Saturday at St Ratford
I've worked at The Shaw since February and have yet to attend a single performance. But thanks to industry comps, I managed to catch two plays at Stratford yesterday with Som. First was Shakespeare's Timon of Athens -- set in the present time, with many great suits. Peter Donaldson, the actor in the title role, has got an amazing voice. In the evening, we saw Guys and Dolls -- with four lead roles (including Sheila McCarthy and Cynthia Dale), they were all fantastic and I wholeheartedly agree with these people I overheard in the lobby: no one stole the show. I don't understand why so many people have an aversion to musicals. This made me smile so big, my face hurt at times. Not as much as Singin' in the Rain makes my face hurt -- but Gene Kelly will do that to me. Bruce Dow, as Nicely Nicely Johnson, was wicked, but I was not surprised, since he was very funny in CanStage's Sweeney Todd and the ONLY good thing at Blyth Festival's The Pirate's Daughter. Now I'm interested to see how a Shaw production would compare to either of these shows. One thing I did learn, however, is that I am definitely working for the wrong theatre festival -- Stratford boys are much much cuter.