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“trust your heart if the seas catch fire (and live by love though the stars walk backward) – e. e. cummings”

January 10, 2012 New Vancouver-based C. Sterling Gets Toronto Indie Pop Infusion

C. Sterling is a name many may be unfamiliar with, but Craig Smith, the artist behind the new indie folk act, is no stranger to the scene.

Smith has been making music since the mid-2000s in collaboration with other artists – he was a founding member of alt-rock outfit The Silent Authors as well as one half of folk duo Ohmbe. In 2010 Smith embarked on a solo project under the moniker C. Sterling, and the result is No Matter, an EP combining synthesized computer sounds and catchy yet contemplative acoustic folk-pop.

Featuring the co-writing efforts of his Silent Authors’ bandmate Brad Woods, as well as Iain Rose on the drums, Smith’s solo release is a contemplative, at times almost moody, reflection on love. The songs, sung in Smith’s melodic timbre reminiscent of Coldplay’s Chris Martin or Bon Iver, are composed of introspective lyrics and looping — layered melodies that stick in one’s mind.

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December 31, 2011 Review: Andrew Pyper’s Grown-up Ghost Story “The Guardians” Gives Genuine Chills

Andrew Pyper is the kind of author most would-be writers dream of being — instantly successful.

His first published work, a collection of short stories entitled Kiss Me, came out in 1996 to wide acclaim and was followed by a stint as a writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon, and also at Champlain College at Trent University. His first novel, Lost Girls(published in 1999), was a national bestseller in Canada and landed the honour of being listed on the Notable Book selection of both The Globe and Mail (in 1999) and The New York Times Book Review (in 2000). Also at the start of the millennium, Lost Girls won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel, and the ensuing decade has proceeded to be very kind to him.

Each of his following four novels have been published internationally to global acclaim — The Trade Mission, his second novel, was published in Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands — and each novel consistently ends up on “Best of . . .” lists. His 2005 novel, The Wildfire Season, was listed in The Globe and Mail‘s Best Books of the Year selection; and 2008′s The Killing Circle made The New York Times list of notable crime novels of the year.

His fifth and most recent novel, The Guardians (published in January of 2011 by Anchor Canada, a division of Random House), looks set to continue this trend.

Trevor is a man with secrets. But he is not alone. His three best friends grew up with him in the small town of Grimshaw, Ontario, all members of the high school hockey team: the Grimshaw Guardians. The four boys were inseparable: Randy, the goofy joker and aspiring actor; Carl, the surly heartbreaker who always had his best friends’ backs; Ben, the Zen-like dreamer; and Trevor, the stable one. At 16, they were also the four youngest players on the hockey squad.

But within this tight-knit group, loyal to each other even as adulthood takes them in vastly different directions, a dark secret lies buried, one that stretches back almost 25 years to the winter they all turned 16. But as a small but pivotal character notes at one point in the novel, sometimes the dead come back.

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December 30, 2011 The Good Lovelies Bring Christmas Cheer to the Great Hall

“ ’Twas the week before Christmas, and in the Great Hall, three lovely singing ladies held an audience enthralled . . . ” Okay, so maybe it doesn’t quite go like that! But in the spirit of the season that turned “Jingle Bells” into “Jingle Bell Rock,” a few twists on tradition are bound to be permitted. Speaking of tweaking tradition, though, Toronto’s talented folk trio the Good Lovelies brought an early hint of Christmas cheer to the Great Hall on December 17, where they performed in support of their Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe.

Blending their distinctive, harmonious voices, the three ladies did slightly tweaked versions of traditional Christmas melodies, beginning with “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” acknowledged as the song that brought them together five years ago. This and other Christmas favourites like “Santa Baby” and “Another Year to Wait” were mixed in with tunes from their latest studio album, Let The Rain Fall, as well as covers of songs from a wide range of musicians — from Gordon Lightfoot, to k-os, to Julie London.

