Reviews 2014
Reviews 2014
In 2014 Stage Door received 133,115 pageviews from 59,990 unique visitors from 154 countries. As usual it is heartening to see that works like Kurios from worldwide companies like Cirque du Soleil are mingled with those from small local companies. Plays classical and modern, Canadian and non-Canadian, mix with operas, operettas, dance, sketch comedy and circus. Worthy student productions like Albert Herring and Fulgens and Lucres find a place next to professional productions.
The company with the largest number of entries in the top 50 is the Stratford Festival with eight, followed by Mirvish Productions with four. Cirque du Soleil, Tarragon Theatre and Unit 102 Actors Company tie with three each.
Some reviews from the past maintain their holding power, most notably Fate of a Cockroach by Tawfiq al-Hakim from 2005 and Zone by Marcel Dubé from 2012. The review of The Philanderer at the Shaw Festival from 2007 when the Festival offered both endings curiously had more readers than the review of the same play from this year with the original ending. As soon as the Stratford Festival announced that Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre (which it calls The Adventures of Pericles) would be part of the 2015 season, the review of Stratford’s 2003 production shot up into the top 50. Presumably in a spirit of compare and contrast, the review of Stratford’s 2014 production of King Lear made the top 50 as did the review of Stratford’s 2002 production. The Malcontent by John Marston staged at the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London, England, became the highest-charting non-Canadian production since an analytics programme was installed in 2011.
-The Editor-
The 50 Most Read Reviews of 2014:
1. Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities by Michel Laprise, Cirque du Soleil, Toronto
2.Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil, Drayton
Entertainment, Cambridge
3.Fate of a Cockroach (2005) by Tawfiq al-Hakim, AfriCan Theatre Ensemble,
Toronto
4.Zone (2012) by Marcel Dubé, Théâtre français de Toronto et al., Toronto
5. Arrabal by Sergio Trujillo & Julio Zurita, Mirvish Productions, Toronto
6.A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (directed by Chris
Abraham), Stratford Festival
7. Sixteen Scandals by The Second City, Toronto
8. Crazy for You by George and Ira Gershwin, Stratford Festival
9. Man of La Mancha by Mitch Leigh & Joe Darion, Stratford Festival
10. King Lear (2014) by William Shakespeare, Stratford Festival
11. The Malcontent by John Marston, Globe Theatre, London, GBR
12.Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Unit 102 Actors
Company, Toronto
13.Genesis & Other Stories by Rosamund Small, Aim for the Tangent Theatre,
Toronto
14. The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Bob Kills Theatre, Toronto
15. Alice Through the Looking-Glass by James Reaney, Stratford Festival
16. Company by Stephen Sondheim, Theatre 20, Toronto
17.Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten, University of Toronto Opera Division,
Toronto
18. ‘O’ (2012) by Franco Dragone, Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas, NV, USA
19.The Cousin from Nowhere by Eduard Künneke, Toronto Operetta Theatre,
Toronto
20. American Buffalo by David Mamet, Unit 102 Actors Company, Toronto
21. The Snow Queen by Derek Genova, Solar Stage, Toronto
22.Metamorphosis by David Farr & Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Mirvish Productions,
Toronto
23. Pith! by Stewart Lemoine, The Theatre Department, Toronto
24.To Kill a Mockingbird by Christopher Sergel, Young People’s Theatre,
Toronto
25.James and the Giant Peach by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Young People’s
Theatre, Toronto
26. Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy, Against the Grain Theatre, Toronto
27. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto
28.Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Mirvish Productions,
Toronto
29. Amaluna (2012) by Diane Paulus, Cirque du Soleil, Toronto
30. Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley, Seven Siblings Theatre, Toronto
31. London Road by Adam Cork & Alecky Blythe, Canadian Stage, Toronto
32. Tribes by Nina Raine, Theatrfront, Toronto
33. The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, Red One Theatre Collective, Toronto
34. King Lear (2002) by William Shakespeare, Stratford Festival
35. Run for Your Wife by Ray Cooney, Drayton Entertainment, Cambridge
36.Shrek The Musical by Jeanine Tesori & Robert Lindsay-Abaire, Grand
Theatre, London, ON
37. King John by William Shakespeare, Stratford Festival
38. Rebel Without a Cosmos by The Second City, Toronto
39. Cabaret by John Kander & Fred Ebb, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake
40. Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, Precisely Peter Productions, Toronto
41. A God in Need of Help by Sean Dixon, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto
42. Marry Me a Little by Stephen Sondheim, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto
43. The Land of Smiles by Franz Lehár, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Toronto
44.The Philanderer (2007) by George Bernard Shaw, Shaw Festival, Niagara-
on-the-Lake
45. Under the Skin by Betty Lambert, Unit 102 Actors Theatre, Toronto
46. Fulgens and Lucres by Henry Medwall, Poculi Ludique Societas, Toronto
47. Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2003) by William Shakespeare, Stratford Festival
48. The Dirty/Beautiful (2005) by Stephen Massicotte, Crow’s Theatre, Toronto
49. Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar, Nightwood Theatre, Toronto
50. The Last Confession by Roger Crane, Mirvish Productions, Toronto
©Christopher Hoile
Photo: Rola Bola. ©2014 Martin Girard.
2015-01-01
The 50 Most Read Reviews of 2014