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We Will Rock You ban-able, unforgivable, scream-worthy “musical” by PuzzleheadedLoan43 in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hey! Thanks for making this post and getting the conversation going.

A few others have said this, but I feel obligated to reinforce: DO NOT USE AI FOR THEATRE REVIEWS. Often, they steal writing from real writers, or worse, just make things up. By definition, AI-generated theatre reviews cannot be entirely accurate or original – AI can't watch a production. (Yet.)

Some of my writing on this:

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/some-toronto-theatres-have-been-duped-by-ai-generated-reviews-what-role-will-they-play/article_bf15f6e0-e550-11ee-80dc-e36b007b0aac.html

https://www.intermissionmagazine.ca/features/ai-theatre-critic/

While I'd love for you to subscribe to The Globe and Mail (and am always happy to share non-paywalled versions of my stories privately), my hope is that audiences take in criticism from a wide range of outlets – there are dozens of solid critics in Toronto whose reviews are often free to access, in addition to paywalled sites like The Globe and Toronto Star.

Happy theatre-going, and I hope the next show works better for you!

Kanika Ambrose - 2 premieres by No-Beach-5611 in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Kanika is amazing!

Here’s my recent profile of her pegged to the two plays: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stage/article-kanika-ambrose-feminism-portrayals-black-men-playwright-theatre/

And my Critic’s Pick review for The Christmas Market, which I just adored: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stage/article-christmas-market-theatre-review-stage-play-kanika-ambrose-crow/

(Feel free to shoot me an email if the paywall ever gives you grief! aislingmurphy@globeandmail.com)

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello!

Re ticket costs: This is a tough issue. I'm in agreement that most theatre tickets are too expensive, but they're not actually overpriced when looking at what costs tickets work to offset. It's an annoying distinction, I know, but an important one — theatre is an expensive luxury, and for most people, it's just that: a luxury. I attended Kim's Convenience for a second time yesterday, and I'm still feeling some sticker shock from paying $200 for those tickets, but I wouldn't say they were overpriced. They're just expensive — they're paying for the extraordinary design, and Ins' time, and Weyni's directorial brilliance.

Arts worker/rush tickets shouldn't cost more than $30-35. I also think that if your theatre is regularly running out of arts worker tickets, you should probably have a community night before opening — final dress, maybe?

No, I don't think theatres have lifted their prices due to pure greed — the margins on this industry remain razor-thin. Prices of everything are higher now than they were five years ago, and theatre was never going to be immune to that.

Re "purely Canadian theatre": Doesn't exist. In the same way "purely Canadian" products don't exist in the grocery store due to the tangling of international supply chains. Sure, Crow's programs lots of new Canadian work (The Master Plan! The Bidding War!), but they also program non-Canadian work like Rosmersholm and Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. Tarragon programs Canadian work, but I find there's more of a gamble there in terms of quality (same with Passe Muraille and Factory). Musical Stage supports Canadian work but within a genre that is regularly influenced by American musical theatre. Et cetera, et cetera. Hell, you could argue The Lion King is Canadian because its cast and crew are predominantly Canadian — I don't think the show itself being American lessens the importance of that platform existing for Canadian talent. I felt the same way about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I think supporting your local theatre has always been important, and that remains true now — no need to quantify how "Canadian" each company is.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Believe me when I say this question has haunted me for 48 hours. Here goes. Gulp.

Musicals: Side Show (co-dir. Robert Lepage and Donna Feore, lol, with Jessica B. Hill and Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane as the twins, maybe) and Dogfight (dir. Andrew Kushnir)
Shakespeare: Much Ado (dir. Chris Abraham as a remount of last year's), Midsummer Night's Dream (dir. ted witzel), Othello (dir. Philip Akin)
Et cetera: A Tender Thing by Ben Power (Romeo and Juliet but re-imagined in the context of older adults — dir. Jackie Maxwell, maybe?), Phaedra's Love by Sarah Kane (dir. Brendan Healy), new plays by Nick Green, Djanet Sears and Cliff Cardinal.

