THE KING JAMES BIBLE PLAY – REVIEW OF 2026 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

In 1605 King James of England and Scotland appointed 47 scholars to translate both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. They did, and in 1611 their translations were published and eventually became known as the King James Version or the King James Bible. It was the most influential translation and  its language was so powerful that Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf, and Ernest Myers used it for their prose translation of the  Iliad in the late 19^th century.

Writing a play about the translation from Hebrew and Greek of ancient texts by four translators at first blush appears quixotic but Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman manages to produce an interesting play at  least in the first half. She has chosen John Bois (Gray Powell), John Perrin (Michael Spencer-Davis), George Abbot (Rylan Wilkie) and Sir Henry Savile (Cyrus Lane) as translators together with the latter’s son Willie (Steven Hao) as their scribe. Set in the 17^th century, that is the first half of the play. 

The seconds half has five women putting on a play today, involving the characters in the first half of the play.

A play about searching for the right English word to correspond to the original Hebrew or Greek, even if it involves four people, presents serious dramatic limitations. Cobreil-Coleman adds personal issues in individual lives and among the characters to create drama. Arguing over the translation of a Greek word will not a play make.

Sir Henry has issues with his son because he is not his son. His wife was pregnant when he married her. Archbishop Abbot is a stentorian orator who delivers sermons as if he were addressing a rally in a stadium. No need for a microphone even if it existed then. Bois has problems with his wife and Sir Henry counsels him to teach her how to read. Sir Henry tells us about his intimate relations with his wife. To wit, he does not like mixing his perspiration with hers! It is pathetic and funny when one imagines his intimate contact with her.

From left: Vivien Endicott-Douglas as Han, Liz Der as Roni,
Angel Lo as Anna, Sara Topham as Cath and Deborah Hay
 as Martie, The King James Bible Play. Stratford Festival 2026. 
Photo: David Hou.

Bishop Abbot has never been to the theatre (it is sinful) but he and Willie decide to enact a scene between Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary.

What about translating the Bible? Oh, yes. What about the word witch? There are references to witchcraft in the Old and New Testaments and none of them have anything positive to say about them. Kill them seems to be the message but some of the translators consider witchcraft bovine feces (my interpretation). The King is a fervent believer in witchcraft and he was responsible for the torture of hundreds of women who refused to admit that they were witches. He also likes watching women being burned at the stake and he was responsible for the execution of thousands of women. That is my addendum and it is not in the play.

The first half of the play was done well and I enjoyed it. I found inherent interest in the translation of the Bible and the personal differences among the translators to appreciate the play and the performance.

From left: Cyrus Lane as Sir Henry Savile, Gray Powell as John Bois,

Steven Hao as Willie, Rylan Wilkie as George Abbot and 

Michael Spencer-Davis as John Perrin, The King James Bible Play. 

Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

The second half was not as successful. The five women in the cast, Roni (Liz Der), Han (Vivien Endicott-Douglas), Martie (Deborah Hay), Anna (Angel Lo) and Cath (Sara Topham) displayed abundant and impressive acting talent. They are putting on a play about the men of the previous act. Do they represent the men or their wives? They are under extreme pressure to proceed with the production and that creates some emotional outbursts.

Deborah Hay, the founder and tough director of the theatre company, gives a superb performance. Han is her daughter (Sir Henry and Willie parallel). There are violent arguments and the women as the men of the 17^th century or their wives are clearly more emotional than the men. Topham gives an amazing emotional scene as Cath.

Sir Henry and George Abbot make appearances in the second part of the play and I am not sure why.

Nina Lee Aquino did a fine job directing the first half but was not as successful with the second half.

In the end I was left with a memorable line that goes something like this: Puritans love God with all their soul and hate people with all their heart.
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The King James Bible Play by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman opened on August 21 and will run in repertory until September 26, 2026, at the Studio Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

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

THE TAO OF THE WORLD – REVIEW OF 2026 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Jovanni Sy’s play The Tao of the World is described in the Stratford Festival’s 2026 Guide as a “Restoration comedy for modern times.” It is supposed to be inspired by William Congreve’s The Way of the World. I am not sure about all that but it is irrelevant.

The play is set among the wealthy people of Singapore. The theatre-in-the-round Tom Patterson does not allow for opulent sets but we are dealing with the upper crust. Five of the leading characters are Chinese and many are British-educated. A note in the script informs us that parts of the play are performed in Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, Indonesian, Singaporean, Hokkien and Tagalog.

That’s seven languages.