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December 20, 2011 A “Hair”-raising Spectacle as Vietnam-era Musical Comes to the Royal Alex

The Hair National Tour © Joan Marcus

Exuberant. Controversial. Political. Flamboyant. Joyful. Everything you’ve heard about Hair is true.

From the opening song, “Aquarius,” led by the powerful vocals of Dionne (Phyre Hawkins), the show explodes with energy. The Tribe bursts on the scene singing and dancing down the aisles from the back of the theatre, swinging off the ladders and platforms on the stage in celebration of love, life, and the freedom to be individual. Each irrepressible, infectious song melts seamlessly into the next, and the Tribal Love really rocks the auditorium.

But just in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the synopsis. It’s 1967. The Vietnam War rages overseas and on TV screens. In New York, a group of free-spirited friends calling themselves the Tribe resist the war and all it stands for with love, peace, and flower-power. The charismatic and free-lovin’ Berger (Steel Burkhardt) stands as the de facto leader of the group, who also rejects prevailing societal views (and regulations) regarding race, sexuality, and drugs.

But then Claude (Paris Remillard), whose parents highly disapprove of his hippie lifestyle, receives his draft card in the mail. What follows is a tug-of-war: should he burn his draft card as his friends are doing and continue to protest the ongoing war, or should he join up and allow the army to “make a man out of you,” as his parents want, and do his parents proud?

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December 16, 2011 Getting Ready for a “Hair” Homecoming

Marshal Kennedy Carolan and Steel Burkhardt in Toronto promoting Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical

If four years on the stage qualifies as an education, then Steel Burkhardt is about ready to graduate. But he’s not going anywhere if he can help it.

“I’m actually a little more like a super-senior, too, because I’m doing an ‘extra semester,’ ” he says with a laugh. Burkhardt made his Broadway debut four and a half years ago playing the role of Berger in the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.

That would make his fellow thespian, Marshal Kennedy Carolan, a sophomore. Carolan made his own Broadway debut with Hair when he joined the national tour as part of the Tribe last year, and now the show that has been called the definitive rock musical will be experiencing something of a homecoming when it returns to Toronto.

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December 2, 2011 Cirque du Soleil Brings the Circus Back to Town This Holiday with “Quidam”

When it comes to fans of Cirque du Soleil, there’s no place like home. Canadians have never been shy about showing a little hometown pride for their cultural exports, and there’s no exception for the show that has turned the concept of circus on its head.

Cirque du Soleil, the brainchild of Montreal’s Guy Laliberte, has grown exponentially since its inception in 1984, spawning a huge international following as well as several fantastically themed shows featuring international acrobats, dancers, gymnasts, musicians, contortionists, and a host of other wonderful sights associated with the traditional circus. But with the added element of dramatic theatre, street entertainment styles, and semi-structured narratives,Cirque du Soleil is much more than just a circus experience. The shows are varied—Totem, Ovo, Alegria, andZumanity, among others—but they all share the common effect of recreating the magic and wonder of the childhood imagination as they tour throughout North America and all across the world.

This December, it will once again be Toronto’s turn to play host to the characters and creatures of Cirque du Soleil. Quidam, one of Cirque’s famed arena shows, will be playing at the Ricoh Coliseum from December 20 to 30, 2011.

“I think Canada’s proud of this export to the rest of the world, so it’s nice to play in Canada,” says Quidam’s bandleader and keyboard player, Jim Bevan. “Just because we’re not playing for outsiders so much, there’s a real support; the audience is more a part of what we’re doing. It’s not so objective, you know.”

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November 30, 2011 Film Review: Stricken strikes all the right chords

Image copyright held by its owner. Image courtesy: Google

Image copyright held by its owner. Image courtesy: Google

When the Consul of the Netherlands was introducing Stricken, his country’s selection on the eve of the European Union Film Fest’s final night, he said that it would be wrong to say too much about a film before watching it, but noted that this particular movie dealt with its subject matter with customary Dutch directness.

Well, we can’t say he didn’t warn us.

