Batman Live

This is looking pretty good, despite earlier skepticism.

Joan Rivers

The hardest working lady in comedy was in Toronto on Monday as part of the Unique Lives and Experiences Speaker Biographies at Roy Thomson Hall.

She was hilarious , talked trash about Barbra Streisand, Nicole Kidman, Suri Cruise, and Russell Crowe, and dispensed hard-earned wisdom and her sharp one-liners. But all jokes aside, Joan delivered inspiration for all of those who can only hope to reach 78 and still have that much energy and relevance. Her life is a case study in career survival and the fact that she makes even her darkest moments hilarious is a testament to her talent.

Priscilla

Priscilla The Musical approaches the end of its run at the Princess of Wales Theatre. As soon as the production wraps up their trial-run in Toronto, the pink bus moves on to its Broadway debut in March 2011. From the original Australian cast, the only actor that remains in the North American cast is Tony Sheldon, in the role of Bernadette.

Despite some favorite parts from the movie being excised (no Abba poop or aboriginals in drag), the musical stays close enough to the film's story arc. But the focus here isn't exactly the plot; the show is really about the soundtrack, which gets some reinforcements from Madonna, Donna Summer and Cyndi Lauper. The songs from the movie are almost all there, with some regrettable omissions (Charlene's I've Never Been To Me and Patti Page's I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine, for instance). But boy, do we get a lot of I Will Survive...

Whenever an iconic or cult film becomes diluted in musical theatre, it's hard to continue taking it seriously. When the movie came out, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert meant a lot more than just another gay movie -- it was one of the pioneers that dealt with deep and complicated gay issues in a lighthearted way, quickly placing itself in the universal gay subconscious. The musical isn't nearly as powerful, but taken for what it is, it's fun for the whole family. The audience was mostly middle-aged ladies, some young straight couples, a few kids and even some gays.

My new favorite image

Scott Thompson is playing Beauty's guardian in the local production of Beauty and the Beast, The Savagely Silly Family Musical.

Wicked

What a perfect combination: Halloween and Wicked.
The show about wicked witches, flying monkeys and the lasting consequences of bad PR comes to Toronto for the third time in five years. And it's easy to understand why the prequel to Wizard of Oz is such a crowd-pleaser. Like Harry Potter, Wicked captured a magic zeitgeist that put audiences under an unbreakable spell. There are currently eight productions of the show worldwide.

Of course, it all depends on the witches and both Jackie Burns and Chandra Lee Schwartz are excellent in this production.

The script doesn't exactly make sense (if Elphaba was such a talented witch, why couldn't she turn herself un-green?) but who cares? The show is imaginative, the acting and singing superb and the whole thing is wicked fun. (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

The Dalai Lama

He's easy to love. He is friendly, humorous, humble and cuddly. He wears a visor and laughs often. The Pope he's not -- the Dalai Lama is way more popular. And the house was packed at the Rogers Centre Friday afternoon to prove it.

Before he gave us one hour and twenty-four minutes of his holy time, we were graced with some great dance and music from Tibet. While in town, the Dalai also inaugurated the new Canadian Tibetan Cultural Centre. Toronto is home to a large number of Tibetans in exile.

When the "Ocean of Wisdom" took his throne, his message was simple. Maybe a little too simple. Talk of peace, truth, justice, tolerance, even though a necessity, has become almost commonplace. His speech wasn't too different from what the Pope would deliver, for instance. His key word is compassion, and yes the world is in need of that more than ever right now. But we hear that so many times, that the message risks getting diluted and losing its effectiveness.

But he did deliver a few pearls too. He told us that too much self-centeredness creates fear, the demarcation between "us" and "them" in humankind is silly and how important it is to maintain enthusiasm and optimism.

Yes, the message is, and should be, simple -- but by turning it into a cliché, it risks becoming meaningless. As The Holy One himself told us, "words are empty without action."

You are here

One of Daniel MacIvor's less frequently produced but most praised plays, You Are Here is about big themes and the smallness of life. This was one of MacIvor’s attempts to write a “deep,” existential play, where literally something universal becomes personal. Some would say he succeeded, others may be bored to yawns. It’s one of those plays in which half of the audience is guffawing away while the other half watches it quietly. (Some fell asleep.)

Yes, the text is philosophical and deals with big themes -- life and death and all that -- but the way MacIvor unveils the soap-opera-like story he created for his eight actors, things don’t seem that heavy. It’s smart writing, ringing of another of his better plays, In On It. The script isn’t waterproof, however, but the excellent performance of lead actress Tabitha Keast holds it all together.

After McIvor’s last play, I was a little deflated about his work, but pieces like this show what the man is able to do when he puts himself to it. These days he’s running high on the release of Trigger, the last movie of Toronto hero Tracy Wright that he scripted and debuted at the TIFF last month. To be checked out.

Cirque Éloize's iD

The Hummingbird Center (or Sony Center, in its corporate version) looks the same, but the public turned out en masse to see Cirque Éloize's first show in Toronto in 5 years.

Known worldwide, but only rarely performing in Canada, the Québécois troupe was born in the Magdalene Islands (a small archipelago in the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River.) They have performed some 4,000 shows abroad since 1993. But unlike another famous Québécois circus group, Éloize hasn't gone Vegas yet. Actually, they turned the other way and instead of whimsy, they bring on real-world urban life.

