After seven years, the Global Cabaret still has audiences pouring into the Young Centre for a weekend of performances by some of Canada’s best artists.
Many of the entertainers are returning to treat viewers to an hour of toe-tapping tunes and thrilling musical renditions of standards and new pieces. This year you can catch, among others, Jackie Richardson, Judith Lander, Sharron Matthews, John Millard, Suba Sankaran and Mike Ross.
The festival includes a 21st-century remix of Purcell’s opera Dido And Aeneas, the score presented as a combination of bluegrass, Cape Breton fiddling, South Indian classical and pop styles, with music direction by Gregory Oh.
There’s more classical music in Webster’s Opera Corner, in which William Webster and Derek Boyes engage in a conversation about Webster’s love of the form. Several young opera singers perform as part of the show.
Other highlights? F-Lying, A Fellini Cabaret created by Roberto Campanella and Leslie Hope songbooks devoted to American Pie, George Gershwin and Hank Williams Patricia O’Callaghan performing songs by Leonard Cohen the Toronto Masque Theatre’s music/theatre/dance presentation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and Dennis Lee’s The Lost Songs Of Toronto.
Opening night (Thursday, October 23) features a revival of (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings In Song. Ticket price for that performance includes a post-show reception.
See listing.
Bard sci-fi
Want your Star Wars with a touch of iambic pentameter?
Then you should catch Play In A Pub: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back, a funder for Driftwood Theatre.
Based on Ian Doescher’s book, the story imagines what the classic film series would have been like if the most famous English playwright had written it.
Lots of classical actors are taking part, giving the language added lift. Among them are Jonathan Goad (Han Solo), R.H. Thomson (Obi Wan Kenobi), Michael Hanrahan (Darth Vader), Sarah Wilson (Princess Leia), Peter van Gestel (Luke Skywalker) and Richard Alan Campbell (Yoda). Also look for Michael Blake, Steven Gallagher, Melissa D’Agostino and Christopher Darroch. Steven Burley provides all of the music and sound cues.
Audience members can get walk-on supporting roles through a live auction, and other goods and raffle items will be up for sale.
The funder is Monday (October 27) at Clinton’s Tavern.
See listing.
Physical duo
Pure Carbon, a young theatre troupe, presents a pair of physical theatre pieces that highlight two women, one a familiar fairy-tale character and the other a little-known but fascinating historical figure.
Red Winter retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood using movement and music. Set in a savage, brutal world, the narrative gives Red control of her own destiny, which takes the fable’s action into new territory.
La Loca centres on Joanna the Mad, a Spanish queen in the 16th century who was imprisoned for the last five decades of her life. As she lies dying, phantoms replay key moments in her memory.
Both works were developed with an ensemble of artists using improv and physical exploration. The script and direction for La Loca are by Alexander Kentris, who co-founded Pure Carbon with Katy Murphy, who conceived and directs Red Winter.
See listing.
Growing up Franco Ontarian
The writing of five teenagers, all francophone, is the source for Les Zinspirés 3D, the latest production by Théâtre Français de Toronto.
Mary Anne Bakos, Johann Sapim, Kim Letendre, Godelive Majamu and Abtine Monavvari, all studying in southern Ontario high schools, wrote short stories dealing with such diverse topics as rebellion, superheroines, BFFs, guilt and practical jokes.
The stories were developed in dramaturgy workshops and then blended into a single production presented by professional theatre artists: Lise Cormier, Alexandre Côté, Djennie Laguerre, Lexi Soha and Xavier Yuvens, with direction by Pierre Simpson.
See listing.
