When it comes to the performing arts, Toronto audiences are spoiled for choice. On any given day, there are always multiple plays, musicals, operas and dance shows running on the city’s stages. Here’s a comprehensive guide to what to see — and skip — along with links to our full reviews. Check back often as productions open and new reviews are published.
Enormity, Girl and the Earthquake in Her Lungs
4 stars (out of 4)
What a revelation is this poetic, heartfelt stunner of a play, now running in a production by the feminist company Nightwood Theatre. Think Emma Donoghue’s “Room” meets the Pixar film “Inside Out,” meets the Tony Award-winning musical “A Strange Loop.” Chelsea Woolley sets her psychological drama inside the mind of her protagonist, who’s fleeing violence and seeking safety at a women’s shelter. Her writing is lush and poetic, more akin to spoken-word poetry than a traditional theatre script. Her dialogue twists and turns off the actors’ tongues, packed with alliteration, rhythm and rhyme. To miss this production would be your great loss. Until Oct. 5 at the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre.
Read our full review of “Enormity, Girl and the Earthquake in Her Lungs”
Romeo Pimp
3 stars (out of 4)
Jesse McQueen’s dramatic exploration of the sex trafficking industry is a slow-burning, painful watch. We’re presented with two seemingly unrelated narratives. In one, we see a young woman (Juliette Diodati) who’s trapped in the sex trade. In another, we follow Jamie (Charlotte Salisbury), a typical high school senior. Ever so gradually, however, these two stories start to merge. Director Sophie Ann Rooney’s production is filled with visual flourishes. But at times, her punchy use of sound (designed by Jeff Styga) and light (designed by Grisha Pasternak and Creaghan) feels excessive. Everything’s already there in McQueen’s script. Until Oct. 5 at the King Black Box Theatre.
Read our full review of “Romeo Pimp”
The Welkin
3 stars (out of 4)
Weyni Mengesha is marking the end of her successful tenure as artistic director of Soulpepper with a blazing new production of “The Welkin.” Lucy Kirkwood’s 2020 play is no easy watch, asking tough questions of its cast, director and audiences. It follows a jury of a dozen women in 18th-century England who must consider the veracity of a murderer’s pregnancy claim. The show begins on wobbly ground before morphing into something impressive. Mayko Nguyen and Bahia Watson deliver towering performances, even if Kirkwood’s material occasionally struggles to maintain its focus. But for any fan of Mengesha’s work, this farewell run shouldn’t be missed. Until Oct. 5 Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
Read our full review of “The Welkin”
Waiting for Godot
3.5 stars (out of 4)
The quixotic nature of faith; the slipperiness of life’s purpose; the terror of time’s progress, balanced against the uncanniness of eternal return; the consolation and alienation cradled together in every human interaction: few theatrical texts encompass the modern human condition as completely as Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” Coal Mine Theatre’s faithful, emotionally resonant staging of this classic — directed by Kelli Fox and starring Alexander Thomas and Ted Dykstra — features a cast that fully embodies the play’s complex emotional terrain. Until Oct. 12 at Coal Mine Theatre.
Read our full review of “Waiting for Godot”
The Veil
3.5 stars (out of 4)
This one-man, psychological thriller initially begins at a distance before burrowing deeper and deeper to reveal the evil within its main protagonist, as well as within its audience. Co-written by Keith Barker and Thomas Morgan Jones, it follows an ambitious lawyer who inherits a sinister curse from his boss in exchange for a coveted promotion. Helen Juvonen’s well-paced production is eerie, especially thanks to Jareth Li’s lighting and Ashley Naomi’s sound designs. Yes, it contains an obligatory jump scare or two. But the show’s tension primarily emerges from Barker and Jones’s taut script, which draws its audiences in with a firm grip, and holds them there for all of 90 minutes. Until Oct. 12 at Streetcar Crowsnest’s Studio Theatre.
Read our full review of “The Veil”
Octet
3 stars (out of 4)
Exiting Dave Malloy’s original and timely a cappella musical “Octet,” you may find yourself hesitating before checking your phone. After all, the bold 95-minute work, receiving a fine production at Crow’s Theatre, deals with people obsessed with the internet, including the powerful little computers glued to their hands. The premise is that eight internet addicts meet in a church basement for a 12-step support group. Rather than speaking their stories, prefaced with the words “My name is (blank) and I am an addict,” the group members take out a pitch-pipe, settle their nerves and sing them instead. Malloy’s story lacks enough narrative momentum in parts, but this production features a stellar ensemble. Until Oct. 19 at Streetcar Crowsnest’s Guloien Theatre.
Read our full review of “Octet”
MJ
1.5 stars (out of 4)
This jukebox musical retrospective on the king of pop features slick choreography by Christopher Wheeldon and a bevy of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits, but never truly looks at the man in the mirror. Lynn Nottage’s cumbersome script feels like a posthumous character rehabilitation — and a rather uninspired one at that, asking audiences to consider some aspects of Jackson’s life while ignoring the other, more controversial ones. As in many jukebox shows, Nottage splits her central subject into three distinct roles, each representing the separate eras of Jackson’s career. As the eldest, Jordan Markus delivers an uncanny impersonation. But the standout of this cast is Brandon Lee Harris as middle Michael. Until Nov. 2 at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre.
Read our full review of “MJ”
