ANYTHING GOES – REVIEW OF 2025 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Anything Goes is a classic 1930’s musical that has the virtues and the shortfalls of Depression Era entertainments. Cole Porter was a master creator of melodies and lyrics but in the case of Anything Goes, a pre-Rodgers and Hammerstein work, he was not lucky with the libretto which had pedigreed writers like P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse and, fifty years later, a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman.

The Shaw Festival gives a fast-paced and colourful production with some fine singing and outstanding dancing. Kimberley Rampersad directs and choreographs the production with some praiseworthy results and some questionable steps.

Aside from Porter’s delightful songs, the musical does have a slim plot with considerable humour, much of which did not connect with the audience. It is set on a luxurious ocean liner in the 1930’s travelling from New York to London. You know what age you are in when one of the rich characters quips to a woman that he remembers seeing her husband on a ledge just before he jumped after the stock market crashed.

The play has a large array of characters from celebrities to criminals combined with mating rituals, hidden identities and plot twists that I probably missed. There is the stowaway Billy Crocker (Jeff Irving) who is in love with Hope Harcourt (Celeste Catena) who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Allan Louis) who is “interested” in Reno Sweeney (Mary Antonini). The latter is a former evangelist who has become a fantastic nightclub singer with a heart of gold. 

The cast of Anything Goes (Shaw Festival, 2025). 

Photo by David Cooper.

Billy works for millionaire Eli Whitney (Shawn Wright) who is also in love and ready to get married but is outwitted. And wait until you meet Charity (Jade Repeta), Chastity (Jaden Kim), Purity (Kiera Sangster) and Virtue (Mikayla Stradiotto). And we do have some major crooks like Public Enemy No. 1 to keep a balance of good and others.

The dances choreographed by Rampersad are marvelous. I have not seen such rousing, fast and gorgeous tap dancing except in old movies. You can see them in Anything Goes. They are athletic, precise, coordinated and simply amazing.

The singing is good but Mary Antonini as Reno outperforms everyone with her outstanding vocal beauty and prowess. She has a full-throated voice and dominates the stage whenever she sings, she steals the show with “I get a kick out of you” sings “You’re the Top” and leads everyone in “Anything Goes” and kicks butt in “Blow Gabriel, Blow.”

As director, Rampersad sets a breakneck pace but I would have preferred less activity during some songs. Making singers run up the stairs and slide down the banister takes away from the song and does not offer much else. And somehow, amid all the activity much of the humour simply did not register. Admittedly, some of the humour is not very good, but even some good lines did not go over well.

The sets and costumes by Cory Sincennes were very good.  The American SS is for the rich and those who want to be rich. The revolving stage gives us a good view of the ship and provides lots of opportunities for kinetic energy to be displayed.

The show is carried by Cole Porters wonderful songs and the extraordinary dancing and is certainly worth seeing. There is not much that can be done about the creaky plot and we can hope that the humour will come out in future performances.
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Anything Goes by Cole Porter (music and lyrics) and a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Wedman continues in repertory until October 4, 2025,  at the Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.

JAMES KARAS IS THE SENIOR EDITOR, CULTURE, OF THE GREEK PRESS

LEAVING HOME – REVIEW OF 2025 MATCHSTICK THEATRE PRODUCTION AT COAL MINE THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas 

Leaving Home is David French’s first full-length play and it premiered at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto in 1972. French wrote about a dozen full length plays but he has all but disappeared from the Toronto theatre scene. He was one of the most frequently produced Canadian playwrights and his plays were staged around the world. What happened?

As with so much more, we should be grateful to Coal Mine Theatre for importing the current production by Matchstick Theatre from Halifax. It is a superb production that deserves praise and being seen and praised by all.

Leaving Home is French’s first play about the Mercer family who immigrated to Toronto from Newfoundland in the late 1950’s. He wrote five plays about them and they are “related” to the writer’s family. The Mercer family consists of the parents, Jacob (Andrew Musselman) and his wife Mary (Shelley Thompson), and their two sons Bill (Sam Vigneault) and Ben (Lou Campbell). Bill is getting married and he and his fiancée Kathy (Abby Weisbrot) are having their wedding rehearsal and everyone is getting ready to go to church. Kathy’s mother Minnie (Sharleen Kalayil and her boyfriend Harold (Sebastian Labelle) also arrive at the Mercer kitchen.

Harold deserves an honorable mention. He is an embalmer in a funeral home, where Minnie met him when burying her husband, and he does not utter a word. Most of the time he sits on a couch observing what the others are doing and he is hilarious. You must see him to believe it.

The Mercers are a dysfunctional family where emotions run deep and arguments are simply violent and that includes serious physical altercations. Jacob is a foul-mouthed, short-tempered man who lashes at his wife and children with uncontrollable furor. He thinks his wife and children do not respect him and the invectives he unleashes against everyone are terrifying. But underneath the abusive language we believe that there is love. Musselman does an outstanding job of vilifying his children and wreaking havoc. He may have love in his veins but most of the time we see a monster. 

