Results tagged “kamalal”

Despite winning an armful of Dora's, poor ticket sales and a lukewarm critical reception means that the Lord of The Rings musical will be dying an untimely death come September, less than six months after it opened.

Toronto's theatre critics are luke warm on the $28 million production of the LOTR musical. Both Richard Ouzounian at the Star and Kamal Al Solayee at the Globe give the play two stars. The CBC gives a nice little roundup of the play's shortcomings.

Seems like it's just bad news piled upon bad news for the city's small theatres this fall...

For theatre in Toronto, anyway. Houses have reportedly been weak for World Stage: Flying Solo, leading the festival to offer reduced-price tickets to TAPA members. The Seven Lives of Simon Labrosse, a Carole Frechette play that Torontoist actually likes (don't get us started on Helen's Necklace), has been playing to underwhelming houses (except for the night the Governor General dropped by last week). And the cast of The Confessions of Punch and Judy has been dismayed by the lack of reservations for the rest of the shows run... And these are only the woes that have reached Torontoist's ears.

Fired Globe and Mail columnist and avid bicyclist David Macfarlane’s new play Fishwrap (previously discussed on Torontoist here), which is about a "fictional" newspaper columnist and avid bicyclist who gets fired, opens in previews tonight at the Tarragon. According to eye’s on-the-ball theatre scribe Gord McLaughlin, the show includes a few not-so-subtle digs at Globe booster-in-chief Edward Greenspon and "that column by that awfully pretty young woman who writes about being an awfully pretty young woman." (Speaking of, Torontoist’s great Leah McLaren debate from last week continues over here.)

Here’s are the questions for the inquest: Did the avian flu fell Bat Boy? Or was it overly-harsh critics in the conservatory with the candlestick? Or was it just a bad show?

the target audience for this let's-discover-Sondheim cabaret.)But wait! That's not all. Come January, Holmes is shuffling over to Factory Theatre to direct Claudia Dey's Trout Stanley.

The reviews haven’t been very kind to the show about the misfortunate MacDonald clan of Cape Breton. "No great truth or inspiration" went the headline in The Globe and Mail, which pretty much sums up the overall critical reaction. This Torontoist theatregoer (TTT), however, thinks that it’s the best play to grace a Toronto stage so far this season, full of joyous soaring musical moments and soul-scritch-scratching quiet ones. R.H. Thompson is particularly fine as Alexander MacDonald, the play’s narrator-dentist. There’s also not one, but two fabulous performances by an actor named Jody Richardson as Alexander’s grandfather and California cousin. If the Torontoist were on the Dora jury, we’d be pushing for a nomination for this Richardson fellah who is making his Tarragon debut.

There’s no guarantees with this show, Richmond’s second to make it down the 401. But with a title like Small Returns, it’s an investment that you know will at least live up to its billing.