Calgary Fringe Festival

August 3 to 11, 2012

Various Venues

http://see.calgaryfringe.ca/sections/3-shows

For a theater junkie there is no better time that the Fringe Festival. For a theatre junkie who happens to be a reviewer, there is also no more exhausting a time. Seeing two plays a day for over a week straight while churning out same-day or next-day reviews, becomes something like the premiere event in the critic Olympics. But if last year is any indication, I’m not complaining. Some of the best shows I saw in 2011 were Fringe shows and I’m hopeful that this year’s crop of plays will excite me in the same way.

I choose the plays I see based on very personal and non-objective requirements. Screwball comedy exploring the gender divide? Pass. To me these are never all that original or funny. Pseudo or Post-Feminist plays that try to titillate by saying lots of dirty words to either shock or amuse? Again pass. Been there, done that. Musicals or movement pieces that self-describe as “edgy”? Yeah, um, no. If you have to tell me how cool you are, you usually aren’t.

What I do look for are plays that have interesting stories, not just punch lines. Ideas that intrigue me and draw me in regardless of the medium. Often I will choose a Fringe play based on the performer, who I know and like. Sometimes I chose a play based on the reviews it’s received from showing at other Fringe’s across Canada.

And , sometimes I score big and other times my choices turn out to be horrendous. But that’s the thing with the Fringe.  With most shows being 60 minutes, one act and around $14, you actually don’t mind seeing a few stinkers if it means you get to see a few really good shows.

So, with that in mind and with my research done – here’s the list of the shows I’m seeing this year and why:

Heffner Monologues – The reviews have been spectacular. High hopes for this one.

The Bro Show –Chase Padgett put on one of my favorite shows at last year’s Fringe, 6 Guitars, and I’m happily going back for more

The Hoodwink  – This solo show was written by and stars Melanee Murray, who I thoroughly enjoyed in last year’s Theatre Calgary production of To Kill A Mockingbird. In fact, she was one of the few bright spots. I’m eager to see what she does when the stage and the dialogue are all her own.

She has a Name – Brothel Trafficking in Bangkok may be a heady subject for a Fringe show, but they got my attention.

Peter n Chris – Frankly this is the type of screwball comedy I generally stay away from. But a critic friend of mine in Toronto begged me to go see it and he will owe me a beer if I don’t like it. Game on!!

Preparation Hex – Bob Brader was captivating last year in Spitting in the Face of the Devil, now he moves from abusive father stories to finding and keeping love. Will it be as intense? Looking forward to finding out.

Loon – The 2011 Best of Fest winners for Grim and Fischer are back, and I’m looking forward to what kookiness they bring to us this year.

Breathe Normally – I’ve been told by several people that these folks are must see performers. I’ve never seen them, so I want to know what all the fuss is about.

Tin Foil Dinosaur – One man comedic look at anxiety disorders that is getting great reviews from other festivals. I’m in!

Orchestrated – A music and movement show about how perspective can reveal mixed messages. I figure this will be brilliant or horrid. Stay tuned.

Push in Case of Emergency – Strangers caught in an elevator told through multi genre vignettes. Hoping this is as surreal as it sounds

So, there you have it. If you feel I’m missing something spectacular or if you see a show that you want to recommend to me, by all means drop me a note. Otherwise, check back often throughout the Fringe for reviews, recommendations and general thoughts on the quality of shows this year.

Giovanni Mocibob as Asher Lev is fascinated by his father’s (Aryeh Lev), played by Nathan Schmidt. Photo Credit: Morris Ertman

My Name is Asher Lev

July 4 – August 25, 2012

Rosebud Theatre

http://www.rosebudtheatre.com/rosebud-theatre-current-season.html

Listen to my live review on CBC’s Eyeopener of July 20th at 7:20am http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/

Taking a cue from Jacob Kahn, one of the characters in My Name is Asher Lev, who prefers bluntness above all, when I first heard that Rosebud Theatre was putting on this play my reaction was a sarcastic and disbelieving, I gotta see this! For a theatre company with strong connections to the faith-based Christian community to be putting on a play about Hassidic Jews in a town (or even Province) where the Jewish population is minute, never mind the ultra-religious Hassidic sect, seemed odd to say the least.

