Japanese vaudeville

Neat. As part of the Summerworks Theatre Festival (and our homage to anything that comes from Greg Robec) we went to a production of "Areguro", which is sort of a traditional Japanese form of vaudeville or story telling, except that our friend Greg played accordion. We laughed...well, we laughed some more, not really a crying sort of presentation. It was a completely different kind of theatre than I'd previously been exposed to, but highly enjoyable. Aro, the "sit down" comic central to the piece was jetlaged after having been rerouted and abandoned in New York, and arriving in Toronto only hours before the opening. This was explained, but not at all evident from his energetic and engaging performance. One thing perplexed me: I don't know if it was a traditional form or not but the end? Wasn't sure when it happened. Everything stopped, Greg and Aro waved and walked off stage...and then, we just kind of all sat there. Entire audience looking at each other - "what do you think we should do?" "I don't know, what do you think we should do?" and so forth. Can't just leave a bunch of Canadians in a theatre without letting them know it's okay to leave. I timed it - 4 min 34 seconds before the first person tentatively stood and began slowly walking to the door, casting a few backward glances at the stage. Actually, this part was pretty funny too...all in all, recommended. Go forth.
Check here for more info on the show: http://www.areguro.com/
And check here for festival details: http://www.summerworks.ca/