Hi, I'm Costin Manu, the Programming Manager for the Rose Theatre Brampton. As I mentioned last week, I will be contributing an entry here each Monday discussing all things “show-business”. My goal is to offer a glimpse into what I have been seeing and doing in this “business” and tell you what I was impressed with and talk about things of note in live performance that might also be interesting to you, our patrons.

Last Saturday, I finally managed to see the much-lauded production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical “Evita” at the Stratford Festival of Canada, a production so successful for them that it was extended by popular demand with five additional performances through November 6. The story of Eva Duarte, who rises from poverty in rural Argentina to become first the mistress and then the wildly popular wife of President Juan Perón, first started as a rock opera concept album released in 1976 that led to productions in London's West End in 1978, and on Broadway a year later. Blending the personal with the political, this landmark of the modern musical theatre paints a dazzling portrait of a woman who helped shape history.  Exuberant Latin, rock and jazz rhythms pulse through the score of a show that took the world by storm, winning Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for best musical.

Colm Wilkinson of the Les Miz fame played Che on the original studio recording and Mandy Patinkin was the first Che on Broadway.  In the Stratford production it was Josh Young and we witnessed a star in the making in a man who has had so many musical theatre credits at an early age and will go far. I was looking forward to seeing many of my friends and colleagues on stage in the show and especially Chilina Kennedy, who I first saw when she was a student at Sheridan College and then as Anne in the musical Anne Of Green Gables at the Charlottetown Festival. Alas, she was indisposed and I saw her understudy Lindsay Croxhall, who did a terrific job in the show and that gave an idea for one of my upcoming Odeum articles regarding understudies.

An amazing performance in front of a sold-out audience is what I witnessed and the quality was top notch as noted by many international theatre critics who review Stratford. Musicals are the type of entertainment we also continue to bring to the Rose in the near future, so please look for the announcement of our 2011 Summer Theatre Season to see what I mean. See you again soon at the theatre!

Hi, I'm Costin Manu, the Programming Manager for the Rose Theatre Brampton.  Starting today, I will be contributing an entry here each Monday discussing all things “show-business”. My goal is to offer a glimpse into what I have been seeing and doing in this “business” and tell you what I was impressed with and talk about things of note in live performance that might also be interesting to you, our patrons.


I get to see a lot of performances every week, taking in many different genres. Last Friday I attended the premiere of another Norm Foster comedy gem, the “naughty and affectionate comedy” SKIN FLICK at Theatre Orangeville. This was another hit for Canada’s most prolific and most successful playwright and it was also a pleasure to see Norm again actually acting in one of his own plays. I must add that he keeps finding more original subjects and funny ways of relating and moving forward a story and I can tell you that he is a very accomplished actor in his own right with terrific comedic timing. It was also great to see the Artistic Director of Theatre Orangeville, David Nairn, acting in the play as well.  He is another accomplished, veteran performer and delivers comedic gems. Jamie Williams, Maria Dinn, and Susan Greenfield round out this terrific cast and they bring on the laughs non-stop.

A great play and a great evening out and the type of entertainment we will also continue to bring to The Rose in the near future. This hilarious comedy runs until October 31.

Costin with Norm Foster (left) at Skin Flick opening night party.


Members of Engelbert's fan club decorated his dressing room with chocolates, wine and homemade gifts at the Rose Theatre this morning in preparation for tonight's concert.  President Betty Mayer has been doing this at venues all over Canada and the States for 30 years.



Fan Club Members L to R - Lori Phillips, Loise Goos, Janice Mielcarek & Betty Mayer 



Fun, interesting and maybe a little random... check out these tidbits about Monty Python's SPAMALOT coming to the Rose Theatre for 3 performance on October 29 & 30.

• Spamalot uses 40 wireless microphones, consumes over 2500 AAA batteries per month, runs over 1 mile of cable and uses custom built lasers to aim the speakers in each house.
• Among the props is a cow that weighs 45 pounds which requires two stagehands to catapult it over the castle.
• Spamalot uses approximately 40 coconuts per month, supplied by the Coconut King in Florida.
• The Show Portal weighs 2800 pounds.
• The heaviest piece of scenery, The Camelot Hanger, weighs in at 6000 pounds.
• The “Feet of God” is the heaviest piece manually flown in, weighing 1700 pounds.
• The set utilizes 35 line sets, 30 chain motors, and over 13,000 pounds of stage weight.
• The Grail Lift that elevates the Lady of the Lake weighs over 4000 pounds and uses 2600 pounds of hydraulic pressure.
• The show hires 50 local crew members to load the show in and out, and 25 local crew members to run the show.
• It takes over 80 people on stage and off to run each performance.
• The Electrics Department uses 6 tanks of liquid carbon dioxide per week to create the low-ground fog effect and uses 8 fire extinguishers per week for the Feet of God “blast off” effect.
• 6 pounds of confetti are used at each performance.
• The orchestra uses a Spama-horn, an instrument specially developed for and used only in Spamalot.
• There are over 100 wigs (including facial hair) in the show, all hand-tied and made of human hair, yak hair, and synthetics supplied from New York, California, and London.
• The mud make-up is a formula specially designed for Spamalot.
• The poorest peasants’ costumes in the show are actually made of raw silk.
• 3 feet of “blood” has to be ironed prior to each performance.
• There are over 100 undergarments in the show, including 30 pairs of men’s fishnets and 56 cod pieces.
• The Lady of the Lake’s costumes are all comprised of hand-strung glass beads.
• The costumes are not only made of a wide variety of fabrics, but many are made of molded ABS plastics, and even nuts and bolts. You are as likely to see a costumer with power tools as you are a sewing machine.