The performance opens with a lively, indeed exuberant Arabella (played with zeal by  Agnes Tong)  who grabs the attention of the audience and tells us that the play is the story of how she married the love of her life, Edward Lim (Angus Yam). She is self-assured, vocally commanding and a woman who gets what she wants. Edward is a premier cricketer, a fashion star, a singer and a movie star. As Arabelle describes Edward, he struts across the stage taking poses as a cricketer, singer etc. and generating laughs from a receptive audience.

Arabella is in love with Edward and she is open to a session of shagging but there are two impediments to the event: Edward is practicing celibacy and he is in love with Arabella’s cousin Millicent (Heidi Sy Damayo). He met her on social media and has never seen her in person but he will. The very young and innocent Millicent shows up ready to get to “know” Edward and in fact she has made a reservation at a swank hotel to make sure that her acquaintance has biblical proportions. When Edward refuses to go there, she decides to go to the hotel by herself and find sexual fulfillment alone.

We have just started with the plot complications. The imperious Lady Helena (Manami Hara) must approve Millicent’s marriage to Edward, whom she hates. Dr. Wilson Wong (Michael Man), a Chinese Canadian is a much better choice if you ignore or are unaware of his sexual proclivity. Lady Helena may be more amenable if she has coitus with a monk. Who can find one? Devan (Karthik Kadam) and Jackson (Derek Kwan) have a special problem: they are homosexuals in a country where it is illegal. And what about the Englishman Trevor Flynn (Tim Campbell) who is married to Arabella?

Members of the company, The Tao of the World. 
Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

Arabella frequently speaks directly to the audience and one of best lines is about Eleanor (Sara- Jeanne Hosie), an English lady described as Lady Helena’s lapdog. Arabella tells us that she has had a lot of work done and her latest procedure was surgically attaching her lips to her Ladyship’s arse. 

There are many revelations to be disclosed. Why does Lady Helena hate Edward? What human failings does that gorgon have? How virginal is Millicent? Money, sex and social status are the prime concerns in this society.

Set Designer Lorenzo Savoini has limited choices in his set design. Moveable pieces of furniture are about all he can give us in the Toma Patterson Theatre. Ming Wong provides elegant costumes for the upper upper crust and less ostentatious ones for hoi polloi. The lighting design by Sophie Tang is used judiciously for different scenes including the indication of speaking directly to the audience.   

Director and author Sy sets a comic, at times farcical, at times satiric pace with quick speech and plenty of gestures that may have been a part of Restoration comedy.  

I have given a positive summary of what I saw on opening night. Unfortunately, there are some negatives. The setting of Singapore with British-educated Chinese is terra incognita, I presume, to most of the audience.  Speaking for myself, I am not sure of the context of the play. If I knew that, the geographical place would be no issue. The accents were unrecognizable and, in many instances, sounded just bad. Speaking in half a dozen languages did not help. At times parts of the dialogue were incomprehensible. Sy is a Canadian and the Stratford Festival deserves kudos for producing his plays. In this case some attention to some details may have resulted in a resounding complaints-less production.
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The Tao of the World by Jovanni Sy opened on August 20, and will run in repertory until September 26, 2026, at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ont. https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

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

MAMMA MIA! – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT THE PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Have you seen Mamma Mia!? Have you heard of it?

Well, it’s a musical that has been around since 1999 B.C. and has been seen by 9.2 billion people in 2000 countries around our galaxy. Now bow your head in shame and find out where the Princess of Wales Theatre is located in Toronto. 

Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus are credited for the music and lyrics and Stig Anderson is credited for some songs (in smaller fonts). Catherine Johnson is credited for the book in decent size fonts, all in the Princess of Wales Theatre program. The program lists 22 songs all by ABBA.

The musical has a bloody good story. It takes place on a Greek island where reality is optional. There are no Greeks on this island but there are a lot of long-term visitors. Take Donna Sheridan (Jesica Crouch) who owns a taverna and has been there for a long time. The central plot line is the wedding of Donna’s daughter Sophie (Juliette M. Ojeda) and Sky (Grant Reynolds).

Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle. Complications, please. Sophie does not know who her father is but she finds her mother’s diary of twenty years ago and some crucial information. Her mother had very eclectic taste in men and had intimate relations with three of them and any one of them qualifies to be Sophie’s father.  

Donna shagged Sam (Victor Wallace), an American architect, Bill (Leland Burnett), an Australian writer and Harry (Rob Marnell), a British banker. We are talking class. She does not know whose sperm fertilized Sophie and has taken the island’s Fifth Commandment: silence. Sophie invites the three men to her wedding without telling her mother.

