Just in case anyone's interested... As some of you know, Kurt's taken off his skates for the next month, and is playing Peter Pan on stage in Ross Petty's annual holiday panto at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. This is Kurt's first foray onto the stage, and I had the opportunity to catch the first two performances of the show last week.
I went in not really knowing what to expect, and not expecting all that much. I love Kurt, but I've always been a little skeptical of his ability to deliver believable dialogue (as opposed to off-the-cuff stuff, which he does well) and a production that mostly relied on him acting and not skating? I wasn't so sure about that. Also, what I'd read about the panto made me worry that the show would just be silly and corny. But, I was willing to give it a try.
The show was fantastic and very very entertaining. My family and I all thoroughly enjoyed it and had a great time. Kurt was wonderful on stage - his dialogue delivery was great and he had a great natural presence and charisma. He may not be the world's greatest actor, but he suited the role and the style of performance perfectly. And he did get a chance to show off his skating skills after all - the man does great footwork in inline skates, and gets some jumping, spinning, and skating over furniture in as well.
But enough random comments from me, here's the review I wrote:
http://www.kurtfiles.com/reviews/peterpan.php
I highly recommend the show to anyone in the Toronto area or anyone willing to travel to the Toronto area between now and January 6, 2008.
To be fair, here's a counter-opinion from the theater critic at the Toronto Star, who seems to think that hiring a legit theatre director and writer was to the detriment of the show, and wishes for a return to the "corny, tacky pantos of yesteryear." Sounds like past pantos were a lot broader in their humor and sillier in their execution. I guess it's all a matter of what you expect to get when you go in...
http://www.thestar.com/article/281347
I went in not really knowing what to expect, and not expecting all that much. I love Kurt, but I've always been a little skeptical of his ability to deliver believable dialogue (as opposed to off-the-cuff stuff, which he does well) and a production that mostly relied on him acting and not skating? I wasn't so sure about that. Also, what I'd read about the panto made me worry that the show would just be silly and corny. But, I was willing to give it a try.
The show was fantastic and very very entertaining. My family and I all thoroughly enjoyed it and had a great time. Kurt was wonderful on stage - his dialogue delivery was great and he had a great natural presence and charisma. He may not be the world's greatest actor, but he suited the role and the style of performance perfectly. And he did get a chance to show off his skating skills after all - the man does great footwork in inline skates, and gets some jumping, spinning, and skating over furniture in as well.
But enough random comments from me, here's the review I wrote:
http://www.kurtfiles.com/reviews/peterpan.php
I highly recommend the show to anyone in the Toronto area or anyone willing to travel to the Toronto area between now and January 6, 2008.
To be fair, here's a counter-opinion from the theater critic at the Toronto Star, who seems to think that hiring a legit theatre director and writer was to the detriment of the show, and wishes for a return to the "corny, tacky pantos of yesteryear." Sounds like past pantos were a lot broader in their humor and sillier in their execution. I guess it's all a matter of what you expect to get when you go in...
http://www.thestar.com/article/281347