Stricken(2009), from director Reinout Oerlemans, is a movie about a man who has it all. Stijn van Diepens (Barry Atsma) is a successful advertising executive, with a beautiful, intelligent wife, Carmen (Carice Van Houten), a best friend, Frank (Jeroen Willems), more loyal than most, and a little daughter, Luna (Yfke Wegman), the light of his life.

He also has the occasional fling on the side, a predilection which his wife has come to accept as his bad habit. “Some men smoke, others cheat”, he notes in a voiceover near the beginning.

But it all begins to crumble when Carmen finds a lump in her left breast.

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November 17, 2011 Hedley’s Latest Album “Storms” Surges on a Wave of Optimism

Motivational pop rock anthems are in. From Lady Gaga’s self-love proclamation “Born This Way” to Pink’s defiantly encouraging “F**kin Perfect” and her equally rousing anthem to individuality, “Raise A Glass,” not to mention Katy Perry’s “Fireworks,” the message is clear: Life may be hard, but hope and perseverance will win the day.

However, it is Canada’s own boys from B.C., Hedley, who have stolen my heart and lifted my spirits with their fourth album, Storms. A sincere tribute to hard-won optimism and grit-your-teeth determination, Hedley’s latest offering hits all the right notes and provides a soundtrack to resilient living.

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November 16, 2011 “Mary Poppins: The Musical” Stars Bring Magic to the Toronto Stage

Nicolas Dromard as ‘Bert’ performs “Step In Time” with the National Tour Company of MARY POPPINS. ©Disney/CML. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Mary Poppins is quite possibly the most famous nanny in the world. After all, who doesn’t know that “just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”? Or that when your excitement can’t be contained, the word to describe it is, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”?

The Disney musical starring Julie Andrews blew onto the scene on a magical wind of change in 1964. Since then the character and storyline of Mary Poppins have captured the hearts of viewers young and old for over 45 years and have paved the way for many renowned fictional nannies (Fran Drescher’s Fran Fine and Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee – “I’m looking at you.”)

The story has also developed an exciting second life on the stage. It seems that no matter how many times you’ve watched the original film musical as a kid, the stage show is a fresh, exciting, and enchanting spectacle for people of any age. From Broadway to London, England, to the Netherlands, to Australia, and all across the United States, Mary Poppins, Bert, and the whole ensemble have danced and sung their way into millions of hearts in a timeless story whose themes capture everything from the uncertainty of the economy to emotional distance between parents and children and the power of the imagination to make a difference.

Rachel Wallace knows this very well. She spent hours as a child watching and re-watching the 1964 musical classic starring Julie Andrews about the kind but firm and ever-so-slightly magical nanny, as well as The Sound of Music, another classic film brought to life by Julie Andrews. Now that Mary Poppins: The Musical has arrived on stage in Canada for the first time, playing at Mirvish’s Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto from November 12 to January 8, the young actress is ready to take on the mantle of the iconic role.

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November 2, 2011 “2 Pianos 4 Hands” Has One Heart and a Lot of Soul

Richard Greenblatt & Ted Dykstra in 2P4H. Photo by Rick O'Brien

Richard Greenblatt & Ted Dykstra in 2P4H. Photo by Rick O'Brien

“Mirvish has a hell of a season lined up,” noted the bearded theatregoer in the seat beside me.

He has a point. When the weather outside is in the single digits, there must be a hell of a good reason for theatre patrons to leave the warm comfort of home and central heating in order to line up at the Panasonic Theatre at 651 Yonge Street, even with the queue spilling out onto the curb – and there is one. 2P4H. No, it isn’t a secret code, or if it is, it must spell out success. 2 Pianos 4 Hands or 2P4H is the phenomenally successful musical comedy created by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, arguably the most successful play in Canadian theatre history. After a fifteen-year run in nearly 200 cities around the world, the show is back for a final encore in Toronto, with an anniversary show in the city where the pair began their careers.

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