When it premiered in the 1980s, Fire, a "jukebox musical" set to the music of Jerry Lee Lewis and some Christian spirituals, was considered something of a sensation. Twenty years later, CanStage has decided to revive the show, bringing the multi-talented Ted Dykstra (pictured) back to the role of Cale Blackwell, a fictionalized stand-in for Lewis. While none of this sounds like a terrible idea, the current production of Fire which opened last night......

In a strange moment of synchronicity, there are currently two musicals on the Toronto stage about a man who kills people and disposes of their bodies by feeding them to someone/something. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been playing at the Princess of Wales since early November, and closes on December 9. Sweeney tells the story (which we are all likely to become more familiar with after Tim Burton's film adaptation......

Some biggish news announced this week in regards to two of this city's major theatres: Passe Muraille and CanStage (oh, I'm sorry, I mean "The Canadian Stage Company"—more on that later). Let's start with Passe Muraille, the plucky underdog. Probably the biggest morceau is that they're kicking off their 40th season with a remount of Michael Healey's ridiculously successful The Drawer Boy. If you missed all the (admittedly numerous) previous opportunities to see this which......

Canstage's heavily-hyped season-ending production of The Rocky Horror Show has finally opened at the Bluma. Last season, they finished things off with "revolutionary" 60s musical Hair, and this year they have opted for one of the 70s' key "revolutionary" musicals. Fortunately for the audiences, Rocky is an infinitely superior show to Hair in almost every way: the songs are catchier, the characters more memorable, the plot more engaging and Canstage's production, helmed by Ted......

There are several concerts taking place this week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Tonight at Roy Thomson Hall, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) led by debuting conductor Stefan Sanderling will perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 followed by Symphony No. 8 as part of the Shostakovich Remembered Festival. The featured performers for the evening are Alexander Toradze on piano and Andrew McCandless on trumpet. If you......