My Last Day at the Toronto Fringe

So I didn't blog as much as I had hoped too, but that's because I ended up being much busier than I could have possibly anticipated. I think my time in Toronto is exactly what I needed.  I saw some fabulous shows and a few duds - 16 shows in total.  I didn't get to see everything I had wanted to, obviously, but I did see a lot.  Highlights included Chris Craddock's Public Speaking, Morro and Jasp: Gone Wild!, Christel Bartelse's ONEymoon & The Shakespeare Show. I got to audit an acting class with my favorite teacher.  I spent time with friends I hadn't seen in a very long time, made some new connections, and learned all about another fringe festival happening in Canada. But best of all, I got my inspiration back.  I feel refreshed and ready to work harder than before.

Tomorrow, I'm back at the Great Canadian Theatre Company for another two weeks, I'm working for Odyssey Theatre, I've received some excellent news about Evolution Theatre, and I'm back to creating my own work.

I can't wait to see what comes up next!

Nancy's MUST SEE List at the 2010 Toronto Fringe

I'm currently in between shows in Morrisburg.  With two performances left, I'm fighting the blues by focusing on the trip I'm going on tomorrow to the Toronto Fringe Festival.  I'm itching to get my hands on a program, but until I do, here's a list of shows I would like to catch while I'm down there. In the spirit of my past Must-See lists, I probably have not seen these shows already and can't comment on them directly, but each one comes with it's own pedigree as to why I want to catch them.  I've seen enough Fringe now in the past 8 years that you can probably count on what I'm putting down here, but if that's not enough, fellow performer Alex Eddington's list has a lot of overlap with mine.

I won't be linking to each individual show description, but the whole list can be found here.

First up: The Ones I Missed in Ottawa!

Although I was able to see 15 shows at the Ottawa Fringe Festival, there wasn't enough time to see everything I wanted.  Here are some of the shows with great buzz that I'm planning to catch in Toronto.  We had two Best of Venue winners in the Duck Wife and Dale Beaner and the Turtle Boy.  There was also the absolutely stunning Lindsay Sutherland Boal's Purely Cabaret and Jonno Katz's Cactus: The Seduction.  I also heard really great things about Phone Whore, but I plan to catch her in Calgary.  If you're not going to be in any other Fringe cities, then I highly suggest you see her now.  I really want to see MAL.  Rachelle Elie's concept really interests me.  Oh and although it's not the same show, I really think it's about time I saw something by Barry Smith.  This time he's got Me, My Stuff, and I: a Multimedia Comedy.

The Ones I've Already Seen

Having been a fringe patron for so long, there's bound to be stuff that I've already seen at various other festivals.  Here's what I know is bound to be good.  Rob Gee's Fruitcake is a hit wherever he goes and I remember enjoying Raven for a Lark (though be warned it's not exactly a comedy) when I saw it in Ottawa last year.

The Ones from my Favourite Non-Fringe Festival

I met them at the Big Comedy Go-To in London (ON) last year and so I'm looking forward to Jimmy Hogg and Christel Bartelse's Wisdom: Part One & ONEymoon.  Same goes for Rob Salerno with Big in Germany (who's got the very awesome Mikeala Dyke working behind the scenes).  Morro was flying solo at the time in what I had dubbed "the bravest and funniest piece of theatre I'd seen in a long time" so I'm excited to see her again with her partner in Morro and Jasp GONE WILD.  Oh and the Go-To also first introduced me to the amazing work of the Cody Rivers duo (gosh, the Go-To is quite the festival now, isn't it?) and one of it's members wrote Poison the Well, which stars the fantastic Elison Zasko (who was one of my Fringe Crushes in Ottawa this year.  That talent! That style! That accent!)

Everything Else that Is Probably Going to Rock my World

Speaking of rocking my world, Die Roten Punke is back with Die Roten Punkte: KUNST ROCK (ART ROCK). I don't know what it's about, but I want more of this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-003rK1vt8]

Monster Theatre has a soft spot in my heart for the Canada Show from many moons ago and I think they win the prize for longest Fringe play title ever with The Shakespeare Show: Or, how an illiterate son of a Glover became the Greatest Playwright in the World.

Can you believe with all my years doing Fringe, I have yet to see something by the "undisputed" Gods of Fringe like TJ Dawe and Keir Cutler?  It might be time for me to correct that with Lucky 9 and Teaching Shakespeare respectively.