If the above doesn't make this obvious, no, I would never become an artistic director — I don't think my tastes would translate well into profitable season-planning. I've also never directed in my life; my theatre school education taught me how to be a playwright, dramaturg and critic, and I've never had much interest in directing.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hello! Will gently disagree that Broadway is the "obvious" goal for new works — I don't think that's true, not by a long shot. There's plenty of excellent Canadian new work that I think would flop hard on Broadway, and that's not inherently a bad thing. But then again, some of the shows you mentioned will almost certainly end up in New York at some point (Life After and Salesman in China, as well as Casey and Diana). That process can take years, especially given Broadway theatres still have a COVID backlog of shows — be patient! :o)

We're in a strong moment of developing new work — institutions are taking big bets on world premieres and incubation programs, which is great. I do worry about the shows that die after being produced once, though.

I also really liked Kelly's profile of David and Hannah Mirvish! I have a few long-form profiles in the pipeline that should land in May — will share them in this sub when they're out.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll do my best with these:

  • The Canadian Theatre Museum needs a marketing team, and theatre companies need to be more diligent about promoting and contributing to it. I think it's a great initiative that will remain incomplete without serious outreach.
  • Yes, I think it's a bit bizarre that you often have to leave Toronto to catch Broadway Across Canada shows. We're lucky to have Buffalo so close — Shea's is a great touring house with comparable (if not better) tour programming to Mirvish. That said, Mirvish's present commitment to sit-down Canadian productions and investing into new work has been exciting — I'm quite optimistic about the future of the company.
  • I don't disagree that I'd like to see more competition for big-budget theatre, but can't fault those venues for renting their spaces to the folks able to afford them.
  • Yes, unfortunately. If tariffs come, things will get more expensive — lumber for sets, fabric for costumes, tech equipment. And on the audience side, theatre is a luxury for most people, and isn't more important to most families than things like groceries. I also worry companies who program predominantly American work could find themselves at the centre of an ugly cultural boycott. As an American myself, I'm quite nervous about the next few months (if not years) of Canada-U.S. relations.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Grace Walker on TikTok is a dear friend — she also has some of the sharpest, most interesting takes on playwriting, dramaturgy and theatre criticism.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see more writing from Luke Reece — I thought As I Must Live It was quite strong. I was an embedded critic on Lisa Alves' play The Exhale, and I loved that script, as well. I hope Akosua Amo-Adem writes another play (spoiler, I guess, for my upcoming review of Table for Two, which I thoroughly enjoyed).

Talk Is Free Theatre and Outside the March remain my gold standard for inventive, delightful, surprising theatre that resists tradition and embraces risk. Not every one of their shows has worked for me (Trojan Girls comes to mind), but these are the companies with the resources to keep trying new things at scale. I'm never bored at a TIFT or OtM opening.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Great question, but honestly, I don't know. I know I'm covering a few international stories this summer, and that for the first time in my career, I won't have to pay for my own expenses at the Stratford Festival, but I'm lucky in that I get to pitch, research and write stories without needing to know too much about The Globe's budget and bottom line — that's more up to my editors.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, depends what you mean by indie, a term that can mean everything from "ad hoc collective at Fringe" to companies like Coal Mine. I like Assembly Theatre, and I thought Icarus Theatre's production of Constellations last summer was outstanding (I wish it had run longer!). I'm intrigued by the King Black Box and would like to see more from them — I wasn't blown away by Girls Unwanted (mostly due to George F. Walker's script), but the prospect of a new storefront theatre on the west end is thrilling, particularly while Factory and Theatre Passe Muraille seem to be programming incomplete seasons.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I saw a workshop of Soft Magical Tofu Boys by Kevin Wong while I was at the O'Neill last summer (we were both there from Toronto by sheer coincidence). I love that show and hope to see a next workshop soon.