The Company of MAMMA MIA! 25th Anniversary Tour Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

Donna has some colourful and funny friends like the rich and divorce-prone Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and the single Rosie (Carly Sakolove) who formed Donna and the Dynamos in the days of yore. And Pepper (Dominic Young), a taverna worker who makes a pass at Tanya. Good luck, buddy. Rosie is interested in Bill and he becomes interested in her and their thermometers hit “hot”. Sam goes one better with Donna. “I do, I do.

One can easily imagine the conflicts, the humour, the drama that arise with presence of the three men. Who will walk her down the aisle? Sky is angry because Sophie did not tell him what she did. Are the men still in love with Donna and how will everything work out. I will not disclose the whole plot but reassure you that everything will work out splendidly with or without any Greeks on the island. Wait a minute. What is Father Alexandrios doing on the island? That is not even a Greek name.

The musical uses some twenty Abba songs that embrace the fast-paced plot or is it the other way around. Familiarity with and love of the songs breeds appreciation and excitement. The audience embraced the songs, the plot and the atmosphere of a great live performance that gained a great deal by being so familiar to so many.

The set by Mark Thompson consists of a couple of white-washed structures that are easily revolved. It is an indication of a Greek island with the blue sky in the background. Howard Harrison designed the lighting and Andrew Bruce and Bobby Aitken are the all-important sound designers. Anthony Van Laast is the excellent choreographer and Martin Koch the crucial musical supervisor.

Phyllida Lloyd directed the original production in London and no one has questioned its excellence. It was her production that launched Mamma Mia’s North American fortunes at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Let them eat their hearts out.

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Mamma Mia! by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (music and lyrics), and Catherine Johnson (book)  continues until August 30, 2026,  at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com

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

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS – REVIEW OF 2026 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Wind in the Willows is the Shaw Festival’s production aimed at entertaining young audiences.  The story has a redoubtable pedigree starting as a novel by Kenneth Grahame published in 1908 and adapted by A.A. Milne in 1929 as a play called Toad of Toad Hall. The book and the play were resoundingly successful and Fiona Sauder has adapted the play for the Shaw Festival’s current season. She has used the original title of The Wind in the Willows rather than Toad of Toad Hall.

The audience seemed to take the production and performances in stride without expressing pronounced enthusiasm. The play is clearly intended for younger audiences and the evening that I saw it, the audience was made up largely of senior citizens with a good number of youngsters.

It is a story about animals set in a forest in Berkshire, England. The central character is Toad (Lawrence Libor), a boisterous and very energetic character who gets in trouble by stealing a car and driving it recklessly. He is arrested, tried and sent to prison for twenty years.

There are twelve actors seven of whom play animals and the rest represent humans. My problem was that I did not recognize some of the animals at all and had small acquaintance with some others. The notable animals aside from Toad are Badger (Shawn Wright). Mole (Gabriella Sundar Singh), Rat (Sharry Flett) and Weasel (Matt Alfano). Ferret (Jacqueline Thair) and Stoat (Sara Farb) are supporting creatures. That is a motley group of creatures that are played in colourful ways by the actors.   

Lawrence Libor as Toad with members of The Wind in the Willows ensemble. 
Photo by Michael Cooper.

Wright’s Badger is serious and wise, Singh’s Mole has a squeaky voice, Flett’s Rat is the quiet type and Alfano’s Weasel is loud and aggressive especially when he appears as a rabbit and his pedigree is questioned.

On the human side, Qasim Khan plays the comical Judge in robes and a wig and presides at the trial of Toad. Jaden Kim plays the young girls Marigold who runs into the forest and Phoebe. Graeme Kitagawa plays the Usher, Allison McCaughey plays the nurse and Washerwoman, Taurian Teelucksingh plays Alfred. The entire cast plays in the Ensemble as the plays requires such as a choir and other parts.

Sauder directed the play and she generated some energy especially in the scenes with Libor who had more energy than most of the others put together. He played for laughs and got a few.  

The ensemble runs across the stage holding branches of willow to set the scene as called for by the title. I did not see much of wind. The stage was covered by what seemed like large  white leaves and there were blankets on the ground for hiding. There are a few props on the stage for sitting.

What I wondered while watching the production was the reason for Artistic Director Carroll choosing it. No one questions its popularity in England for more than a hundred years. How does that make it speak to young and old alike in Canada? I don’t know what a Stoat is, and I have a vague idea of what a weasel, a mole, a ferret and a badger are. Do all of these animals exist in Canada? My ignorance aside, could everyone in the audience relate to them? 

