I’ve been told that everyone has a few really bad birthdays that bother them. And you know what? Much to everyone’s disbelief, 30 wasn’t one of them for me. (27 on the other hand, well, that’s another story…)

For my birthday, my wonderful boyfriend bought me tickets to see Billy Elliot – I’ve been wanting to see this since the 2009 Tony Awards, and was excited beyond belief.

So, on Friday night, we headed out to the lovely Canon Theatre. Our tickets were utterly amazing – orchestra, ten rows back from the stage – and I was prepared for awesomeness. Utter awesomeness.

And I most certainly got it.

The musical revolves around a young boy during the UK miners’ strike in in the 1980′s – instead of taking up boxing, as was expected of him, young Billy takes up dance. This is as much a story of Billy’s desire to dance, and of having his family come to understand and accept his desire to dance, as it is the story of the miners’ strike.

With music written by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics written by Lee Hall, I fully expected the songs to be brilliant – and they really were. Funny and heartwarming and beautiful…

But the cast just completely blew me away. We saw Marcus Pei as Billy, and he was phenomenal! I can’t believe that someone who is only 13 years old can dance and sing that well! Goodness! It’s just amazing. The other kids were utterly amazing too – especially Jack Broderick as Michael, in the Expressing Yourself number.

Would definitely highly recommend this play to everyone. HIGHLY recommend. It was utterly brilliant.

On a side note, the bf, who has never seen a musical before enjoyed it too. Win? I think so.

Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp were reprising their roles as Roger and Mark.

And have I mentioned how much I (a) love RENT and (b) adore both Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal? Because I really really really do. And yet I’ve never seen it live before. (I’ve seen the film of the last Broadway performance but that totally doesn’t count.) And as much as I love RENT, it totally wouldn’t be the same seeing it without Anthony Rapp or Adam Pascal in it, because it was their voices that I feel in love with in the roles of Mark and Roger. (Tangent: Rent is also kind of what made Rachel and I friends in university!)

So yay, when Rachel and I were at Word on the Street last year, and realized that they were going to be in the Broadway tour that would be going to Toronto, well! It was quite possibly one of the most exciting moments of my life.

And I’m still both totally fangirling over and totally speechless about last night’s show, so this is going to be not much more than gushing. Because that’s what I like to do best. And these are going to be my random thoughts about it:

• First of all: OMG RENT!
• Anthony Rapp was brilliant! Adam Pascal was brilliant! (I don’t care what Kat says, he was brilliant!)
• The whole freaking cast was phenomenal – not one weak performer in the group.
• The audience was insane – a lot of teens who were actually cheering out loud. On one hand, yay teens are enjoying theatre! On the other hand, it’s so strange to hear for cheering in the middle of a show.
• I liked the girl-who-was-playing-Mimi’s voice so much more than the one on the original cast recording
• I didn’t cry once! I expected to cry! I think I was just way too in awe of everything!
• Last night totally reminded me of all these songs on the soundtrack that I love love love!
• Also has reminded me of why I didn’t like certain things about the movie – the removal of some of the smaller songs, changing of some of the singing into talking, etc.
• AndOMGItotallysawAnthonyRappandAdamPascalinRENT! Insert little fangirlish squeal!

I feel like my life is now complete!

Anyway!

I had never read or seen this play before, and had never seen any movie adaptations of it, so I knew very little about the story going into it. Basically this is a comedy in Victorian England about two men who are in love with two women, and both the women believe the men that they are in love with is someone else – a man named Earnest. And hijinks ensue. And there is a lot of eating of muffins and cucumber sandwiches. And arguing. And other wonderfully funny stuff.

The extremely talented Brian Bedford directed this play, and had the role of Lady Bracknell (the mother of one of the women in love with one of the Earnest’s). I try to see at least one of Bedford’s plays every season – he is by far one of my favourite stage actors, and I love love LOVE the stuff he does at the Festival. Unfortunately, he wasn’t at the Festival last year (sob!) so I was super excited to have the chance to see him in this play this season. This particular play showcases his brilliance with comedy as well as his ability to take on any role and completely make it his own. And let’s face it, this was his play. The other actors were fabulous, but when Bedford was on stage, all of my attention was focused solely on him.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the summer for me, and oh, I so want to read the play now!

