Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Monstress   Playwright– Trevor Schmidt   Production Company/Theatre space  – Professional / The Playhouse, Vertigo Theatre,   Length – 2 Act, 1 hour 50 minutes (one intermission)   Genre/s  – Science fiction   Premise – At the behest of a wealthy man, a female scientist/engineer/surgeon is asked to reanimate his daughter who he claims broke her neck from an equestrian accident.   Why this play? Why now?  – Vertigo started ou

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show –   Juliet: A Revenge Comedy   Playwright/s – Co-written by Ryan Gladstone and Pipa Mackie   Production Company/Theatre space  – Monster Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit, High Performance Rodeo / Martha Cohen Theatre, Werklund Centre   Length – 1 Act (90 minutes)   Genre – Comedy (billed as a feminist action-comedy)   Premise – Juliet decides, since she’s only thirteen and known this boy for two days, that she shouldn’t kill herself,

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Ribstone   Playwright – Christopher Hunt   Production Company/Theatre space  – Lunchbox Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo / Studio Theatre at Vertigo Theatre.   Length – One hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)   Genre/s  – Storytelling   Premise – A collection of stories of ancestors which grapples with complicated hindsight post Truth and Reconciliation, centered tangentially around a boulder that was carve

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   I Would Prefer Not To   Playwright/s/Composer/s   – co-created by David Gagnon Walker and Tori Morrison.   Production Company/Theatre space  – A Strange Victory Production, One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo / Heather Edwards Theatre, Contemporary Calgary.   Length – 1 Act, 1 hour 25 minutes (no intermission.)   Genre – Storytelling   Premise – A man tells us about his depressive episodes, and a woman tells a story

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Swan?   Playwright/composer  – Lauren Brady with snippets of lyrics from 3 pop songs.   Production Company/Theatre space  – Bad Knees Studios, Heywire Production, One Yellow Rabit, High Performance Rodeo / Vertigo Studio Theatre.   Length – 65 minutes (no intermission)   Genre/s  – Absurdist clown ballet fantasy with audience participation.   Premise – A swan turns into a woman who lives in a pond, tells us stuff, and dances

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King Show  –   Moulin Rouge! Playwright/s/Composer/s   – Book by John Logan, based on the movie written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce. Production Company/Theatre space  – Carmen Pavlovic, Gerry Ryan, Bill Damaschke, Aaron Lustbader, Hunter Arnold, Darren Bagert, Adam Blanshay Productions/Nicolas & Charles Talar, Iris Smith, Aleri Entertainment, Sophie Qi/Harmonia Holdings, CJ ENM, Len Blavatnik, Ambassador Theatre Group, Endeavor Content

Postcard review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Peter Pan - An Awfully Big Pantomime   Playwright/composer  – Written by Tom Whalley based on the novel by JM Barrie with music and lyrics from songs recorded/written by Queen, Pharrell Williams, ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, Chappell Roan, Back Street Boys, Elvis Presley, Little Mix, Survivor, Bruce Springsteen, Blue Swede, Andrew Loyd Webber, Gloria Gaynor, Frank Churchill & Jack Lawrence, Arrogant Worms, Elton John, Stephen Schwartz

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Little Red Riding Hood   Playwright/composer  – Music and libretto by Seymour Barab, adapted from the fairytale Le Petit Chaperon Rouge by Charles Perrault   Production Company/Theatre space  – Calgary Opera / Mamdani Opera Centre   Length – 55 minutes (including preshow chat and Q & A, no intermission)   Genre/s  – Children’s opera fairytale   Premise – In her dream, a girl disobeying her mother picks strawberries on the wa

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat   Playwright/composer  – Lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, adapted from the Bible written by various.   Production Company/Theatre space  – Chai (rhymes with high and means life in Hebrew) Life Productions, (community) Temple B’Nai Tikvah   Length – 1 Act, 1 hour 45 minutes (no intermission)   Genre/s  – Sung Through Musical (operetta)   Premise – A boy who can “re

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Wizard of Oz   Playwright/Composers – By L. Frank Baum with music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Haburg, background music by Herbert Stothart, adapted by John Kane from the movie owned by Turner Entertainment   Production Company/Theatre space  – Alberta Theatre Projects with Forte Musical Theatre (professional) / The Martha Cohen Theatre, Werklund Centre.   Length – 2 Act (2 hours, 45 mins, one intermission)   Genre/s

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show – How Patty and Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition   Playwright – Trevor Schmidt   Production Company/Theatre space  – Lunchbox Theatre (professional) / Studio Theatre at Vertigo Theatre.   Length – 1 Act (1 hour 10 minutes)   Genre/s  – Comedy Womance   Premise – A single, cat owning, bank teller convinces a mother of five to continue with the amateur dance competition after the other eight

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Miracle on 34 th  Street   Playwright/s – Music and lyrics by Meredith Willson based on the screenplay by George Seaton from the original story by Valentine Davies.   Production Company/Theatre space  – StoryBook Theatre (semiprofessional) / Beddington Arts Centre   Length – 2 Acts (2 hours 15 minutes, one intermission)   Genre/s  – Fantasy musical   Premise – When a man called Kris Kringle is hired to work as Santa at Macy

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   New York New York a Broadway Revue   Playwright/Composer – Various, not listed. I hope the rights were secured for performance.   Production Company/Theatre space  – 42 nd  Street Productions (semi-professional) / Evan Hazell Theatre, Seton YMCA.   Length – 2 Act (2 hours, 20 minutes, one intermission)   Genre/s  – Musical tribute to Broadway concert. I knew all of the pieces, but I didn’t know which musicals they all came

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   The Understandable Girl   Playwright/Composer – by Nikki Loach with contributions from Lyudmyla Honcharova, Snizhana Bora, and Katheen Ballagan.   Production Company/Theatre space  – Quest Theatre (professional) / C-Space   Length – 1 Act (1 hour no intermission)   Genre/s  – TYA drama   Premise – An elementary schoolchild is tasked by her teacher to befriend the new Ukrainian refugee girl who doesn’t speak English.   Why t

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Sister Act   Playwright/Composer – Music by Ian Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, Book by Cheri Steinkellner & Bill Steinkellner with additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane, based on the screenplay by Joseph Howard.   Production Company/Theatre space  –Stage West Dinner Theatre (professional).   Length – 2 Act (2 hours, 20 minutes, one intermission)   Genre/s  – Musical   Premise – A lounge singer who witnesses a mu

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Peril in the Alps   Playwright– Steven Dietz using investigator Poirot created by Agatha Christie.   Production Company/Theatre space  – Vertigo Theatre (professional) / The Playhouse   Length – 2 Acts; 2 hours 30 minutes (one intermission)   Genre/s  – Spoof   Premise – In this show within a show, actors act out the story of Hercule Poirot with sidekick Hastings, who deal with disappearance, kidnapping, murder, and various

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   MJ   Playwright/Composer – Book by Lynn Nottage, Music and lyrics by Michael Jackson et al.   Producers/Production Company/Theatre space  – Executive Producer Michael David with Lia Vollack, John Branca, John McClain, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Roy Furman, Cue to Cue Productions, James L. Nederlander, Kumiko Yoshii, Naoya Kinoshita, Latitude Link, Stephen C. Bird, Candy Spelling, John Gore Organi

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Miracle on 34 th  Street   Playwright/s – Adapted by Caleb Marshall with Eric Keating from the story by Valentine Davies   Production Company/Theatre space  – (Semiprofessional /academic) Rosebud Theatre School of the Arts; Rosebud, AB   Length – 2 Acts (2 hours 15 minutes, one intermission) plus dinner before the show.   Genre/s  – Fantasy   Premise – When a man called Kris Kringle is hired to work as Santa at Macy’s depar

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   The War Brides Are Coming   Playwright – P. Gail Whiteford   Production Company/Theatre space  – (community) The Unicorn Collective; Theatre 1308.   Length – 2 Acts (2 hours including one intermission)   Genre/s  – Billed as a love story – technically it’s a drama.   Premise – Two women arrive by train in Olds, Alberta on VE Day setting off the ire of two locals who don’t support strangers in their midst and reuniting one w

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King   Show  –   Madama Butterfly   Playwright/s/Composer/s   – Composer Giacomo Puccini; libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.   Production Company/Theatre space  – (Professional) Calgary Opera, Co-Production with Arizona Opera and Opera Grand Rapids; Jubilee Auditorium.   Length – 2 Acts (3 hours, 10 minutes including one intermission.)   Genre – Tragic opera   Premise – An American solider based in Japan after Nagasaki weds a lo