Oh Canada Eh! Dinner Theatre & Show A Review Of Niagara's Newest Musical Show " On The Radio"
Niagara Falls has many entertainment options to choose from including the Oh Canada Eh Theatre located on the historical street, Lundy’s Lane. Currently in its 18th season, the theatre is a well known showcase of Canada’s musical theatre talent by both locals and visitors looking for great live entertainment.
We decided to attend the latest winter musical named “On the Radio”. The show is advertised as being a journey through the decades of music that traveled the radio waves from the 1940s to today and contains more than 100 radio hits in between featuring well know musical artists from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga!
Every show at the Oh Canada Eh! Theatre is a night out in its self. It includes a full course “Family Style” dinner followed by a roughly two hour show.
The seating in the Oh Canada Eh Theatre resembles that of a restaurant rather than a live musical. We were seated directly in front of the stage at a table shaped like a large U and seated about 12. This arrangement gave everyone a great view of the show.
Before the show came the dinner. A dinner that included salad, prime rib, breaded fish, potatoes and a tasty maple cake for desert. An interesting part about the dinner was that we found out that our server as well as several others were actually the performers in the show as well! This was a great way for the audience to interact with the actors.
After the dinner was over, our server, a French Canadian actor in the show, excused himself as our server and made his way behind stage to prepare for the show. At this time there was an announcement that the show would start in twenty minutes. This felt a bit long to us but did give anyone who smoked or needed to stretch their legs enough time to do so.
We noticed that there was a few empty tables which started to fill up prior to the show starting. These were people that had decided to opt out of the dinner portion of the show.
The show started with a lowering of the house lights and a music monologue preformed expertly by the live house band located in a room above the theatre entrance visible by all the audience.
Starting in the 40s, each decade of radio tunes introduced by two of the performers reminded the audience of what the times were like by giving some examples. Examples like the cost of a new home being under ten thousand dollars, a new car under one thousand dollars and the price of a gallon of fuel at the astonishing rate of 34 cents!
Following the introduction to the decade the cast members all break out in song while wearing period clothing to help complete the mood. Some songs were preformed solo by one member while others involved the entire group dancing and singing.
The entire decades of music were basically whittled down to a dozen or so of the most memorable songs and were all strung together into one continues tune. Most songs were shortened to their most popular chorus but were there were some that were just about sung straight through.
This method of introducing the decade with information and then singing and dancing along with the songs went on through the entire show. It worked well and even if you didn’t know or care for a particular tune, you knew that it was only going to be a short time before something familiar came up.
As the decades moved on I noticed that the songs that appeared on the radio actually originally focused on solo artists singing straight to the audience with some basic music to accompany the words. Then as the sixties and seventies rolled on the music focused more on groups of singers and faster, dance style music. Finally as the 80s and 90 drew to a close it seemed that the focus was more on the music and dancing and not so much the words of the songs.
As the On The Radio Show drew to a close, the cast members lined across the stage to take a final bow and take in the crowds applause. While the audience was making their way to the front exit, the actors then made an appearance in the front lobby to meet each visitor to give autographs and pose for photos. This was a great touch to wrap up the entire experience.
The Oh Canada Eh Dinner Show and Theatre is definitely a great family night out and worth the ticket price! For more information about showtimes and ticket purchase, check out the "Oh Canada Eh Website."
Niagara Falls has many entertainment options to choose from including the Oh Canada Eh Theatre located on the historical street, Lundy’s Lane. Currently in its 18th season, the theatre is a well known showcase of Canada’s musical theatre talent by both locals and visitors looking for great live entertainment. 
than 100 radio hits in between featuring well know musical artists from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga!
We were seated directly in front of the stage at a table shaped like a large U and seated about 12. This arrangement gave everyone a great view of the show.
the performers in the show as well! This was a great way for the audience to interact with the actors.
stretch their legs enough time to do so.
Following the introduction to the decade the cast members all break out in song while wearing period clothing to help complete the mood. Some songs were preformed solo by one member while others involved the entire group dancing and singing.
continues tune. Most songs were shortened to their most popular chorus but were there were some that were just about sung straight through.
close it seemed that the focus was more on the music and dancing and not so much the words of the songs.
and pose for photos. This was a great touch to wrap up the entire experience.