Shelley Thompson and Andrew Musselman in Leaving Home.
Barry McCluskey/Matchstick Theatre

His wife Mary is the peacemaker of the family but she is not successful except perhaps in the final scene of the play. We get a bravura performance by Shelley Thomson as a woman caught in a family maelstrom. Lou Cambell’s Ben is a sensitive son who wants to leave the family because he is growing up and perhaps escape the unbearable violence of the family. He has just graduated from high school. He tries not to express hatred toward his father but wants to leave and grow up. His father’s violence is focused on him who is seen as a traitor of the family. Cambell plays the sympathetic, shy youngster superbly.

Bill is in high school but he got Kathy pregnant and is about to marry her. She informs him that she lost the baby and he is not sure he wants to go through with the marriage. Kathy is unsure of his feelings for her and  she vacillates between wanting to go on with the wedding and calling it quits. We are not sure about their relationship but we are certain about the acting ability of Vigneault and Weisbrot.

Minnie comes flying into the Mercer home with a faux fur coat and new boyfriend, Harold the Formaldehyde Kid. Jacob calls her a slut in one of his rages and she may well be with her newfound wealth from her deceased husband. Fine work by Kalayil.

The set by Scenic Designer Wesly Babcock shows an ordinary kitchen and living room which indices a working class 1950’s house. Director Jake Planinc marshals the emotional violence of the dysfunctional family as well as the underlying love and keeps us in thrall to the final lyrical denouement. This is realist theatre of the highest order and one wonders why the work of French has been shoved under the carpet after being so popular.

We want more. 

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Leaving Home by David French continues until June 22, 2025, at the Coal Mone Theatre in a production by Matchstick Theatre at 2076 Danforth Ave. Toronto, (northwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth). www.coalminetheatre.com/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press

AFTER THE RAIN – REVIEW OF 2025 TARRAGON THEATRE PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

After the Rain is an interesting musical that deals with family love and conflict, the story of a band, friendship, mentorship and the search for self-assertion. It has a rich collection of songs, of course, but also intimations and more about the making of music and the writing of songs. 

The Tarragon Theatre has built seats on both sides of the theatre and there is a raised platform in the center. It is equipped with an excellent sound system and the actor/singers use mikes. In other words, we get superb acoustics.

The central character is Suzie (Annika Tupper), a lively host and talented musician who needs to find her own voice. That means she needs to break away from her parents, band leader Ashley (Andrew Penner) and her mother Jean (Deborah Hay). Suzie, in addition to musical talent, has charm and humour and is able to engage the audience and evoke rich laughter.

Suzie is forced to take a job as a piano instructor when her father is unable to fulfil his obligation. She has to teach a mature student, Donna (Deborah Hay) who wants to learn to play one one piece, Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1.

The cast consists of Suzie and her parents and the drummer JD Kinkel (Joe "Jojo" Bowden) and guitarist Mickey Mintz (Brandon McGibbon). Penner doubles as Donna’s husband Frank and Donna’s son Julian is played by Shaemus Swets.

 Annika Tupper and Deborah Hay in After the Rain – 

A Tarragon Theatre & The Musical Stage Company production. 

Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Rose Napoli has created some distinct and interesting characters that are sympathetic even in periods of conflict. Suzie is a talented musician, charming and lovable. But she comes into conflict with her parents because she needs to spread her wings. Her father is also a talented musician, from a previous age, but he is assertive,  sings well but disagrees with his daughter. The same can be said of Jean and kudos are given to Deborah Hay. Hay plays Donna, a woman of a certain age with little time to waste. She is decent and wonderful. Her son Julian starts off as a duffus but matures through music and Swets is superb.

In addition to the superb and well-coordinated cast, the show has high production values which are essential in any production but perhaps more so in a musical. The set design by David Boechler with the raised playing area, as I mentioned, has places for two pianos, one baby grand the other small keyboard played by Suzie and Jean respectively. Sound Designer Brian Kenty has set up the equipment for maximum effect and listenability. Lighting Designer Logan Raju Cracknell provides judicious lighting for the music and singing and the other emotional levels of the play.

Donna must do some fast costume changes and entrances on the stage and again we have intelligent pacing. All of which adds to the huge responsibilities of Director Marie Farsi and Music Director Rachel O’Brien. They manage their spheres with consummate professionalism and talent.

In the end we see the creation of songs, the preparation and disagreements of a new album for the group and the humour and drama of family dynamics as well as the story of Donna, Frank and Julian.

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After The Rain  by Rose Napoli (book) and Suzy Wilde (music and lyrics), in a production by Tarragon Theatre and The Musical Stage Company, will run until June 22, 2025, at the Tarragon Theatre 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.  www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press 

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE – REVIEW OF 2025 TRANSMISSION LIVE IN HD FROM THE MET

Reviewed by James Karas

The Met Live in HD has wrapped up the current season with a resounding revival of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville directed by Bartlett Sher. It was originally directed by Sher in November 2006 and it holds its own almost twenty years later.

