Stage - The Globe and Mail

review

Funny Girl at the Shaw Festival delivers the laughs in a post-Hacks world

If you’re missing the HBO Max comedy, seek out glossy musical led by a delightful Sara Farb

Sara Farb performs as Fanny Brice with the Funny Girl ensemble.

Sara Farb performs as Fanny Brice with the Funny Girl ensemble.

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

What to catch at the theatre this summer across Canada

3 min read

Kismet may be a crowd-pleaser, but Emma Bovary is lacking an emotional anchor

Ben Rudisin and Genevieve Penn Nabity with Artists of the Ballet in Kismet. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Ben Rudisin and Genevieve Penn Nabity with Artists of the Ballet in Kismet. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Ben Rudisin and Genevieve Penn Nabity with Artists of the Ballet in Kismet. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

4 min read

review

Waiting for Godot at Stratford is tedious and stark – but that’s the point

Aisling Murphy

Paul Gross as Vladimir, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

Paul Gross as Vladimir, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

Paul Gross as Vladimir, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

4 min read

review

The Hobbit at Stratford is a middling journey through Middle Earth

Aisling Murphy

From left: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Michael Man as Elrond and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

From left: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Michael Man as Elrond and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

From left: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Michael Man as Elrond and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

4 min read

June 5, 2026

Sara Farb performs as Fanny Brice with the Funny Girl ensemble.

Sara Farb performs as Fanny Brice with the Funny Girl ensemble.

review

Funny Girl at the Shaw Festival delivers the laughs in a post-Hacks world

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

June 5, 2026

What to catch at the theatre this summer across Canada

3 min read

June 3, 2026

Ben Rudisin and Genevieve Penn Nabity with Artists of the Ballet in Kismet. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Ben Rudisin and Genevieve Penn Nabity with Artists of the Ballet in Kismet. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Kismet may be a crowd-pleaser, but Emma Bovary is lacking an emotional anchor

4 min read

June 3, 2026

Paul Gross as Vladimir, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

Paul Gross as Vladimir, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

review

Waiting for Godot at Stratford is tedious and stark – but that’s the point

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

June 2, 2026

From left: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Michael Man as Elrond and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

From left: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Michael Man as Elrond and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

review

The Hobbit at Stratford is a middling journey through Middle Earth

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

June 1, 2026

From left: Mark Uhre as Nick Bottom and Steve Ross as Shylock, Something Rotten! Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

From left: Mark Uhre as Nick Bottom and Steve Ross as Shylock, Something Rotten! Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

review

Something Rotten! at Stratford is a mind-blowing scramble of egg puns and dance

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

June 1, 2026

Gabriella Sundar Singh in Through the Eyes of God at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace in Toronto.

Gabriella Sundar Singh in Through the Eyes of God at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace in Toronto.

Surprises, snubs and more snubs from this year’s confounding Dora Award nominations

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 29, 2026

Tom McCamus as Willy Loman and Lucy Peacock as Linda Loman, Death of a Salesman. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

Tom McCamus as Willy Loman and Lucy Peacock as Linda Loman, Death of a Salesman. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: David Hou.

review

Stratford’s Death of a Salesman is mournful and languid, with an undeniable Willy Loman at its centre

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 29, 2026

André Sills stars as the title character in the upcoming production of Othello, which opens June 19th at the Stratford Festival.

André Sills poses for a portrait in the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford, ON on April 25th 2026. Sills stars as the title character in the Festival’s upcoming production of Othello which opens June 19th. Duane Cole/The Globe and Mail

André Sills takes on his biggest Stratford Festival season yet: Othello and Oberon

7 min read

May 28, 2026

From left: Mike Nadajewski as Puck and André Sills as Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

From left: Mike Nadajewski as Puck and André Sills as Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

review

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the Stratford Festival’s best Shakespeare in ages

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 28, 2026

Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor in Curve Lake, Ont on Aug 3, 2025.

Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor in Curve Lake, Ont on Aug 3, 2025.

opinion

Don’t get Indigenous humour? The joke’s on you

Drew Hayden Taylor

4 min read

May 27, 2026

Dan Chameroy as Sky Masterson with members of the company, Guys and Dolls. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

Dan Chameroy as Sky Masterson with members of the company, Guys and Dolls. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

review

Stratford’s Guys and Dolls is a masterpiece of a gangster musical

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 27, 2026

From Left to right- The lead cast of five sisters— Kendra Dixon (Joy), Sophia Erdogan (Hazel), Cadence Robinson (Mary), Allie Doran (Beth) and Astrid van Zijl (Ruby) perform on stage during a rehearsal of Finding Joy at Eastside Secondary School in Belleville on May 21, 2026. /Shay Conroy

From Left to right- The lead cast of five sisters— Kendra Dixon (Joy), Sophia Erdogan (Hazel), Cadence Robinson (Mary), Allie Doran (Beth) and Astrid van Zijl (Ruby) perform on stage during a rehearsal of Finding Joy at Eastside Secondary School in Belleville on May 21, 2026. /Shay Conroy

A new kind of high school musical, courtesy of the trade war

4 min read

May 26, 2026

Marissa Orjalo as Ariel, The Tempest. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

Marissa Orjalo as Ariel, The Tempest. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo: Ann Baggley.

review

Stratford’s The Tempest is an eye-popping, imperfect goodbye for outgoing artistic director Antoni Cimolino

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 25, 2026

Steven Skybell in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish for The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in New York. The revival is being brought to Canadian audiences on starting on May 25th.

Steven Skybell in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish for The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in New York. The revival is being brought to Canadian audiences on starting on May 25th.

In Yiddish, Fiddler on the Roof embraces tradition – or traditsye

5 min read

May 25, 2026

Sepehr Reybod as Milo Tindle and Patrick Galligan as Andrew Wyke in Sleuth. Photo by David Cooper.

Sepehr Reybod as Milo Tindle and Patrick Galligan as Andrew Wyke in Sleuth. Photo by David Cooper.

review

Shaw Festival’s Sleuth is a highly spoilable thriller – and an auspicious directorial debut for Peter Fernandes

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 15, 2026

Thomas Mitchell Barnet in Take Rimbaud at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto.

Thomas Mitchell Barnet in Take Rimbaud at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto.

review

Take Rimbaud, a new play about the futility of art, is a manifesto in every sense of the word

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 14, 2026

Gabriella Sundar Singh in Through the Eyes of God at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace in Toronto.

Gabriella Sundar Singh in Through the Eyes of God at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace in Toronto.

Small-scale plays and musicals win big at the 2026 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards

4 min read

May 12, 2026

0335 – Victoria Karkacheva as Charlotte and Russell Thomas as Werther in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Werther, 2026. Conductor Johannes Debus, director Alain Gauthier, set designer Olivier Landreville, costume designer Lëilah Dufour Forget, and lighting designer Mikael Kangas. Photo: Michael Cooper

0335 – Victoria Karkacheva as Charlotte and Russell Thomas as Werther in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Werther, 2026. Conductor Johannes Debus, director Alain Gauthier, set designer Olivier Landreville, costume designer Lëilah Dufour Forget, and lighting designer Mikael Kangas. Photo: Michael Cooper

review

The Canadian Opera Company’s Werther is lavish, explosively dramatic and richly satisfying

Nirris Nagendrarajah

4 min read

May 9, 2026

Talia Schlanger, who plays Kate, and Ali Momen, who plays Waleed, rehearse "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken," a new musical set to the music of The Tragically Hip, at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The world premiere production follows Waleed, an exiled journalist who falls for a local music store owner after arriving in Canada in 2002.
(Carlos Osorio/The Globe and Mail)

Talia Schlanger, who plays Kate, and Ali Momen, who plays Waleed, rehearse "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken," a new musical set to the music of The Tragically Hip, at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The world premiere production follows Waleed, an exiled journalist who falls for a local music store owner after arriving in Canada in 2002.
(Carlos Osorio/The Globe and Mail)

Behind the scenes of a new jukebox musical featuring songs by the Tragically Hip

13 min read

May 8, 2026

Ellora Patnaik in cicadas at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

Ellora Patnaik in cicadas at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

review

Multidisciplinary climate play cicadas is ambitious and daring, but also a mess

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

May 8, 2026

Students walk by Humber Polytechnic’s Learning Resource Commons in a 2025 file photo.