No one expected crisp English accents from the dozen actors and no one got them. Toad stole a “motor car” which is no doubt what it was so called in 1908 and 1929 but now it is called a car. There may well be people who were brought up on  Grahame’s and Milne’s work and recognize animals that can be found in Berkshire and not in Canada but I doubt there are many.

Are there no Canadian fairy tales that Sauder could have adapted? A question to be asked. I may be expressing my ignorance only, and there may be many who disagree with me emphatically. I will accept your disagreement if you wish to express it.
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The Wind in the Willows  based on the play Toad of Toad Hall by A.A. Milne adapted by Fiona Sauder will run in repertory until September 27, 2026, at the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre as part of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  www.shawfest.com.

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

HEARTBREAK HOUSE – REVIEW OF 2026 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

George Bernard Shaw has a theatre festival named after him in Niagara-on-the-Lake that has been around since 1962 but its name may be misleading. This year only one of his plays, Heartbreak House, is being produced and in the small Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre at that. In other words, the Shaw Festival has almost nothing to do with Bernard Shaw.

Directed by Artistic Director Tin Carroll with a superb cast, Heartbreak House gets a decent production once you get past some of his gimmicks. The production is done on the empty playing area of the Studio Theatre and the only props are half a dozen ordinary chairs.

Shaw gives detailed directions about the set in the play and wrote an entire essay on the world of Heartbreak House in his Preface, in other words England before World War I. We are left without a map and Carroll has added lines for the Maid (Kristi Frank) and the Butler (Michael Therriault) who introduce some scenes and characters. They were amusing, but not a part of Shaw’s play.

Did Carroll assess that Heartbreak House would not fill the Festival Theatre? Get another play or wait for the Royal George Theatre to be built.  Do not cheapen Shaw even if it brings a few laughs.

Heartbreak House  has a convoluted plot that presents in modern terms at least, the life of a seriously dysfunctional family and an image of Britain’s upper class before World War I. Shaw’s verbosity is unavoidable but his humour and incisive observations are always there. Tom Rooney plays the eccentric, curmudgeonly naval officer Captain Shotover.  He walks on and off the stage for no reason, he cannot remember his daughter and he has difficulty dealing with people but he is capable of astute observations. Is he  suffering from dementia? The superb Rooney shuffles across the stage in the first act but he finds his bearing and officer’s uniform in the latter part of the play when he appears to be about to marry the young, astute and intelligent Ellie Dunn. 

Sochi Fried, Martin Happer, Tom Rooney, Neil Barclay, Julia Course, 
Graeme Somerville and Jason Cadieux in Heartbreak House. 
Photo by David Cooper.

Allison Edwards-Crewe plays the young, intelligent, clear-headed Ellie Dunn in a fine performance. She has no private fortune and must choose a husband. She is engaged to the arch-capitalist Boss Mangan (Graeme Somerville), she falls in love with Hector (Martin Happer) and how about Captain Shotover?

The Captain’s daughters are a pleasure to the eye thanks to Costume Designer Ximena Pinilla. White gowns in the first half and black hues in the second convey aristocracy with more than shades of decadence. Julia Course as Hesione and Sochi Fried as Ariadne are superb as creatures to the manor born for whom the outside world does not exist.

Neil Barclay plays Ellie Dunn’s father, the pathetic Mazzini who was Mangan’s former partner and was duped by him. Sanjay Talwar plays the brilliant Burglar who breaks into the aristocratic house and convinces the people not to call the police and in fact make a collection for him. Funny and wonderful performance by Talwar.    

Martin Happer as the useless would-be Lawrence of Arabia, Fiona Byrne as the smart and likeable Nurse Guinness and Jason Cadieux as Randall round off the cast of fine performers that make the production more than decent despite Carroll’s gimmicks and unacceptable approach to the play.   

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HEARTBREAK HOUSE  by Bernard Shaw will run in repertory until October 3, 2026, at the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre as part of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  www.shawfest.com.

James Karas is the Cultre Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto 

COSI – REVIEW OF 2026 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

COSI refers to Cosi Fan Tutte and it is an adaptation of Mozart’s opera by Kelley Rourke. He brings the opera to a 20^th century American college where Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Guglielmo and Ferrando are students. The philosopher Alfonso is a cleaner at the college, Despina is there as well, of course and lots of college students.

I first met them in productions as rich, aristocratic ladies, dressed in gorgeous gowns living in a beautiful mansion overlooking an extant, green countryside from their balcony or with a view of the sea. But they have been all over the place, so to speak, by imaginative directors and designers. They were found in an upscale school run by Alfonso as clean-cut students dressed in white blazers and taking fencing. That was nothing like Rourke imagined them. They have lived on Coney Island in the 1950’s, in a slum in Africa and lots of other places.  

