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New York, New York 2009 – Seven Days of Theatre, Food and Dance: PART II.

September 14th, 2009

Tuesday September 8th

Back in Manhattan after an awesome dance-filled Labour Day Getaway Cruise, feeling great except for my tired feet. I am ready for another 5 days of dance, theatre and fine food. First thing on the agenda will be to pick up a pair of practice shoes for the next couple of lessons. Somehow on board ship my feet must have grown  from a  dainty size 4½  to something huge. By the end of the voyage I felt like one of Cinderella's sisters,  trying to squeeze my foot into a shoe that was suddenly far too small. Oh well, no prince for me I guess.

I plan to spend the rest of the day catching up on writing, laundry and planning my feasts  for mind and body for my remaining days in the city. 

Wednesday, September 9th  - No Gill,  you're not in a Bruce Willis movie !

I guess it was bad karma for being amused at the lady in the elevator who was scared of heights but my day started out with a bang - literally. I have only two phobias - I shudder at fluttering things like butterflies and moths - and I have a mild degree of claustrophobia. While my ultimate claustrophobic nightmare would be to be in a submarine, being trapped in an elevator would come pretty close.  And guess what happened.

With my day planned out to the minute - subway to Times Square, pick up theatre tickets, visit  Worldtone dance shop, have lunch, go to dance lesson, have supper, see play - I was feeling quite the jaunty travel-writer as I waited for the elevator on the 11th floor of my building. After all I had sort of mastered the routes I needed on the New York subway, only turned in the wrong direction about 5 times, and was comfortable finding my way around the various areas of Manhattan where I needed to go. After all in theory with an intelligently numbered grid system even a directionally challenged person should hardly stray  too far wrong. But back to the elevator.

So the elevator comes, I enter and press the button for the Lobby. Doors close,  the elevators starts to move - and I hear a loud bang. The elevator drops precipitously and then stops. My stomach continues downward. Oh Oh. I look at  the indicator - it still says 11  and it is not moving.  I press the Door Open button - no response.  Something was definitely wrong but an intrepid world traveller does not panic, even a claustrophobic world traveller.

New York, New York 2009 – Seven Days of Theatre, Food and Dance: PART I.

September 1st, 2009

New York skyline from Houston StreetNew York is one of my favorite cities – it has a unique buzz, an electric feel, that is unlike anywhere else I have visited. Each time I visit New York I feel like a humming bird, hovering just above the surface of culture and cuisine, dipping down for a taste, but never able to perch long enough to experience more than that brief and tantalizing taste.

So when the opportunity arose to combine a Ballroom Dancing Cruise with a trip to New York to visit my son, I did not think too long and hard before signing up. The dance part of the cruise was arranged by Wendy, of  Dancers at Sea, the group with which I had recently done a seven night  West Coast Dance Cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver on the Sapphire Princess. I really enjoyed the dancing, and the fellow dancers I met from all over the US were delightful, so I figured that this four night East Coast cruise would be just as much fun. As well, this Labour Day Getaway dance cruise is on the Queen Mary 2, and I have always wanted to see what these elegant Cunard ocean liners are like.

Annie

August 12th, 2009
David Adams, Michelle Creber, Dana Luccock in Annie. Photograph by Tim Matheson
Annie
   Book by Thomas Meehan
Music by Charles Strouse,  Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Directed by Glynis Leyshon
Music Director Wendy Bross Stuart
Choreographer Jason Franco

Vancouver,BC:  One would have to have a heart of steel, or maybe no heart at all, not to adore feisty little orphan Annie and her unshaken belief that her parents will return to take her away from Miss Hannigan and the orphanage.  The story of Annie and Daddy Warbucks, however implausible (it was based on a comic strip after all) taps into the dream of  any lonely, lost or abused child; namely that someone big and strong and loving will come to rescue them. And then as well as its optimism and emotional appeal,  the musical is jam-packed with well known songs that stay in your head, long after the curtain falls. Annie  is great family entertainment.

Theatre al fresco in Vancouver

August 11th, 2009
Bard on the Beach at Vanier ParkSummer in Vancouver means lots of theatre out of doors. I have seen seven al fresco productions and all are currently still running for you to enjoy.

