Theatre Company, 70 Berkeley Street
Shrek: The Musical
Continues to April 1st, 2012
This touring production based on the animated film adds 19 songs to the story of a grumpy ogre and fast-talking donkey on a mission.
• Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire; Music by Jeanine Tesori
• Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge Street
Dancap Productions
The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs
Continues to April 8th, 2012
"Grace's beloved new husband has only one rule: she must never enter the small room at the top of the stairs."
• By Carole Fréchette, translated by John Murrell
• Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue
Potted Potter
Extended to April 8th, 2012
"Direct from London’s West End comes the hit Harry Potter comedy - Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff."
• Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford
• Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge Street
Mirvish Productions
My Granny the Goldfish
Continues to April 15th, 2012
"Granny travels from Bombay to visit her beloved grandson Nico who is in hospital in Vancouver. Her “cure alls” are attitudes, platitudes and a full flask of whiskey. Despite Nico’s neurotic and hysterical protests, Granny helps him truly heal – ultimately proving that laughter is the best medicine."
• By Anosh Irani
• Factory Theatre Mainspace, 125 Bathurst Street
Famous PEOPLE Players: Funkyland
Continues to April 2012
Theatre for Young Audiences
An original musical based on Alice in Wonderland is presented by this well-known black light theatre company which provides dinner and a show to customers while offering training programs and opportunities to people with developmental disabilities.
• Famous PEOPLE Players’ Dine and Dream Theatre, 343 Evans Avenue
The Second City Spring Mainstage Revue: Live Wrong and Prosper
Continues to June 2012
Find more Comedy in Toronto
"In this age of ill-gotten fortune, scandalous celebrities, and shameless self-promotion, The Second City will go to any lengths to get the biggest laughs."
• The Second City Theatre, 51 Mercer Street
War Horse
Now on stage
This greatly anticipated production is now on stage with an all-Canadian cast. Produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain in association with the Handspring Puppet Company.
• Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford
• Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King Street West
Mirvish Productions
SIA
March 24th - April 15th, 2012
"The day Canadian volunteer Nick Summers is scheduled to fly home from Ghana, he wakes up hung over and tied to a chair. His new friend Abraham, a former child soldier from Liberia, has taken him hostage in a desperate bid to stop a war crimes trial at the International Criminal Court. If Abraham does not succeed, Nick will not survive."
• By Matthew MacKenzie
• Factory Theatre Studio Theatre, 125 Bathurst Street
Was Spring
March 27th to May 6th, 2012
"Three women clash over a tragic event in their past. Somewhere in the pain there is love, but when you've been betrayed by your own dreams and a lifetime's worth of guilt, can you still find it?"
• By Daniel MacIvor
• Tarragon Theatre Extra Space, 30 Bridgman Avenue
Coming Soon
Clybourne Park
April 2nd to April 28th, 2012
"A battle over race and real estate rages across two generations in a Chicago neighbourhood in this hilariously unsettling play inspired by A Raisin in the Sun." A Studio 180 Theatre production in association with Canadian Stage.
•Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street
Canadian Stage
The Tales of Hoffman
April 10th - May 14th, 2012
"A drunken poet sits at a bar, recalling his lost loves to his fellow drinkers. But this is no ordinary barfly: Hoffmann is a writer of fantastical fables. As he spins his dark reminiscences, they come to life before us and resonate with a universal truth. Hoffmann embodies the archetype of every tortured artist, torn between his search for love and the demands of his creative muse." Sung in French with English surtitles.
• By Jacques Offenbach
• Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. West
Canadian Opera Company
The Game of Love and Chance
April 16th - May 12th, 2012
"This boy-meets-girl tale is a charming romp about mistaken identity, true love, and the business of marriage. Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn brings a contemporary sensibility to this elegant 18th-century classic from French master dramatist Marivaux."
• Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. East
Canadian Stage Company
The Real World?
April 24th - June 3rd, 2012
"Should or can playwrights truly "write what they know"? If they use their family members as characters in a play, whose play is it? Whose truth is it? And what happens when those family members stand up to their artist son and object to their theatrical selves? The Real World? remains a groundbreaking play about art, autobiography and authority."
• By Michel Tremblay, translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco
• Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue
A Florentine Tragedy/Gianni Schicchi
April 26th - May 25th, 2012
"In A Florentine Tragedy, based on Oscar Wilde’s play, a merchant discovers his wife is having an affair with the Prince of Florence ... This rarely seen opera is part one of a double bill that concludes with Puccini’s tour-de-force comedy Gianni Schicchi, in which family members frantically scheme to benefit their own greed." Sung in German/Italian with English surtitles.
• By Alexander Zemlinsky/Giacomo Puccini
• Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. West
Canadian Opera Company
Bring it On: The Musical
May 2 to June 3, 2012
"This all new, original musical comedy combines an exciting new sound, gravity-defying choreography, and a thrilling story to create a show worth cheering for."
• Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford
• Ed Mirvish Theatre (formerly the Canon), 244 Victoria Street
Mirvish Productions
