What I'm Watching

Greetings and Salutations. This just in - it’s freaking cold! Winter is here, and with it, a new blog post to fill you in on some of what’s happening in my life.

One of the good things about being between gigs is that I get to see more shows. In the past few weeks, I’ve seen three big musicals in Toronto, and a handful of movies too. I find that seeing other people’s work helps me define what I like best about my work. Sometimes, it’s a fun few hours of entertainment. But other times it can make me think, and even inspire me to work harder at my craft.


First off, I took Christine to see Dirty Dancing for our 5th Anniversary. The movie made a big impact on both of us - come on, we were only 13! - so we were both excited to see the musical based on it. However, we were both disappointed with the result. It’s not a musical in the traditional sense of the word. What it was, was a very literal translation of the movie script onstage. Which is fine, I guess, but it was very slow moving, way too long show and took itself way too seriously. My eyes got sore from rolling so much. I wanted to shout at the writer and director, “We want to see them having fun! Dancing more! Singing more! Zip it along, people! It ain’t Shakespeare!” Anyhoo, if you REALLY love the movie, this is the show for you!

Next up, I saw the John Doyle’s touring version of Sweeney Todd. Sweeney is one of my all-time favorite shows, due to its intensely powerful score, incredibly clever lyrics, and well, it’s overwhelming Evilness. In this version, the actors literally ARE the orchestra. Which is an interesting gimmick on the one hand, and certainly peaked my interest. But, also, it’s one hell of a challenge to cast it. What was lost in pure volume and power of the acting and score was made up for in ingenuity of concept and design. Overall, I’m glad I bought my ticket. Just to see this show live, and performed by such multi-talented artists was inspiring. But, I still crave to see this show done more traditionally, where the full power of its story forces you to succumb to Sweeney’s charms.

Lastly, I took in Little Shop of Horrors at Canstage. This is a quirky show to say the least -- not many musicals feature a talking and singing plant, let alone one that eats people. I first saw the movie of Little Shop featuring Canadian Rick Moranis way back in the 80s, and have had a mini-crush on the show ever since. This was the first time I’d seen it live, and was surprised at how many tuneful songs came back to me upon hearing just the first few bars. Soulful pop sounds filled the air, and the cast grew on me as the show went on. It was a bit uneven, overall, but still an enjoyable night out at the theatre.

I’ve also caught a few movies over the last month. I would say 80% of the movies I see in a year are between November and February. That’s when I’m most often free, but it’s also when the best movies of the year are released, with the studios all vying for Oscar votes. These days when I see a good movie I get a very strong urge to act in front of the camera more. It was always a plan of mine to act in film and television as well as theatre, but things have worked out so well with Shaw that there is very little time to do anything else! The drive is still there, though...

Lions for Lambs features great actors and a bad script. Doesn’t matter how great the actors are - and Robert Redford and Meryl Streep are great - if the script sounds like it was written by a high school political science student, the movie ain’t gonna fly. I wish movies like this were better! The message is a good one, however.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is much better. It’s a dark and twisted story about a dark and twisted family. It also features a great cast, especially Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei, but here the director and writer pull you into the story, making you think with their time-jumping and other clever techniques. It’s not for the faint of heart, however.

Gone Baby Gone is an average film, at best. It’s Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, and he does a nice job. The thing about this movie that bugged me was the ending. The last 20 minutes features a really stupid plot twist. I mean, downright ridiculous. A better ending, and this would be a very good film. Ben’s brother Casey does a nice job in the lead, as does Amy Ryan as the worst mother you’d ever want to meet.


American Gangster stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It could have been a fantastic film, but is merely very good. These two guys are kept apart for most of the movie, as you’re drawn in to the good guy- bad guy aspect of the story. But when finally they meet, there are few fireworks to push us towards a less than great finish. But seeing these two stars at the top of their game was definitely worth the price of admission.

OK, everybody, now it’s your turn. If you have seen any of the above shows/movies and want to add your two cents, go for it! Use the Comment icon below to leave it here, or e-mail me and I’ll post your comments on the blog. Or, if there are other great shows you’ve seen and recommend, write about those instead. Oh, the fun we’ll have on these cold winter nights! Until next time, Cheers.