Students walk by Humber Polytechnic’s Learning Resource Commons in a 2025 file photo.

Humber Polytechnic axes theatre, performance programs in latest blow to Ontario arts education

4 min read

May 8, 2026

People watch the lift off of Artemis II on a livestream displayed on the Kipnes Lantern of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

People watch the lift off of Artemis II on a livestream displayed on the Kipnes Lantern of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

The National Arts Centre’s 26-27 offerings will include a global blend of theatre, music and dance

4 min read

May 7, 2026

Ramona Floyd as Noelle, Mickey Ryan as Philip, Julio Cesar Gutierrez as Marc All photos were taken by Geve Penn at the Tank Theater in New York, in the play Love Story, which is a co-production between Voyage Theater and The Tank, and part of The Tank's core season.

Ramona Floyd as Noelle, Mickey Ryan as Philip, Julio Cesar Gutierrez as Marc All photos were taken by Geve Penn at the Tank Theater in New York, in the play Love Story, which is a co-production between Voyage Theater and The Tank, and part of The Tank's core season.

Aurora Stewart de Peña listens to the imaginary people in her head when writing her plays

4 min read

May 7, 2026

Pictured (L to R): Shakura Dickson, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah in HOW TO CATCH CREATION by Christina Anderson, Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, (2026). Set Design by Teresa Przybylski, Costume Design by Ming Wong, Lighting Design by Andre Du Toit, Sound Design by Heidi Chan. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Pictured (L to R): Shakura Dickson, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah in HOW TO CATCH CREATION by Christina Anderson, Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, (2026). Set Design by Teresa Przybylski, Costume Design by Ming Wong, Lighting Design by Andre Du Toit, Sound Design by Heidi Chan. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

review

How to Catch Creation at Soulpepper is billed as rom-com, but soars past genre tropes

Martha Schabas

4 min read

May 3, 2026

Nick Fradiani as 'Neil - Then' (centre) and 'The Noise' in 'A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.'

Nick Fradiani as 'Neil - Then' (centre) and 'The Noise' in 'A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.'

review

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is pretty bah-bah-bad

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

April 30, 2026

Cikilaxwm: Controlled Burn, choreographed by Cameron Fraser-Monroe (pictured in black turtleneck).

Cikilaxwm: Controlled Burn, choreographed by Cameron Fraser-Monroe (pictured in black turtleneck).

Cameron Fraser-Monroe explores Indigenous controlled burns with Ballet Kelowna

4 min read

April 30, 2026

Karen Cargill as Judith and Christian Van Horn as Bluebeard in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Bluebeard’s Castle.

Karen Cargill as Judith and Christian Van Horn as Bluebeard in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Bluebeard’s Castle.

review

Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung is a hazy, moving painting that’s unable to escape its inherent flatness

Nirris Nagendrarajah

3 min read

April 28, 2026

The storied career of outgoing Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino, pictured in the Tom Patterson Theatre in 2020, is the subject of director Barry Avrich's new documentary.

The storied career of outgoing Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino, pictured in the Tom Patterson Theatre in 2020, is the subject of director Barry Avrich's new documentary.

review

Effusive Antoni Cimolino doc studies the solitude of Stratford’s outgoing director

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

April 27, 2026

Mariya Khomutov (centre) and ensemble of The Division_photo by Dahlia Katz.

Mariya Khomutov (centre) and ensemble of The Division_photo by Dahlia Katz.

review

The Division is a stunning new play about time – and a complex chapter in Ukrainian history

Aisling Murphy

4 min read

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