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I enjoyed the evening walking down memory lane with Bill Shatner. I totally disagree with the review given by the Edmonton Sun newsreportter. He was difinitely NOT a Star Trek original series fan.
I have seen Star Trek TV series and Movies, Boston Legal etc. I enjoyed his sense of humor. But I really didn't realize how funny he really was. I always thought of William Shatner as someone who took himself more seriously. It was great to hear the stories and see him in another light. I found the show very funny (entertaining). He spoke about the rough times and how he turned them into something positive. Say yes to opportunity. When I first heard he was coming to Winnipeg and the said he would be speaking about his life and singing. I said oh no he's not going to sing. As I knew he didn't sing well. The songs were the best part.
THis was a wonderful night spent with a true legend. It was so much fun. Laughter, tears and contemplation. Brilliant
It was a enlightening evening, it was like sitting in the livingroom with a relative you don't know really well, but now want to find out all about them. It was great, and inspiring, "go ahead make an ass of yourself", really what do you have to lose you never know how it's all going to turn out.
William Shatner was charming, amusing, and the historial presentation of his career was illuminating. However, while the VIP tickets were well positioned in the Concert Hall, the after show event was demeaning and 'tacky'. The after show 'party' and opportunity to meet Mr. Shatner was very misleading. Guests were herded into a cordoned off lineup to have a photograph taken - followed by soft drinks and bowls of potato chips and candy. A disappointing and classless finale to a classy performance.
It appears I was more excited about the possibilities of what I could see and hear than what I did see and hear. The show was more of an auto-biography than I expected. I did not like the constant plugs for his DVD and book. I guess I wanted to be entertained more. I did enjoy learning more of his growing up and early experiences. William Shatner has had an interesting career.
I found William Shatner to be inspiring! Funny guy too!
Entering the event I really had no expectations. The crowd was in stitches laughing from the beginning with Mr. Shatner's version of our national anthem. It was hard to believe that nearly 2 hours had passed when the intermission was announced. Mr. Shatner revealed the start to current points in his life. His quirky sense of humour was evident throughout. To close the evening he could not have picked a better song. Everyone one in the crowd joined him in singing the chorus to his version of Stompin Tom's The Hockey Song. Twothumbs up to this event and opportunity to hear/see this iconic Canadian perform.
William Shatner brought his cross-Canada ‘How Time Flies” tour in for a landing last night at Winnipeg’s Centennial Concert Hall. With a successful career in show business that spans 7 decades and counting, it was difficult to know what the legendary Canadian performer might have in store for his audience, but as the lights dimmed and the jumbontron lit up, it quickly became apparent the actor’s well known offbeat sense of humour was going to play a integral part in the night’s proceedings. The show opened with a video showing Shatner’s hilarious attempt at doing an interpretive reading of Canada’s national anthem, filmed as part of the celebration surrounding the Montreal, QC native’s receipt of the prestigious 2011 Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement. Music journalist Alan Cross (local boy makes good, originally form Stonewall, MB), took the stage, and introduced the octogenarian icon, who entered to roaring applause, wearing a blue pinstripe suit, white open collared shirt, his youthful appearance belying his age. Cross, and Shatner seated themselves on 2 silver easy chairs (the only props on stage asides from the big screen), and began a near 3 hour discourse, broken only by a brief 20 minute intermission, about the actor’s life and career – which was the format used for the entire evening to good effect. However, it was the man who gave the world the intrepid “Captain Kirk” of Star Trek, and “Denny Crane” of Boston Legal, who did almost all the talking, presenting Winnipegers with a wildly entertaining evening of anecdotes, jokes, musings, adlibs, songs, laughter, and tears, as he reflected upon on his long, storied life and career. Unlike the deadly serious James T. Kirk or “Mad Cow” Denny Crane, Shatner the man is easy-going, fun loving and a charismatic storyteller who will toot his own horn in one breath, and tell a utterly self-deprecating joke in the next. Early topics included the Charlie Sheen Roast, his love of horses, his early life in Montreal, his years as “the worst student ever” at McGill University, and days as a budding actor in theatre and movies. There were no sacred cows, as Shatner took pot shots at fellow actors such as Spencer Tracy and Montgomery Clift in “Judgement at Nuremberg” (gives a bang on impersonation of Clift slurring his words, playing his “Nuremberg” role of mentally challenged witness “Rudolph Petersen,” and comments “thought it was great acting until I realized he was simply drunk throughout the entire film.” He also got off plenty of zingers from his early days living with his parents in Montreal as struggled to find