At Performance Works until April 13, 2013
You might have thought composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim was having a pipedream when he envisioned a musical based on assassins who targeted US Presidents. But Assassins went on to win a load of awards and now Pipedream Theatre Project is realizing a dream of its own as it presents Assassins on the Performance Works stage.
Kurt Schindelka as Guiseppe Zangara in Assassins. Credit: Keith Opatovsky
At The Cultch (VanCity Culture Lab) until April 20, 2013
If Chekhovian means bo-ring to you, here’s an opportunity to turn your head around. Directed by Jane Heyman for the newly formed The Only Child Collective, this production is romantic, funny and heart wrenching in Amiel Gladstone’s fresh and lively adaptation.
Manami Hara, Richard Newman and Rachel Aberle in Three Sisters Credit: Emily Cooper
At Jericho Arts Centre until April 21, 2013
Oh, Mr. Gill, what have they done to you? First they give you a hunchback, then they put you in tight, tartan knickers and a button-popping vest, and finally – the coup de grâce – they make you speak in rhyming couplets for two hours. Good grief.
Stephanie Dyck and James Gill in The Prince’s Play. Credit: Doug Williams
At Frederic theatre until April 6, 2013
“Did you, Lizzie?” “Lizzie, did you?” One hundred and twenty years later, we’re still asking the question Lizzie Borden’s sister Emma repeatedly asked her over the years – even after Lizzie had been acquitted of the murder of their father and stepmother.
Mercedes de la Zerda in Blood Relations. Credit: Tim Matheson
At Studio 58 until April 7, 2013
The despair in Balm in Gilead is enough to keep these Studio 58 student actors on the straight and narrow for the rest of their lives – not that these over-achievers are at any risk of blowing it.
Chris Cope and Masae Day in Balm in Gilead. Credit: David Cooper
At The Stanley until April 14, 2013
2 Pianos 4 Hands. Right: two guys, four hands, two pianos. But Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt are so good they could each do a show that might be called 2 Hands 4 Pianos – but why would they?
Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra in 2 Pianos 4 Hands. Photo: Courtesy of Mirvish Productions
At PAL Studio until March 23, 2013
If I were an entertainment editor I wouldn’t send me to review this show. I’m just all wrong for it. Heterosexual grandmother – what could be a worse perspective from which to view a play about a gay couple – older guy/younger guy – hitting the doldrums in their ten-year relationship?
Credit: Itai Erdal
At The Cultch until March 24, 2013
Don’t see this show unless you want to laugh your face off. It’s rude, rude, rude and funny, funny, funny. If you can’t bear to hear the following blanks filled in, Broken Sex Doll is definitely not for you:
“c—k s—–g, mother-f—–g, son-of-a-bitch”. Otherwise, get ready to roll in the aisles.
Gili Roskies and Benjamin Elliott in Broken Sex Doll. Credit: Bettina Strauss
At Pacific Theatre until March 23, 2013
Even when we’re doing good works, human frailty can undermine our best intentions. In Helen Edmundson’s Mother Teresa is Dead, each character – in his or her way – is trying to do the right thing but each is fraught with weakness and/or contradiction.
Kayvon Kelly and Julie McIsaac in Mother Teresa is Dead. Credit: Ron Reed
At The Cultch. No more performances
Not often is the whole less than the sum of its parts. So while Extraction didn’t hang together perfectly, its parts were startlingly and often disturbingly informative.
Jimmy Mitchell, Sunny Sun and Jason Wilson in Extraction. Credit: Tim Matheson