Downtown Lion King

 Last week I realized that The Lion King musical that had been showing at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto was closing at the end of August.  It opened in November 2024, and it's been advertised on TV, in the papers, on the internet, on the buses and the subway, everywhere and I really wanted to see it. And everyone who has seen it, loved it.

But tickets were expensive and so it just didn't happen. But I found a last minute ticket on a single seat so off I went.

First, drive and park at the nearby GO station. (GO is Government of Ontario.) Then the GO train to downtown. Then the subway to the stop near the theatre. Then a 6 minute walk.

I had a great seat, 3rd row of dress circle, right in the middle. The Lion King is a breathtaking experience with stunning visuals, innovative puppets that are actually worn by the actors. The animals are so real! Elaborate costumes and wonderful special effects.

The opening number "The Circle of Life" was so emotional I found tears running down my face. I had to have a quick look around just in case anyone saw me being so silly.... but I think everyone reacted in the same way.

The story is fairly simple, and has a theme of identity and responsibility. Of course there are the good guys and the bad guy, and some very funny comedic parts.  Wonderful music, powerful performances, colourful visuals, I'm so glad I went, I would not have missed it for the world!

The Lion King was absolutely the best show I have EVER seen in a theatre!

A couple of shots of King Street... where the theatre is. I don't very often get downtown so I got a bit excited with all the big buildings!

 

Let's Sing!

Take 19 vibrant young people between the ages of 11 and 18, put them on the stage and give them a list of songs and some very creative choreography, and it's a wonderful concert. The performers are all part of Sarah's Singing Studio, and they showed their many talents at our local theatre yesterday.

It's the Summer Vocal Outreach Initiative, a volunteer based programme that gives the music students an opportunity to perform for an audience, especially for a senior audience. The young people are performing at eight different senior residences in the area and certainly create moments of shared joy and reflection.

Songs ranged from top of the pops of the 1950s all the way to the 2020s, finishing with an emotional "One Day More" from Les Mis. The concert was a full hour of non-stop music and colour and fun, and those kids could really sing! 

There was even a visit from the Backstreet Boys. I spoke to some of the kids after the show, they were full of smiles and so excited and happy to be part of this event. Well done everyone, this was a marvellous concert, and it had everyone in the theatre tapping their feet. Good luck to all those talented young people... follow your dreams and keep singing!

R & J

The Dream in High Park..... each year the outdoor auditorium in Toronto's High Park is the setting for one of Shakespeare's plays. This year it was the romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.  Shakespeare wrote this play some time between 1591 and 1595.  It was one of Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime along with Hamlet (last year's play), and is one of his most frequently performed. 

Shakespeare contrasts some of his very serious scenes with comedy, and as female roles were normally played by men in the 16th century, some of the scenes must have been very funny to audiences of the day.

This summer theatre tradition of Shakespeare Under the Stars has been running for 42 years.  I took Older Son to the park to see Romeo and Juliet when he was just a kid and even though he decided he wasn't going to enjoy it and wouldn't understand it, he loved it. And now I'm going with him and Oldest Grandson to see it again. We took folding chairs and sat high up at the back. a great view, and I didn't want to sit on the ground, I'm too old for that!

The ill-fated lovers come from rival families, the Capulets and the Montagues, families locked in a brutal feud. They meet.... fall in love.... secretly marry in spite of their families.... and you know the rest.

Here is Romeo conversing with the good Friar.... and below here is Juliet on the balcony outside her bedroom. Oh so romantic.

But as we all know, there was not a happy outcome to this story.  A terrific evening's entertainment. I wonder what play will be performed in 2026. 

SIX

 SIX... The Musical.  You would think that it would be difficult task to compose a musical entertainment about King Henry VIII's six wives. After all, it was a sad story for most of them. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. It was a short musical as musicals go.... only 80 minutes with no intermission... but the six wives sang and danced and were absolutely marvellous and full of delicious energy for the whole show.  I loved it!

The Royal Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as the Royal Alex, is an historic performing arts theatre located at 260 King Street West, in the downtown Toronto Entertainment District. There are 1,244 seats across three levels. Built in 1907, it's the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America.

Annual Art Show and Sale, WooHoo!

I've been a non-blogger for a while mainly because I've been busy getting myself in gear for our local Annual Art Show and Sale which happens this weekend, Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 May. But that doesn't mean I haven't been doing other things.