acting work, such as "I told my mother I'd been cast in the role of a Jewish husband. She said, ‘you call the producer and tell him you want a speaking part!'" Ever the showman, Shatner ended the first half of the show, with a teaser about how an incident involving falling off a horse, led to his decision about how he would play the death scene of “Captain Kirk,” Surprisingly, except for an occasional reference, Star Trek, barely gets touched upon in Pt 1. The audience waited for the 2nd half with baited breath while buying Shatner swag, marketed steadily throughout the night, and also enjoyed a promo clip on Shatner’s recent documentary “The Captains.” The 2nd half topic had at times a more sombre tone with topics including “Captain Kirk’s” death, the loss of his father during the filming of Star Trek, the pool accident death of his 3rd wife, as well as musings about his own mortality at age 80, “I’ve been staring death in the face for a while now, but one of these days it’s gonna be me who blinks – but not for a long-time yet!” Though this more serious side of Shatner proved the most intriguing, he never let his stories and reflections become overly weighed down in morbid sentiment. Even the most tragic of tales had a bittersweet element, and contained a “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” twist ending as when a rag mag accused him of complicity in his 3rd wife’s death, and threatened to publish the story unless he gave them an exclusive. Shatner revealed that he agreed to the blackmail for a hefty price, and used the money to build a foundation in his wife’s name, which has since helped hundreds of women overcome alcohol addiction. Although Shatner touched on his music career briefly in his musings on “why it is important to say “yes” and “take risks,” asides from some video footage showing clips of song performances, he only performed 1 song live, and saved it until the very end of the night (very surprising since he just released a brand new studio album called “Seeking Major Tom.”) And, after wrestling with mortality, loss and other profoundly intense subjects throughout the 2nd half, with what chestnut did Shatner grace the crowd (this enfant terrible who gave the world spoken word versions of “Mr Tambourine Man,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”)? Why Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “The Hockey Song” of course. Huh? The choice might’ve been thought risky, quirky or downright nuts in some other city, but in Winnipeg, MB, the city which just got back it’s National Hockey League franchise after a 15 year absence, Shatner’s selection was a safe bet to send the crowd home ‘beaming” and did exactly that!
For the most part it was funny but there were parts in the middle I felt myself falling asleep started and ended on good funny notes though
Great seats, good show, great to see Shatner live.
It was a great event and Willian did not disappoint!!
Awesome evening: all Bill, all the time and we loved it! Thinking about flying to Montreal for the finale night!
Went to see William Shatner on October 23rd and really enjoyed the evening. I love his sense of humour and found out other interesting items about him. My daughter took me because I am a huge "Star Trek" fan and even named her after a character in the series (Rayna). I loved how they would talk about something and then have a clip to view - hiliarous!
He Mainly sat on stage in a chair talking with to an unknown guy in an interview type function. I was in the front row and spent 400 hard earned dollars on a VIP ticket . The kicker..... Shatner had his back to me almost the entire time and could count on one hand the times he looked around, He sang 2 songs. a semi comical o canada on a video.... and a Karokee stompin tom hockey game song. Then they said as there were so many vip tickets (obviously oversold them) that we got time for a handshake and our picture taken by the photographer. We were also told he wouldnt be signing autographs cause he didnt have the time. So the Meet and greet didnt exist and a single rushed picture. From what was promised to the VIP's when we were sold these high priced tic's and what was delivered we were ripped off. Buying anything more than the basic general ticket is not worth it! If youve seen his movie the captains then you've seen pretty much the entire event.
It was such a great night. Mr. Shatner talked about life, the universe, love - sometimes with humour and, at times, with some sadness. It is hard to take your eyes off of him - it is like you are sitting alone with him listening to his stories. A wonderful time. (The interviewer was not that good - Mr. Shatner led the evening with little input from the other person)
Show was a little long and dragged here and there..but WS was great and a true inspiration
It was wonderful seeing Shatner live. I thought he told great stories. There was a good balance between the multimedia/movies used and the stories told.
Mr. Shatner, a mere 80 years old, had us all enthralled with his banter totalling 2 hours and 40 minutes. What a full life he has led - what a talent - We always used to make fun of his "acting" but he was brilliant as Denny Crane for 5 seasons of Boston Legal. His rendition of "O Canada" on the NFB video dlip was hilarious. His side trips into his thoughts on Death and Love were moving. I enjoyed every minute of the evening.
We all had a wonderful time.And our photo turned out good.