The current production as an adaptation and translation in English goes beyond all those venues and it is a proper extension of the opera. Whether you like it or not is a different matter of personal taste.

A quick reminder of the plot. Guglielmo (Gregory Feldmann) and Ferrando (Travon D. Walker) are football players and bosom friends who are deeply, desperately and eternally in love with Fiordiligi (Amanda Batista) and Dorabella (Michelle Mariposa). The ladies are equally in love with them. The cynical Alfonso (Kevin Burdette) has a more down-to-earth view of love and in fact tells the two men that love is fickle. Wanna bet? The young men are to disappear and return forthwith as strangers and woo the ladies. They will be unfaithful, says Alfonso. Let’s bet, say all.

Ensemble members in The 2026 Glimmerglass Festival production of Così.
Photo Credit: Brent DeLanoy/The Glimmerglass Festival

There is a Halloween party and the men return in disguise to woo each other’s love. Guglielmo goes after Dorabella and Ferrando goes after Fiordiligi. They fail but we  have a performance that lasts about three hours and we need to fill  it up. They are egged on by Despina (Keely Futterer), and Alfonso to keep trying. How about lovesickness leading to suicidal thoughts?  

If you are at the Glimmerglass Festival, you almost certainly know that thanks to the shenanigans of Alfonso and Despina, the Resident Advisor, and the ardour of the men, the ladies succumb.

Soprano Amanda Batista sings a superb Fiordligi. She must deliver the tortuous “Come scoglio immoto resta”  (Like a rock, we stand immobile) with its high and low notes and arduous paces and does so adroitly. A first-rate performance. Mezzo Michelle Mariposa has a beautiful voice with some superb low-notes that are a vocal marvel.

Tenor Walker’s? Ferrando is full of passion and gorgeous singing even in his ridiculous disguise as a body builder with grotesque muscles. Baritone Feldmann as Guglielmo sang with all due passion to convince Dorabella to break her vow of fidelity. He was convincing vocally but dressed as a clown with a huge bulb nose, he did not look like a convincing lover.

Bass Kevin Burdette was convincing vocally as the cleaner Alfonso, and a man that convinced the lovers that he is wiser that his job would indicate. Soprano Futterer has the juicy role of Despina, plus Judge and she has comic and vocal talent to give a superb performance.

The set by designer James Rotondo represents a two-story dorm with bedrooms above and a common area below suitable for the Halloween party and drunken happenings. That is how ridiculous costumes are justified. Beth Goldenberg’s costumes reflect the same milieu and, in both cases, they meet the requirements of the adaptation handsomely.

Director Eric Einhorn was faithful to the adaptation and the production of a college-based Cosi without the Fan Tutte. Without Mozart’s music it would have been a second-rate sitcom. The question whirling in my mind then and now is “was it worth it?” Did the colloquial English make that much difference? Could we have had a production in English without adapting the guts out of the original?

One thing that deserves only praise is Mozart’s music as performed by the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and Chorus under the capable hands of conductor Joseph Colaneri.

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Cosi by Kelley Rourke adapted from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte is being performed a total of seven times until August 14, 2026, as part of the Glimmerglass Festival at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. www.glimmerglass.org

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

FELLOW TRAVELERS – REVIEW OF 2026 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Glimmerglass Festival has produced Fellow Travelers, an opera based in the Joseph McCarthy years, dealing with one of the most diseased eras in American history. The opera is by Gregory Spears (music) and Greg Pierce (libretto) and is based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon. The opera premiered in 2016.

Fellow Travelers tells a gripping story about homosexual love, pursuit of homosexuals as security risks, loyalty, betrayal and a portrait of McCarthyism. In 1953, Hawkins Fuller (in a solid performance by baritone Joseph Lattanzi) is a young man working at the State Department and he meets Timothy Laughlin (a sympathetic and well-done tenor Colin Aikins) and helps him secure a job with a senator. The two men are homosexuals, they fall in love and engage in sexual intimacy. 

McCarthy and his henchmen have decided that homosexuals employed by the government pose a national security risk and they must be rooted out and dismissed. Hawkins is fingered as a possible homosexual and interrogated under humiliating circumstances but he outsmarts the interrogators and is cleared.