I’m sure everyone knows the story – a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Takes place in New York in the 1950′s, and there are these two gangs: the Sharks (the Puerto Ricans) and the Jets (those who considered themselves “true Americans”). They’re fighting over a bit of land, when Tony (one of the Jets) and Maria (the brother of the head of the Sharks) fall in love. Blah blah blah, star-crossed lovers, death, murder, tears and lots of singing. OH YES.

The thing I don’t really get is that I HATE R&J, and yet love West Side Story. Hate that R&J is considered romantic when they both end up killing themselves. Maybe it’s because they don’t actually kill themselves in West Side Story – someone else kills Tony, and Maria lives at the end. I don’t think it’s romantic, it’s completely tragic, but I positively love it. Maybe it’s because everyone isn’t always raving about how romantic it is, so I’m not so up-in-arms about it. And then again, maybe it’s because there are song and dance numbers in it, and I really can’t not enjoy a good song and dance number.

So, the last time I saw West Side Story live was also at the Stratford Festival, but I sadly don’t remember much about it, so I don’t have too much to compare it to. Needless to say, though, this production was FABULOUS. Not the all-time-best performance of any play that I’ve ever seen at the Festival, but I can definitely see why it is this season’s hit. The actors were all amazing – especially those playing Maria and Tony (Chilina Kennedy and Paul Nolan). They completely blew me away!

And the dance numbers were of course gorgeous:

There was one scene that I did NOT enjoy one bit… During the song “Somewhere,” they had this little kid singing the song, Bernardo and Riff were on stage for part of the song along with all of the rest of the cast, and it was just a bit too sentimental for my liking. Urgh.

But, other than that, everything else was fantastic! Loved it, and definitely highly recommend going to see this production of the show.

Last Sunday, I headed there with a friend for a performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It was at the Avon Theatre, which I think I’ve only actually seen two other plays at. We were actually really fortunate with the performance. Afterwards, we went out for dinner with my friend’s aunt and uncle and we heard that Bruce Dow, the actor playing Pseudolus had been ill for a while, so hadn’t been performing, but was back on stage for our performance. Very lucky, because he was FABULOUS.

For those who don’t know the story, it takes place over a day in which a slave, Pseudolus, is trying to gain his freedom by bringing about his master’s union with the beautiful woman his master has fallen in love with. Unfortunately, she has been sold has a courtesan to another man, but that won’t stop Pseudolus from attempting to win his freedom through their love.

I’ve never seen this play before. (Or the movie.) I didn’t expect it to be quite as brilliantly hilarious as it was. It was just … well, I laughed through the whole thing. Bruce Dow was definitely my favourite in the play – he was brilliant. The rest of the cast was awesome too; and the sets and costumes – loved the costumes! The music itself was VERY Sondheim-ish – not that that’s a bad thing, as I do enjoy some of his other musicals quite a bit.

I am definitely so happy that I’ve seen this. It was written by Sondheim, so I know it’s not for everyone (ahem, Rachel), but if you enjoy Sondheim and are in the area, definitely go see it!

And then yesterday, I went with Rachel and her sister to see Cyrano de Bergerac. And oh! Colm Feore, how much I love you! There are no words to express how much I want to fangirl over your performance.

Basic story of Cyrano – a man with a huge nose falls in love with a beautiful woman, Roxanne. She’s in love with a handsome (but extremely dumb) man. Cyrano helps this handsome man write letters and speak with Roxanne so she doesn’t know how dumb he is, all the while being so in love with her himself.

Again, I’ve never seen (or read) Cyrano before, but I knew the basic story. Of course, knowing the story and actually seeing such a fabulous production of the play are two totally different things. And it was a fabulous production. Well, aside from the very beginning when Colm and Donna Feore’s son came on stage in jeans, took up the fencing sword and pranced around the stage with the sword for a little bit – I didn’t understand why that was happening.