Would they do justice to the original story written by the famous Jewish American author and Rabbi, Chaim Potok? Would they dumb down the Yiddish and Anglicise the dialogue? Who would they cast as these 1940’s Brooklyn Hassidic characters and would the actors be able to deliver the accents and mannerisms without tripping into stereotype? All these questions swirled in my head as I made my way along the 90-minute drive from Calgary out to the little town of Rosebud and their very successful rural theatre.

My questions were answered in interesting ways, but before the analysis – the plot.

The play tells the story of a Hassidic Jewish boy named Asher Lev who is born with an incredible gift and unassailable passion for drawing. As in, drawing all the time, at the expense of almost everything else. For most families, this would be a problem, but it’s especially problematic in the cloistered community of the ultra-religious Hassidic Jews who pray 3 times a day, don’t mingle with the outside world and have very strict rules about what they wear and eat. While Hassids can appreciate art, it’s certainly not thought of as a respectable profession or something that should take time away from your studies.  In trying to forbid Asher from continuing his drawing his father asserts that a painter is someone who paints your house and that being an artist doesn’t serve God in the manner they believe.

Asher is a good boy, he loves his family and believes in his religion but he can’t quash his burning desire to create and communicate his feelings through his art. Even when those feelings ultimately lead him to create paintings that are extremely offensive to his family and his community and cause wide-ranging consequences and conflicts.

An unusual production choice for Rosebud theatre? Well yes and no. Rosebud is a theatre that traditionally attracted a religious Christian audience looking for faith-based programming. But according to the Artistic Director Morris Ertman, (who staged My Name is Asher Lev in Vancouver in 2010) of the thirty-five thousand or so people who come to Rosebud every year, there’s a real mix between religious and non-religious people of all backgrounds. Ertman maintains his programming highlights plays that are spiritual as opposed to simply Christian – plays about the human heart and the spirit of the community. So while I think it’s fair to say that you will never see a David Mamet play put on at Rosebud, My Name is Asher Lev falls nicely within their mandate.

My mandate for the play was to see it performed with honesty and authenticity, and I was not disappointed. I was very pleased to see that neither the story nor the language was dumbed-down for the audience.  While the play’s central theme examining the conflict between what you want to do with your life and what your family or community deems appropriate is a fairly universal theme, the play did not shy away from the use of some decidedly unknown language and religious doctrine. True, you don’t need to know a lot about the ways of Hassidic Jews to follow the plot, but I couldn’t help thinking that I might have been getting a bit more out of the story than some of the other audience members who knew nothing about this way of life. When it came to the language, I knew I was following along easier than most people.  My Name is Asher Lev contains quite a bit of Yiddish and I’m not talking about the words that most people know like kvetch or schmooze. Instead, the audience hears words like narishkite, meaning a foolish person or Ribbono shel Olem which is a reference to God as the Creator and Master of the universe. Some of the language gets explained in English and some doesn’t, but from what I could tell, the audience followed along well enough that it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t take away from their enjoyment of the play.  Or perhaps I just underestimated the sophistication of the audience. Either way, I was impressed with both the delivery and acceptance of some of the play’s tougher moments.

I was however, less impressed overall when it came to the writing and acting in the play. My Name is Asher Lev is a not an easy story to stage.  The book is told in first person and the play honours that format – a format that can get pretty limiting and frankly boring if it’s not done right. And it while it wasn’t done wrong in the first act per se, it certainly wasn’t all that engaging. Much of the storyline and dialogue in the first act is basically a long repetitive loop of, I want to draw, you’re not allowed to draw, but I need to draw, but this isn’t the way we do things. Over and over again. It sets the story up, but some economy was greatly needed here to really keep our interest.

It’s the second act where things really take off and the story becomes truly compelling as we watch the evolution of Asher as a person and an artist. Its here that’s Asher’s first person voice carries great impact and brings audiences closer into the story. But not because the performances of Asher or his mother were all that intriguing, mind you.