The office staff is made up of the decent and faithful Mary Johnson (soprano Keely Futterer in a wonderful performance) and the treacherous Miss Lightfoot (Kaileigh Riess). Fuller later marries Lucy (Laura Santamaria), no doubt to cover his homosexuality. The cast lists a dozen other relatively minor characters with Luke Harnish playing Estonian Frank and Interrogator, Eric Nordstrom playing Tommy McIntyre and Senator Potter and  General Arlie and Bartender, played by Yichen Xuen with the Senator’s Assistant, Bookseller, Priest, Technician and Party Guest played by Jose Olivares. 

Joseph Lattanzi as Hawkins Fuller (L) and Colin Aikinsas Timothy Laughlin (R)' 
Photo Credit: Brent DeLanoy/The Glimmerglass Festival

Except for Lattanzi and Aikins, the rest of the cast is made up of Members of the Resident Artists Program or the Hupper Family Festival Artists.

The relationship between Fuller and Laughton is fraught with problems, first because of the times and second because of the characters of the men. They live in danger of being found out by McCarthy’s agents. Fuller is careless, arousing suspicions about his sexual nature and even though he does well in his interrogations, the danger is there.

The two men have different moral standards. The innocent Laughlin is a devout Catholic and the conflict between his faith and his life tortures him to the point of going to see a priest. When he meets with him, there is a large crucifix hanging behind the poor man, a devastating reminder of his sinful condition.

As if that were not bad enough, Fuller wants more adventurous sexual encounters and wants to bring a third man into their affair. That is more than Laughlin can take and he enlists in the army. After a lengthy separation he returns to the United States and wants to get a job in the Hungarian Refugee Relief to help the victims of Soviet repression. He asks Fuller to help him. In an instance of supreme treachery and ultimate irony, Fuller reveals Laughlin’s homosexuality.  Fuller wants Laughlin to know of his treachery and therefore hate him and thus bring an end to the relationship. The end of the opera is ambiguous but we realize that there is no hatred between the former lovers.

The opera is set in a park, residential apartments, offices in Washington, a Cathedral, a bedroom, a hotel, an interrogation room and a kitchen. Set designer Vita Tzykun uses moveable walls and furniture to indicate the different venues. Large filing cabinets indicate the McCarthy staff offices and the other venues are shown by turning the filing cabinets around and adding the necessary Spartan furnishing. All work efficiently and well.

Director Kevi Newbury handles the numerous scenes deftly and the performances are superb.

I found Gregory Spars music varied, at times monotonous, melodic and complex. There are repetitive notes that are sung in recitative style and melodic pieces for the small orchestra conducted by Kelly Kuo. Spears includes music spanning from Baroque to classical to Wagner and more modern composers. I had difficulty catching all those pieces and my reaction to the music on the first hearing is limited.  

One cannot take anything away from the gripping story of a complex love affair that started with passion and ended up in betrayal and heartbreak, and the reminder of America at its ugliest treating innocent people like criminals.
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Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears (music) and Greg Pierce (libretto) opened on July 18 and will be performed a total of six times in repertory until August 16, 2026 as part of the Glimmerglass Festival at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

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

OKLAHOMA!– REVIEW OF 2026 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Glimmerglass Festival’s production of Oklahoma! is its tip of the hat to a great American musical and it gets a glorious production. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s great work premiered in 1943 and is considered a Broadway landmark in its combination of lyrics and music. Glimmerglass offers a new production directed by the inimitable Francesa Zambello. 

This is Indian Territory around 1906 and soon to become the state of Oklahoma. This has nothing to do with John Steinbeck’s Oklahoma of the 1930’s. In front of a farmhouse, the handsome Curly (Michael Adams) sings Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ followed by The Surrey with the Fringe on Top and ends with the surrey being pulled on stage and all singing Oh, What a Beautiful Day. That’s what you call a happy ending.

But a lot happens in between that is comic, romantic and dramatic. Curley and the pretty Laurey (the vocally talented Shereen Pimentel) are, shall we say, an item. But the dark, scary and obsessive hired hand Jud (Erik Nordstrom) wants her too and that is bound to create trouble.

Then there are the comic romantic entanglements of Ado Annie (Kate Morton) whose first name sounds close to “I do” which she does. Will Parker (Peter Murphy) wants to marry her and the peddler Ali Hakim (Gregory Sliskovich) want her too. Her father Andrew (Troy Cook) wants her to get married to a man who has fifty dollars, a sizable amount in 1906. We come to the suspenseful conclusion that Will Parker does not have the money and Ali has the money and he likes Ado but let’s just say his intentions may not be honourable. How will this work out. There is a bidding war at the dance for baskets prepared the young ladies and the suspense is nail-biting. Okay, so I exaggerate.

