Gracing The Stage

I’m out of the country until Tuesday May 5th, so the next weekly update won’t be until May 8th. Yes, there’s going to be a dark week; my apologies to anyone whose show is affected, but it’s just too much work to do completely on-line – and I plan to be spending a fair amount of time pool-side and elsewhere. I’ll try to keep the calendar updated, so I’m not leaving my faithful readers completely in the lurch.

To keep you coming back… here are some videos and mp3s of local events of note that happened over the last week or two, or are happening in the next week. I’m actually considering making this a permanent part of the update, as a chance to post some of the internet goodness I haven’t yet figured out how to gracefully include on the site.

Below all the video and audio goodness are a collection of links I use frequently to write my updates (they’ll form the nucleus of the Links page I mean to post – someday), that you might utilize to plan your week without my guidance.

In Comedy, The Subway Series that Ghost Jail Theatre and The Sketchersons collaborated on was a riot. There’s no video available (as far as I know) of either show, but here’s a GJT favourite of mine; Ghost Jail cast member Fraz Wiest (who was qouted exclusively in the Toronto Star article about the show, to Sketcherson cast member Brendan Halloran’s comic chagrin) doing a written on the spot monologue about natural disasters:

Also, those of us who rode the subway were treated to an song written and performed by Sketcherson cast member Daryn McIntyre. In commemoration of the recent passing of comedy legend Bea Arthur, I’m posting a YouTube clip of a song Daryn wrote about her and the other Golden Girls. It starts off familiar, then veers off wonderfully:

In Theatre, “Appetite” closed this past weekend at Theatre Passe Muraille. The clever folks at Volcano Theatre filmed a nifty little promo video that made the rounds on the interweb. The show is going on tour, and may be back again (fingers crossed). Here’s their “advertisement” (and watch it in “HQ”, as you should whenever possible):

Also in theatre, but this time, upcoming: The Summerworks Launch Party is happening May 3rd (one day off this past week’s update). As well as all the great theatre works being teased and previewed, there’s a couple of musical guests, including Nils Edenloff of The Rural Alberta Advantage (Who’ve just been signed to the Saddle Creek label!) .

Here’s Nils, Amy Cole, and Paul Banwatt in studio, singing “Edmonton“:

The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Edmonton” – HearYa Live Session 4/1/09 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

While we’re on bands Paul drums with, Woodhands played an incredible set at the Phoenix last weekend, and videographer Jared Sales has put up a couple of great videos of the live performance. Here’s Paul and Dan Werb, jamming out (and rapping!) on “I Can’t See Straight” (again, HD is the way to watch this):

OK, so, this Thursday (tonight), There’s a whole bunch of CD releases to choose from. I’d say that you should pick one based on your mood. If you want to hear some beautiful, soulful folk music from Tamara Lindeman (also a member of Entire Cities, who I wrote about a fair bit in this post), you should head to the Tranzac Club for The Weather Station’s LP release.

The Weather Station – East

Simon Borer, Tamara Lindeman, and Dwight Schenk of The Weather Station. Photo by Meredith Cheesbrough.

If you’re feeling like really working up a sweat, consider Green Go, who are having their CD release at Wrongbar:

Green Go – Put Your Specs On

Green Go! Photo by Blaise Misiek.

Hot Docs opens this Thursday, too: it took an awful lot of on-line sleuthing, but I finally managed to find something other than the famous “Winnebago Man” clip – a piece filmed at SXSW about “Winnebago Man“, the documentary, one of the opening night films:

Hindenburg

You’re still reading? Really? Oh, right! I promised you some resource links.

Besides the two weeklies (Now Toronto, and Eye Weekly), and the two city blogs (Torontoist and Blog TO), there are a few other people and sites around town who post informative listings.

- In Music, Jen Polk’s HistoryJen does a weekly update similar to mine, consisting of pretty much EVERY local show under $10 happening in Toronto. Carl Wilson’s Zoilus Gig guide is a good one, too; not comprehensive, but easy to read, and tends to hit the good stuff. The most comprehensive listing for local stuff is, of course, the “Show Thread” on Stillepost.ca; if you’re looking for touring shows, if it isn’t listed on stillepost, or if they aren’t selling tickets for the show at Rotate This or Soundscapes, it likely isn’t worth seeing.

