Kelly Nestruck

The Canadian Theatre Critics Association is now accepting submissions for the 2023 Nathan Cohen Awards for Excellence in Theatre Criticism. Submit your outstanding reviews and critical essays by December 4, 2023.

Audiences are buying tickets closer to the actual show date - but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re making the decision to see the show late. In a post-COVID era, audiences are more attuned to the fact that things can shift, and so in an effort to protect themselves from navigating a cancellation, they’re waiting to purchase their tickets.

Sometimes seasons go by without any truly perplexing questions for the Tony Award Administration Committee to answer. This will not be one of those seasons. As I wrote last month, there are close calls on what will be considered a new play versus revival and now thrown into the mix is the play or musical decision involving ROOM.

Critics have weighed in on the new London Palladium production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which opened at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on December 16th.

The Olivier Award-winning original musical, & Juliet, will have its highly anticipated Broadway premiere this fall. The production is currently playing its pre-Broadway engagement in Toronto. Read all of the reviews for & Juliet here!

New York City. 1863. The Civil War raged on. An extraordinary thing occurred amid the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of the Five Points, the notorious 19th-century Lower Manhattan slum. For many years, Irish immigrants escaping the devastation of the Great Famine settled alongside free-born Black Americans and those who escaped slavery, arriving by means of the Underground Railroad. The Irish, relegated at that time to the lowest rung of America's social status, received a sympathetic welcome from their Black neighbors (who enjoyed only slightly better treatment in the burgeoning industrial-era city). The two communities co-existed, intermarried, raised families, and shared their cultures in this unlikeliest of neighborhoods.

Playwrights' Workshop Montréal and the Segal Centre for Performing Arts has announced the theatrical reading of Behaviour, an exploration of gender, power, labour, and abuse.

Despite an arts season drastically reduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Theatre Critics Association was still able to present its 2020 Nathan Cohen Awards for excellence in critical writing.

The Globe and Mail reports that Bob Baker, the former longtime artistic director of The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton who also directed at theatres across the country, has been expelled from the Canadian Actors' Equity Association.

The first national tour of The Band's Visit is now making its way across the country after launching at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island!

Little Shop of Horrors is currently playing at the Avon Theatre through Nov. 2 as part of the Stratford Festival.

Donna Feore's gritty new take on Billy Elliot the Musical, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical from Lee Hall and Elton John, is now on stage at the Stratford Fesitval. The production officially opens on Tuesday, May 28, at the Festival Theatre.

The Toronto company of Dear Evan Hansen celebrated their official opening night on March 28th! The cast includes Robert Markus as 'Evan Hansen', Stephanie La Rochelle as 'Zoe Murphy', Jessica Sherman as 'Heidi Hansen', Claire Rankin as 'Cynthia Murphy', Evan Buliung as 'Larry Murphy', Sean Patrick Dolan as 'Connor Murphy', Alessandro Costantini as 'Jared Kleinman', and Shakura Dickson as 'Alana Beck', along with Zachary Noah Piser as the 'Evan' alternate and understudies Erin Breen, Malinda Carroll, Jay Davis, David Jeffery, Laura Mae Nason, Kaitlyn Santa Juana and Josh Strobl.

The Canadian Premiere of Sting's acclaimed musical, THE LAST SHIP starring and featuring original music and lyrics by multiple Grammy Award' winner Sting is now on stage at the Princess of Wales Theatre through March 24, 2019.

Hadar Galron's powerful play, Mikveh, offers a glimpse into the secretive world of the Jewish ritual bath. The intimate stories of seven women unfold in this revealing story of religious observance and evolving feminist consciousness. With humor, sincerity and tragedy, this provocative play explores the evolving position of women in this religious society. Nominated for six Israeli National theatre awards and winning two, including Play of the Year for 2005, Mikveh will be performed at 2 pm and 7:30 pm at Boca Raton's B'nai Torah Congregation on February 20th, 2019 in the Weiner Auditorium.

Hadar Galron's powerful play, Mikveh, offers a glimpse into the secretive world of the Jewish ritual bath. The intimate stories of seven women unfold in this revealing story of religious observance and evolving feminist consciousness. With humor, sincerity and tragedy, this provocative play explores the evolving position of women in this religious society. Nominated for six Israeli National theatre awards and winning two, including Play of the Year for 2005, Mikveh will be performed at 2 pm and 7:30 pm at Boca Raton's B'nai Torah Congregation on February 20th, 2019 in the Weiner Auditorium.

Ross Petty Productions presents THE WIZARD OF OZ - A Toto-ly Twistered Family Musical, now through January 5, 2019, his 23rd fractured fairytale and original family musical. Get a first look at the cast in action below!

Formal attire requested! THE PROM is now in performances at Broadway's Longacre Theatre and officially opens tomorrow, Thursday, November 15, 2018!

The pre-Broadway run of 'Ain't Too Proud-The Life and Times of The Temptations' officially opened in Toronto last night!

Following two hit runs as part of Nightwood Theatre's 2016/17 and 2017/18 mainstage seasons, Diane Flacks' Dora Award-nominated Unholy will be remounted in an exclusive return engagement from November 16-18, 2018, live at Zoomer Hall (70 Jefferson Ave.) in Liberty Village.  Unholy will be shot in front of a live studio audience for an upcoming special on VisionTV, Canada's only multi-faith, multi-cultural television channel available in over 10 million homes.