Bard on the Beach has its four Shakespeare offerings under the tents in Vanier Park; a tragedy - Othello, a history play - Richard II, the first offering in Bard's Kings History Cycle; and two comedies, All's Well that Ends Well and The Comedy of Errors.

Up in Queen Elizabeth Park you can catch The Road to Canterbury, and in Stanley Park at the Malkin Bowl, Theatre Under the Stars is running Thoroughly Modern Millie and Annie on alternate nights. 

Sunny weather is predicted for the next while so go and enjoy the shows.

Also opening this week at the Playwright's Theatre Centre is an original work by local actor/playwright Jenn Griffin, called Via Beatrice, that I saw last year as a Work in Progress and thoroughly enjoyed. I look forward to seeing the full production. Check it out too.

Coming soon at Review From The House

May 8th, 2009
It is hard for me to believe that it is three and a half  years since I wrote my first Rants, Raves and Reviews post for Immediate Theatre. Somewhat ironically, it was titled Our Town, as it was partly about seeing the Thornton Wilder play but in Toronto, not Vancouver - my town! My first posted travelblogue (I really should copyright that word!) London and Languedoc about studying travel writing with Angela Murrills in France, was written in the fall of 2006.  And the first theatre review officially posted to ReviewFromTheHouse.com  was The View from Above in April 2008, just over a year ago.

  Over the last year we have been fine tuning ReviewFromTheHouse.com focusing on the three sections of  Theatre, Food and Wine, and Travel. Over the next month or so we will be adding a fourth section on Dance as well as an interactive section called  Your View.  This last section will feature Your Comments, as well as provide a forum for your theatre reviews - Your Seat View - and for your restaurant experiences - Your Eat View.

In the mean time check out my upcoming Travelblogue called Dancing at Sea, chronicling my experiences on a coastal cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver, featuring winery excursions and ballroom dancing.

Review From The House: Toronto, Mississippi

March 22nd, 2009

Bill MacDonald and Meg Roe in Toronto, MississippiBill MacDonald and Meg Roe in Toronto, Mississippi Toronto, Mississippi by Joan MacLeod
Directed by Dean Paul Gibson
Vancouver Playhouse
Playhouse Theatre Company
Feb 28- Mar 21, 2009

Photo by David Cooper.

Vancouver, BC:  I was really happy to be able to catch the closing night performance of Toronto Mississippi, the day after I returned after three weeks away from Vancouver. The play itself is one that I had often heard discussed but had never read nor seen performed and I expected that Dean Paul Gibson would draw strong performances from the cast of Colleen Wheeler (Maddie),  Meg Roe (Jhana), Bill MacDonald (King) and Alessandro Juliani (Bill). 

Soulpepper's The Importance of Being Earnest

June 9th, 2007
Review by Amanda Lockitch The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Ben Barnes. June 3 - September 2, 2006. Soulpepper Theatre Company. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill Street, Building 49 Ph: 416.866.8666 TORONTO ON. - “The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” Oscar Wilde First produced in 1895, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest hinges on Wilde’s extraordinary use of language. Marriage and mistaken identity, unknown parentage and social mores abound in this farcical romp where everything ends in a happy, neatly coiled bow. The humor comes almost exclusively from the way these characters manipulate and embrace conversational cleverness. Soulpepper delivers an admirable production, but somehow the awe that I have come to expect from a Soulpepper show seems lacking. Despite being over two hours (with two intermissions) the play clicks along quite speedily, yet it comes just shy of the speed necessary for such rapier wit. Damien Atkins as Algernon, while wholly watchable, needs to pick up the internal sport of it all, he comes across too lackadaisical for my image of the character. Patricia Fagan’s Gwendolyn matches his blandness. Kevin Bundy is a very earnest Jack, as earnest as Samantha Espie’s Cecily. As standouts, the rubbery-legged, loosed-limbed tutor played by Brenda Robins is perfectly hilarious and Nancy Palk as Lady Bracknell is as flawless as ever. The rest of the cast, rounded out by David Storch and Oliver Dennis, deliver fine performances in roles that don’t offer quite enough stage-time. For some reason the play felt dated, though I refuse to believe that Wilde cannot resonate today. Director Ben Barnes allowed the production to fall a few barbs short of the sharpness the script demands.

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