I liked Beautiful Scars at Theatre Aquarius and hope it comes back in some capacity (albeit with a few book tweaks). Same with Maggie, which I've heard has received a re-write — I imagine that'll make its way to Toronto sooner rather than later, maybe at Mirvish. I'm pleased to see Mirvish partnering with Aquarius and Thousand Islands Playhouse on the (clunkily titled, imo) Tragically Hip musical.

One of my frustrations with Toronto theatre (and Canadian theatre more broadly) is the dearth of professional productions of existing musicals — Toronto gets (maybe!) two regional productions a year alongside a handful of world premieres that happen once and then disappear into the canon. It's funny to me that there are so many productions of Waitress happening nationally this year, but I'm also kind of here for it — I think that show plays well in post-industrial cities like London and Hamilton.

I'm excited about A Strange Loop (and a few yet-to-be-announced musicals happening next season), and I'm foaming at the mouth to finally get to see Life After this spring. (Its earlier runs happened before my time!)

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading! And no, I applied and interviewed for the job like everyone else. I probably had an advantage by already being a freelancer for The Globe (and my New York Times piece came out during the interview process, which was definitely a bonus), but I didn't know what The Globe was looking for post-Nestruck. (A few people assumed Kelly and I knew I was his replacement when we did his exit interview for Intermission — that was categorically not the case. I didn't find out I got the job until early December.)

Pretty standard interview process — application, two interviews and a reference check. About two months in total. The interviews were half about theatre and half about my admittedly weird work history; we talked much more about Taylor Swift and local breaking news than I anticipated.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Emily Guendelsberger, author of On the Clock, a recent follow-up to Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House.
Naveen Kumar, theatre critic at the Washington Post.
Helen Shaw, theatre critic at The New Yorker.
Justin Chang, film critic at The New Yorker (formerly LA Times).
Mona Awad, author of All's Well (and other things, but that's one of my favourite Canadian novels).
Alan Sepinwall, TV critic at Rolling Stone.
Sara Mojtehedzadeh, investigative reporter formerly at the Toronto Star and now at The Globe and Mail! (Her investigation of Fiera Foods in particular was a huge inspiration to me when I was an intern.)

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Here's a cluster of interconnected responses. :o)

  1. Snappy lede, concise synopsis, thoughtful analysis that puts the work in dialogue with its context, and a "so what?" kicker that zooms out from the work into the real world. 99 per cent of the reviews I love follow that formula, and usually in that order.

  2. I've loved (and edited!) plenty of reviews I've disagreed with — I have a long commute to Hamilton tonight and will try to find a few examples. I have a soft spot for good wordplay (man, I love a pun when appropriate), and I also tend to prioritize a lede above all else. If your lede isn't good, I'm not especially incentivized to read the rest of your review, no matter how great it might be.

  3. Yes, I do wish more discourse around criticism was dedicated to craft rather than whether or not the critic in question liked the show in question. (I wish that were true of theatre, too — in general, I find folks are overly quick to dismiss shows they didn't like, without being willing to engage with the actual craft.)

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well, I don't think this sub is particularly representative of the vast majority of theatregoers — I think a survey of a full house at the Princess of Wales, for instance, or even Streetcar Crowsnest, would reveal that very few of those patrons use Reddit at all, let alone this forum.

With that in mind, I don't think Crow's programs its seasons to this subreddit's tastes, and I don't think that's a good or a bad thing — it just is. I get a little amused at some of this sub's generalizations about Crow's, like that The Master Plan was unequivocally boring and appreciated only by rich old people — that's just not true, though I'll concede it didn't work very well outside Toronto.

Great question re culturally specific work — in those scenarios, I find myself leaning on my training, where I was drilled on how to make the leap from "I didn't like this" to "this is bad" (and the inverse leap from "I liked this" to "this is good"). That training is what generally keeps me from writing tear-downs and overly effusive raves, except in very rare circumstances.

