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Zach, J.O. and i went to see Geordie Productions’ Little Prince on its opening night (Friday, Nov. 28th). Asides from the very eerie feeling walking up the escalator in the Guy-Concordia metro station and feeling both old and out-of-place in a locale usually associated with the familiar and comfortable, it was a stellar evening.

Sitting in the lounge, discussing the compartmentalization of personalities in contemporary society was, well, good times. The Little Prince is definitely worth going to see. Saint-Exupery is sadly one of the many authors who wrote his own death, but the philosophical quality of Le Petit Prince was well adapted to the stage. One of us theatre-goers had his doubts about a 30-something-year old playing the Little Prince, but his fears were not well-founded. The use of puppetry was just fantabulous and i LOVED the staging of the opening sequence. Boas and sheep all the way!

There were a few moments of over-the-topness that detracted from the overall effect of the performance. For example, in the last few minutes, an eerie and loud Little Prince laugh was played on the speaker system. CREEPY. However, while i was able to come up with points for improvement, i could not come up with a better alternative for its overall staging. Well done and delightful. I was happy to be surrounded by good friends with keen minds as we left the venue (D.B. Clarke Theatre in Concordia’s Hall Building).

The highlight of the show, however, was its child audience. A little girl behind us while listening to the Little Prince talk about needing to get back to his rose whispered a little too loudly to her mother “The Rose is Dead.” I could not resist laughing.

If you’re thinking of taking a child: I wouldn’t recommend this performance for children under the age of 8. While its delightful and entertaining, there are some longer monologues in which the younger children had obviously completely lost concentration. It’s a deep book with many levels of on which you can appreciate it. It is a little beyond a 4 year old.

We followed up good performance with a good meal - but that’s the subject of a foodie adventure in a subsequent post.

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Much of Shakespeare’s comedic corpus illudes me, but I am also of the belief that anything written by the bard builds character. What could be more typical of his vision than a play of gender reversal and improbable love relationships ending in not one but four weddings?

As You Like It contains not only the often-quoted “all the world’s a stage,” which incidentally I found delivered without the power it COULD evoke although the rest of Jacques’ speech and Anthony Reid’s overall performance was absolutely delightful, but also one of my favourite monologues – when Phoebe, played by Sarah Swift, attempts to convince Silvius, played by Paul Hardy, tht she is not in love with Rosalind’s male persona. Sarah Swift provided a magnificent performance of a stunning, yet difficult segment of script that made the almost three hour performance worth attending in and of itself.

The rest of the audience seemed particularly impressed with the opening wrestling match, in which Orlando, played by Tyrone Savage, delivers an unexpected move (I won’t spoil the fun) to win both the match and Rosalind’s heart. I found this staging problematic – that a “low blow” would inspire such admiration from a lady at court was a little more than I could let slip by. I agreed with many of the Lada Darewych’s (the director) other calls, just not this one.

Kristina Stanclik and Evelyn Wiseman gave good performances of Rosalind and Celia respectively. The former had participated in a Ryerson fourth year RTA project, and thus earned my almost instant approval, but her gait and bearing were not convincing – room for improvement rather than outright criticism on my part. Her yellow, shift dress in the opening scenes emphasized a poor posture not fitting of her character and in the last dance scene she was the only actor who appeared outright uncomfortable moving on stage. Practice makes perfect and I am hopeful that even by the end of the show’s run she may correct this. Wiseman’s portrayal of Celia took me by surprise and until the second act I couldn’t resign myself to the exaggerated facial expressions and nasal voice that the rest of the audience appeared to delight in. Perhaps this demonstrates more my own inappreciation for Shakespeare’s comedies than anything else because by the scene in which she futilely endeavours to get some sleep but is unceasingly interrupted by lovers on stage, I too was laughing.

Philosopher’s Stage may no longer be a venue for outdoor performances in downtown Toronto next summer. I highly recommend attending this season (July 16-August 2). The venue opens at 7:30pm with performances from Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm. Pricey, although keeping with Toronto’s expected ticket prices of $10 for adults and $8 for students, Wednesdays are PWYC. Bring a blanket and enjoy the brief musical performances throughout the play, the completely appropriate modern adaptation and the over-the-top staging.

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This past Saturday, i was lucky enough to attend a production of My Fair Lady. I will admit that i was a tad worried because the movie with Audrey Hepburn is one of my all-time favourites and it was going to be hard to live up to the comparison.

The singing and acting were very good. I particularly liked Mrs. Higgins whom i found difficult to attach to in the aforementioned film version. Most exciting, however, was the set. Different locales changed seamlessly in a matter of seconds… all very detailed and extravagant. Prof. Higgins’ library was ALMOST as impressive as the film version - and every since i saw it i have been dreaming about having a study like that in my own home.

The costumes were quite a bit of a let-down though. When my theatre group went to see My Fair Lady in Stratford in 2002, one of the girls burst out into spontaneous tears when the curtain opened for the race scene. This production had everyone clothed in black - and frankly, the idea of Victorian women wearing black as a fashionable colour just doesn’t work for me.

All in all, it was a great show and i am very happy that we went. The day was not too ruined by my still overly painful leg-cramp and there was a great meal at Five Doors North - about which i will blog shortly - and some French lingerie shopping which always makes me happy