IN THE MEDIA

Fringe 2013: Artists to Watch - Now Magazine July 4, 2013

Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places - National Post January 8, 2013

Rocking Out - Extra Magazine December 26, 2012

REVIEWS

THE PHILANDERESS

NOW Toronto | July 3, 2015

Seth Drabinsky's deadpan delivery as the flamboyant sibling Sylvie gets some of the heartiest laughs.

Crew Magazine | July 3, 2015

Drabinsky gives a very compassionate and funny performance as the flamboyant Sylvie

My Entertainment Wold | July 3, 2015

The play's standout character [is] Seth Drabinsky's Sylvie Craven - who ends the show with a beautiful display of empathy

HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH

Toronto @ The Drake Underground

NOW Toronto | January 17, 2013

Seth Drabinsky has come a long way since he first donned Hedwig’s signature platinum mop in 2009. In the years since, Drabinsky has made Hedwig his own, taking on the role of co-director and remounting the show with his own company for a successful string of cross-country engagements. Drabinsky’s performance was strong before and is even better now...[he] now wears Hedwig’s vampy charisma and volatile punk attitude like a second skin. Some of the funniest moments were during improvised banter with the audience.

The Grid TO | January 16, 2013

Whether he’s really half-man, half–Energizer Bunny, or slipping something illicit into his water, Seth Drabinsky is surely hiding something. That’s the only way to explain the almost paranormal energy he exhibits as the Berlin-born rock star Hedwig. Whatever Drabinsky’s secret, it’s working. As both the star and the director, Drabinsky successfully manages bridge the gap between the punk-rock edge of songs like “Angry Inch” and melancholy ballads like “Wicked Little Town.” He pulls off this range of emotions with fabulous ferocity in a show that smashes walls, stereotypes, and categories. As is often the case with such an iconic role, productions of this show are only as badass as their Hedwig, and whatever his secret, Drabinsky really makes the production sing.

London (Ontario) Fringe Festival

London Free Press | June 15, 2012

Seth Drabinsky...is sensational...[his] singing and acting...grabs hold of the audience and won't let go, his gestures and facial expressions as natural and believable as a real character. Drabinsky's convincing, powerful performance keeps the audience engaged. It was a performance I'll not soon forget, one that earned a standing ovation. 

The Beat Magazine | June 8, 2012

Seth Drabinsky – I take a breath in as I search for the correct words – he has no fear; he is so very beautiful and acts from the heart and soul, and as he says at the beginning he is open…amazingly so. And by the way, he can sing, wow can he sing….he rocks the house hard, then softly caresses us with his ballads.

Winnipeg Fringe Festival

Winnipeg Free Press | July 15, 2011 

Seth Drabinksy seems born for the role of Hedwig as he completely and believably transforms himself into the transgendered, trash-talking song-stylist. 

CBC Manitoba | July 15, 2011

The task of carrying the show falls to Seth Drabinsky as Hedwig, and he's certainly up to it, making Hedwig's collapse believable 

The Winnipeg Review | July 18, 2011

Seth Drabinsky, who plays Hedwig, and  L.A. Lopes, who plays Yitzhak, are incredible  singers with immense acting talent. This, by far, is the best the Fringe has to offer. 

Toronto @ The Theatre Centre

Torontostage.com | November, 2009

Splendidly performed...playgoers are treated to freshness, humour and honesty from beginning to end. Seth Drabinsky's performance without exaggerating is stunning as he seizes your sensations and pulls you right into a hardcore play with a soft light hearted centre.

Mooney on Theatre | November 6, 2009

Though there is more than one person on stage, Hedwig is for all intents and purposes a one person show, relying completely on Drabinsky as Hedwig to carry the whole performance. Thankfully he doesn't disappoint; his delivery of the extremely difficult songs are delivered with skill, passion, pain, rage, and a great deal of sensitivity without ever descending into angst. This is Seth's first production in Toronto, and I predict you will be seeing more of him quite soon.

Plank Magazine | November 3, 2009

The vast majority of the show rest on Drabinsky's shoulders, and thankfully he is more than enough of a performer to hold it up. A classically trained singer, he delivers the songs with power. CHaracter wise, He walks a careful line between 'larger than life drag queen' and 'tragic heroine'.

NOW Magazine | October 28, 2009

Drabinsky's energy and singing during full-on Bowie and Iggy inspired rock numbers is stadium-sized.

Vancouver @ The Media Club

Georgia Straight | May 3, 2007

A star is born, folks. I'm not kidding. Drabinsky is everything you could want him to be: defiant, transgressive, vulnerable, and extremely well made-up. Ultimately, the show rests on Drabinsky's shoulders, and it's a tailored fit. Pretending to face-fuck a startled audience member, Drabinsky is fearlessly camp. Then he's all melancholy bravado, floating the lyric "I put on some makeup" in a pure falsetto. The quality that ultimately makes this performance work, though, is generosity. At the end of the evening, when Hedwig takes on Tommy's persona-when the feminine and masculine halves reunite in one body. Drabinsky celebrates androgyny with such delirious openheartedness that he made me weep.

Vancouver Sun | April 28, 2007

By day, Seth Drabinsky is a third-year University of B.C. opera student. By night he's a crazed, cross-dressing German punk rocker suffering from a botched sex change. Hedwig and the Angry Inch needs a strong singer in its lead role and, in a Pickled Productions presentation of the rock- opera spoof, young Seth is certainly all that. Drabinsky grabs his part by its cojones and delivers a performance that's part Freddie Mercury, part Janis Joplin and all high-powered entertainment. Drabinsky displays a solid sense of the chaos within Hedwig, and tosses off little bons mots of nastiness with aplomb.

AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATHS OF QUEENS

NOW Magazine | May 10, 2012

Drabinsky pretty well stole the show...capturing the fragility and determination of a Blanche Dubois-type who depends on the kindness of men. He projected a winning ethereal quality that made us want Candy’s new relationship to work out, even though we knew it wouldn’t.

Mooney on Theatre | May 2, 2012

The multi-talented Seth Drabinsky ably carries much of the weight of the show as Candy. He sings, performs in drag and also evokes Candy’s fragility and pathos in a way that really makes the character sympathetic.

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

Vancouver Sun | July, 2009

Seth Drabinsky lets loose with lungs of gold.

The Georgia Straight | July 16, 2009

Two of the performances are stellar.....In an elegantly camp performance of conservatism, Seth Drabinsky makes Millie's boss, Graydon, both movie star suave and hopelessly nerdy. 

The Jewish Independent | July 24, 2009

Seth Drabinsky....has a phenomenal voice as well as his operatic outbursts are not just hilarious but gorgeous. 

Gay Vancouver | July 16, 2009

Drabinsky so nails the Gilbert and Sullivan esque of "The Speed Test" and effectively channels the ghost of Nelson Eddy in "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life"