Some of the guys from Uncalled For are involved with Dance Animal & You & Me and Me & You (this last one includes Kirsten Rasmussen who is one of the funniest improvisers I have ever seen).

Oh and remember BASH'd? Well the guy who created that, Chris Craddock, has got a new show called PUBLIC SPEAKING.  It's been getting A LOT of advance buzz in every article about the Fringe I read and I just hope it isn't sold out before I get a chance to see it.

So that's abou 20 shows in one week and doesn't include everything else I will hear about once I'm on location.  I can't guarantee I'll get to see it all - Toronto Fringe has yet to consider me a VIP like it's Ottawa counterpart has and money is tight now that my contracts are ending - but I will try my best.

What are you going to see?

BASH'd Reviews

Okay, just so everyone doesn't think it's all doom and gloom. BASH'd! A Gay Rap Opera has been receiving incredibly positive reviews across the board and so I thought I'd give you a sampling of them here.

Oh and if you'd like to meet the guys from BASH'd, Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow will be at The Lookout Bar in Ottawa tonight. Tomorrow's show (affectionately dubbed BASH'd Bash) is also a fundraiser for a variety of local groups in town, including Toto Too Theatre. The guys will be participating in a post-show talkback and there will be a reception following the performance and chat at the GCTC. Click on the links for ticket information.

What the critics are saying:

"…BASH’d is simply that good." - Denis Armstrong, Ottawa Sun

"...a performance that, on Thursday night, left the audience practically humming with energy." Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen

"The rapping… is very clever and easy to follow." - Katie Marsh, Apartment 613

"BASH'd: a gay rap opera for everyone." - Wayne Current, The Wellington Oracle

"I defy anyone to keep their foot from tapping or head from bobbing…" - Connie Meng, North Country Public Radio

"Don't fear the rapper" - Andrew Snowdon, Ottawa Tonite

What the audience is saying:

“Amazing show. You Rock.”

“It was brilliant on every level!”

“That was friggin awesome!”

Remember, those are their Viewpoints, come on down and let us know yours! BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera continues until January 31.

Just Like Opening Night, Only Cheaper

In an awesome post giving us a glimpse of the behind the scenes adventures of the National Arts Centre's Resident Acting Company's production of Mother Courage, local muckraker Kris Joseph declares: This is a week when I must remind myself that there is a difference between a preview performance (which is still a rehearsal) and an actual performance; and even though we will have members of the public watching us work as of Tuesday, we don’t actually open until Friday. Our preview audiences will, I expect, get a few glimpses of the foundation as we put the finishing touches on the walls.

It's true. When a show has never before been seen in front of an audience, it needs those previews to find its legs. It's not uncommon in New York for a new show to be in previews for a month before its official opening night. That's because the audience is the last key component to any performance. The audience response will affect everything from timing to actor reactions to, sometimes, entire sections of the script.

But what happens when a show has been on tour for years?

BASH'd: A Gay Rap Opera goes into previews tonight and tomorrow at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. It was written by Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow with music by Aaron Macri.

I had the pleasure of meeting Chris (can't believe I know someone in the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia) at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival this past year (we were billet neighbours), but Ottawa audiences might remember his writing from the sold out one-woman show, PornStar (and if Brian Carroll is reading this, he will probably have a list of other shows that have also been seen in town).

BASH'd toured the Fringe Festival Circuit in 2007 before being picked up for an off-Broadway (yes, THAT Broadway) run in 2008. Recently, it was seen in Toronto at Theatre Passe-Muraille and it held its dress rehearsal at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre on Sunday. Overheard by one of the guests in attendance at the dress rehearsal: "This is probably the most polished dress I have ever seen on the GCTC stage."

As I said, BASH'd goes into previews tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and these guys are ready to go! So, dear readers, as a special public service announcement to you (and as a part of my promotion work at the GCTC), I'm letting you know that you can see the full production of BASH'd at rates that are heavily reduced from the regular run because, well, that's how things are scheduled.

In addition, I just found out that the theatre has implemented a new Rush Ticket policy for every performance. As of noon (NOON!) on show day, you can contact the Box Office for your Rush Tickets which are $10 for students and $20 for adults.

Since it's about 1 p.m., you could get ridiculously cheap tickets for an amazing performance right now! Call 613-236-5196 to reserve your spot.

I'll be seeing you at the Theatre!

*Side note: I wonder if my blog stats will go up now that I have PornStar in the tags?