The casting in general was fabulous, but it was total Colm Feore’s show. As it should have been. Goodness! That man can go from French to English so flawlessly and smoothly that you wouldn’t even realize he was switching languages. In total awe! He made me wish I had never given up French class. And he was so convincing in the role, that I will never be able to see anyone else as Cyrano now. Also, I will totally admit that his performance brought a tear to my eye at one point.

If you’re only going to see one play at the Festival this year, it should be this one. No word of a lie.

So, that’s what I’ve seen so far. In September I will be going to see West Side Story. I’m planning on going to see at least one of Brian Bedford’s plays (though it may only be one, just not sure which one yet). I had been hoping to see Macbeth, as it’s one of my favourite Shakespearean plays, but they’ve set it in modern-day Africa, and I like my Shakespeare traditional, thank you very much.

It’s been way too long since I’ve read any Shakespeare. I love reading Shakespeare as much as I love going to see it. The language is always so beautiful! This is my first experience with The Tempest – I’ve never seen it or studied it before, but I knew the basic story.

Prospero is both a magician and the rightful Duke of Milan… His brother is jealous, and plots with the king to get rid of Prospero. So he (Prospero) and his daughter (Miranda) have been stranded on an island for twelve years. There are very few other beings on the island, but they have a slave named Caliban, a deformed man, who is rumoured to be fathered by a devil. There is also the spirit Ariel that Propsero commands.

Prospero discovers that his brother and the king, as well as a number of men in the court are passing by the island. He creates a massive storm that causes a shipwreck on the island. The play is the story of what happens when these characters are all on the island – the King’s son meets Miranda and they fall in love; Caliban meets a few of the King’s servants and plots Prospero’s downfall; a few of the King’s court want to kill the king and usurp the throne. Prospero has his hands involved in most of this, and manipulates a lot of it so that the outcome is to his liking.

I definitely thoroughly enjoyed this! I would read it again, and I definitely hope that I get the chance to see it some day.

I have to say that Caliban was my favourite character in this play. While he was treated horribly by Prospero and Miranda, while he did attempt to rape Miranda, I have to wonder whether this is his nature to act this way on his own… He wouldn’t have known exactly how wrong rape was, if he’s never been in human company (other than his mother’s before she died). Not that it excuses him, but… And at that point Prospero started treating him like a slave, started beating him… A lot of what he was, he learned at the hand of Propsero – hence his resentment, the cursing… So, his character is not completely horrible, or if it is, then it’s partially learned. Plus, he has some wonderful lines and such that show you that there is SOME sort of good in him. Like this, which is possibly my favourite passage in the play:

Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again, and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again

It’s just very evocative. Gorgeous, and gives a bit of a thrill to the imagination!

So, when I heard that The Drowsy Chaperone tour was going to make a stop at The Centre in the Square, there was absolutely no question as to whether I would see it again. I dragged a friend with me – she had never heard any of the music, and didn’t know the story, but she was willing enough to see it on my insistence that she would love it. (Thankfully, I was so right!)

And it was just as good as I remember it being! So funny, the dancing was so flail-y, the music was so much brilliantly fun! Part of the time I spent comparing it to the Toronto one, but most of the time I was completely swept away.

Our seats were good – we were 3/4 of the way back from the stage, but there wasn’t anyone in the seats directly in front of us, so we could see really well. And hear really well – there was the possibility that I could have seen this at the JLC in London, but I’m happy I didn’t it. It’s so much better to see a play at an actual theatre compared to an arena that has been converted for the evening. Better acoustics, more comfortable seating, etc.

The cast was really good too. Leigh Wakeford played Robert Martin, a character I was convinced I didn’t like; but after Wakeford’s performance, he may be one of my favourite characters. The guy who played Man in Chair (don’t remember who it was – someone different than was in the program, they announced it, but it wasn’t one of the understudies listed) was brilliant. I almost liked him more than Bob Martin, the man who portrayed the role originally. The only character I was disappointed with was Mrs. Tottendale. I fell in love with the character on the soundtrack, and then seeing Georgia Engel in the role in Toronto… well, I kept comparing the two actresses, and this one wasn’t nearly as wonderful.

Overall, it was a brilliant evening! I really would recommend seeing it at least once to everyone – especially for those who already have and love the soundtrack. It just doesn’t even compare to how funny the musical really is!

