A Canadian's Reviews, Musings and Observations on Culture;
Theatre, Music, Dance, Performing Arts, Film, Food, Travel, Literature, Advertising and Technology
The "gourmet" burger bistro has been a burgeoning trend on the food scene for a while now. Toronto has its fair share of these chains like Gourmet Burger Co., Hero Certified Burger. Since moving to the city Craft Burger has been my favourite local mid-to-high-end burger joint.
My favourite burger in the city so far has to be the Craft Red; 6oz fresh, never-frozen Ontario AAA ground chuck made and cooked to-order, roasted red peppers, gorgonzola cheese, rosemary mayo and lettuce. Dee-lish. I'm salivating thinking about it right now.
Interestingly, after 4 years, Craft Burger just underwent a major re-branding. Well, maybe not an entire re-branding, its core brand identity is the same but the strategy involved changing its name to Big Smoke Burger. Thankfully, I'm told the menu and staff/management are the same.
A mid-course name-change is a bold, risky move for any business, especially one like Craft which has been building steady word-of-mouth around its product.
However, I really like the new name. "Craft" was a bit ambiguous and potentially confusing. It could easily be confused for Kraft (and I'm sure the association with common, mid-range grocery items and process cheese slices is incongruent with the image of a higher-end burger place) and Tom Collichio's restaurant, Craft in New York and Las Vegas. Incidentally, Collichio also has a spin-off chain of high-end sandwich shops cleverly named 'wichcraft.
I love the double entendre of Big Smoke; it conjures images of burgers on a smokey grill but "The Big Smoke" is also a pejorative nickname for Toronto that the chain has reclaimed and spun into a positive.
I guess they're firmly rooting the brand in Toronto's identity which is probably a good move to reinforce the fact that they're a local business.
I also noticed they kept the word "craft" in their tagline "hand crafted burgers" which I guess is the original reason they called themselves "Craft" in the first place so they get to keep that messaging and highlight that point of difference without the confusing name.
At the end of the day, whether it's called a Craft Burger, or a Big Smoke Burger, I just want my same juicy, satisfying hunk of dead cow.
I had the chance to take in a performance of Barrymore starring Christopher Plummer, a man many consider a living acting legend. Plummer is a legend not only because he can deliver brilliant performances but, in the case of Barrymore, because he can single handedly transcend a rambling script full of throwaway one-liners to deliver a sublime, engaging performance.
The play details one of the last days in the life of famed actor John Barrymore as he attempts to rehearse for a revival of his triumphant title role in Shakespeare's Richard III. It is essentially a one-man show (though Barrymore does banter with his off-stage prompter, Frank).
The script for Barrymore can generously be described as a scattershot caricature. It lacks depth and focus. It's peppered with humorous anecdotes and one-liners but never really delivers anything other than a superficial examination of who Barrymore was as a man. Any time the script seems to veer in the direction of making some sort of point or profound comment it never follows-through.
If somebody had presented me with the script for Barrymore and asked me, "What do you think? I'm gonna rent out the 1,500-seat Elgin Theatre for a 30-performance run and charge $120 per ticket for this show and it's gonna be a hit!" I would've told him he was insane.
Fortunately, the script for Barrymore is merely a pedestal for Christopher Plummer's superb performance. If the script isn't layered or nuanced, Plummer's performance certainly is. In the hands of a lesser actor the play would have been a total bore. Plummer is a spry, energetic 82-year-old. He imbued Barrymore with a strangely magnetic charm that was irresistible. Plummer delivered the role with a sharp wit, ably navigating Barrymore's wild mood swings and ultimately made this unlikely character endearing. There's no denying Plummer is a joy to watch.
It's the mark of a true master to be able to transcend mediocre material to deliver a captivating performance.
BARRYMORE will be staged for 30 performances from January 27 – March 9, 2011 at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre
Tickets may be purchased by phone by calling (416) 872-5555, online at www.ticketmaster.ca, or in person at the Elgin Theatre Box Office, 189 Yonge Street-Toronto.
On my recent trip to Washington, DC I had the opportunity to check out a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard by Signature Theatre; a DC regional theatre company.
Signature is renowned for its musical productions and Sunset Boulevard is a prime example of why the company receives so many accolades.
Sunset Boulevard is a musical adaptation of the classic noir film directed by Billy Wilder about faded silent screen star Norma Desmond, desperate to make her return to a film industry that abandoned her when "talkies" became the norm, and her relationship with Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck Hollywood writer who is equal parts cynic and opportunist.
Admittedly, I've never been a huge fan of Sunset Boulevard as a piece of musical theatre. It isn't the most tuneful of Lloyd Webber's shows with only two or three noteworthy songs. Neither lead character is relatable or particularly likeable; Norma is, for all intents and purposes, totally bat-shit crazy and Joe is jaded and humourless.
Sunset Boulevard first debuted in the era of the mega-musical; the original production design on Broadway and the West End featured gigantic, mechanized set pieces such as Norma Desmond's mansion which rose up from the floor of the stage. Also, the show has almost always had to rely on having a "name" in the lead role; Glenn Close on Broadway, Diahann Carroll in Toronto, Petula Clark in the national tour.
Given all the above I had pretty much dismissed Sunset Boulevard as a mediocre show that requires empty razzle-dazzle and celebrity star-power to attract an audience.
Signature Theatre's approach to the production really shed a new light on the piece for me and allowed me to appreciate the show in a way I couldn't before.
Florence Lacey played the lead role of Norma Desmond and acted the part brilliantly. Lacey's Desmond starts off subtly crazy; at first she just seems a little eccentric but throughout the course of the show her level of craziness ramps up to full-blown delusional insanity at the show's climax.
D.B. Bonds puts in an admirable effort as Joe. While not entirely likeable, you can get the sense that his character struggled with the notion of "selling-out" and was not always a cynical opportunist.
The venue; the Max theatre is a small, intimate performance space (fewer than 300-seats) yet the production is as grandiose as it would be in an opera house. Signature's Sunset feels grand and lavish. Daniel Conway's scenic design is elaborate and employs automated set elements. The attention to detail is immaculate, the set seamlessly transforms from an old Hollywood soundstage to Norma Desmond's mansion.
The full orchestration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's score is performed by a 20-piece orchestra perched on the balcony of the mansion.
Director Eric Schaeffer's staging is dynamic and the scenes flow into each other with seamless transitions.
The production is performed on a thrust stage and the seating is arranged in a half-round. The choice to stage the production nearly in-the-round brings the characters closer to the audience members. The intimacy of the space combined with the performances of the leads really humanize the characters in the story. As we watch Lacey's progression as Norma Desmond throughout the course of the show; her facial expressions and her energy, we get an understanding of the character and can at least see the pathos of Norma Desmond even if we still don't fully empathize or sympathize with her.
What I took away from the Signature Theatre production of Sunset Boulevard is that the show actually can work as a compelling piece of theatre if it's done on a smaller, more intimate scale with an emphasis on the characters.
Book and Lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on the Billy Wilder Film Sunset Boulevard
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
December 7, 2010 – February 13, 2011 at the Signature Theatre in Shirlington, Virginia
