At the York Theatre until January 3, 2016
Hansel and Gretel: An East Van Panto has more jokes than Granville Island has rats. Or more puns than the bike lanes Gregor Robertson proposes for Vancouver. It’s loaded with ‘em. Crazy rhymes like “sing and dance” with “drop our pants” or “stairway to heaven” with “7/11” proliferate like abandoned Easter bunnies in Stanley Park.

 Dawn Petten (Hansel) and Maiko Yamamoto (Gretel) in Hansel and Gretel: An East Van Panto

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On the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre until December 27, 2015
What a rollicking, swashbuckling opening of the brand new Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre. Peter and the Starcatcher is an Arts Club production in this new venue, owned jointly by the Arts Club and Bard on the Beach.

Rachel Cairns as Molly and Benjamin Wardle as Peter in Peter and The Starcatcher. Credit: Emily Cooper

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At The Fox Cabaret (2321 Main Street) until December 6, 2015
FLEE charmed the pants off me. I confess: even if I have no idea of what’s going on, I can be seduced by costumes, lighting, set design, choreography and performance.

Peter Anderson as Archibald Twill in FLEE. Credit: David Cooper

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At the Firehall Arts Centre until December 5, 2015
Canadian playwright Trish Cooper could not possibly have known how timely this Firehall Arts Centre production in Vancouver would be just as the country is poised to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees.

Lili Beaudoin as Sarah in Social Studies. Credit: Emily Cooper

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At 211 East Georgia (at Main) until November 29, 2015
I can’t remember laughing so hard and being so unsettled at the same time – in equal measure.

Genevieve Fleming as Tanya in The North Plan.

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At The Cultch until November 28, 2015
What if your loved ones don’t love you enough? What if they bail out on you if you’re diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? Now there’s a nightmare to plague your waking and sleeping hours.

Patti Allan and Kevin McNulty in You Will Remember Me. Credit: Tim Matheson

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At the Norman Rothstein Theatre until November 21, 2015
Make your Will. Do it now. Otherwise, your loved ones will snarl and bicker and fight like a pack of hyenas over your ‘things’.

Goldie Hoffman as Daphna in Bad Jews. Credit: Len Grinke

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At Performance Works until November 29, 2015
If some of us had spent half as much time on our marriages as we spent obsessing over our wedding dress, there might be more happy 60^th wedding anniversaries.

Josh Drebit, Deborah Williams and Gili Roskies in Dressing for a Wedding. Credit: Emily Cooper

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At Studio 16 until November 28, 2015
Mitch and Murray Productions knocks it out of the park – again – with Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn, a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Moya O’Connell as Catherine in Rapture, Blister, Burn. Credit: Shimon Karmel

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At The Stanley until December 27, 2015
Santa, a Remembrance Day poppy stuck in his bright red suit, seems to arrive on the scene earlier each year. The Arts Club kicks the holiday season off with A Christmas Story: The Musical.

Valin Shinyei, Meghan Gardiner, Glen Gordon and Matt Palmer in A Christmas Story.  Credit: David Cooper

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