Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
Interviewing the great Elaine Stritch at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, back when I had more hair. Photo by David Hawe

My name is Glenn Sumi. I've been covering the Toronto theatre scene full-time for exactly 25 years, mostly at NOW Magazine, a once wonderful news and entertainment weekly whose days are numbered. Hence this newsletter. Pre-pandemic, I saw and reviewed hundreds of shows a year, primarily theatre but also comedy, opera, dance and performance art.

I also write about film, and hope to occasionally write about movies that excite me here. (I'm sure there will be an Oscars post or two.) But there are sooo many writers covering film and too few writing about theatre, the most exciting, spontaneous and honest art form I know.

Rather than continue to publish at the aforementioned outlet, who owe me back wages from April 2022, I have decided to publish my thoughts here. I hope you follow along.

So please subscribe, comment, argue. My site's called So Sumi – suggesting, I hope, both my fearless approach to criticism and a certain style for which I've become known ("That's so Sumi"). It's also, d'uh, a pun on my name.

Cheesy? So Su–