- In Theatre, there’s no Toronto specific web site that does theatre listings, though the livewithculture.ca site, run by the City of Toronto, is a decent resource for the arts in general in the city. There are quite a few good blogs about theatre in Toronto, like Praxis Theatre and Play Anon; there’s also Plank Magazine, which covers Toronto and Vancouver. The best on-line theatre resource in town, in my opinion,  is Johnny Walker’s “Drama Club” over on Torontoist (and I’d have said that even before he did that nifty piece about Gracing the Stage and the website launch shows).

- In Comedy, there’s VERY little that isn’t self promotion by comics, troupes, and venues online. But theatre writer Amanda Campbell’s blog, The Way I See It, is getting pretty good at picking out some good comedy around town, as well as theatre.

In Film, well, most of that comes from reading the more general resources already mentioned – and the individual sites for the rep cinemas (which I’ve previous listed in this post). For film listings and basic info about Toronto’s cinemas, there’s a wealth of sites out there, but I tend to use Cinema Clock – it’s basic, but it has what you need. The thing about film is that it really is a global market (and community), so the best sites about films aren’t Toronto-centric. That said, That Night in Toronto (I do have a FEW contemporaries around town) currently has a little mini-guide up about Hot Docs…

Finally, the most authoritative on-line resource for performing arts events in Toronto is Facebook – go figure, huh? But it’s the easiest way for companies and troupes to promote their work with minimal effort; it’s like a free individual website for an event that takes a minute to create. Any show or event that DOESN’T post an event listing on Facebook obviously doesn’t feel the need to inform any of the more than a million Facebook users in the GTA. Have a look at all the links in the past few week’s updates; chances are, those event invites were written by troupes and performers worth having a look at, joining their group, and keeping abreast of their work.

OK. Have I earned a vacation? I hope so. See you all in a week or so!

(Photographer Skye Regan, who’s been doing a terrific job documenting Impromptu Splendor through her camera lens, has uploaded a treasure trove of pictures of the GTS launch show’s performers to her Flicker account. You can view Skye’s photos of the launch party shows, and more, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyesthelimit/ . Saturday night was also captured on camera by Albert Lee, who will hopefully have his pictures available just as soon as he gets his website up and running. Enjoy! – Steve)

What a weekend it was. 2 nights, 2 venues, 24 acts (including hosts Iron Cobra and The Flirts), more than 8 hours of entertainment, minus two 20 minute intermissions, and a lot of very impressed audience members, many of whom left talking excitedly about acts they’d not known before these shows.

Julie Tepperman played anxious bride Rachel in Convergence's Theatre's side-splitting excerpt from their play "Yichud/Seclusion", Friday night at Bread and Circus (this and all subsequent photos in this post are by Skye Regan).

Both nights had two things in common:

- it seemed like every third person in the doors of the venues exclaimed “this place is great! Why haven’t I been here before?” So, between that and the great advance press the shows got, my tertiary goal of promoting the venues certainly seems to have been accomplished;

- The shows couldn’t have gone any better on stage, save for going a little long both nights (the shows both started around 9:20pm and wrapped up around 1:30am), and for an occasionally hair-raising mic at Night 1.

Maylee judges a "fierce" competition of pose-offs during the Sweatshop Hop, Saturday at Comedy Bar.

Night One at Bread and Circus had a respectable audience turnout, and a great media and VIP turnout; in the audience were 3 staff writers from Torontoist, 2 from Blog T.O., reps from Plank Magazine, the Toronto Music Blog Collective, and Stillepost, and at least three music promoters. I was a bit of a stress case, worrying about off-stage issues, but it all worked out, off stage and on, chiefly due to the efforts of my volunteer coordinator Deborah Robinson and her crew behind the scenes, and on stage courtesy of stage technician Gordon Peck and his right hand man Craig Pickthorne (asking Deb and Gord for help with the shows was by far the smartest thing I did, logistically).

If Friday was a little touch and go at times (though that never showed on stage), Saturday’s Night Two at Comedy Bar went as smooth as silk. There’d been considerably more advance tickets sold for Saturday’s show, and the crowd turned up despite a pretty intense snowstorm. I was relaxed enough to get up there in my shirt and tie and do some ridiculously fun aerobics moves with headliners The Sweatshop Hop, and there were still enough people at Comedy Bar after 1am that the afterparty with The Bob Kerr Singers had an appreciative audience ( birthday boy Bob’s guests were Hawkmail, Adam Christie, Megan Fraser, and Levi Macdougall, who joined Maylee Todd and Ryan V. Hays as one of the elite few who performed both nights).

