All stories by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 10, 2019

Lilies: or The Revival of a Romantic Drama explores transformative justice, Two-Spirit culture by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Tragic love story between two men in early 20th-century rural Quebec, undermined by homophobia and social conservatism tied to the Catholic Church.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM
Monday, May 6, 2019

Milton’s Steve Michaels on building a fit tribute to Elvis in Return to Grace by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Performer portraying Presley says he relishes winning over doubters in show coming to Princess of Wales Theatre this week.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:21PM
Thursday, May 2, 2019

Next to Normal’s talented cast aren’t quite dazzling us yet by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Musical Stage Company gives Toronto a good production, with flaws to be worked on, of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:50AM
Monday, April 29, 2019

Too Good to Be True opens VideoCabaret’s new theatre in promising form by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Cliff Cardinal’s new dark comedy and directing debut isn’t entirely successful in VideoCab’s black box format, but it’s an entertaining evening highlighted by terrific performances, …

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:05AM
Friday, April 26, 2019

Why Dear Evan Hansen spoke to David Mirvish by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The musical about a flawed teenager ‘is about all of us. We all want to be liked to some degree,’ says the head of Mirvish Productions, who chased the show for two years.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM

Old Stock tells its Refugee Love Story in a risky and memorable way by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Old Stock veers from noisily confrontational to lyrical to sardonic, with a buildup of character through beautifully observed, often wryly funny dialogue, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Wednesday, April 17, 2019

The debate over theatre trigger warnings: Are they art killers or a vital audience service? by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

For performer Sky Gilbert, trigger warnings are ‘dangerous for art.’ The Coal Mine Theatre, on the other hand, plans to change what it stages to avoid triggering audiences, writes Karen …

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Saturday, April 6, 2019

Go-for-broke performances drive Sarah Burgess’s Dry Powder by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

More than a glimpse at the inner workings of leveraged buyout schemes, production offers a vantage on the mentality of those whose world is defined by them.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:02PM
Friday, April 5, 2019

Angélique’s ambitions pay off, mostly, in slave’s tale by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Jenny Brizard soars in title role as four theatre companies pool their efforts for a demanding play that should be produced more often.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:20PM
Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Bigre, a stage comedy inspired by living in tiny rooms, has had big success by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Bigre has made people laugh across Europe, but transporting it to Toronto brings an element of risk for Pierre Guillois, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Sunday, March 31, 2019

A Blow in the Face takes audiences through the ‘cave’ of postpartum depression by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

New play is part of Lisa Ryder’s efforts to rupture societal taboos around such experiences, which are widely shared and yet still not much talked about in the mainstream.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:47PM
Friday, March 29, 2019

Soulpepper’s Wedding at Aulis is impressive but not always compelling by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Sina Gilani’s rewriting of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis is fluid and mature, but the production’s talkiness sometimes gets in the way of his ideas, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:35PM
Friday, March 22, 2019

This new Second City show mines topicality for laughs in winning style by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Cast members get individual chances to shine in show dwelling on life in Toronto now, notably the TTC and the real-estate madness.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:14PM
Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Deborah Hay takes on plum role of Nora from A Doll’s House, but with a twist by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

This isn’t Ibsen’s Nora but the one from Lucas Hnath’s ‘cheeky’ reimagining of the characters in A Doll’s House, Part 2.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Friday, March 15, 2019

Sook-Yin Lee’s Unsafe is overlong and overburdened by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Stringing together one research example after another and interspersing them with vignettes about how hard it is to make art do not make a particularly meaningful contribution to the convers…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:52PM
Thursday, March 14, 2019

Chicho’s gay-immigrant tale has a lot — almost too much — to offer by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Venezuelan-Canadian Augusto Bitter’s show at Passe Muraille marks him as a talent to be watched.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:09PM
Friday, March 8, 2019

Blood of Our Soil is part family drama, part nail-biting, wartime road movie by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Playwright Lianna Makuch and her team have done a remarkable job tying together a journey in search of family roots with thoughtful commentary on present-day, war-torn Ukraine, writes Karen …

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:14PM

Hot Brown Honey rides the buzz of its feminist cabaret into Ontario by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Australian show created by and for women of colour to showcase their story is in Burlington this weekend and Toronto in April

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:33AM
Thursday, March 7, 2019

Kiss of the Spider Woman’s talents don’t belong in the Don Jail by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Ambitious choice by upstart theatre company to use jail as venue undermines the considerable gifts of cast.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:45PM
Wednesday, March 6, 2019

For the cast of the ‘African Mean Girls Play’ it’s a sisterhood offstage by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls deals with serious issues like shadism but also ‘the loudness, the humour, the fun of African women,’ the actors tell Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Friday, March 1, 2019

Matthew MacKenzie and Monica Dottor on the collaboration behind Best New Play winner Bears by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

‘Incorporating dance into complex text is like walking a tightrope,’ says choreographer Dottor of her work with playwright and director MacKenzie.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:18AM
Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Human Animals uses creative setting to bring environmental collapse to life by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Tense climate doesn’t much change in show until March 3 performed at an intriguing Toronto site.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:30PM

Andrew Kushnir’s Towards Youth is about more than theatre; it’s about seeing the world in a more hopeful way by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Accompanied by U of T professor Kathleen Gallagher, Kushnir interviewed young people in five countries for play that opens this week at Streetcar Crowsnest.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Friday, February 22, 2019

Paolozzapedia is awkward and charming, playful and self-indulgent, but needs more time to come into focus by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

First presented in a workshop version in the 2015 RISER Project, Adam Paolozza’s Paolozzapedia still has a strong work-in-progress vibe, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:15PM
Sunday, February 17, 2019

Mules explores class, choice and drug smuggling, all inside Vancouver Airport’s washroom by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The world premiere play Mules, about a first-time drug smuggler (Eva Barrie), holed up in the washrooms at Vancouver Airport with her trafficker (Anita Majumdar), waiting for the goods to re…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:00AM
Friday, February 15, 2019

Oslo’s long, macho march toward peace delivers for audience by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Director Joel Greenberg’s production at CAA Theatre of J.T. Rogers’ play about a daring real-life peace mission overcomes slightly thin characterizations.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:49PM
Friday, February 8, 2019

While Come From Away took a break, its Toronto cast visited Gander by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The actors who star in the hit musical set in Gander, Newfoundland, got a chance to meet some of the real people they play.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:37PM
Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Actor and playwright Jeff Ho explores his Chinese identity via the Greeks by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Ho — Ophelia in Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet and the author of Iphigenia and the Furies — gravitates toward the Greek tragedies because they were his first experience of theatre, he…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Friday, February 1, 2019

The Tashme Project tells of the distress of Japanese Canadians interned during the Second World War by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

There is valuable information in this theatre production about Japanese Canadian experiences, although the delivery can be confusing, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:23PM
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Canadian Stage gains ambition as it gains ground in decades-old fight with debt by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Red ink has dogged the Toronto theatre company for 30 years but now, thanks to an American ‘turnaround king,’ artistic director Brendan Healy says it will soon be able to think bigger.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:26PM
Friday, January 25, 2019

Vietnamese-Canadian double bill of Fine China and A Perfect Bowl of Pho offers a blast of fresh ideas by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Nam Nguyen’s Pho is a hilariously energetic look at Vietnamese culture while Julie Phan’s Fine China looks at the painful relationship between a father and his daughters, writes Karen Fr…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:05PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime