What theatre shows to watch — and skip — on Toronto stages right now

When it comes to the performing arts, Toronto audiences are spoiled for choice. On any given day, there are always multiple plays, musicals, operas and dance shows running on the city’s stages. Here’s a comprehensive guide to what to see — and skip — along with links to our full reviews. Check back often as productions open and new reviews are published.

Pu Songling: Strange Tales

At the beginning of Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s haunting new play, “Pu Songling: Strange Tales,” five members of the ensemble casually enter the deep, narrow studio space at Crow’s Theatre and stand among the audience. Co-founder Dean Gilmour polls the crowd to see if anyone is familiar with the author, who was born in China in the 17th century and wrote approximately 500 short stories in his lifetime. A few hands shoot up. Then the Chinese-Canadian actors — John Ng, Diana Tso, Madelaine Hodges and Steven Hao — provide quick summaries of a handful of tales, ending with a story about people turning off their cellphones. This, it turns out, is a sly and clever way of guiding us into a world that, over the next 100 minutes, will prove to be as surprising as it is enchanting. Until Feb. 1 at Streetcar Crowsnest’s Studio Theatre.

Read Glenn Sumi’s full review of “Pu Songling: Strange Tales.”

Company

In theory, there are few greater pleasures in musical theatre than hearing the sound of unamplified Sondheim, each syllable of his lyrics hitting in the ear with perfect clarity, pure and undistorted. You can experience tantalizing samples of this brilliance in Toronto’s latest revival of “Company,” Sondheim and George Furth’s genre-breaking musical study of companionship and the institution of marriage. But what may sound good in theory doesn’t always translate in reality. Such is the case with Talk is Free Theatre’s production, now running at the Theatre Centre. Despite several inspired flourishes in Dylan Trowbridge’s pared-down, mic-free staging, this revival more often feels like a workshop presentation of “Company” rather than a cogent and fully realized production of it. Until Feb. 8 at the Theatre Centre.

Read Joshua Chong’s full review of “Company.”

Kimberly Akimbo

We’re still in the middle of cold and flu season. How else to explain Louise Pitre’s vocally underpowered performance in the demanding title role of “Kimberly Akimbo” at the opening night performance? As recently as late August, she was in fine form as Marya in “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.” But Marya is a supporting part and Kimberly Levaco, the teenage protagonist of Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s best musical Tony Award winner, is the lead. If you’re wondering why Pitre is playing a teen in the first place, that’s part of the show’s unique premise. Kimberly was born with a rare genetic disorder that has caused her to age about four or five times faster than normal. Until Feb. 8 at the CAA Theatre.

Read Glenn Sumi’s full review of “Kimberly Akimbo.”

& Juliet

David West Read’s irreverent Shakespearean musical rewrite — asking what if Juliet didn’t kill herself at the end of “Romeo and Juliet” — is back in Toronto following its pre-Broadway run in 2022. And while the two productions are nearly physically and materially identical, this Canadian remount somehow feels sharper, funnier and (dare I say) even better than than the one that was here before. Much of that is thanks to this cast, including Vanessa Sears, who delivers a career-high star turn in the title role. She’s a veritable triple-threat performer with powerhouse vocals that make these new arrangements of Max Martin’s hit tunes sound fresh. Until May 17 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Read Joshua Chong’s full review of “& Juliet.”