Below is a full roll call of the performers, in order of appearance (I encourage you to visit their online homes), and a few more choice photos of the night, all courtesy of crack snapshooter Skye Regan. Skye’s pics, and Albert Lee‘s from Night 2, will be up online in a gallery format of some form or another very soon (I’ll update this post with the links when they’re posted) . Read more…

Edit: Update 259 is still to come; these launch shows took a LOT out of me, though I couldn’t be happier with what happened on-stage, both nights (a more detailed description, and an incredible array of photos of the events, will be posted very soon). Hopefully, the update will be up by Sunday evening, but if not, this Sunday, you should consider attending the closing of the Rhubarb Festival, the Rural Alberta Advantage headlining Wavelength, or the Bruce Penisula CD release. – Steve

So, I haven’t exactly been keeping a strict schedule of daily posts this past week. The truth is, I’ve still been “internet-ing” plenty – but mostly for other people; answering interview questions, sending on hi-res photos, etc., etc.

Melissa D'Agostino and her character Lupe (who's on the bill for Saturday's Comedy Bar show) were interviewed in Torontoist this week.

And it sure has paid off; Gracing the Stage (and this weekend’s launch parties) has been extensively profiled by Torontoist’s theatre writer, Johnnie Walker, and Historyjen, a blogger affiliated with the Toronto Music Blog Collective, over the past two days.

When two of the city’s most authoritative bloggers, representing both the theatre community and the music community (Jen is, to my knowledge, the only music blogger ever given her own profile on Blog T.O.), are willing to devote so much text to these launch shows, you gotta figure they’re truly going to be something special.

Johnnie’s article, focusing on Convergence Theatre’s spearheading of the movement to amend the CAEA Agreement for Indie Theatre, and Melissa D’Agostino, who was named a “Hero of 2008″ by Torontoist, can be found here:

http://torontoist.com/2009/02/drama_club_inequity.php

Friday’s (and Saturday’s, really) show is the top pick on Torontoist’s Urban Planner, too!

http://torontoist.com/2009/02/urban_planner_february_20_2009.php

Jen’s post, with information about ALL the music acts performing this weekend, videos of The Williamson Playboys and The Sweatshop Hop, and MP3s from Entire Cities, Gravity Wave, Peter Katz, and Jehan Khoorshed, can be found here:

http://torontomusicblogcollective.blogspot.com/2009/02/gracing-stage.html

Or here…

http://historyjen.blogspot.com/2009/02/gracing-stage.html

The audience at Woodhands' Over the Top 2008 showcase. In this photo are Gracing the Stage editor Steve Fisher, local man about town Chris De Castro, comedian Marjorie Malpass, music blogger Jennifer Polk, and photographer and Sweatshop Hop performer Corbin Smith (Corbin is unfortunately on the bench for this Saturday's performance at Comedy Bar, due to a foot injury). Photo by Garry Tsaconas.

I’ll be editing this post with more links to articles about Gracing the Stage and this weekend’s shows as they turn up online (at least two other publications have something in the works). And tomorrow’s update is still scheduled to go out on time, before I head off to Bread and Circus to prep for the evening’s extravaganza!

(I’m going to crash SO hard on Sunday…)

Sundays are usually, for me, the hardest night of the week to choose what to see. With theatre, I can always see a show another time – a matinee, later in the run, etc. Movies are even more flexible; while I’m a huge proponent of seeing a good film on the silver screen, it’s sometimes not until DVD that I get around to seeing films that I already expect I’ll enjoy. Music is a little tougher, though I can always console myself over a missed show that the band will usually play again soon if they’re local. But as comedy shows are typically unique, it’s see it or miss it, which leads to tough choices.

Comedian James Hartnett, normally more conservatively dressed and coiffed, hosts tonight's Talent Show at the Rivoli (photo by Joseph Fuda).

And Sundays are just packed, comedy wise, with no less than four quality weekly evening shows; improv shows Ghost Jail Theatre and Monkey Toast (which is bi-monthly, but still), sketch show Sunday Night Live, and variety series Laugh Sabbath (Thank God Bad Dog Theatre takes Sunday nights off).

I’ve previously mentioned Ghost Jail Theatre as being among Toronto’s premiere improv comedy shows in my Impromptu Splendor profile, and I’ve mentioned Comedy Bar’s flagship sketch show several times on this site, so Laugh Sabbath gets the pick as my first Sunday comedy profile.

