I recently saw the Segal's production of Harvey and the Geordie fundraiser production of the Real Inspector Hound.
Geordie did Harvey as a fundraiser a few years ago.
Harvey was a very funny and enjoyable performance. The Segal had a psychologist give a talk about mental illness . RH Thomson did an amazing job as Dowd. It was even funnier than the Geordie prodction. ( Geordie Production was excellent and it was an amateur performance.)
The Real Inspector Hound was also funny and very well done. The volunteer cast, must have spent many hours rehearsing this play. Geordie productions does theatre for kids and does some wonderful work all over Quebec. It wasn't quite as polished as the Soulpepper version I saw recently, but it made up for it with spirit and enthusiasm. Here are...
I just attended the Segal premiere of Geometry in Venice. Playwright Michael Mackenzie has adapted an Henry James novella called The Pupil.It was a magnificent ensemble. The play was extremely well done. The utterly adorable 12 year old, Elliot Larson, who played Morgan, the pupil, was extraordinary. He was poignant and funny and completely believable as the cynical doomed genius. All the other actors were also excellent. The staging was very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this evening of theater. You must see this play if you can....
I recently saw the Segal production of Educating Rita. It was extremely well done. The acting was great. the actor who played Frank ( Ian Deakin) was alast minute replacement. Carly Street who played Rita was also good. The play was funny and poignant. It reminds me of Shirley Valentine. The pretentiousness of academia was evident. The set was great. It was an enjoyable evening of theater....
The Segal Theater is putting on Inherit the Wind. It is a marvelous production with stellar acting. The play based on the scopes monkey trial still has some interesting things to say. The most important message is of course freedom of ithought and freedom to believe in what we like. To me that is God's greatest gift. The play will be on until November 8, 2009. You really should try and see it....
I went to see a very amusing production of the Pirates of Penzance in Yiddish. I don't speak Yiddish, but there were supertitles. I have seen a few productions of this play , including the one with Rex Smith, Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline on Broadway. This production was particularly amusing.The sets were great and the singing stupendous. Seeing I am the very Model of a Modern Major General in Yiddish was hilarious. The show was very well choreographed as well. This versions has been done before in NYC. It was two hours of great fun. Go see it....
I attended a performance of Tryst at the Segal Theater. It was a tale of awomanizing con man in early twentieth century London by Karoline Leach.It starred the actor who played Chuck onStreet legal, C. David Johnsonand Michell Giroux. Both actors were excellent. The plot was full of unexpected twists. Theplay had an unexpected ending. It was a mixing of fantasy and reality. Itwas a great two hours of psychology and theater.Another triumph for Bryna Wasserman and the Segal....
I recently attended Buried Child by Sam Shephard at the Segal Theater in Montreal. It is a very dark play about the American dream turning into a nightmare. It tells the story of the breakdown of an American family. Before the play, there was a talk about it by a therapist from the Argyle institute. Kind of giving some of the themes and what to watch for. The play was indeed very dark and sad.There were moments that were also quite hilarious The acting was excellent, but it was a very heavy evening of theater. It is a good play to see, but be prepared. Go to the pre show chat,...
I last saw this iconic play in 2003 on Broadway with an all star cast including Ashley Judd, Jason Patric and Ned Beatty. It was not a particularly good production. It is currently playing on Broadway now in a production directed by Debbie Allen, starring James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad. I recently attended the opening night of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Segal theater in Montreal. I thought it was a great production. The set was amazing and the acting stellar. I was particularly impressed by Barry Flatman as Big Daddy and Severn Thompson as Maggie the Cat. It is difficult to live up to such performers as Burl Ives and Elizabeth Taylor in these roles , but Faltman and Thompson came very close! The other actors were also very good. The audience gave the cast a well deserved...
