On this Family Day long weekend, it’s fitting that I talk to two actors who have been parents for the past couple of years: Sarah McVie and Jake Epstein, who both star in Coal Mine Theatre’s savagely funny EUREKA DAY. www.goaheadsumi.com/eureka-day-c...

Tonight’s show!

This week in movies! On NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE 🍟 "very, very funny" - @chrisknightfilm.bsky.social "you’ll want to see it again" - @glennsumi.bsky.social "A wonderfully chaotic concoction" - @hertzbarry.bsky.social torontofilmcritics.com/features/tfc...

I was chatting with one of the long-time producers of Nirvanna last summer and they told me they'd made the funniest Canadian movie ever... and having seen it with a few audiences now I'm inclined to agree. This movie is an absolute blast in a packed theatre. Go see it this weekend!

If you live in Toronto or the GTA and love movies, you have to see NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE, opening today. I'm going to try to see it again this weekend in a crowded theatre, just to experience their/our reaction together. www.goaheadsumi.com/film-reviews...

Looking forward to seeing one of the world’s best symphonies.

Actor/writer Natasha Mumba mines some fascinating material in COPPERBELT at Soulpepper, but it needs further excavation. And at 2.5 hours, it could definitely use refining. My review is now up at @thestar.com. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

YOU, ALWAYS was my 1st standing ovation (after 11 #TheaTO shows) in 2026. Saw WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT @ Assembly Theatre this wk (can't say much, but def. worth experiencing!). Booked for ...EYES OF GOD @ tpm, & WITCH @ Soulpepper next week. EUREKA DAY only has tix left for 24 Feb-01 Mar extension!

In my latest newsletter, I review Anusree Roy’s devastating THROUGH THE EYES OF GOD @ Passe Muraille, and Erin Shields’ moving two-hander YOU, ALWAYS @ Canadian Stage, as well as EUREKA DAY and WITCH. www.goaheadsumi.com/winter-revie...

Tonight’s show at Soulpepper

Jen Silverman’s WITCH (at Soulpepper) is an intriguing, if not entirely successful, play about scapegoating, temptation and injustice in a complicated, all-too-human world. My review is now up at @thestar.com. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Agreed. Small gripe with the show's design, however — would the ultra-progressive, anti-racist private school prominently display a Dr. Seuss book in its library? (Many of Seuss' cartoons were horribly racist, which the characters of this play would undoubtedly know.)

So EUREKA DAY is the funniest (and sharpest) play in Toronto right now. Don’t miss Mitchell Cushman’s brilliant production at Coal Mine. My review is now up at @thestar.com. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Braved the cold to see this at Soulpepper.

Reviewed two films this week in my newsletter: the outrageously fun TO-set comedy NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE and SCARLET, an animé take on HAMLET. www.goaheadsumi.com/film-reviews...

On the eve of “Summer and Smoke,” I sat down with Paolo Santalucia about his journey to becoming Soulpepper’s artistic director. @crowstheatre.bsky.social’s Chris Abraham is right. His superpower is kindness. Story out today online & in print in @thestar.com www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Fun!

And I *completely* understood!

"To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children. Ask yourselves why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murders on American streets."

There are people who haven’t quite loomed up the way they may, but who, in small roles, like Catherine O’Hara, do stuff you’ve never seen before, like what she did in BEETLEJUICE. I mean, she’s an amazement. (1992)

Nooo! How can this be possible?

Still pondering this film, which I saw late last night. Slow burn, but great payoff. And I love a director who keeps you engaged and doesn’t tell you what to think or feel.

Man who wouldn’t wear mask to protect people fine wearing mask to shoot them

Reviews of Canadian Stage’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, Tarragon/Native Earth’s MISCHIEF, the Toronto Stage Co.’s THE LAST FIVE YEARS and the inaugural DEAD OF WINTER HORROR FEST are now up at my newsletter. To distract you from the snow. www.goaheadsumi.com/winter-revie...