• I went to see the Moscow Festival Ballet's production of "Giselle". Fabulous! My toes hurt just watching those ballerinas en pointe.
• I saw a junior production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in our local theatre, totally performed by young people 18 and under. Again, fabulous! So many words to remember.
• I saw the movie "Loving Vincent", an animated feature film created from thousands of fine art oil paintings in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. Impressive art and a fascinating story.
• One of the local churches staged a Murder Mystery play.... yes I know, sort of strange activity for a church. There were many twists and turn in the dialogue, and in the end the audience was asked to write down "whodunnit". Of course, I got it completely wrong.... but it was lots of fun trying to decide who the baddie was.
• And I went to a concert by The Ennis Sisters, three singing sisters from St Johns, Newfoundland, beautiful harmonies and witty commentary, loved the whole evening!

But back to the Art Show and Sale.....

I arranged most of my paintings on the bed as they all had to be tagged with the price card and my business card. I also have some matted lino prints for sale and some original watercolour greeting cards with envelopes. I hope to sell it all..... ha ha wishful thinking probably!!!!!!

Come From Away

Have you heard about the musical production Come From Away? It's the story of the more than 7,000 passengers and airline personnel and some travelling animals on 38 wide-body planes that were stranded at the small town of Gander in Newfoundland in the days after the 9/11 tragedy in 2001. You can read about how all the travellers were taken care of by the good people of Gander and the surrounding small towns here.

Ten years after 9/11 in 2011, there was a reunion of the passengers, airline personnel and the townspeople in Gander, and an idea was born. Canadian writing team Irene Sankoff and David Hein created the musical Come From Away to tell the incredible story of how a small town of 10,000 souls selflessly fed, housed, clothed, and generally cared for more than 7,000 bewildered and frightened travellers from all over the world who didn't know what was happening or what to think.

Tickets for this popular musical are hard to get, and also pretty expensive, but last January I got together with some friends and we bought tickets for April..... and earlier this week we saw the show. We went downtown on the GO bus and train (I hate parking in Toronto so public transport is the best option), enjoyed a yummy dinner at Marche, then headed to the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street.

We got to our theatre seats, and immediately I recognized a woman who I worked with more than 15 years ago.... she was sitting in the row right in front of me! Small world, right?

The opening set of Come From Away. No photos during the performance, of course. The chairs that you see are mostly used as chairs, but can magically become school buses, planes, cars, beds, a lookout over a beautiful view, seating for a party, stage for a musician. And each actor can become many different characters depending on what hat or jacket he's wearing. The show runs 100 minutes with no intermission. There were side-splitting hilarious moments, and heart-breaking moments too. A wonderful show, I enjoyed it so much. It was worth waiting for.
If you have a chance to get your hands on a ticket.... it's a must-see show!

Oh What a Night!

Back on a rainy day in September I went on a bus trip with my friend Ms VS to the Walters Dinner Theatre in Bright, near Woodstock, Ontario. After a yummy buffet lunch of roast turkey and dressing and spuds and veg and cranberry sauce, with apple crisp to follow, we saw "Oh What a Night", a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, supposedly direct from Las Vegas. 
I'm never quite sure about those tribute shows. It seems they are trying to make a buck copying performers from the past, and never quite replicate the original, but this show was really good. An assortment of different performers present this show in many locations, but the cast featured here were talented and acted and sounded just as amazing as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons back in the 60s and 70s.
Do you remember Walk Like a Man, Oh What a Night, Can't Take My Eyes Off You, My Eyes Adored You, Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry.....

And of course, we both took advantage of the inevitable photo op after the show.

The youngest member of the group was awesome... he was the son of the tall chap on the right..... the one who reminds me so much of Donny Osmond.

BTW, in case you need to know, Frankie Valli was born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio in New Jersey in 1934, and is still touring with the Four Seasons. Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Vitaly

I've been a volunteer at our local theatre ever since it opened about ten years ago. I take tickets, show patrons to their seats, hand out programmes, tidy up after everyone's gone home. Consequently, my reward is the ability to see some terrific movies, concerts and shows.

Yesterday it was Vitaly - World Class Illusionist. Illusions? Magic? C'm on...it's not real, is it? But this illusionist is truly World Class. Vitaly Beckman was born in Belarus, and now lives in Vancouver. He's doing two shows here.... last night's astonishing show was totally sold out, and for good reason. He got a well deserved standing ovation.