I recently attended the premiere of the Segal Theater production Of Dangerous Liaisons. I have seen two other versions of the play and 2 movie versions. This version was less lush in scenery and costumes than other productions I have seen. The acting was very good and the choreography amazing. It was overtly sexual without being too vulgar. The main actors who played Valmont(Brett Christopher) and the Marquise de Meurteuil (Catherine De Seve) were excellent. The audience gave the performance a well deserved standing ovation. The Segal continues its tradition of great theater....
The last play of the Segal Theater year is the The Wise men of Chelm. It is a play in Yiddish with supertitles in English and French. It is a revival of the play first put on by the great Dora Wasserman, mother of the present artistic director. It is a story of a town of fools who believe they are brilliant. It is a consensus. They will not argue the point. Sound like grits to me. The play was very well done. It was a wonderful evening of singing, dancing and humour. The costumes and set wee also great. the Yiddish Theater is alive and well in Montreal...
The latest production at the Segal Theater is the Odd Couple. I have seen at least 3 other productions of this play. I even saw it with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. This was actually quite a good production. The actors were well suited to their roles. There was a bit more slapstick humour than in some of the other productions, I have seen. John Evans and Rod Beattie who play Oscar and Felix were very funny. They had good chemistry. The sets were also quite good. It was overall, an enjoyable night of theater....
I saw I, Claudia in Montreal recently. This is a one woman show about a gawky teenager and the adults in her life. The actress, Michelle Pollak, did an excellent job playing the many roles of the play. She was quite believable as a teenage coming into puberty and her many other personas. The play was very touching and reminded me of my adolescent years. Another great play at the Segal....
I went to see the new musical Houdini, at the Segal Theater. It was an interesting show. The songs were OK, but none very memorable. The actors gave solid performances. The actor who played Houdini did do some amazing tricks. Overall a good, but not great show. I think it still needs a bit of rewriting....
The second play of the Segal season was An Enemy of the People. I also attended a lecture before the play about Ibsen given by the director of the National Theater in Ottawa, Peter Hinton. Hinto gave a great lecture about Ibsen and this play. This play was edited by Henry Miller so it is taken a very leftists tone. The play is the story of a doctor that exposes a health hazard that could destroy his town's main employer. The play was very well done. The actors did a great job. I particularly liked the actor who played the mayor(William Vickers) and the actor who played Stockman's wife(Margot Dionne). The set was fairly minimalist but very effectively used. Though Miller seems to have thought that Ibsen had a simple point to make in this play, many would disagree with him. Ibsen liked...
I went to see The Diary of Anne Frank at the Segal Theater. Here is the commercial for the play. I saw an older version of the play many years ago. This new production really shows the trials of living in a small space together. I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was about 15. The actors of this new production seem almost exactly how I remember the people of the book. The final scenes are once again heart wrenching, as you once again realize that you are fond of these people and that they will be killed, just for being who they are. The company stayed on stage during the entire intermission and you really felt how cramped their quarters are. You also reminded that there were some good people in the world. The Franks called Mies Giep and her husband angels. I once saw an interview with...
I went to see Those Were The days. It is a musical in Yiddish. It celebrated many years of Yiddish theater and culture. The cast was energetic and talented. The play was in Yiddish with English and French Supratitles. Everyone had a great evening. The play was funny and poignant. I soeak some German, but I had to rely mostly on the Supratitles, but that was fine. Some of my favourite momemnts were the singing of my Yiddische Mama and Those were the Days in Yiddish. The sets were filled with Chagall paintings. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole...
In the early 90's I saw Lynn Redgrave give a performance of her autobiographical play Shakespeare for my Father. It was about her very famous family and her very famous father Sir Michael Redgrave. It was woven with lines from many of Shakespeare's plays. The Redgraves have played in many Shakespeare plays. It was quite poignant and really delved into Lynn's relationship with a giant of the Emglish stage. It really spoke of her longing for love and approval from her somewhat distant father. It wasn't so much acting as stroytelling. Yesterday I saw the play again at the Saidye Bronfman's Segal Theater. The actress Domini Blythe did the one woman show. In some ways it was even more poignant for me. Since the last performance I lost my own father. Ms Blythe was very good, but she could not...