There are many reasons for the opera’s popularity but this is not the place to examine that. Our concern is Sher’s production, the cast and production values of the streaming that we could see in a Cineplex theatre.

Sher is a man of the theatre and he focuses on the theatrical aspect of the opera. We have an amorous Count Almaviva disguised as a soldier wooing the lovely Rosina. She lives with Doctor Bartolo, an old, dictatorial curmudgeon who wants to marry her. Of course, we have the cunning and scheming Figaro who will make sure that does not happen and the Count gets the girl as they say. 

Sher’s Figaro is fleet of foot, a master of invention and a delight to watch. Leave it to  baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky under Sher’s direction to do all of that. Rosina must be a fast and clever thinker to outsmart Bartolo for the man she loves, even if she has no idea who he is.

The set cosmists of a number of doors that represent different rooms in Bartolo’s house. This adds to the fluidity and speed of the action. Rosina can go from one space to another and we can follow the action splendidly. Sher builds on the inherent theatricality of the plot and provides laughter and enjoyment as hr takes us through the story.                                        

Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Figaro, Aigul Akhmetshina as Rosina, 

and Jack Swanson as Count Almaviva. Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera

That is a good start but we will not get very far without a superb cast who can handle the theatrics and the singing as well.

Let’s start with the barber of the title, Figaro, who is a master strategist, knows everything, thinks fast and manipulates events. Andrey Zhilikhovsky has energy, exuberance and a remarkable voice. Yes, he is the man you want if you want to court a woman, Rosina, that you never met and who does not know you at all. Just listen to his opening aria, “Largo al factotum” and you know he is your man. And it so happens that the young, handsome Count Almaviva wants to go into Rosina’s house. Zhilikhovsky sings with the speed and vocal beauty that we expect of Figaro.

Count Almaviva (tenor Jack Swanson) has a supple and sweet voice, (just what an ardent lover needs) and with Figaro’s shenanigans, he will get to Rosina, give her a music lesson, and the rest is nuptial bliss.

Rosina (mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina) is a lively and lovely young lady with determination, gumption and self-assurance. She is sweet, of course, but listen to her “Une Voce poco fa” and you know who will come on top in the “who gets Rosina”  sweepstakes. 

For sheer vocal pleasure listen to bass Alexander Vinogradov’s rendition of the diabolic  “La Calumnia” which is a  text-book guide on how to defame people. The comic character is the nasty and lecherous Doctor Bartolo (bass baritone Peter Kálmán) who is putty in the hands of the Figaro-Count-Rosina trio.

Let’s give credit to the Met’s behind the scenes people. Set designer Michael Yeargan provides light, bright sets. Costume designer Catherine Zuber dresses everyone up in classic attires and revival stage director is Kathleen Smith Belcher.  The chorus director is Tilman Michael and the Met chorus does its usual superb work.

The Met orchestra is conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti with gusto and, in case I did not convey my enjoyment of the production, I will simply add I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon than at this performance of The Barber of Seville on a large screen in a Cineplex theatre.
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The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini was shown Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on May 31, 2025. For more information including dates for reprises go to: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press

RED LIKE FRUIT – REVIEW OF 2025 PRODUCTION OF NEW PLAY BY HANNAH MOSCOVITCH

Reviewed by James Karas

Red Like Fruit is a riveting new play by Hannah Moscovitch that is brilliantly structured and delivers a large number of punches, quietly, almost subliminally. The program cover shows a woman screaming but the play itself does its screaming very differently and the photo shows the opposite of the suppressed screams of the protagonist. 

The play has two characters, Lauren (Michelle Monteith) and Luke (David Patrick Flemming). Lauren is seated on a chair and utters only a few words during the 75-minute show. Her emotional state is indicated by some body motions but all is shown subtly. Aside from that, the entire plot is told by Luke. She is a professional journalist who is writing an article about Andrew and Brittany, He slapped her and was convicted and sentenced to do community service. He did. He worked for the Liberal Party and Justin re-hired him after the end of his sentence.

Lauren digs deeply into the incident and the slap had far more serious consequences than initially related by Andrew including broken teeth and other wounds.

Brittany’s story, like that of the whole play, is told by Luke in its entirety. He stands at a lectern and speaks in an even tone, is extremely well-spoken and occasionally asks Lauren if she is all right and if he can continue. She consents every time.

Michelle Monteith. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Lauren joins a group at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and she clearly has “issues”. We move from Andrew and Brittany’s story to Lauren’s experiences and listen with mounting horror at what has happened to her. Luke delivers all in an even voice regardless of how freakish the incidents are. On a visit to Prague, Lauren trips and almost falls on a cobble stone street. The tour guide reaches to help her and grabs her vagina. At 17, she visits Dean, a 30+ cousin in the U.S. and sleeps in a separate bedroom in his apartment. She is woken up with Dean lying on top of her. The incident is too horrific to describe; in the morning they have breakfast with her aunt as if nothing happened. 

