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Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas is a professor of English in Centennial College’s School of Advancement. She is the President of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. She holds a BA in English and Theatre from Princeton University, an MFA in Dramaturgy and Script Development from Columbia University, and serves as Princeton’s Alumni Schools Committee Chair for Western Ontario. She has written for Brit+Co, Mooney on Theatre, and BroadwayWorld Toronto. Her most recent play, Let’s Talk, won the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival’s 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. She has a deep and abiding love of musical theatre, and considers her year working for the estate of Tony winners Phyllis Newman and Adolph Green one of her most treasured memories.
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iPhoto caption: Sara Farb and Qasim Khan in 'Funny Girl.' Photo by David Cooper.
REVIEW: Sara Farb shines in Funny Girl at the Shaw Festival
One theme of Funny Girl is acceptance of the self despite its flaws and inconsistencies. The musical, likewise, is full of flaws and inconsistencies, but compelling all the same. Luckily, Sara Farb as Fanny Brice in all her boastful vulnerability gives us that central figure who delights — an umbrella to ward off the rain.
iPhoto caption: Raymond Strachan and Tom McCamus in 'Death of a Salesman.' Photo by David Hou.
REVIEW: Stratford Festival’s Death of a Salesman is stark and melancholy
The relatively straightforward production is aesthetically austere, but strong central performances of the family at its core keep it human.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Exquisite Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof bursts with both elation and pain
The word “Torah” in Hebrew dominates centre stage, constantly illuminated and glowing like an eternal flame. The backdrop’s sanctification, desecration, and resurrection signifies the resilience and endurance of the people before it.
iPhoto caption: Daniel Maslany and Karl Ang in 'The Division.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Andrew Kushnir’s The Division confronts the impossibility of fully knowing the past
Playing at Crow’s Theatre, The Division is a thorny, intimate work of theatre that examines inherited guilt, the relentlessness of eye-for-an-eye justice, and the seductive promise of being able to clearly define and banish evil forever, if only you could choose and label the correct side.
iPhoto caption: Clare Coulter in 'Queen Maeve.' Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Tarragon’s Queen Maeve packs one hell of an emotional wallop
The astonishing Clare Coulter manages to appear one moment as if she’d blow away in a faint breeze, another as though she’d easily cleave you in twain with a broadsword.
iPhoto caption: Dan Mousseau and bahia watson in 'Summer and Smoke.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Tennessee Williams deep cut Summer and Smoke warms up Crow’s Theatre
I wondered if further following the directive to push upward instead of outward, balancing the corporeal dark with a little more spiritual lightness, might have made this ambitious and heartfelt production spark just a little bit hotter.
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