Members of the ensemble in the 2026 Glimmerglass 
Festival production of Oklahoma! 
Photo by Kayleen Bertrand/The Glimmerglass Festival

The strength of Oklahoma! lies in its songs and music. From Oklahoma, a full-blooded paean to the newly formed state in 1907, to the romantic, People Will Say We’re in Love, to the comic, Ado’s I Can’t Say No we hear an array of wonderful songs, sung marvellously. We even get a glimpse at a hot political potato, the dispute between The Farmer and the Cowman.

The performers are outstanding from the energetic Aunt Eller (Holly Twyford) to the other principals named above and the numerous minor characters.

Oklahoma! has a generous number of dances by Choreographer and Associate Director Eric Sean Fogel. The dancers add greatly to the energy generated by the production. There is a superb Dream Ballet that adds a new dimension to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work.  In the Ballet, Jordan Spena plays Curley and Farmer Chalmers and Madison Manning plays Laurey and Rosie as she tries to make her life’s existential decision. It is a visual and choreographic delight.

Peter J. Davison’s moveable set designs take us back to the imaginary Indian Territory/Oklahoma with various angles of Laurey’s house, glimpses of the land and the venue of the dance. Constance Hoffman’s costumes are convincing and Ken Billington’s lighting design is perfect.

James Lowe conducts the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and delivers a splendid performance of Rodgers’ music.

Francesca Zambello brings her masterful handling of the musical and marks a huge success for this year’s Festival. Oklahoma! may not have been the first musical to integrate book and music but it proved to be the best and most influential. A pleasure to see it again.
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Oklahoma! by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) will be performed a total of ten times between July 10 and August 15, 2026 as part of the Glimmerglass Festival at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

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

MADAME BUTTERFLY – REVIEW OF 2026 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

You are watching a baseball game at Rogers Stadium and the Blue Jays are facing the Yankees in the final game of the World Series. Mark Carney is pitching a perfect game for the Blue Jays and our hitters are getting home runs grand whatever-it’s-called. The billion-dollar pitcher can’t toss a ball that is not shot into the stands by the all-Canadian team.

Your wife wakes you up because you have a performance coming up at the Alice Busch Opera Theatre. You are soaked in perspiration because you have never been to a baseball game but walking by the Baseball Hall of Fame and the ten thousand baseball memorabilia stores in Cooperstown have caused you to have a nightmare. I think it is Nightmare by Osmosis.

You are in Cooperstown to go to the Glimmerglass Opera.   

Thank all the deities in the world for the Glimmerglass Festival on the delightful setting on the shore of Otsego Lake outside Cooperstown, New York. It is in full swing and you can go to the opera and recover your equilibrium. For its 51^st season the Festival offers four major opera productions plus Robin Hood, a children’s opera. You can see Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, an adaptation by Kelley Rourke of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte titled Cosi and Fellow Travelers, a modern opera by Gregory Spears (music) and Greg Pierce (libretto). I was able to see all four productions on a weekend and be back in Toronto for the August Monday Holiday without stepping into a single baseball shop.

Eri Nakamura as Cio-Cio-San and Eric Taylor as 
Lt. Pinkerton in the 2026 Glimmerglass Festival production. 
Credit: Kayleen Bertrand/The Glimmerglass Festival

Madame Butterfly opens on a hill overlooking Nagasaki harbour but director Francesca Zambello has changed the setting to the American consulate. It is an ordinary office except for the oversize American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance in English and Japanese. The scene changes to Cio-Cio-San’s house on the hill quickly and seamlessly. There is no furniture and some diaphanous curtains suffice for the scenes there. 

The love scene that follows between Lt. Pinkerton (Eric Taylor) and Cio-Cio-San  (Eri Nakamura) with no props except a mat on the floor is emotionally moving, passionate and brilliant.  It ends with Butterfly singing that “In an ecstasy of love, the sky is smiling!”

In Act II everything has changed. Pinkerton told Cio-Cio-San that he will return when the robin builds his nest. She asks the Consul Sharpless (Michael Mariposa) if American robins build their nests less frequently in America. It is one of many heart-wrenching moments.

She does not  lose faith. In the beautiful aria “Un bel di vedremo” Butterfly imagines how one day she will see Pinkerton’s ship in the harbour, he will run up the hill and they will be reunited. In the middle of the aria, she lowers her voice as if she were hiding from him before he sees her. She imagines how she will hide and he will find her and her happiness will be restored. The hope, the anticipation, the longing and the depths of her emotion are expressed with surpassing vocal beauty.