Laugh Sabbath is a loose collective of Torontonian comics, mainly sketch and stand-up, who banded together several years ago to produce weekly Sunday shows at comedy institution The Rivoli. Patterned initially after the popular “Comedy And a…” series, which was a joint effort by sketch trio The Distractions (Levi Macdougall, Paul Schuck, and Tim Polley), sketch troupe Knock Knock(Who’s)There Comedy! and musician Bob Wiseman, the Laugh Sabbath series has gradually evolved into several distinct monthly shows. These monthly formats feature many of the collective’s members as hosts and guests, and also feature, as guests, some of the best comedy acts from around Toronto.

Those shows include “The Loner Show“, an “all solo no stand-up” character comic showcase hosted by Brian Barlow; “Let’s Get Hot!“, a loose talk show parody hosted by Chris Locke and featuring Aaron Eves on accordion; “The Hour of Power” a showcase series featuring longer sets from just a few choice guests, hosted by Sara Hennessey and Nick Flanagan; and tonight’s “Talent Show“, a variety show featuring stand-up, sketch, improv, video, and more, currently hosted by James Hartnett.

(More on tonight’s “Talent Show” after the break). Read more…

It is with great pride and pleasure that I announce a weekend of top notch music, comedy, and theatre, to officially launch this website. Yes, we’ve been posting daily (or just about) since January 4th, but on February 20th and 21st, gracingthestage.ca will be announcing its presence in the real world in a BIG way, with two nights showcasing some of Toronto’s best music, comedy, and theatre artists, at two of the newest and most exciting performance spaces in the city.

JUST ANNOUNCED: two  new acts have been added to the bills, one per night! Friday, the music line-up will be bolstered by the addition of Tonka and Puma, AKA April and Dan from Hooded Fang! Saturday, the evening will continue well past midnight with performances from The Bob Kerr Singers, led by stand-up extraordinaire Bob Kerr. Bob, who will be celebrating his birthday that night, is well under way to meeting a New Years resolution to perform more than 100 stand up shows in 2009; the Bob Kerr Singers are, well, whoever BOB invites to share the stage with him!

Maylee Todd leads members of Toronto's indie rock community in a late night, drunken aerobicise routine at the second ever Sweatshop Hop. In this picture are members of Entire Cities, Gravity Wave, Woodhands, Henri Faberge & The Adorables, the Bicycles, sketch troupe Bull Hooey, and more, including yours truly (photo by Joseph Fuda).

Here are the straight facts:

gracingthestage.ca Launch Party Night 1, w/ Entire Cities, The Williamson Playboys, Gravity Wave, Levi MacDougall, Maylee Todd, 10,000 to Flight, Convergence Theatre, Tonka and Puma, and Carnegie Hall, with hosts Iron Cobra, Friday Feb. 20th @ Bread & Circus (299 Augusta Ave), 8pm doors, 9pm showtime.

AND

gracingthestage.ca Launch Party Night 2, w/ Peter Katz, The Remainders, Maylee & Slippers’ Sweatshop Hop, Pat Thornton, Melissa D’Agostino, Makesi Arthur, Jehan Khoorshed, The Bob Kerr Singers, and Kathleen Phillips, with hosts The Flirts, Saturday Feb. 21st @ Comedy Bar (945 Bloor St. W.), 8pm doors, 9pm showtime.

Tickets for both nights are $12 in advance @ their respective venues and at record store Soundscapes (572 College St.), and $15 @ the door.

The venues (Bread and Circus, and Comedy Bar) were chosen for the fact that they are both artist-owned and operated; neither space is particularly large, and tickets will go FAST. Don’t wait long to pick yours up!

(Edit: the following tune is not produced by anyone affliated with Maylee & Slippers’ Sweatshop Hop, but it comes Maylee-approved – have a listen to get in the mood!)

Neon Neon (feat. Fat Lip and Yo Majesty!) – Sweatshop

I plan on doing an in-depth profile of PROJECTProject some time in the weeks to come, as for such a new show, it’s done a remarkable job in bringing different segments of the comedy community together, serving as a fertile training ground for some of the best of the new generation of improvisers and sketch comics working in Toronto (like Cream of Comedy nominee Alana Johnston), and helping some veteran performers add improv to their repertoire (like sketch comic and stand-up Pat Thornton, whose show “The Hot Box” debuts next month on the Comedy Network).

But I’m going to shine a little spotlight on two of the founding members of PROJECTProject, Julie Dumais & Mark Andrada, since tonight they’ll be doing a rare set as their improv duo, 10,000 to Flight.

To quote myself – here’s what I wrote about them in a review of their 2007 Fringe show:

“10K2F is the utter chaos and lunacy that occurs when a technically polished performer who has mastered (and utilizes) all the “rules” of improv ( Julie Dumais) shares a stage with a performer who knows, but disdains (and takes great delight in breaking) most of said rules (Mark Andrada). The result is a gut-bursting show that routinely breaks the fourth wall, and can result in almost anything happening on stage.”

Julie Dumais & Mark Andrada

10,000 to Flight shows are very very difficult to describe, as, even more so than usual improv shows, they are never the same twice. Common elements do occur: the pair enjoy feeding their audience; they encourage the audience to leave their cell phones turned on (Andrada loves chatting with random, confused callers); and the laissez-faire attitude they take towards the notion of a “scene” starting or stopping (particularly Andrada) can be found as charming, or infuriating. They had several walkouts during their 2007 Fringe show, and some truly negative reviews. But most people who see a 10,000 to Flight show find themselves unable to resist the pair’s charms (their exceedingly positive press outweighs the exceedingly negative stuff), and the random occurrences the pair invite and encourage at their performances can end up as memorable highlights; at one performance at the Helen Gardiner Theatre, a unsuspecting pizza deliveryman named Farouk walked in on a crowd cheering his name, and called after leaving to thank the pair and the audience for making him feel so appreciated (you can read Dumais’ Fringe diary post about the night here).

Andrada and Dumais plan to relaunch their curated Manifesto series again soon, but for now, 10,000 to Flight sets remain a rare treat; other PROJECTProject highlights will happen this evening, too, like Adam Cawley’s (Game)Show, so tonight would certainly be a good night to check out the weekly Comedy Bar Wednesday showcase, if you’re rather see some improv over music.

St. Agatha’s church burned to the ground in a mysterious fire. Its pastor, Reverend Winters, perished in the fire, and the church’s parish found themselves without a home or spiritual leader. In order to raise funds to rebuild the church, the reverend’s widow, Dot Winters, continues to host a regular bingo night, having moved the proceedings to the back room of Clinton’s Tavern. But alcohol and bingo mixed together brings out the worst in some of the regular bingo players and depressed parishioners…

None of this is, of course, real, right down to the powdered wig on Dot (AKA Megan Fraser). The only real thing about “Bingo: The Show” is, in fact, the bingo – and the prizes (yes, there’s prizes – I’m now the dubiously proud owner of a Ricky Martin concert DVD from the last show). But the scenario is perfect for performers, particularly improv actors and buffon clowns, to work in character and create hilarious spontaneous scenes; scenes that can happen anytime in between Dot calling out the letters and numbers from her table top ball dispenser.

From left to right - Jim Taylor, Megan Phillips, Mandy Sellers, Megan Fraser, Inessa Frantowski, Katie Crown, Chantale Renee, Kristen McGregor, & Mike Kiss, in character for Bingo: the Show's Christmas edition.

(More about the dispossessed denizens of St. Agatha’s church after the jump). Read more…

This is the first update available exclusively through the website; the Yahoo Groups site will continue to exist solely as an archive of the last 5 year’s archives. After going through the update, please do poke around the site, and peruse some of the articles; many of them mention weekly recurring shows, and shows yet to appear on the Events Calendar (though that is my next website priority).

(The full week in Toronto’s performing arts events, after the jump!) Read more…

The first update posted to the site! A little late, but better that then never. Email steve@gracingthestage.ca to get on the weekly mailing list, if you aren’t already getting it.  Full listings follow below. Read more…

I mentioned several of the recurring shows at Comedy Bar in my post about Catch 23 earlier this week. Of all the shows I mentioned, though, Impromptu Splendor is an anomaly. It’s certainly funny enough to deserve a weekly slot at Comedy Bar, but it’s not actually a comedy show. It’s something uniquely different from the many improv shows in Toronto; it’s improvised theatre.

Naomi Snieckus, Ron Pederson, Kayla Lorette, and Matt Baram performing in the style of Henrik Ibsen.

(I explain my potentially contentious assertion after the break!) Read more…