Vitaly can make people disappear from ordinary photographs and appear on another. He can levitate an apple, and then take a bite out of it. He has a paintbrush that paints by itself. His drawings magically turn into the real thing. He does illegal things with the photos on drivers licences.  He did all this only eight feet from the front row of the enthralled audience. And he's funny, personable and full of character.

Take a look:

Let's Go Surfin' Now.....

Everybody's learnin' how....
Come on a safari with me.......

Yes... The Beach Boys! Remember them?  Yes, I know that two of the Wilson brothers have passed away, and some other members left the band a long time ago, but two of the original Beach Boys are still touring and yesterday they were at Casino Rama, in Orillia, Ontario with their current band.

I, with about 30 friends, piled into a yellow school bus and took a rattly bumpy ride for almost 2 hours to the small town of Orillia. On the way we enjoyed assorted hors d'oeuvres and yummy snacks provided by a few of our group. Eating made the bumpy journey go fast!

Casino Rama opened in 1996 and is located on the reserve land of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. Of course, there's a huge gambling area with 2500 slot machines (not my cup of tea), and a hotel, restaurants and sports venue. And a 5000 seat theatre!

The Beach Boys filled every seat. And the show was terrific!

Mike Love (age 74) and Bruce Johnston (age 73) are the remaining originals, backed up by Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, Randell Kirsch, Jeffrey Foskett and Scott Totten (all a lot younger).

They gave us all the classic Beach Boys songs: Barbara Ann; God Only Knows; Good Vibrations; California Girls; Kokomo; I Get Around; Help Me Rhonda; The Sloop John B; Little Deuce Coupe; Fun Fun Fun ('til her Daddy takes the T-Bird Away) ..... and loads more, backed up by footage of the original band members showing on the big screens behind them.  Remember all those songs? I bet you are humming at least one of them right now!

It was a high energy concert that went on for a full two hours without a break. For a couple of septuagenarians, they had great harmonies and a spirited performance, and everyone on stage looked like they were enjoying themselves. I was singing along and dancing in my seat. No worries about annoying my seat mates as they were singing and dancing too. Arrived home well after midnight with Surfin' songs running through my head. What a blast from the past..... loved every Surfin' minute!

Wild Kratts Live!

If there are no children between 4 and 8 in your family circle, you probably have never heard of Wild Kratts, but let me tell you, Wild Kratts is Isaac's absolutely definitely most very favourite TV show.

So when I saw that the Wild Kratts Live! show was coming to the nearby theatre, I knew we had to go. I bought the tickets last May and kept them in a safe place till last weekend.

Conservationist brothers Martin and Chris Kratt created their TV show to educate children about the world's creatures and the dangers they face, using elements of zoology, biology and ecology, and combining science education with fun and adventure. The show is introduced by the Kratts themselves, and features a specific animal and it's habitat, and then, with a mighty "What if?" they are transformed into their cartoon alter egos, and the adventure begins.

Callum (6) and Isaac (5) knew they were going to see Wild Kratts, but had no idea that Martin and Chris were actually real people and were going to appear on the stage. Callum, being a cool six-and-three-quarters year old man-about-town, took it all in his stride, but I'll never forget the look of wonder on Isaac's face when his heroes appeared. "I love these guys!" he shouted.

Martin Kratt always wears blue, and Chris wears green. "My favourite colour is blue!" shouted Isaac.

The Kratt brothers can summon up magical properties when they are wearing their special creature power vests, especially when it means saving a wild creature from hunters with evil intentions.

Some refreshment at half-time. A lot of shouting and jumping up and down can build up a thirst.

Lots of audience participation, lots of excitement. I thought they were both going to leap over the balcony railing at one point in the show.

Thanks for a good show, Martin and Chris, you made their day!

The Mystery Queen

This is a scheduled post while I'm away.... see you soon!

Beatles and Bruce

I saw a couple of really great concerts this week.


First, on Wednesday, "Twist and Shout : The British Invasion" at the Kings Wharf Theatre in Penetang. It's a nostalgic trip back to the Swingin' Sixties. Peace and Love, Baby! 

Laura Mae Nason (from left), Jennifer Kee, Valerie Stanois and Lindsay Croxall perform in “Twist and Shout.”

There's just one group of talented musicians and dancers who start the 2 hour show off as The Beatles belting out She Loves You, From Me To You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Then they morph into everyone from Petula Clark, The Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Lulu, the wonderful Shirley Bassey, The Hollies and The Rolling Stones. 