Saturday my mother and I went to the Stratford Festival again, this time to see The Taming of the Shrew. While I have 10 Things I Hate About You on video (yes, video) and have watched it so much that I can quote every single line from it, I’ve never read or seen the actual play. Very happy that has been remedied now, though.

I loved this production of the play. The costumes were GORGEOUS. The cast was (for the most part, but will get to that in a moment) brilliant. Even though our seats were not the best, we could hear and see everything perfectly. When the teens by us weren’t talking through the play, or the women behind us weren’t crinkling candy wrappers, that is. (Seriously, some people!)

The actors playing Katherina and Petruchio were fabulous. They were so funny, and had great chemistry. It was so much fun watching the two of them bantering between each other. The whole dialogue of the play was fabulous, and reminded me of why I love Shakespeare so much. It’s a great story, but you definitely have to keep in mind that things were very much different at that time period – especially when it comes to Katherina’s monologue at the end, about how a woman’s place is serving her husband… well, you get the picture.

There were two cast members that really bothered me. And surprise, surprise! They were also in Hamlet – in fact they were Hamlet and Ophelia themselves. I’m not sure if it was that reason, and I was completely prejudiced, but … they both quite got on my nerves. Their voices … grated. Urgh.

I have to say that I’m really surprised that I haven’t heard much about this production of the play. Heard lots about Hamlet, some about Caesar and Cleopatra, and a few of the others, but nothing about this one. Surprising considering how well done I thought it was. Highly enjoyable, and one of the best (in my opinion) productions I’ve ever seen at the Festival.

There have been a lot of changes at the Festival in the past year – the long-time artistic director retired after last season, they hired three new ones for this year, but two of the three left after only a few months. A good majority of the long-term actors are not there at all this year. (No Brian Bedford! This might be the first year I’ve not seen him in a LONG TIME.) The Shakespearian plays all seem to have a bit of a modern spin to them, which I’ve never enjoyed, but will go see anyway, and you can tell that they’re desperately trying to attract different people there. Some of the new cast (or at least some of the new cast that WAS supposed to be there, but no longer are) were supposed to appeal to a younger audience, and they are doing some different things with tickets that I think is a really good idea.

You can still buy regular tickets that are WAY SUPER EXPENSIVE, through one of the deals for various age groups (which they’ve had available for a few years) or you can get your tickets through a lottery-type-thing. My mom and I decided to go with the lottery – we paid $20/ticket, didn’t know where we were going to be sitting until after we had paid, and had ended up in section C in the balcony. Not ideal seating, but compared to the $60+ it usually is for a ticket… WELL. Plus, after we had been seated and right before the play started, the usher said everyone in the C section could move over to the B section as there were many empty seats – DEFINITELY better seating.

First thing I really noticed when I arrived at the Festival Theatre this afternoon was that they moved the gift shop back to where it was a few years ago. Seemed a little pointless to me to move it in the first place if you’re just going to move it back. Not that I don’t prefer this location – it’s probably got the same area, but feels a lot less crowded. Besides, I love the Theatre Store. Can always find some really fun stuff there – this year, I think my geek purchase might be a Shakespeare Rubber Duck. Hmm.

The big change that had me shocked, though, was the change to the stage.

That’s a picture of the stage of the Festival Theatre, the main theatre of the festival (they have 4 in total) as it has been for a very very very long time. (Click on it to see a larger version.) This year? No balcony in the middle of the stage. No stairs up to the balcony. No walls coming out to the balcony. I was speaking to an usher and she said that they’ve removed it all completely from all of the plays and that it is supposed to be permanently removed. Permanently? Um? Plus, you see the opening behind the balcony? There are two big wooden panels there that open and close when needed. Apparently (according to the same usher) a lot of the people are unhappy about this. No kidding. It’s been used in so many fabulous, creative ways in so many of the plays I’ve seen there, and it breaks my heart that they removed it.