Luke continues relating incidents from Laurens’s life including references to sex with young men but also consensual coitus with a sous-chef that she does not like. The cumulative effect of her experiences sends her CAMH seeking help.

The Andrew-Brittany story shows that Lauren is intelligent, meticulous and perceptive. She digs into the details and as usual she discovers that things are not what they appear to be. There is a twist to the “slap” story but I will not disclose it lest it spoils the cumulative tension built by the play.

The set, lighting and costume design are by Kaitlin Hickey and they are as simple as they are effective. A raised chair for Lauren and a lectern for Luke and the lights focus on Lauren. She says very little but her agony is illustrated with the few movements that she makes. Flemming is simply masterly in his performance, an actor who can relate appalling, almost unspeakable series of incidents with a calmness that emphasizes instead of diminishing  the horrific tales. Astounding performances by Flemming and Monteith.

The play is directed by Christian Barry the artistic director of 2b theatre company, Halifax Nova Scotia. He sets the tone and pace of the performances and his work can only be described as masterly.

In case I did not convey the effect of the production, I can only add that the theatre provides a CONTENT WARNING that the play “deals with complex sexual matter including sexual assault.” That barely scratches the surface of the effect of the play. The performance can have such an effect that the theatre advises that “a reflection room is available following the performance, if needed.”

Hannah Moscovitch has once more demonstrated her subtle and brilliant writing talent.

Go see it.
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Red Like Fruit by Hannah Moscovitch,  a Soulpepper and Luminato Festival presentation of the 2b Theatre Company production continues until June 15, 2025, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario. www.soulpepper.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS – REVIEW OF 2025 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The second musical of the 2025 season of the Stratford Festival is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Avon Theatre. Dirty Rotten was first produced on Broadway in 2005 to mixed reviews but it did better on tour in the United States and abroad. The musical is based on a 1988 movie with Steve Martin and Michael Caine. That in turn was based on   Bedtime Story, a 1964 movie with Marlon Brando, David Niven, and Shirley Jones, that is not credited. 

Jeffrey Lane wrote the book and David Yazbek the music and lyrics to make a musical from the 1988 movie which was a straight play. The Stratford production features a large cast, extravagant costumes, lavish sets and generous energetic dance routines.  

The plot involves two (three?) talented con artists who try to bilk rich women on the Riviera. Lawrence Jamieson (Jonathan Goad) boasts a high-toned English accent and a talent to imitate other notables. Freddy Benson (Liam Tobin) is an American crook whose specialty is getting the sympathy of rich women by pretending that he needs money for his grandmother’s operation.

Andre (Derek Kwan) is the Police Chief and Jamieson’s friend. The two conmen are competitors, but they decide to cooperate out of necessity fearful that the Jackal, a master crook smarter than them, may be trying to invade their lucrative enterprises.

There is no shortage of targets. Take Jolene Oakes (Michele Shuster), the daughter of an oil magnate in Oklahoma who falls in love with Lawrence and is prepared to marry him. There may be a small impediment because she is not sure that her last two husband are dead. It takes some comic doing with our two protagonists to avoid the nuptials. 

Members of the company in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. 
Photography by David Hou

The main target is Christine Colgate (Shakura Dickson), a soap company heiress. Fred in the guise of a paraplegic naval officer pleads poverty and needs fifty thousand dollars for his cure. Yes, he is a paraplegic and only a famous Swiss psychiatrist can cure him. The fastest route to Christine’s purse is through her heart and both crooks waste no time falling in love with her. She agrees to help.

The deal between our heroes is that whoever gets the money (or is it her in bed?), the other one must leave the Riviera. Dr Schophausen the famous psychiatrist arrives, and it is none other than Lawrenc armed with a thick Swiss accent. One way of testing the lack of feeling in Fred’s lower body is by tickling his feet with a feather. Fred has the fortitude to withstand it. Another way of curing Fred of his paraplegia is by flogging his legs to “restore” feeling in them. Dr Schophausen goes at it mercilessly and the perfectly healthy Fred must endure the pain without flinching.

Fred tries to get rid of Lawrence by having two sailors abduct him and put him on a cargo ship. He escapes by pointing out that he is an officer in the Royal Navy. Lawrence arranges for Fred’s clothes to be stolen, leaving him in a flimsy nightie. Both claim to love Christine, both try to get their hands on the money and the plot gets complicated.

There are a couple of plot twists that I will not disclose because it may ruin the play for you.

The Riviera is afloat with wealth, fancy hotels and beautiful women. The hotels have troops of bellboys, plenty of gorgeously dressed women and all are ready to dance to the choreography of Stephanie Graham. Costume Designer Sue LePage provides an array of costumes that spell high class and money for the dancers and everyone else. Gorgeous scenes. The dances do not advance the plot and are inserted for the sake of having dances but one cannot deny the beauty of the costumes or the energy of the performers.

