November 2024 - January 2025
CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre

Pop the champagne, MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL is the winner of 10 Tony Awards® — including Best Musical!
Enter a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur, and glory!A world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Welcome to MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL. Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Directed by Tony Award® winner Alex Timbers, MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL is a theatrical celebration of Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and — above all — Love.

Second became second as the new season unfolded. That means Lisa and I saw the second play of the 24-25 season after Jordana and her friend.It also means she got to review the play first.

JORDANA - Wow, What a show! The costumes and the music were amazing. Everybody was singing to the songs. The encore was great. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Zoe and I would rate it 10 out of 10.

JEFF - Our final production for 2024! I wish we could have finished the year off with a better play (in my opinion). Moulin Rouge was not the worst production I have ever seen, but it definitely was not the best. It won’t even crack my top 10 list. I do acknowledge that Jordana and her friend both loved it. I found the first half similar to & Juliet in that it relied heavily on snippets of popular tunes. Still, it was nice to hear them, and I loved the inclusion from the 1971 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. Overall, the first half was well-balanced in tone. When the curtain came down after intermission, the play’s tone darkened considerably. Ultimately, I gave it a 6/10, while Lisa rated it a seven, giving us a combined score of 6.5.

Begins November 2, 2024
Princess of Wales Theatre

Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before. And as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. This is Disney’s THE LION KING, making its triumphant return to the Princess of Wales Theatre!
More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the awe-inspiring visual artistry, the unforgettable music, and the uniquely theatrical storytelling of this Broadway spectacular – one of the most breathtaking and beloved productions ever to grace the stage.
Winner of six Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, THE LION KING brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway.

The first show of 2025 - the third of the season - arrived, and both Lisa and I gave it an 8/10. Basically, we liked it, but didn’t love it. The production values and costumes were fantastic, and the acting was superb. However, we (at least I did) found there was too much “filler,” added dances and songs that were not necessary to move the story along. They should have stuck with the basic storyline first created in the original Lion King movie. That’s how I saw it, at least. Then, there were issues, starting with getting seated. We showed our tickets to the usher, and she directed us to our seats. A few minutes before the show, a mother/daughter arrived and showed us their tickets. Apparently, we were in their seats. Ushers should be better trained. It wouldn’t have been so bad if those people had simply sat in their seats. However, they repeatedly were looking for something on the floor. Then, in the second half of the play, the mother’s two other kids (at least I assumed they were hers) kept talking, bending down, causing a distraction and playing with their cellphones. Then, there was a technical difficulty in the second half. This is the second play to have this issue. At this price level, it is very amateurish. So, overall, it was a nice outing, but it would not have been a big deal to miss the show.

JUST FOR ONE DAY

January - March 2025
CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre

Featuring the songs of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Who, U2, Queen, The Police, Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, The Cars, Status Quo, Sade, The Boomtown Rats, Diana Ross, Ultravox and more ... this is the story of Live Aid and the people united by it.

The music was perfect, the choreography masterful, and the story truly interesting. After a month’s delay, the three of us went downtown to see the fourth show of the 2024-25 season. Before continuing, let me explain about the delay. We were initially slated to see the show on February 16, Family Day weekend. A few days before, the weather forecast for the weekend was a snowstorm. Lisa suggested we change the date, and it was a good thing we did, as we got a major snowstorm.
In contrast with today, when the temperature was above zero, sidewalks were relatively dry, and we were enjoying more daylight as we changed our clocks today. The music brought back so many great memories of that period in my life. It was sad, though, as I don’t think they could pull off a similar musical event like Live Aid today, not how the world is going.
So, what did we score the play? Straight 10s from all three of us, of course.

May - July 2025
CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre

He earned his stripes on Broadway… now the ghost-with-the-most is coming to Toronto.
It’s showtime! Based on Tim Burton’s dearly beloved film, this hilarious musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. With an irreverent book, an astonishing set, and a score that’s out of this Netherworld, BEETLEJUICE is “SCREAMINGLY GOOD FUN!” (Variety). And under its uproarious surface (six feet under, to be exact), it’s a remarkably touching show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O!

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, B…NOPE, not going to say it a third time in a row. In any event, this production is definitely a 6/10, in my opinion. This is not to be confused with the play, SIX, which we saw in October 2023, which we rated a 10/10. This time out, I liked the play; it was cute, but I think the movie version was so much better. Of course, the movie was a comedy, while this was a musical. In my opinion, the story works better as a comedy. Unlike many plays we have seen, I thought the second half was slower than the first half. There were some good parts, though. The actor who played Beetlejuice was fantastic, and, of course, they included the two musical numbers from the movie, including the Banana Boat song. Lisa gave this play a 7/10, for a combined score of 6.5.

NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

July - August 2025
Royal Alexandra Theatre

Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812, by celebrated and award-winning composer Dave Malloy is based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Young and impulsive, Natasha arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé, Prince Andrey, from the front lines of Napoleon’s attempt to invade Russia. When she falls under the spell of Moscow society’s notorious playboy, the dashing rogue Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of Natasha’s shattered reputation and offer her hope and redemption.

Maybe I’m tired of all the musicals that Mirvish produces, or perhaps I was just a bit nervous about my upcoming trip to Las Vegas. As of the start of the play, departure was less than 12 hours away. As a result, I gave the play a 6/10, while Lisa was more generous, awarding it 8/10, for a combined 7/10. Still, I have to admit it really was a showstopper production. The stage became a thrust stage, and the audience was allowed to buy seats right on the stage. Some of those who chose to do so became part of the play, as actors interacted with them, talking, dancing and flirting. Actually, it worked both ways, as some of the female members of the audience seemed to enjoy flirting with the actors. The production was not confined to the stage, though, as actors used the aisles, dashing back and forth, even handing out candy to the audience. Overall, it was good, and this was not really a musical but employed musical dialogue to present the story. Still, I would love to see a drama, mystery or comedy in Toronto.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical

July - August 2025
CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre

Great Scott! BACK TO THE FUTURE, the beloved, cinematic classic is now a Broadway musical with its destination set for Toronto in 2025.
Winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, four WhatsOnStage Awards, including Best New Musical, and the Broadway World Award for Best New Musical, BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL is adapted for the stage by the iconic film’s creators Bob Gale (Back to the Future trilogy) and Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) and directed by the Tony Award®-winner John Rando with original music by multi-Grammy® winners Alan Silvestri (Avengers: Endgame) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), alongside hit songs from the movie including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Earth Angel,” and “Back in Time.”
When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past, and send himself... back to the future. When BACK TO THE FUTURE hits 88mph, it’ll change musical theatre history forever.

It's always great to end a Mirvish season on a high note, and as far as we are concerned, BTTF did precisely that. We both loved it, and based on audience reaction, many people felt the same way. I thought Marty's character and his parents were the closest to the movie versions. Loved how it opened, showing today's date, and at the end, they brought the story back to the present (Aug 31 for us). Needless to say, that illusion of the car moving was amazing.
Interesting where they deviated from the movie, no more Libyan terrorists, guess that's not politically correct. Most people in the audience probably saw the movie as they laughed when a familiar line was said.
Still a lot of younger people there (as well as the walker set).
Talking to the people behind us, they were commenting on how this play was so much better than Natasha, Pierre, etc. We thought so too.
The theatre was not sold out, though.
In the end, we both gave the final production of the 2024-2025 season a 10/10.