Right. So, now that I’ve spent my time venting about the stage, moving on to the play. As I mentioned, we went to see Hamlet. Also, as I mentioned, they tried to slightly modernize the Shakespearian plays. And the term modernize is used with complete relativity, of course. The play, in this rendition, was set in 1910. So the costumes, sets and music were all inspired by the early 1900′s. It was a little disconcerting at first, but I got used to it for the most part. Aside from the fact that some of Ophelia’s costumes looked like something Anne Shirley would have worn (pre-puffed sleeves) and that some of the mens’ costumes looked like they had been stolen from Captain Jack’s closet. (Yes, I can make anything relate to Doctor Who; I’m good like that.) I enjoyed the music – it blended in really well with the play. But when Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sitting down for espressos, it rather stuck out like a sore thumb that things just weren’t right.

The characters were, for the most part, fabulous. Polonius, the grave digger, Horatio, Laertes and Claudius were all very well done. Polonius was a lot funnier than I remember (been a while since I’ve read/watched the play before this). I love how they dealt with the ghost of Hamlet’s father at the beginning – thought that was handled really well. I wasn’t, however, too fond of this version of Ophelia which is a disappointment as she’s one of my favourite female characters in all of Shakespeare’s plays. And at times I quite liked Hamlet, but at others…

Everything about Hamlet felt very over-dramatic. It seemed like about half of his lines were yelled. And part of what I love about Hamlet so much is that you never know if he’s really crazy, or just pretending to be crazy, or when he crosses the line from pretending to be crazy to ACTUALLY being crazy. In this rendition, you could tell that they wanted you to believe that he was completely crazy right from the moment he walked on stage. From his first soliloquy, where he’s rolling around on the stage, screaming, pounding his fists on the stage, pulling his hair… well, you get the picture. It felt like more than grief or anger at his mother marrying his uncle. And his over-dramatization continued throughout the play right until his death, in which he threw his arms and legs out as he was dying so he looked like he was crucified (not a new thing for Hamlet in death, however, never this over-dramatic). If it wasn’t done so obviously, I would have enjoyed it, but it was overdone as it was.

I haven’t heard or read what anyone else thought of this play. I would be interested in seeing how other people reacted. I suppose I must scourge the Internet at some point tomorrow. Ah well, not every play you see will be your favourite. It was, however, worth the $20 for an afternoon’s entertainment at the Festival. And now, I must wait another five weeks before my next installment of the Festival – my mom and I are going to see Taming of the Shrew in August. Am definitely looking forward to that.

The History Boys is a play by Alan Bennett, an “unexpected success”, that debuted at the National Theatre in London in May of 2004. It soon after toured around the world, and was made into a movie – all with the original cast.

It is the story of eight bright but under privileged boys attending a grammar school who are studying for their Oxbridge exams in the 80′s. While two of their past teachers are still there helping them get ready for the exams, the school has also hired a new teacher – Irwin – specifically to guide the boys to all get into Oxford or Cambridge. Hector (their English teacher) and Irwin are almost complete opposites as far as teaching styles go, yet both have profound impacts on these boys lives.

While on one hand this is a coming of age story of the eight boys, it is also very much the story of Hector, their slightly eccentric English teacher. Hector is by far one of my two favourite characters in this story. He’s the type of teacher we all wish we could have – minus a few major faults. He taught, not for exams, but for life; he taught boys to appreciate culture in every sense.

“I didn’t want to turn out boys who in later life had a deep love of literature, or who would talk in middle age of the lure of language and their love of words. Words said in that reverential way that is somehow Welsh. That’s what the tosh is for. Brief Encounter, Gracie Fields, it’s an antidote. Sheer calculated silliness.”

Reading the play was so different from watching the movie. I can’t say which one I enjoy more, they are both fabulous in totally different respects. There were extra scenes in this – the play is apparently an hour longer than the movie, so stuff had to have been cut out. Things were changed to suit the screen better when it was adapted. But also, the future of two characters changed, and one of them I’m still not sure how to think of it. It rather came off as quite a bit of a surprise, but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

It was amazing how well the actors all portrayed their characters in the movie. While reading the play, I could picture the characters perfectly and hear the way they say every word and phrase. It rather blew my mind and gave me a new appreciation of the film. I wish I had the chance to see the play with the original cast in it; at some point in time I am definitely going to want to see it on stage. As it is, I am going to spend the rest of this evening watching the movie.