The humour and the singing are something else. I can say that the singing by the principals was at least adequate but rarely much above that. Volume was provided generously and at times I felt I could have done with less. There are some good punch lines in the play, but the humour overall was again adequate when it did not slip into gauche. For no good reason it struck me as a TV variety show level with the Carol Burnet Show coming to mind – some decent sketches and some merely serviceable.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels may have been programmed for sheer entertainment and some people seemed to enjoy it immensely. You may find the same pleasure.
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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by Jeffrey Lane (book) and David Yazbek (music and lyrics) opened on May 29  and will run in repertory until October 26, 2025, at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture,of the Greek Press

THE WINTER’S TALE – REVIEW OF 2025 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed James Karas

The Stratford Festival, which started as a theatre to produce Shakespeare’s plays, has moved a long way from 1953, the year it was founded, That was inevitable and acceptable. It could not survive if all eleven productions on deck for this year were plays by Shakespeare. But he does get three plays, Macbeth at the Avon, The Winter’s Tale at the Tom Patterson Theatre and As You Like It at the Festival Theatre.   

The Winter’s Tale is directed by Antoni Cimolino, the Festival’s Artistic Director and we are accustomed to expecting a superlative production. We are not disappointed. The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s last plays and scholars can’t quite agree on what kind of play it is. Comedy, tragedy, pastoral, romance and combinations of these are posed as possible classifications but for theater lovers, who cares? We want to see a good production.

 Cimolino chooses the best actors from the large pool of available talent and does wonders with a play that has some creaky scenes.

The play opens with a child playing with a lit ball and a woman dressed in white and wearing body-length angel’s wings.  She is Lucy Peacock playing Time, the chorus of the play who appears in Act 4 to tell us that 16 years have passed since the action of the first three acts. She speaks in turgid rhyming couplets. Cimolino has given her some lines for the opening of the production and the presence of the child Prince Mamillius may be viewed as a unifying element in the play. As for Peacock in the tiny role of Time, it is a waste of her prodigious talent. 

André Sills as Polixenes (front-left) and Sara Topham as 

Hermione (front-right.) Photo: David Hou.

After the short visit by Time, the play continues with the expression of great childhood friendship between King Leontes of Sicilia (Graham Abbey) and King Polixenes of Bohemia (Andre Sills).Things fall apart quickly when Polixenes after a nine month visit to Sicilia, refuses to stay another week despite his friend’s entreaties. Leontes asks his wife Hermione (Sara Topham) to entreat him to stay and he agrees. Leontes becomes convinced that Hermione is unfaithful to him with Polixenes and goes into murderous jealousy. The friendship is over and he orders his faithful Camillo (Tom Rooney) to poison Polixenes and and is prepared to kill his wife and son.

This is powerful drama that is superbly executed. Leontes goes berserk with his unfounded suspicions and sends emissaries to the oracle at Delphos but no evidence to the contrary touches him. He sends his just-born daughter to be exposed to the elements to die and of course is beside himself with fury when he finds out that Camillo has gone to Bohemia with Polixenes. 

Abbey, Rooney, Sills and Topham give bravura performances. Topham stands her ground denying any infidelity and we watch a dignified and marvelous Hermione. Her friend Pauline (Yanna McIntosh) gives an exemplary performance as a woman of courage and fortitude who stands up to Leontes fearlessly and effectively.

Leontes’ daughter is found by the Old Shepherd (Tom McCamus) and the Young Shepherd his son (Christo Graham). They raise her as their own, name her Perdita (Marissa Orjalo) and she grows up into a beautiful woman. The tenor of the play changes. The Young Shepherd is a Clown and he plays for laughs. There are some laughs in the handling of the baby. Graham does a hilarious routine of body movements that evoke laughter. When the Old Shepherd finds gold with the baby he collapses on the floor.       

The conman Autolycus (Geraint Wyn Davies) fingers people’s wallets and is very funny. Camillo and Polixenes don on ridiculous disguises to spy on Perdita and Polixenes’ Florizel (Austin Eckert). The last two are in love but her royal origin is unknown. Camillo and Polixenes do double-takes and act ridiculously. When Polixenes finds out that his son wants to marry a commoner he turns ugly and denounces his son. But their scenes are done for fun and laughter and Cimolino is a master at that.

In addition to the above, there is a sheep-shearing festival with shepherds, shepherdesses, and colorfully dressed satyrs dancing joyfully to the choreography of Adrienne Gould  and having a grand time. Leontes’ dreadful behavior is finally cleansed and repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation are achieved. Hermione returns to life miraculously, Florizel and Perdita get married and so will Camillo and Paulina. The world is returned to order, society is reestablished and we have nothing to worry about as the actors take their bows and we leave the theatre.

The Patterson is a theatre-in-the-round and the opportunity for set design is limited. The costumes by Francesca Callow are Greco-Roman and there is great reliance on lighting by Michael Walton to indicate the mood of the play.