And what a fascinating life it is. The characters in the show are street artists, a motley crew of young Buskerfest-types who can perform amazing feats of physical strength and flexibility. And can break-dance up a storm.

The ingenious staging consists of a cutout backdrop in the shape of a city skyline, which becomes a perch, a trampoline, and a screen for amazing projections that transform the stage and show the creativity of the team behind the scenes. Graffiti magically appears and the cityscape lights up and morphs into a tenement building. Chairs are moved around by acrobats, people skip some serious rope on the sidewalk, and gangs dance instead of fight.

How they can spin on their heads for minutes at a time is totally beyond me.

But without the music, iD wouldn't have the same punch. The rhythm here is set by the urban noises of jackhammers and sirens. The soundtrack is extraordinary and fits the show energy with a selection of electronic music with great vocals in Spanish, French and English, and a mix going from techno to rock to breakbeat to ambient to hip-hop.

The workers who did the renovation of the Centre were given tickets to see why they had to hurry so much to get the job done on time. I bet they were impressed. With a show like Cirque Éloize's, the Centre re-opens its doors with high standards. Entirely entertaining, imaginative, and energetic like heat lightning.

The Shakespeare Experiment

Buddies In Bad Times presented an academic experiment this weekend, having three different directors enact a scene from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (the death of Cleopatra), resulting in three radically different interpretations.

The point was to examine rhetorical gesture and the representation of gender in theatre (the thin line between men interpreting women and drag queens). Sky Gilbert read his entire paper on the subject at the end. The actors were University of Guelph theatre students.

The Emotionalists

As part of the Summerworks indie theatre festival this weekend, this Sky Gilbert play about “the most rational people you will ever meet” was a welcome surprise. The play is based on Ayn Rand, real life Russian-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter and philosopher founder of Objectivism, a philosophical system that values rationality above all else. But when she has a love affair with a student and tries to explain that to her husband, things get tricky as emotions are rationalized and the line between feeling and philosophy gets blurred.

The acting was great throughout and the fictional gay subplot becomes indispensable for the final blow. One of Sky’s most reflective plays with an interesting topic that is food for thought for anyone who's ever tried to seek truth objectively just to discover that isn't always possible.

Miss Saigon

The Toronto production of Miss Saigon had some potent voices on stage and some bare-chested fun to entice boys and girls, but overall, as a play, I wonder if it should continue being produced.

The musical (based on Puccinni’s opera Madame Butterfly) is one of the Broadway juggernauts from the 90s, and therefore is a little pandering and racist, and maybe should be put to sleep like Cats.

But since it is still around, this production was pretty competent. The sets were well done, specially the embassy fences that moved around the stage to change narrative perspective. Unfortunately, the much-lauded helicopter scene was a little underwhelming, with a dummy in the cockpit and some jerky mechanical maneuvers. When a prop is your major claim to fame, make sure you're going to blow the audience away.

Bitch Salad

The Pride edition of Bitch Salad, the all-female comedy show at Buddies at Bad Times, is growing in size and hilarity. This one was a celebratory edition, with partial proceeds going to the AIDS Committee of Toronto and Buddies. Even Kristen Johnston sent in a video response for winning a trophy. Beside her, usual mainstays Dini Dimako, Dana Alexander, Sara Hennessey and Nikki Payne were hilarious as usual.

The vignettes with male guests (including Degrassi-famed Adamo Ruggiero) fell completely flat. The show’s lineup is usually male-free, which is the main differential and draw of the show, at least for me. Bitch Salad should only contain bitches.

But the highlight of the evening was the Cheeto Girls (an unfortunate name for a talented troupe). Their performance was fresh, smart, entertaining and hilarious.

Here's their send-up to closet cases:

We are funny that way

The annual queer comedy festival in Toronto brought some hilarity and reality to Buddies this weekend. Organizer Maggie Cassella brings great talent to the event and it benefits a great cause.

Here's some shots of the Lea DeLaria -- amazing voice and great timing as usual.

Is she turning into Elton John?

Closing night attraction was no other than Scott Thompson, arguably the biggest gay comic in Canada. But those who were expecting just jokes got a great deal more. Scott's new show is brutally honest and personal, with lots of moments when you don't know whether to laugh or cringe. And what a fascinating life! A courageous move from a guy with a penchant for hitting his highs and lows at the same time.

This is what happens next

Daniel MacIvor latest play disappoints on many levels. Not so much a play but a series of stand-up monologues held together by a threadbare fictionalized autobiographical narrative, nothing really happens next.

MacIvor turns on the self-referential spotlight and indulges in his maniacal delivery of border-line clichéd characters: the gay guy, the bitchy cougar, the annoying kid, the alcoholic dad. He throws in as many random references as he can (Schopenhauer, The Little Mermaid, John Denver) but the whole thing never takes off, what with all its stops and starts and despite MacIvor’s determination to shoehorn a happy ending and misdirect the audience with a little bit of fake snow. Overall, it failed to deliver emotional depth and more than a few self-deprecating guffaws.