Stage/Theatre

SIX (Photo by Joan Marcus)

What: SIX
Where: Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St. W.
When: Now, until at least Sun., May 12 (open run)
Highlight: Julia Pulo’s giggly portrayal of Anne Boleyn
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: In a rare turn of events, Toronto’s got its paws on a Broadway hit while it’s still hot. SIX, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s high-octane pop musical about the six wives of King Henry VIII is playing in a shiny new production at Mirvish just two years after it opened in New York.

The show’s sextet of actors, mostly early- to mid-career Canadians, dazzle in the sparkly carnival of riffs, flashing lights and fog. The show’s 80-minute runtime leaves it feeling unfinished — but the concert setting allows for easy access to the primary thing many people want from musicals: great singing.

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Where: Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave.
When: Now, until Sun., March 24
Highlight: Kimberly Purtell’s clever use of onstage lighting sources
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: After a silly number of extensions, the Canadian premiere production of Dave Malloy’s sung-through War and Peace musical has finally set a closing date.

There’s lots to love about this one, but it’s all tied together by Chris Abraham’s complex, movement-heavy staging, which is as detailed as the material itself. The actors dart about the opulent space, tracing out complex shapes and encouraging audience members to shift their gaze like at a tennis match. Circles abound, with the spin of an on stage turntable creating a kind of whirlpool effect. It’s chaotic, exhilaratingly so.

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Where: Soulpepper Theatre, 50 Tank House Lane
When: Now, until Sun., March 24
Highlight: A virtuosic ensemble of 12
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: This Obsidian and Soulpepper co-production marks the North American premiere of Inua Ellams’s Three Sisters, which relocates the Chekhov play to Nigeria just before the Biafran Civil War.

But with a group of actors this good, it almost doesn’t matter what script they’re using. From Akosua Amo-Adem to Tony Ofori, Virgilia Griffith to JD Leslie, Tawiah M’carthy to Amaka Umeh, even the small roles are taken on by actors of great renown — and boy, do they deliver.

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Dominic Monaghan (Rosencrantz) & Billy Boyd (Guildenstern) (Photo Stoo Metz)

Where: CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St.
When: Now, until Sat., April 6
Highlight: Andrew Cull’s malleable set, which allows director Jeremy Webb to generate several interesting stage images.
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: Fans of The Lord of the Rings will delight in the chance to see two former Hobbits — Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan — in action.

The pair of actors take on the title roles of Tom Stoppard’s 1966 tragicomedy about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor characters in Hamlet. Though, in my view, Webb’s Neptune Theatre production never quite finds its rhythm, the show’s visual world is highly evocative, thanks in part to lighting designer Leigh Ann Vardy, who conjures Nordic frigidity via blues and greens. The oddly shaped CAA Theatre has never looked better.

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