Cimolino deserves a standing ovation for his sound judgment, meticulous care and brilliant directing of a play that has its virtues but contains many pitfalls. He avoids the pitfalls and delivers an extraordinary production
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THE WINTER’S TALE by William Shakespeare opened on May 30 and will play until September 27, 2025, at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.
James Karas is The Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press

MACBETH – REVIEW OF 2025 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION - HOMER NODS

Reviewed by James Karas

When you hear that Robert Lepage is directing something, you snap at attention. When you learn that the man with the wild and fertile imagination is directing Macbeth at the Stratford Festival, you prepare yourself for something extraordinary. In a program note Lepage states that he believes that “a tragedy about a powerful leader with unchecked ambition is all too timely and definitely a “modern” play” you feel you have hit the jackpot.

There is an insert in the program for the play informing us that the production has two underwriters (The Fabio Mascarin Foundation and Laurie J. Scott), and three Production Co-sponsor (Sylvia Soyka, Carol Stephenson, O.C. and Catherine Wilkes) and there are more than three pages of Production Donors. You may interpret that any way you want.

The lights go down in the Avon Theatre and credits are projected on the screen as if we are watching a movie. The title of the play is displayed, and the audience applauds wildly. The names of the actors are met with enthusiastic applause as well as those of  the people behind the scenes including the set and props designer, the costume designer, the lighting designer and the sound designer. All are applauded separately with diminishing enthusiasm. I have no idea why or how the opening night audience was primed to acknowledge them before seeing the production.

The performance begins with three people in a motorboat on water. There is a man in the middle who is killed and thrown overboard. I have no idea why. Then Shakespeare’s play begins with two men entering the stage on fancy motorcycles. They clearly belong to a motorcycle club, and they meet the Three Witches. They look like gangsters’ molls, but we accept them as they are. Credit Aidan deSalaz, Paul Dunn and Anthony Palermo. The first two scene of Shakespeare’s play are basically omitted.

 Tom Rooney (left) and Tom McCamus in Macbeth. Photography David Hou.

We reach Macbeth’s castle which turns out to be a modern two-story building with a prominent neon sign informing people that it has vacancies. The Thane of Cawdor and Lady Macbeth are running a motel. We are shown all sides of the building which is constructed for the production in several moving parts that can be shown from several angles.

It should be noted that all movement in the production is done on big and fancy motorcycles with the riders wearing modern motorcycle gang attires. There are red headbands, leather jackets with gang insignia on the back and some of the members sport long hair and beards.

Lepage has the pick of actors for the production. Tom McCamus plays Macbeth and Lucy Peacock portrays Lady Macbeth. Graham Abbey plays Banquo and Tom Rooney is Macduff. Maria Vacratsis gets the juicy part of the Porter but his/her lines have been severely cut. Vacratsis doubles as the servant Gentlewoman tending Lady Macbeth with the Doctor (called a Paramedic in this production played by Paul Dunn). In the Mad Scene Lady Macbeth is sitting on a toilet while her Gentlewoman and the Paramedic follow her from an adjoining room.

McCamus, Peacock, Graham and Rooney can do Macbeth under many conditions, but motorcycles and gang paraphernalia do not add anything to their performances or to the play. The same can be said of the large cast without naming them all.

The murderers (Dakota Jamal Wellman and Matthew Kabwe) ordered to assassinate Banquo and his son Fleance meet them at the gas pumps where the prospective victims stop to fuel up. Fleance escapes but Banquo is killed. They douse the pumps with gas and set them on fire. There is an explosion, and the pumps are turned into barbecues for the famous banquet scene that follows immediately. Fascinating

Lady Macduff and her children are cut out. There are many changes to the script but unfortunately, I did not catch all of them.

In the final scene Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane on motorcycles and the whole thing comes to an end.

The sets and props are designed Ariane Sauve and most of the action is set in Macbeth’s motel  or castle with exception of the scenes with the Witches and the action preceding the arrival there by King Duncan (David Collins).

I found a disconnect between the action on the stage, however imaginatively conceived and Shakespeare’s play. Macbeth may have become a powerful leader with unchecked ambitions, but he begins from a respected civil and military position. A gang member killing another gang member is meaningless. A highly placed aristocrat killing the king is of national importance. And when Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane on motorcycles the disconnection is complete.
Even Homer nods.
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Macbeth  by William Shakespeare, directed by Robert Lepage and created in collaboration with Ex Machina opened on May 28 and will run in repertory until November 2, 2025, at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press

ANNIE – REVIEW OF 2025 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

It’s a hit.

Those were the magic words that producers and artists from New York to New Zealand want to hear after the opening of every new production. The musical Annie opened on Broadway in 1977 so a production by the Stratford Festival may not be quite the same. I say it is and opening night in Stratford qualifies the description: IT’S A HIT.

Credit does go to Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics) but for the Stratford production we give top marks to director and choreographer Donna Feore. She controls the acting, singing and dancing brilliantly and overwhelms us with masterly performances. She has the audience in the palm of her hand and can command a standing ovation in mid-performance. Why wait for the curtain calls.

