All stories by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic on BroadwayStars

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
Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Actors Hailey Gillis and Peter Fernandes revisit childhood in Soulpepper Theatre’s Rose by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

In Soulpepper’s first original musical, based on Gertrude Stein’s The World Is Round, the actors and friends play 9-year-olds.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Saturday, January 19, 2019

The actors shine the most in Toronto production of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Characters could be considered representative of a crisis in Western culture around destructive and self-destructive behaviours, but that theme plays out perhaps too much in deep background,…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:07PM
Friday, January 18, 2019

The Scavenger’s Daughter places audience in a hellish world built around patriarchy and violence by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The second play in Susanna Fournier’s Empire Trilogy is very beautiful and deeply unpleasant, writes Karen Fricker

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:28PM
Tuesday, January 15, 2019

The Next Stage Theatre Festival gives Toronto a winter shot of buzz by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Critic Karen Fricker catches and reviews half of the dozen shows in the festival during a packed weekend.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:20PM
Saturday, January 12, 2019

Iphigenia and the Furies finds modern telling for ancient tale by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

In taking this story on for the indie company Saga Collectif, playwright Ho Ka Kei grappled with the question of where he and his collaborators, mostly queer folks and people of colour, coul…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:16PM
Friday, January 11, 2019

Satire about Joe Clark’s political decline is full of wit and heart, and surprisingly sympathetic of Clark by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The anchor of the play is Philip Riccio as Clark, who through understated but profound character work draws the audience into Clark’s psyche and his dilemma, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:43PM
Thursday, January 10, 2019

The Play That Goes Wrong does a good job of being terrible by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

It gets a bit overextended at the end but the Toronro production of The Play That Goes Wrong delivers on its promise: a laugh-filled night where nothing goes right.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:21PM
Wednesday, January 2, 2019

One year after Soulpepper, what stage have we reached? by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Theatre professionals offer their thoughts on the state of the industry in Toronto — the changes that have come and those that are still needed.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Tatiana Maslany is doing it her way in Network on Broadway by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Orphan Black stars aims to ‘honour and respect’ Faye Dunaway’s turn as Diana Christensen in the 1976 film version, but also tries ‘to own it for myself,’ she tells the Star’s Kar…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Thursday, December 13, 2018

Reversible’s family tales are thin but it’s a big, beautiful spectacle by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Circus show by 7 Fingers at CAA Theatre uses performers’ relations as inspiration for their top-notch, wow-factor feats.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:43PM

Meet Canada’s Evan Hansen: Robert Markus of Stratford’s Rocky Horror Show by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The Vancouver-born actor passed his audition ‘with flying colours’ to pay the title role in the Toronto production of Broadway smash Dear Evan Hansen.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:00AM
Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Magic and circus shows bring holiday awe to Toronto by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

With Cirque du Soleil and 7 Fingers opening shows here this week, and Champions of Magic next week, Karen Fricker looks at the appeal of this style of entertainment.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Sunday, December 9, 2018

Generational culture clash keeps things light in short, dark comedy No Clowns Allowed by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

A piece of advice for audiences is to pay attention right off the top, as information provided then informs everything that follows.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:17PM
Thursday, December 6, 2018

The Wonder Pageant’s gifted improvisers turned my day into holiday hilarity by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Songs, jokes and meta-jokes in an intimate space are just what this time of year needs, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:49PM
Sunday, December 2, 2018

Play on a treadmill raises urgent questions by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Powerful direction and design choices, a committed solo performance and well-advised brevity make a strong impact.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:33PM
Saturday, December 1, 2018

Coming of age tale hits full stride by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

After several weeks of controversy, Buddies in Bad Times is back to the business of its 40th anniversary season with a welcome revival of this 2012 hit.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:29PM

Ross Petty and Rob Torr explain why we need Christmas pantos today more than ever by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Petty, who’s staging The Wizard of Oz, sees pantos as a response to the negativity coming from the U.S. while Torr, whose Torrent Productions is presenting Cinderella, touts pantos for bri…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:00PM
Thursday, November 29, 2018

The kids are top-class in School of Rock by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of the hit film is too long, yet it gets better as it goes along, thanks to an impressive cast of young talent who play their own instruments, writ…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:37PM
Monday, November 19, 2018

The Monkey Queen envisions a marvellous world not always fully realized onstage by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

There is a disconnect between the wild imaginative power of Monkey’s adventures and the limited material means through which they’re conveyed, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:22AM
Friday, November 16, 2018

The Message does well at unpacking some of Marshall McLuhan’s idea but becomes repetitive and predictable by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

R.H. Thomson is in bravura form as McLuhan, but play’s female actors are sorely underused, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:26PM
Thursday, November 15, 2018

Middletown playwright Will Eno on weird odd jobs, finding success — and avoiding irony by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Middletown, now at Toronto’s Streetcar Crowsnest, shows off authorial voice found, the writer says, after exhausting work on Wall Street.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:58AM
Wednesday, November 14, 2018

A mother and son make peace with each other and history in We Keep Coming Back by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Michael Rubenfeld took mother Mary Berchard, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, to Poland to work some things out in their relationship. He came back with a documentary play.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Saturday, November 10, 2018

Helen’s Necklace feels dated despite updated casting by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Director Ken Gass’s new approach with female actors of varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds comes across as projecting the experiences of others.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:35PM
Friday, November 9, 2018

Great singing and energetic dancing give Young People’s Theatre’s Mary Poppins a lift by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

YPT’s version of the beloved musical also takes a welcome approach to casting, with Vanessa Sears playing Mary with winning crispness, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:15PM
Wednesday, November 7, 2018

On The Curious Voyage, theatregoers cross continents for an experience without boundary by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Surprise, uncertainty, even risk are part of the experience for those who take the theatrical voyage that begins in Barrie, Ontario and ends in London, England three days later.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Monday, October 29, 2018

Art mirrors politically polarized life in The Assembly: Episode 1 by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Journalists Jesse Kline and Jesse Brown find the theatre production about the liberal/conservative ideological divide is an accurate microcosm of what passes for civil discourse today.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:31PM
Saturday, October 27, 2018

Secret Life of a Mother is honest and risky by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The story is a microcosm of something billions of members of the human race have gone through, but which Western society still tells us is not appropriate for polite conversation: what it’…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:51PM
Friday, October 26, 2018

A rabbi and a theatre critic walked into a play called Bad Jews … by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Despite its unflattering portrayal of a Jewish family fighting over an inheritance, Rabbi Edward Elkin tells Karen Fricker he sees merit in Bad Jews.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:43PM
Thursday, October 25, 2018

Jordan Peterson’s ideas — and their antithesis — converge in Theory at Tarragon Theatre by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The play is acutely topical, even though it’s been in development for nine years, writes Karen Fricker.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:41PM
Friday, October 19, 2018

Soulpepper’s The Royale doesn’t pull any punches by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Marco Ramirez’s powerful play is based on the real-life story of boxer Jack Johnson, who became world heavyweight champion in 1910, sparking race riots.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:29PM

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