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Jan.9, 2005 -Jan.16, 2005 |
A look back at 2004
Aladdin holds it own alongside the great Vigil
By Bruce Raymond
Originally Published: 2005-01-02
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The cast of Aladdin
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Once again, theatre critics are being asked to look back over the last year and select the best plays that we have seen during our 52 weeks of theatre going. How does one compare a Mirvish production with one mounted by a small Toronto company with limited resources? It is an impossible chore. So I looked over all the reviews I have written during the past year and searched for those productions that I can vividly remember without going back through my notes. My findings follow.
I have to give Ross Petty's Aladdin the honour of being the best children's offering of the year. It is true that he has had more money to pour into his production than the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, but money can't inject soul into a production, and Ross Petty succeeded in doing so whereas LKTYP didn't.
One has to be careful when comparing musicals. There are the Mirvish and Stratford megamusicals and those that are homegrown using local resources. In the mega category, Hairspray won by a nose even though it didn't complete its anticipated run. In the homegrown category, there is no doubt in my mind that Cookin' at the Cookery is the winner. Jackie Richardson as the blues legend Alberta Hunter was positively mesmerizing as was her sidekick Montego Glover. It will be a long time before I forget that production. However, Urinetown should also be acknowledged.
In the dinner theatre category, Stage West's production of The Best Little Whore House in Texas won, although once again it was a difficult choice because the Mystery Dinner Theatre's A Clue to Murder was very satisfying indeed, even though it was only one in a long series of their familiar formula productions.
This year there were a couple of solo performances, and it wasn't difficult to select Bigger than Jesus. Rick Miller and his production have provided audiences with some riveting theatre, both in production and content terms.
Among the imports, I don't think anyone can argue with my selection of The Hollow Crown. The formidable quartette of Ian Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Donald Sinden and Alan Howard was too seductive to take second place to anyone.
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