#tonightsbill

Wrapped up w Hira Kanagawa’s FORGIVENESS, about Japanese PoW Ralph MacLean and interned Japanese-Canadian Mitsue Sakamoto, and the courtship of their children. Loved how artfully Canadian history, geography and culture were combined to tell these Canadians’ stories. The final scene had me in tears.

Erin Shields’ RANSACKING TROY is a thrilling new Canadian play imagining the action taken by the women of Greece to bring the Trojan War to an end. As a teenager I was in an acting workshop led by Irene Poole and she was magnificent as Clytemnestra.Can’t wait to see student productions of this play.

Restorative weekend home in Canada to take in a few Stratford productions. Before ANNIE (the only production set in the U.S.) the orchestra played “O Canada” to push back against American threats. We all jumped up and I was overcome by the unexpected chance to sing with fellow Canadians.

New Julia Izumi tonight!

It’s a packed conference program at National Taiwan Normal University, and very exciting to be among so many experts on musical theatre in East Asia.

It’s always a treat to get a hard copy in your hands! Writing and editing this essay on the business side of WEST SIDE STORY was a joy, I loved learning about Cheryl Crawford’s passion for musicals and tried to show her skillful, ahead of her time commitment to new musical development.

Happy to be back at my hometown theatre, Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, to see FROZEN.

So excited that paperback copies of the ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO MUSICAL THEATRE are finally reaching our wonderful (and patient!) contributors. Always fight for your writers to get hard copies of their work!

And there are opera gloves!

Glad to see Paul Tazewell’s Tony Award recognized in this promotion at Target.

Delighted to have hosted historian Yanqiu Zheng this morning in my #1970swhathappened class. He shared his unexpected archival discovery of the National Chinese Opera Theatre tours to engage American audiences with the ROC. Can’t wait to explore more of his new book!