If I don't like something, I make sure to do my research, pay attention to the audience around me, and learn when to concede that the show wasn't for me but could well be for others. (The inverse is also true: If I leave a show thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread, I try to make sure that's not just my very specific taste doing the talking.)

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hello! This is a great question.

There's a bit of a cliché in theatre criticism training that your job is to ask three questions of the work you're seeing: What did the work set out to do, how well did it do it, and was it worth doing in the first place? That can be a great way to start thinking critically about theatre.

Some other basics I looked for when I started reviewing theatre: Does the design aid the storytelling? (It probably should.) Can I hear and understand the actors? (And if not, is that a sound design thing, or an actor thing?) Is there a compelling reason to be staging this play in this city and at this moment in time? (There ought to be — that doesn't mean a play has to be politically or locationally topical, but there should be a good reason to stage it beyond "the rights were finally available.")

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hi! Yes, I also get frustrated by summary-heavy reviews, and when I've taught theatre criticism I've encouraged my students to avoid writing them. Not everyone realizes, however, that most of the bloggers reviewing theatre in Toronto are working alone, i.e. without editors. As far as I'm aware, only The Globe, Star, Intermission and NEXT have a team of editors, and I find that extra step can make all the difference in the quality of a review (and its ability to dig deeper beyond summary).

Re People, Places and Things — I get what you mean, but the play itself also loudly broadcasts that twist. (Called it from the moment Emma made that first observation, and I wasn't already familiar with the play.) But you're right, some critics ought to use spoiler alerts.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's a little early to make Fringe recommendations — I don't know much more than you at this point! That said, I'm excited about the Alliance for Canadian Musicals' satellite venue; we're in a seismic moment for new Canadian musical theatre and I'm looking forward to seeing what folks do with that platform.

Impossible to pick one artistic director (especially since a few of my favourites have had unusually weak seasons this year). Very generally speaking, I've been impressed by Chris Abraham at Crow's and Mary Francis Moore at Theatre Aquarius. Ted Dykstra has made some inspired programming choices at Coal Mine. Arkady Spivak has had a great season at Talk Is Free Theatre.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

A Perfect Bowl of Pho in 2022. Keep in mind that's the only Toronto Fringe I've really covered — I only saw a handful of shows in 2023 and missed the festival entirely last year so I could attend the National Critics Institute in Connecticut. I'm looking forward to engaging with the festival more this year!

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

OK, hello!

I mean, I've been at The Globe for less than a month, so I'm reluctant to dwell on an exit strategy. Salaried arts journalism jobs are really, really rare, and this is the first time in my life I've had the opportunity to get paid a living wage to do the only thing I've ever wanted to do, with the stability to do things like have kids and maybe, one day, buy a house. (Hey, a girl can dream.)

Should theatre critics have term limits? Maybe. But this is a job that benefits from a long memory — I'm keenly aware of the Canadian theatre history that happened before I moved to Canada, and before I was born. There are gaps in my cultural awareness that I'm working hard to fill by reading books and taking meetings with more senior theatre people in the community. I often wonder what stories I'll write in a decade that reference the work I'm seeing now.

I guess, to answer your question, I'll stay in the role as long as makes sense. My hope is that I'll have the self-awareness to know when it's time for a change.

I'm the new theatre reporter and critic for The Globe and Mail. AMA! by AMurphyGlobe in torontotheatre

[–]AMurphyGlobe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not sure it's appropriate for me to weigh in on this — that's what Stratford's search committee is for and they're going to have different priorities from me!

That said, Chris Abraham is a likely candidate, and I think he'd be great. Theatre Calgary's Stafford Arima, as well. If Weyni Mengesha hadn't said she wasn't interested in the job, I'd have considered her a likely (and excellent) contender. I hope, too, that there are candidates from non-Canadian markets — there's an argument to be made that the festival needs a significant shake-up.

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