Troy Cook as Sharpless is a man of decency and principles. When Cio-Cio-San asks if the robins do not build their nests every year in America as they do in Japan, he lets out a laugh that I found unacceptable from a man like him. He is a diplomat and would not have laughed in the face of a girl that he knows is deceived. Aside from (blame the director) that Cook gives superb performance.

At the end of the performance, as we all know, Cio-Cio-San stabs herself and we hear Pinkerton utter her name as he rushes on stage and puts her in his arms. She embraces him and dies as the little boy runs on stage and jumps on his father’s back. A red curtain drops. It is all blood as the lights go off and the heart-wrenching opera is over.

This production was originally directed by Francesca Zambello and the revival director is Joshua R. Horowitz. The sets were designed by Michael Yeargan, the costumes by Anita Yavich, and the lighting by Robert Wierzel.
The Glimmerglass Orchestra and Chorus were conducted by Joseph Colaneri  in a superb performance rounding off an outstanding night at the opera.
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Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini opened on July 11 and will be performed a total of nine times until August 17, 2026, as part of the Glimmerglass Festival at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

James Karas is the Cukture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

ONE FOR THE POT – REVIEW OF 2026 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

And now for the lighter side of entertainment at the Shaw Festival. How about a farce? Let’s go with One for the Pot by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton. Those of a certain age may recall that this farce was staged at the Festival in 1985 with the incomparable Heath Lamberts. Some can engage in wistful memories while others can be introduced to a fine example of the genre.

The current production is directed by one of the best directors around, Chris Abraham, and with some minor glitches, it achieves its goal of generating laughter and an enjoyable evening at the theatre.

One for the Pot premiered in London in 1961 and has all the hallmarks of a farce. A simple plot, fast pace, pratfalls, slamming doors and confusion to keep the laughter coming. There are fourteen actors playing as many characters with the star Hickory Wood (Peter Fernandes) playing more than one role and a couple of other cast members doubling in minor roles.  

The wealthy Jonathan Hardcastle (Patrick Galligan) has decided to give ten thousand pounds in his will (we are in England) to the ONLY son of his former partner. Good news travels fast and Billy Hickory Wood (Fernandes, of course), with a few loose screws in the brain department, shows up with his “lawyer” Charlie Barnet (a supercharged Martin Happer) to claim the prize. You will be surprised to learn that Billy’s twin brother Rupert also shows up to claim the money.

The show is stolen by Fernandes who changes roles with dizzying speed and is a laughter-producing machine. He can make us laugh by simply walking/dancing across the stage, switching accents and doing pratfalls in a masterful performance. Happer is the hyperkinetic, scheming Charlie.

There is a crooked, bribe-demanding and booze-quaffing aficionado named Jugg, the butler (Sanjay Talwar) who helps orchestrate and add confusion to the proceedings. There is liberal consumption of alcohol with obvious results.

Sanjay Talwar, Peter Fernandes, Patrick Galligan, 
Camille Eanga-Selenge, Neil Barclay and Martin Happer
in One for the Pot. Photo by Michael Cooper.

I pay tribute to the ensemble acting of the cast that includes Neil Barclay as Arnold Piper, Fiona Byrne as Amy, Camille Eanga-Selenge as Cynthia, Jade Repeta as Winnie and Cosette Derome as Jennifer.  

Michael Gianfrancesco has designed a posh, gorgeous wood-paneled set, it is the sitting room of a grand house with a walk-in bar, entrance to an entertainment room, an exit to the yards and an entrance to a library. There are doors that can be slammed as the pace of the farce speeds up like an expensive sports car. There are pieces of furniture over which people can fall over or hide behind doors and try to exit as other characters prevent them from doing so. Ming Wong has designed beautiful gowns for some of the ladies and mostly tuxedos for the mem. They are perfect for the wealthy household.

The non-English English accents of the cast are acceptable considering the speed with which the script is spoken but I must admit there were times when I could not catch everything that was being said.

A farce must contain all the features listed above including some very good lines and bad puns, but acceleration is a central characteristic. If a problem arises, instead of being solved, it multiplies into more troubles instead. The action, the complications and the confusing must continue in a crescendo keeping the audience in thrall. No one understands this better than Chris Abraham. He does not direct so much as orchestrate the action so that we laugh even more vigorously as we anticipate the next laugh. Brilliant work by a master of the theatre.

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One for the Pot by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton continues in repertory until October 11, 2026, as part of the Shaw Festival at the Festival Theatre, 10 Queen’s Parade, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com

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