Theater (and movie) goers were saddened to hear of the passing of Brian Bedford, 80, a staple of Stratford; William Needles, the iron man of Canadian theater, 97; and Alan Rickman, 69, star of Broadway and Hollywood (Die Hard, Harry Potter).
ALL MY SONS, the drama by Arthur Miller presented by the Irish Classical Theatre Company, opens tonight and runs through February 7, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30; also Saturdays at 3:00 and Sundays at 2:00 at the Andrews Theatre, 625 Main.
KEELY AND DU, a drama by Jane Martin addresses issues of abortion at The Subversive Theatre and runs through February 6, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 at The Manny Fried Playhouse, on the third floor of 255 Great Arrow Avenue.
END OF THE RAINBOW, a musical drama by Peter Quilter, stars Natasha Drena as Judy Garland in the final days of her short time on earth, beset by self doubt and self medicating with anything she could get her hands on, but appearing at London's Talk of the Town dinner theater and belting out songs from the Great American Songbook. An outstanding performance by Greg Gjurich as Garland's long time (and long suffering) pianist is not to be missed.
In New York City, Richard Greenberg's OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR stars Linda Lavin (Alice) as the mother who slowly reveals that she had an affair with David Greenglass, the man who lied under oath and sent his sister to the electric chair.
And George Takei (Sulu on Star Trek) continues a successful run of ALLEGIANCE about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, a subject of which he has personal knowledge.