Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™

Review by Pan Wendt

This year’s Anne of Green Gables continues in the vein of last year’s classic, understated and precise rendition of a musical that remains miraculously fresh after more than four decades. With each passing year the focus of the stage adaptation of Anne on the brilliant sweetness and openness of youth, on (short) Island summers, and on the temporariness of

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Celebration of Craft

Review by Pan Wendt

The Eptek Centre’s summer exhibition Celebration of Craft offers a welcome opportunity to experience a broad sampling of Island craftwork. But it also focuses on pieces that expand the definition of craft, as organizers asked local craftspeople to submit objects that featured innovation and went a little beyond the format of their usual production work.

Naturally

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Culture Shock- Lorne Elliot

Review by Pan Wendt

Lorne Elliott’s long-running comedy, Culture Shock, hinges on a “stunned” young Newfounder’s trip to the mainland. Hilliard Philpott, played by Rory Lambert, finds himself in all sorts of predicaments because his total lack of understanding of big city goings-on, but he always emerges triumphant, in part because he’s honest and naïve, but in part because he turns o

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Stephen B. MacInnis
Spare Parts for Improvements

Review by Pan Wendt

Over the past 15 years or so, Stephen MacInnis has become one of the Island’s most recognizable and respected painters, with work showing at many galleries across the province, gracing the covers of books of poetry and, of the course, The Buzz. One of MacInnis’s achievements was the development of a personal style that combined saturated col

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Anne of Green Gables

Review by Pan Wendt

There were many changes made with this year’s production of Anne of Green Gables at the Charlottetown Festival, but for the most part these weren’t too obvious and it was business as usual: a slick, strong, entertaining show that totally won over its audience. And since one of the things that makes the show so successful is its classic quality—the feeling that every

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Anne and Gilbert

Review by Pan Wendt

This show is always going to have to contend with its mighty predecessor, and like all sequels, it’s not completely up to the task. But considering that young adult Anne was somewhat less interesting than teenage Anne in the original books, Anne and Gilbert does a tremendous job making something of the situation. For starters, writers Nancy White, Bob Johnston a

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Confederation Centre Art Gallery

Review by Pan Wendt

The summer exhibitions at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery this year seem more than ever geared toward presenting visitors to the Island with a sense of local artistic production, historical and contemporary. On schedule, Robert Harris is trotted out for the tourists, but this time, with In/Flux: Migrating Culture and Cultural Modernisation

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An interview with Amy Wallis, the Festival’s latest Anne Shirley

by Pan Wendt

Charlottetown Festival Artistic Director Anne Allen (seated) surrounded by five newleading cast members of this year’s production of Anne. From left: Amy Wallis, Charlotte Moore, Sandy Winsby, Janet MacEwen and Natalie Daradich

Amy Wallis, the British Columbia born actress chosen to play Anne in this year’s Charlottetown F

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Eye-catching addition adds more display and gallery spaces

by Pan Wendt

The owner of The Dunes, Peter Jansons, stands in the upper level of the new addition to his establishment in Brackley Beach. The lower level is devoted to a new exhibition, entitled Island to Island, which features artwork from Prince Edward Island and Bali.

Sitting down for an interview was a rare opportunity for Peter Jansons

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Anne of Green Gables —The Musical™

Review by Pan Wendt

For a musical that features an overexposed icon, not to mention loads of sentimentality, this show is still pretty fresh, especially if you bring your six-year-old daughter along. It’s tough to beat the catchy tunes and general up-up-up, and Jennifer Toulmin makes the best Anne I’ve seen, often dominating the proceedings with her calisthenic physical com

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Review by Pan Wendt

Arranged throughout two floors of the Confederation Centre Gallery’s east wing, Curb Appeal, organized by curator Shauna McCabe, is a grab bag of artistic reflections on contemporary urban experience. From found sounds, slide shows and large-scale photographs, to abstract paintings and works in coloured pencil, the diverse works in the show all revolve around mapping, perhaps the p

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The future of Arts Atlantic in doubt

by Pan Wendt

This March I received an email from Mimi Fautley, then Acting Editor of Arts Atlantic, informing me that the long-running magazine was postponing production. There would be no spring/summer issue. For the second time in the last five years, the journal was to be restructured. For the visual arts community of the Atlantic region, this is a devastating

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