Remember the Freddie dance... from Freddie and the Dreamers?  And the unforgettable Donovan, who seemed to be high on a little more than just music, man. They call me Mellow Yellow.....

The concert marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first visit across the pond.... was it really that long ago? Lots of grey hair in the audience, but of course ..... this was our music, the music we grew up with, the music that shaped our generation. The final number that got everyone dancing in our seats: The Beatles Twist and Shout and Lulu's Shout! It was groovy, man.

I'd hardly recovered from Twist and Shout when, on Friday, a trip to the Markham Jazz Festival and a free concert by Canadian icon Bruce Cockburn at the outdoor band pavilion. Bruce had his trio... percussionist Gary Craig and violinist Jenny Scheinman with him. Jenny opened Bruce's concert with some of her own songs, accompanying herself on violin and mandolin.

Sorry, blurry photo, I was about 10 rows back from the stage. Bruce has been singing and performing for getting on for 50 years, and he's still great. My favourite Bruce Cockburn song? Lovers In A Dangerous Time. um.... no, I liked If I Had A Rocket Launcher.  And of course Wonder Where The Lions Are. Loved this concert, especially the price! 

Roof Tiles

I went on a bus trip to the little town of Drayton, Ontario, to see the thriller "Deathtrap" by Ira Levin at the Drayton Festival Theatre. Sorry, no photos of the lovely old theatre which was built as an Opera House in 1902, but I loved the roof on this little house nearby.

Christmas Remembered

December was a hectic month totally taken up with shopping and baking and Variety Show rehearsals and trying to stay warm during diabolical bad weather, and so I didn't post much about Christmas. In fact, I'm always relieved when the Holiday Season is over and life can get back to a normal routine. But Christmas memories remain.

The skating rink (in summer it is a reflecting pool) in Nathan Phillips Square outside Toronto City Hall. The rink was closed.... big notices saying telling the public "Skate at your own risk" due to chunks of ice falling from the overhead arches.

 Some of the amazing Christmas decorations at Brookfield Place. Mind boggling!

And more Christmas sparkle looking up into the ceiling of the Chrystal Cathedral of Commerce inside Brookfield Place.

The wonderful "Lights of December" Holiday Concert by Singing Out, Toronto's LGBTQ Community Chorus at the Jane Mallett Theatre. Great holiday music with a quirky touch, loved it! So much fun to see friends up there on the stage, singing their hearts out.

And the Ice Storm! This beautiful corkscrew hazel tree in YoungerSon's back yard normally stands 35 feet high, but here the top branches are touching the ground due to the weight of the ice. Amazingly, now that the ice has melted, the tree has bounced almost upright again! Thank you, Mother Nature! We thought that tree was a gonner.

Something Very Fishy Going On Here

A few days before Christmas we made our annual family pilgrimage to downtown Toronto to see the Pantomime. Not such a large family group this year. Callum was the only child in attendance, as Isaac couldn't be there, and the twins are still too little.
The annual Christmas Pantomime is a time honoured tradition in Britain, usually vaguely following the theme of a nursery story or nursery rhyme. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to the Panto.

This year's offering was "The Little Mermaid - Ontario's O-FISH-AL Family Musical"..... definitely not the sweet Walt Disney version but something far more fun. Lots of audience participation, booing the baddies, cheering the goodies, shouting warnings... "Behind you! Behind you!" No need to keep the kids quiet in this production.

Ross Petty took the form of the evil fish monster Ogopogo who lives at the bottom of Lake Ontario... and he certainly makes a very believable bad guy. He was almost BOOOOed off the stage and he loved every minute. Ogopogo wanted to develop a Marineland Casino and nightclub featuring all the mermaids, and was eventually defeated by Panto regular Dame Plumbum von Botox, the mer-maiden aunt of the Little Mermaid herself, and the underwater residents of the lake, including Shelly the Shrimp, Carl the Clownfish and Sponge-Bill-Triangle-Pants.

Lots of slapstick belly laughs for the kids, lots of slightly off-colour references to keep the adults laughing. Lots of dancing, singing, colourful costumes, talented comedy.
Will we go again? "Holy Carp!" You bet we will, I can hardly wait till next year!

Naughty or Nice?