She has the ideal plot on her side. Annie is based on Little Orphan Annie, a comic strip from the 1920’s about a spunky, optimistic and lovable orphan and a stray dog. She is placed in a Dickensian orphanage in New York run by a sadistic Miss Hannigan (Laura Condlin). Oliver Warbucks, a billionaire, takes Annie to his mansion for Christmas and offers $50,000 to her parents if they can be located. It is post-depression 1933 and that is a fortune.

It has a happy ending, of course, but we have a couple of hours of song, dance, humour and pathos to get there. And there won’t be a dry eye in the house. 

From front-left: Jennifer Rider Shaw, Harper Rae Asch and Dan Chameroy.

 Photography by David Hou

The children in the orphanage sing “Maybe” and “Hard Knock Life” but there is the optimistic anthem of the show “Tomorrow.” They dance, show decency, especially Annie, and put up with Miss Hannigan’s nastiness. Annie escapes and finds a dog (favorite with the audience) but she is caught and returned to the orphanage.

Miss Farrell (Jennifer Rider-Shaw), a smart, well-dressed lady, comes to the orphanage and wants to take a child to Mr. Warbucks, her employer’s house, for Christmas. Feore does not miss any opportunity for athletic and superb dance numbers. The servants, the children, the guests everyone gets to dance. And the routines are outstanding. The creators of Annie maintained the old-style musical type with melodies, a classic plotline, good humor and of course a child, a dog and an ending that’s made in heaven.

Warbucks is a billionaire with a heart who wants to introduce Annie to Babe Ruth until she asks, “who is he?” and she mistakes his fancy cars for paintings. Condlin is the classic and hilarious child abuser, drunkard and would-be swindler as Miss Hannigan. Her brother Rooster Hannigan (Mark Uhre) and his partner Lily (Amanda Lundgren) are hilarious as Annie’s would-be parents who go to claim the fifty thousand and Annie as their daughter. We also see President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Stephen Patterson) and his cabinet who get a lesson in optimism from Annie.

The musical has a huge cast from the orphans to the streets of New York, to the well-staffed mansion, to the White House, to the residents of Hooverville, to the Radio Station where a full program is in session and they try to announce the nation-wide search for Annie’s parents. (They are dead).

The set by Michael Gianfrancesco is designed to be suitable and easily manageable and it works perfectly. It is a musical and  a production where everything works to delight the audience and inspire tumultuous applause and, of course, a standing ovation.

It’s a hit!

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Annie  by Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics), directed by Donna Feore continues until November 2, 2025, at the Festival Theatre; Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

AS YOU LIKE IT – REVIEW OF 2025 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

With pomp and circumstance, the Stratford Festival officially opened its 2025 season with a production of As You Like It, one of Shakespeare’s most familiar and delightful comedies. Director Chris Abraham puts his own stamp on the production by concentrating on the dark side of the play in the first half and on the comic and romantic side in the last part.

When the play opens, we see three skids laden with a large number of sacks piled on them. Some men in overalls start placing some of the sacks on an empty skid and one of them grabs a sack and runs off. An armed guard pursues him, and we hear a gun shot. We will see men in army fatigues armed with rifles on the stage and in the aisles. They look menacing and they are present in the forest as well as at court in the city.

As You Like It has a violent underpinning that we may forget by the time the performance is finished. Abraham wants us to keep that in mind. The Duke (Sean Arbuckle) has usurped the dukedom from, in this production, his sister the Duchess (Seana McKenna). He is a nasty dictator and exiles his niece Rosalind (Sara Farb) who escapes to the forest with his daughter Celia (Makambe K. Simamba) where the Duchess and some faithful followers have taken refuge.

But the forest is not a safe place and there are armed guards everywhere. There are some interesting characters like Touchstone (Steve Ross), Jaques (Evan Mercer) but the atmosphere is grim and foreboding. Rosalind and Celia disguised as Ganymede and Aliena fall in with some shepherds. It snows all the time, and this is a long way from a comedy of love in the haven of the forest. Jaques delivers the famous “All the world's a stage” speech rather monotonously. This is not the happy commune in the Forest of Arden that we may have imagined.

All of this changes in the second half. The sun is shining, flowers are sprouting and love and comedy are in the air. The rifles all but disappear and we anticipate the transformation of people from evil to good, the blossoming of love into marriage and repentance and reconciliation.

Opening scene of As You Like It at Stratford. Photo: David Hou

As the lovers or would-be lovers begin the romantic pursuits, we put the ugly atmosphere behind us and watch the good Orlando court the disguised Rosalind as proxy love. We have the hilarious shepherds Corin (Hiro Kanagawa), Silvius (Michael Man) and William (Leon Qin). Touchstone pursues the maybe raunchy Audrey (Silvae Marcedes) who dumps William, Phoebe pursues Ganymede while Silvius pines for her. In the end there are four marriages to bring the comedy to a celebratory conclusion.

Abraham wants to remind us that there are wars in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere and the comic possibilities of the first part of the play are minimized. The modern costumes do not provide for a clown or broad comedy until the end. It is as if we are watching two different plays.