Tonight’s snowed-in rewatch. Preparing a Negroni.

👇

The full ✭✭✭✭ (out of 4) for Canadian Stage’s propulsive, beautifully acted production of A DOLL'S HOUSE. Review now up @thestar.com. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Their two-night run ended earlier this week, but I really enjoyed the clever sketch comedy by Cheap Wine and 24 Double B at the monthly Spotlight at the Second City. My review is up at Parton & Pearl. www.partonandpearl.com/blog/spotlig...

I am so tempted.

Honestly, one of my most listened to musicals of all time. And great to be back in this theatre!

Four shows opened in Toronto on the weekend, including @mirvish.bsky.social and @crowstheatre.bsky.social. Here’s my newsletter review roundup (for members only — but you can sign up for free). www.goaheadsumi.com/kimberly-aki...

LOL neither new (unnecessary) song from WICKED FOR GOOD got nominated.

I think Paul Mescal would have got in if he hadn’t been forced to recite that damn soliloquy by the Thames. But Delroy Lindo YES!

Tonight’s show

My review of the [email protected] production of KIMBERLY AKIMBO, starring the multiple Dora winner Louise Pitre, is now up at @thestar.com. There are some gorgeous things in this moving, funny look at seizing hold of life. There are some obvious flaws, too. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Some absolutely haunting storytelling in Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s latest show, PU SONGLING, @crowstheatre.bsky.social Review now up at @thestar.com www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

2 + 2 = 5

One of the most exciting monthly comedy shows spotlights two up-and-coming sketch troupes and is performed at the Second City. In my latest So Sumi newsletter, I spoke to Gabe Meacher and Taylor Hreljac, the producer/hosts behind the hit show. www.goaheadsumi.com/gabe-meacher...

It always a delight to chat with @glennsumi.bsky.social. Thanks for the feature!

Loved chatting w @christolley.bsky.social & @lauramullin.bsky.social about the latest season of their CBC podcast PlayME, featuring 5 Cdn dramas. It launches tomorrow w an audio version of Kim’s Convenience - the original play. Story up at my newsletter. www.goaheadsumi.com/curtain-rise...

I'm getting a pretty special feeling about this one folks, hope people can make it out to catch it!

Had a great time chatting with #GabiEpstein who’s all set to play the role of the jaded, many-times-divorced Joanne in Sondheim’s COMPANY for Talk is Free Theatre. www.goaheadsumi.com/interview-ga...

Keep Calm and Carry on Conducting. My review of the oh-so-tasteful Ralph Fiennes film THE CHORAL, about a choral society during WWI, is now up at my newsletter. www.goaheadsumi.com/review-the-c...

I was there the night that half the Competition Bureau took in the stage adaptation of Rogers v. Rogers and boy was it a hoot! Former Competitions Commissioner Matthew Boswell weighs in on seeing himself as one of the protagonists of Michael Healey's hit play:

I just realized Michael @healey.bsky.social's play Rogers v Rogers could be dubbed Healey Rivalry

What’s it like to see yourself in a new @healey.bsky.social play? I asked former Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell, who declined vetting the play before watching ROGERS V. ROGERS @crowstheatre.bsky.social. Talked w them & actor Tom Rooney @thestar.com. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Psst… contest for a pair of tickets to the @shakesbashd.bsky.social production of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA ends today at noon. Details in my latest newsletter. www.goaheadsumi.com/what-to-look...

Tonight’s movie, which opens at the end of the week. You know how some films are just tailor made for you? This right here.

I know I have an odd schedule/life but like, looking at upcoming theatre runs in Toronto and I already know I'm going to miss entire runs of some shows since they're getting shorter and shorter. Do we need to add Rogers Corp. gossip into every show to sustain longer runs?

On this miserable Monday, think about some of the great theatre happening this winter in Toronto. In my latest newsletter, I rounded up a bunch of things you shouldn’t miss. www.goaheadsumi.com/what-to-look...