All stories by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star on BroadwayStars

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Goodnight Romeo: the National Ballet’s Guillaume Côté parts with a signature role by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Côté says goodbye to the title role in Alexei Ratmansky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ but not to the National Ballet or to dance.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Friday, June 9, 2023

Luminato: Exemplary cast never falters in ‘mesmerizing’ performance of ‘Nuit’ from Toronto’s Compagnie de la Citadelle by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Pierre Perreault’s almost forgotten landmark of Canadian choreography restored to its original 1986 form

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:20PM
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Guillaume Côté, Robert Lepage reimagine groundbreaking multimedia ballet ‘Frame By Frame’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

For this summer’s National Ballet opener, famed choreographers got together to make the project even stronger than it’s much-lauded 2018 debut

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Thursday, May 25, 2023

‘Woods’ at the Bentway turns humans into trees to make a point about climate by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Mostly amateur performers willing to stand on their heads for as long as they can will create a forestlike landscape growing out of rock-hard concrete.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM
Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Black choreographers, often neglected in the ballet world, are celebrated by Ballet Jörgen by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“We’re doing this program because they are all talented artists and perhaps have not been recognized as much as they should have,” says Bengt Jörgen.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM
Monday, May 15, 2023

Sara Porter expresses her love of the ocean in absurdly funny ways in ‘L-E-A-K’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

In “L-E-A-K,” Porter explores ecosexuality, the theory of horizons, swimming safety and homosexuality among seagulls. And did we mention the game-show episode?

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Sunday, May 14, 2023

‘The Rite of Spring’ gets a feminist, African perspective from Dada Masilo by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Masilo’s ‘The Sacrifice,’ inspired by Stravinsky’s original, is a universal statement about ritual in our lives, and the connection of healing and grief.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Santee Smith’s new work ‘Homelands’ and her Kaha:wi Dance Theatre: The life-sustaining force of the Indigenous choreographer by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

‘The choreography is a richly textured blend of gesture and bodily movements that seem to come from some deep inner energy source’

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:11PM
Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Opera Atelier presents ‘The Resurrection’ — ‘Messiah’ composer Handel’s other beautiful, biblical oratorio by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Handel’s “magnificently dramatic” work will be at Toronto’s Koerner Hall 315 years after it made its debut in Rome.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Saturday, March 11, 2023

National Ballet’s latest Cinderella a perfectly sweet revival of Kudelka masterpiece by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

As Cinderella, Genevieve Penn Nabity has grace and technique to spare, writes Michael Crabb. Following leads in “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker” she is no longer a star in the making…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:58PM
Friday, March 3, 2023

Two debuts plus George Balanchine equal National Ballet mixed program by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

David Dawson and Rena Butler are new to National Ballet audiences.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:22PM
Wednesday, February 8, 2023

‘Songs for Murdered Sisters’: Margaret Atwood poems set to music to honour opera baritone Joshua Hopkins’ murdered sister by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

‘It was always our intention to create a piece that would help wake people up to the epidemic that is intimate partner and gender-based violence ... the advocacy is extremely important to …

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:32AM
Thursday, February 2, 2023

Alvin Ailey company returns to Toronto with a dance work about Nelson Mandela by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“Survivor” was made in 1986 response to Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment, but it’s a “universal statement about injustice.”

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:51PM
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

What’s so exciting about Throwdown Collective’s revolving stage? Depends how you look at it by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

‘Turn the dial to the maximum 15 revolutions per minute and it’s all they can do to stop getting flung off’

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Passion for Blacks in Dance unites 500 artists in immersive Toronto gathering by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

‘A global event like this, dedicated to Black artists offers encouragement. Just fight hard and put your work out there.’

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Friday, January 20, 2023

Indigenous origin story is honoured in Red Sky Performance’s ‘Miigis: Underwater Panther’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The dance work, a collaboration with Canadian Stage, refers to the sea-snail shells that played a guiding role in the great migration over many centuries of Indigenous peoples.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Sunday, December 11, 2022

National Ballet’s triumphant return of The Nutcracker by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet is back with many changes — all of them good.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:52PM
Tuesday, December 6, 2022

WinterSong’s ‘Holiday Season’ show gives high school-age hopefuls a leg up in the dance world by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre’s annual WinterSong performance features the lore and traditions around the winter solstice.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Thursday, November 24, 2022

National Ballet’s ‘MADDADDAM’ is a sensory feast of sights and sounds by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Wayne McGregor’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s postapocalyptic “MaddAddam Trilogy” is at times overwhelming but also an undeniably thrilling experience.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:45PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Newton Moraes, like other artists, has struggled. That reality is onstage in ‘Life Under My Skin’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Moraes’ company celebrates its 25th anniversary with a show on the Harbourfront stage where his Toronto dance career began.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Thursday, November 10, 2022

Review: National Ballet of Canada’s season-launching triple bill offers cosmic timelessness, jubilance, and a few too many moves by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Three works — ‘Crepuscular,’ ‘The Collective Agreement,’ and ‘Concerto,’ achieve varying levels of success

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 10:49AM
Monday, November 7, 2022

Kaeja d’Dance celebrates its 30th anniversary with ‘31’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Husband-and-wife co-founders Allen and Karen Kaeja explore the concepts of touch and of identity and memory in double bill.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 10:00AM

Toronto ballet lovers: Meet Alonzo King by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

National Ballet of Canada artistic director Hope Muir brings King’s “The Collective Agreement” to the stage and revives a long neglected Kenneth MacMillan work.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Claudia Moore — incandescent dancer, choreographer, mentor and instigator of imaginative projects — is leaving the Toronto dance scene by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

After a new version of the popular “Older & Reckless,” Moore is ceding MOonhORsE Dance to other, unidentified hands and moving west to be with her children and grandchildren.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Monday, October 24, 2022

In his ‘Double Murder’ double dance bill, Hofesh Shechter balances bleakness with hope by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Shechter has paired the violent “Clowns” with the gentler “The Fix” on a world tour that stops at Toronto’s Harbourfront.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:06PM
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

New production of Pina Bausch’s version of ‘Rite of Spring’ features African dance troupe by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Bausch would almost certainly have been delighted by what the foundation dedicated to preserving her artistic legacy, in partnership with Senegal’s internationally renowned African contemp…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Friday, September 30, 2022

Stage version of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ makes a delightful splash at the Princess of Wales Theatre by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

There’s so much of water, not just during the title song — cue iconic umbrella and lamppost — but also in the grand finale that patrons in the front rows are likely to get wet.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:07PM
Monday, September 19, 2022

Dance with the stars: Toronto’s Fall for Dance North returns with in-person shows, audience pleasers and watch-from-home options by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Indigenous Liberation, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and the National Ballet all part of celebration continuing to Oct. 8.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:00PM

In ‘Beautiful Renegades,’ Peggy Baker mines Toronto’s 1970s dance rebellion by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The dance-drama hybrid at the Theatre Centre, the final work of Peggy Baker Dance Projects, honours the avant-garde performances at 15 Dance Lab.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Nova Bhattacharya’s ‘Svāhā!’ celebrates female energy with a mash-up of diverse dance styles by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The cast of 22 women represents more 30 forms of dance, including Bharatanatyam, jazz, hip hop, tap, modern and classical ballet.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM

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 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime