Next Stage Festival: a fistful gems in an already glittering theatre season
29 Dec 2018.

by Drew Rowsome -

There is an overwhelming amount of theatre opening in the next two weeks. Adding to the abundance of choices is The 12th Annual Next Stage Festival. A "curated, boutique festival" of theatre created by "any artist or company who had been involved in a Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) Fringe show in any capacity," is a vague description but it leaves room for the weird, wonderful and unique theatre that is the Fringe at its best.

One of the hits of the Toronto Fringe Festival, Anatomy of a Dancer, gets a remount proving it has legs. An homage to one of the sexiest men of Hollywood's golden era, Gene Kelly, Anatomy of a Dancer "dives into the full catalogue of the original 'Song and Dance Man.'" Though Kelly's style was clean cut and all-American, cast member Matt Eldracher and creator/co-choreographer Adam Martino (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Legally Blonde) are not only veterans of High Society Cabaret's scandalous Portrait of a Scandal,but are also gold standard sex symbols in their own right.

The ARTillery Collective (Hello Again) who are "dedicated to producing theatre that is provocative, unapologetic and challenges the status quo," have teamed up with the Ga Ting Toronto Collective to present Ga Ting. The play revolves around a Chinese immigrant couple inviting their dead son's boyfriend over for dinner. No-one has come to terms with the death yet and "the evening devolves into a fiery cultural and generational clash." Playwright Minh Ly's play is included in the anthology Q2Q: Queer Canadian Performance Texts, and has been been a hit in two western Canada productions. This is its Toronto premiere.

Director Luke Brown (Nature of the Beast, Jesus Christ Superstar, Heart of Steel)  and illusionist Nicholas Wallace, who spooked audiences silly with Séance, return with Strange & Unusual. Mixing storytelling and illusions to celebrate "weird things" and the "importance of mystery" in an interactive format. When "You are cordially invited to explore the world of conspiracy theories, superstition, psychics, and all things strange and unusual," who can resist?

Allegra Fulton (Julius Caesar) is the diva at the heart of Dinner with the Duchess. "A violin virtuoso faces down a career filled with passion and pain when she gives her final interview to an ambitious young reporter," is the main melody, but actor (Dancing Queen, Hackerlove) and playwright Nick Green will give Fulton meaty counter melodies to chew on. Betrayal, dark secrets and cruelty are promised, all with the able assistance of David Jansen (Love and Information).

Dark secrets - and "birds, bees, fetishes, fantasies, ballgags, #metoo, love, bad dates and sex" - also feature in the talk show Laura & Amanda Do It, which has the added advantages of "one hot lesbian" providing musical accompaniment, being for 18 plus only, and for having multiple trigger warnings. Andy Trithardt (Rock, Sucker, Delicacy, Big Plans), Andrew Di Rosa (Evil Dead the Musical, Shrek the Musical, Altar Boyz), Danny Pagett (Family Story, Big Plans) and Bria McLaughlin (Swan), are part of the all star team in Ali Joy Richardson's dark comedy A Bear Awake in Winter. A schoolteacher afraid to come out, revenge on a bully, a violent school dance, and a high school band, all add to the mirth and mayhem.

That is not even half of the offerings of the Next Stage Festival. There is also a musical about foreign accent syndrome, a comedy about possession, a multi-media meditation on guide dogs for the blind, and an exploration of the dangers of biography. As always with a theatre festival, as with a theatre season this crowded with potential, there are going to be gems that are currently under the radar. It is only once we dive in, take our seats and are dazzled, chat in line with fellow theatre enthusiasts, that we'll learn about the one that must be seen. It is an overwhelming but incredibly exciting season of theatre about to begin.