Sweeney Todd by Sondheim, currently playing at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre July 31-August 12, 2018, bristles with electricity and a terrible current of visceral vitality that keeps audiences spell-bound throughout. Daunting in scope for a small ensemble of ten players, this version of Sondheim’s cult hit—it’s been staged around the world since its original Broadway run in 1979, adapted as a movie in 2007 by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp … [Read more...]
Sweeney Todd at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre July 31-August 12 2018. An interview.
July 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment
The behemoth that is Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd comes to the Roxy Theatre from July 31st- August 12th in Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s creative re-imagining. I met with Patrick Du Wors, set and lighting designer, and Graham McMonagle, costume designer, to discuss the many innovations they have employed to redefine the scenario while remaining true to Sondheim’s original intentions. “Sweeney Todd is extremely taxing, even for the largest … [Read more...]
Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre Announces its 2018-2019 Season Lineup
July 28, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre (BBRT) announces its 2018/2019 season. (Media release) The upcoming season will include an additional show fifth show which will open in the fall of 2018. The season will feature classic plays by some of the world foremost playwrights including: Billy Bishop Goes to War by John MacLachlan Grey, Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen, Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon and Fiddler on the … [Read more...]
All My Sons at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre May 29–June 10 2018. A review.
May 31, 2018 By Leave a Comment
All My Sons at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre May 29–June 10 2018. A review. Brian Richmond has always had an expansive artistic vision and nowhere is it more evident than in the magnificent Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, onstage at the Roxy Theatre May 29-June 10, 2018. Over the past decade, since founding the company in 2009, he has steadily gathered together an ensemble of artists that would be … [Read more...]
All My Sons at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. A preview.
May 23, 2018 By Leave a Comment
All My Sons at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. A preview. Director Brian Richmond’s biggest hope for the coming production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller (May 29-June 10, 2018), who he considers to be “quite possibly the greatest American playwright of the 20th century”, is that audiences will be “brought to tears by the cathartic experience of a play that allows you to connect fully with other human beings and leaves you, ultimately, with … [Read more...]
Our Town by Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre July 4-16 2017. A review.
July 7, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Our Town by Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre July 4-16 2017. A review. Written in 1938, Our Town by the celebrated author and playwright Thornton Wilder, remains a perennial classic of the North American theatrical canon. This simple story, staged without many of the common artifices, is a favourite of community theatres, colleges and universities, but is not often staged professionally given the large cast of nineteen. For 2017 Blue Bridge … [Read more...]
Our Town by Thornton Wilder at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Interview with Gary Farmer.
July 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Our Town by Thornton Wilder at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Interview with Gary Farmer. When Blue Bridge Artistic Director Brian Richmond set about the mammoth task of assembling the team and cast for Thornton Wilder’s sweeping classic Our Town, one of the first people he thought of was veteran First Nations actor, activist and musician Gary Farmer (last seen here as Lenny in Of Mice and Men in 2012) in the demanding role of the Stage … [Read more...]
The Importance of Being Earnest at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Interview with director Fran Gebhard.
June 30, 2016 By 2 Comments
The Importance of Being Earnest at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Interview with director Fran Gebhard. Up next for Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre (July 5-17, 2016) is Oscar Wilde’s farcical comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest. Witty and fast moving, originally performed in 1895 and to this day one of Wilde’s most popular plays, Gebhard says it remains relevant today “Young people are always trying to break rules and think they … [Read more...]
The Gin Game at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre March 15-27, 2016. A review.
March 21, 2016 By Leave a Comment
The Gin Game at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre March 15-27, 2016. A review. The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn currently onstage at Blue Bridge Theatre at the Roxy (March 15-27, 2016) is an apt illustration of the aphorism “how you do one thing is how you do everything”. Weller Martin (Scott Hylands) has a penchant for gin rummy—alone on the porch of a down-at-the-heels nursing home (design—Laurin Kelsey), he attempts to win over the new arrival, … [Read more...]
The Threepenny Opera at UVic Phoenix Theatre November 5-21, 2015. A review.
November 9, 2015 By Leave a Comment
The Threepenny Opera at UVic Phoenix Theatre November 5-21, 2015. A review. The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, directed by Brian Richmond, currently at the University of Victoria Phoenix Theatre, November 5-21, 2015, is an extravagant spectacle, with minute attention to detail where every design choice is in service to advance the aesthetic of the show. Set by Richmond in the year 2028, after the assassination of King … [Read more...]
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