There are guns everywhere but in one scene there is an arrow present. Abraham does not shy away from some bawdy humor such a grab for one’s genitals but all of that is in the second, romantic pursuits part.

The set and costume design by Julie Fox show the skids of sacks in the first scene and high fences in the second scene. The exiles in the first have a fire going and a few props. In the later scenes there are flowers around the stage and the sun is shining.

Farb and Simamba are energetic and loveable as the exiled cousins who would teach Allen’s Orlando how to woo by proxy. Ross as Touchstone provides some broad comedy in his wooing of Audrey and all the lovers are entertaining. Arbuckle is dictatorial until he repents, and McKenna is a humane duchess. Fine performances by both. The large cast performed well and credit goes to Abraham for his fascinating and disciplined production.
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As You Like It by William Shakespeare continues until October 30, 2025 at the Festival Theatre; Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca 

JAMES KARAS IS THE SENIOR EDITOR, CULTURE, OF THE GREEK PRESS

THE DOLLARS ARE COMING - ΤΑ ΔΟΛΑΡΙΑ ΕΡΧΟΝΤΑΙ! - REVIEW OF 2025 IRIDA ART GROUP and GREEK COMMUNITY OF TORONTO PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Dollars Are Coming (Τα Δολάρια Έρχονται), Gregory Terzakis’s new play, refers to the arrival of sailors of the American fleet that is about to make a stop at the port of Piraeus around 1980. The aim of the play is to garner laughter as it skates over incidents in the preparation of bar owners to welcome the hormonally driven (it is hoped) American sailors and relieve them of their dollars.

Terzakis wrote the script, directed and starred in the production (not to mention arranged the music, designed the lighting and managed the staging) and the Greek community of Toronto owes a debt of gratitude to him. There are not that many Greek theatrical productions in Toronto, to put it very politely.

The glossy program lists a cast of thirteen characters and ten minor parts with no lines. I counted only 21 cast members, but it makes no difference. Terzakis has lined up about half a dozen very attractive ladies. Some are ladies of the evening, very late evening, dressed to kill and intended to attract the generosity of the sailors in the tough economic times. I will not grade the attractiveness of the nubile ladies in obedience to my instinct for self-preservation.

We start with Maria Lichnaki who plays a no-nonsense mother of three sons. One is Jimmy (Christos Anastasopoulos), a useless, lazy and seriously unkempt drummer who, well, plays the drums and does nothing else. His brother Kimon (Yiannis Plagos) thinks he is made of political leadership or management material, and you can just imagine his actual talents.

Angelo (Gregory Terzakis), the star of the show, is the sane one in the family and he tries desperately to make ends meet. He speaks English and is hired to teach two bubble-gum chewing, high heel wearing  and very nubile ladies, Gina (Aliki Kaboura) and Lisa (Tonia Kokkorou) English by Monday so they can make some verbal communication with the sailors.

The fleet is arriving or has arrived, and the plot becomes frantic as the need for entertainers must be completed. translators put in place and deal with the unorthodox French arts manager Henri (an ebullient scarf-tossing Christos Anastasopoulos). Harris (Antonis Sarriyiannis) is the harried manager of the cabaret who has more troubles than he can handle. Lena (Mariam Honsari) plays the efficient bar tender of the cabaret and Kosmas Amexisoglou plays a tough guy and competitor to Lena’s cabaret, if I understood him correctly.

Dimitris “Jim” Kambosos plays Charlie, Angelo’s friend who gave a job to Jimmy and caught him stealing. This is one of the subplots that Terzakis adds to his play to tie loose ends and keep the action moving.

The set consisted of an “apartment” with a couch and a few pieces of furniture and Jimmy’s drums. Most of the play takes place in the cabaret where the Americans are to be entertained. Furniture was provided by a local furniture store and food for the actors was likewise donated by a local restaurant.  

This is community theatre based on amateur volunteers and they want us to laugh. One of the biggest laughs came when Angelo brought a loaf of bread from Serrano’s, a well-known local bakery. The audience could relate to that and responded enthusiastically to pieces of well-known Greek songs that were played.

Most of the actors have very limited onstage experience and Terzakis does the best he can with them. They have no training and most of them don’t have the ability to project their voice and be heard at the back of the theater. As a result, they rely on mikes in order to be heard. But as I said this is community theatre that “spoke” to the people watching it. The audience wanted to be entertained, to laugh and they were, and they did. 

The plot? In the end the dollars came both metaphorically and in reality, and they all lived happily ever after.

(My apologies if I butchered any names in my transliteration)

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Τα Δολάρια Έρχονται! (The Dollars Are Coming) by Gregory Terzakis was performed on May 23, 24 and 25, 2025 at the Papermill Theatre in the Todmorden Mills Heritage Site, 67 Pottery Road, Toronto, Ontario.  www.greekcommunity.org

James Karas is the Senior Editor, ulture, of The Greek Press