Santa Claus has been taking a short break from supervising the elves in the toy workshop.
He's arrived a couple of weeks early so he can be part of the rehearsals for our annual Christmas Variety show.

Looks like he's having a great time. Ssshhh! I hope Mrs Claus doesn't find out.

Jully Black

I've been doing some more volunteering at the theatre, and this time the concert was Jully Black. OK.... if you don't live in Canada her name may not be familiar, but if she and her band ever come to your town, definitely go and see her! Don't miss it.

Born the youngest of nine children in the notorious Jane and Finch neighbourhood in Toronto, Jully started singing in church when she was little. She's been part of the Canadian R&B music scene for a few years now.... and she is nothing short of DYNAMIC! She performed with a 4 piece band, and a couple of crazy hiphop dancers. As soon as those hiphop guys hit the stage, I knew we were in for a wild night.



Jully performed at the opening of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, opened for Kanye West in Singapore, headlined the Canada Day concert in Trafalgar Square, London, and has sung at a private event for the Queen.
Her show here was sold out, and the crowd were very appreciative, dancing along with her and making the rafters shake with whistles and cheering. The show was ultra-high energy, the best concert I've ever been at, and as our modest little theatre seats only about 150 people maximum, it's a very intimate venue. The audience is very close to the performers.... you can see every bead of sweat!

After the show.... me and my new friend!!

Ashley MacIsaac

I have mentioned that I volunteer at the local theatre..... and yesterday I was taking tickets and showing people to their seats for a concert by Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac.
Never heard of him?
He's a Cape Breton fiddler who started his career about 20 years ago and quickly became the notorious bad boy of the Canadian music scene with his outrageous behaviour, his brush with cocaine addiction and eventual bankruptcy. But he's back performing concerts and he's truly amazing.... sold out theatre and two standing ovations.



I sold CDs for him at the intermission and after the show. He signed my well used copy of the first (and best IMHO!) CD he ever made (20 years ago), and gave me copies of his 2 most recent CDs. I'll be playing them today. A great evening.

19OTP

Five years ago this 100 year old building became the town's arts and culture centre, and is now known as "Nineteen on the Park". House number is 19, and there's a park right behind it...... so it makes sense.

It has been many things in the past: a garage, a cinema, a market hall, and most recently the Town Offices housing the office of the Mayor and Town Councillors.

Now it's home to concerts, movies, conferences, trade shows, craft sales, art exhibitions, even wedding receptions. My grandson's nursery school held its "graduation" there in June. My theatre group holds its Christmas show there in December. And I'm one of the many volunteers who take tickets, sell the popcorn, show people to their seats and help clean up afterwards. And the best thing about volunteering here is that I see the concert too!

Snow White

We did it again!
Yes, we gathered up the extended family members and went to the Toronto Pantomime between Christmas and New Year.... it's becoming a family tradition. This year there were 5 children and 7 adults in our group and we sat 4 rows back from the stage. Great place to sit.... easy to see the action yet safe from being asked up onto the stage to be the magician's assistant!

This year it was Snow White - The Deliciously Dopey Family Musical at the gorgeous Elgin Theatre in Toronto.

Picture from the Toronto Sun newspaper

The show is as traditionally "British Pantomime" as it can get. Songs, music, an evil stepmother, dancing girls, fabulous costumes, obvious jokes to please the kids, and slightly more risque jokes to tittilate the adults, and lots of opportunity for the audience both young and old to BOO loudly whenever the bad guys come on stage.

Oh yes, Panto is all about audience participation.

Snow White's stepmother, the Evil Queen, was played in a wickedly funny manner by Ross Petty.... who is a perfect man in a dress, and was wearing far too much makeup, as you do, when you're Evil.

Assorted Nursery rhyme characters populated the stage.... there was Pinocchio, and one of the Three Little Pigs ( I don't know what happened to the other two), Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack-in-the Beanstalk.

Picture from the National Post Newspaper.

In this modern day version of Snow White's story, the Evil Queen was plotting to bulldoze the forest and make her fortune by opening a huge Botox strip mine, and Snow White and her little furry woodland animal friends were going to be banished from the forest. Oh No.... bad news!

But who was there to make sure that Good triumphed over Evil? 007 of course! “The name’s Bond, James Bond,” says 007 after a wonderfully ridiculous entrance. “That’s my full legal name.”

Callum loved it. Isaac loved it. Everyone loved it. We'll definitely be going again next year.