Throughout the play I found myself  disappointed with Giovanni Mocibob as Asher Lev. While it was a passably competent performance I found his range was limited to either anger or intensity in a type of straight-line acting that was too unmodulated in its emotional tone. Heather Pattengale as Asher’s mom Rivkeh also fell more to the capable side of the acting divide and had some issues getting her Yiddish accent consistent and correct during the performance.

But truthfully, all of this almost didn’t matter because I was so glued to Nathan Schmidt playing Asher’s father Aryeh and a number of other important characters, that it was extremely easy to gloss over the lesser performances. Schmidt not only played his roles with exquisite and seemingly effortless authenticity, his ability to embody a character and play him as a complex person above and beyond the script’s offerings was remarkable. It was a delightful surprise to encounter this level of talent at Rosebud and I was grateful to have seen it. For those of you that read my reviews often, you are aware that a standing ovation from me is a rare occurrence at best. Had the cast come out individually at the end of the play, I would have had no problem getting on my feet to applaud Schmidt on his wonderful performance.

It’s an effort to go see My Name is Asher Lev. The drive is long and my windshield is a total bug splatter graveyard from the excursion. But if you’re up for a bit of a day trip, despite some of the weaker moments in the show, my feeling is that there is a lot of really good stuff going on in this play. It’s an interesting story that tackles the issues honestly and doesn’t sugar coat the problem or give us neat and tidy answers. Morris Ertman’s direction makes very good use of a small stage and Lachlin Johnson’s set design is minimal but nicely effective. And then of course there is Schmidt’s performance, which for me was reason enough to have made the whole trip worthwhile.

RATING 

For the guys and the girls – Who can’t relate to the need to follow your dreams? Or the tension one would feel if those dreams were in direct conflict with a family you loved. It’s a messy situation that the play doesn’t pretend to fix for you. SEE IT

For the occasional theatre goer – A chance to learn about a culture you may not know much about through a storyline that you will relate to. Despite some foreign language, it’s easy to follow and this time you might be ok with not having things perfectly resolved at the end of the show. SEE IT

For the theatre junkie – There are problems. But they aren’t huge. And the upside of the one brilliant performance should be very tempting. MAYBE SEE IT

*Final Note – The day I went to see the play was a lovely sunny and warm day, which translated into an almost unbearable hot and muggy temperature inside the theatre. If you do go when the weather is warm, I suggest dressing as lightly as possible, bringing cold water and possibly something effective to fan yourself with.

2012 Critter Nominations Announced

Calgary Critics’ Awards honour 60 nominees in 14 categories

We saw, we reviewed, we discussed as a group, we argued, we negotiated, we horse-traded and we drunk a lot of wine – but eventually we all agreed and were pleased with the choices. Calgary Theatre Critics, Stephen Hunt and Bob Clark of the Calgary Herald, Louis B. Hobson of the Calgary Sun and yours truly are pleased to announce the nominees for the first annual Calgary Critics’ Awards.

Nominees were chosen from any production performed in Calgary between August, 2011 and June, 2012, with the exception of Broadway Across Canada or Dancap performances. The winners will be announced at a free public award ceremony at 8pm on August 1st at the Auburn Saloon.

So, drum roll please……

The 2012 Critter nominees are:

Best Production of a Play

Penny Plain – Alberta Theatre Projects

Playing with Fire: The Theo Fleury Story – Alberta Theatre Projects

Sia – Downstage

Summer of My Amazing Luck – Sage Theatre

Fool for Love – Sage Theatre/Shadow Theatre

Best Production of a Musical

Avenue Q –Storybook Theatre

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Vertigo Theatre

Wizard of Oz – Alberta Theatre Projects

Jeremy de Bergerac – Forte Musical Theatre Guild

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Stage West

Best New Play

Take a Bite – Take a Bite Productions

Dad’s Piano – Lunchbox Theatre

Taking Shakespeare – One Yellow Rabbit

Drama: Pilot Episode – Alberta Theatre Projects

Best Revival

Highest Step in the World – Ghost River Theatre/Pumphouse Theatre

In the Wake – Downstage

When That I Was – The Shakespeare Company

Shirley Valentine – Theatre Calgary

Best Director Play

Ron Jenkins – Playing with Fire: The Theo Fleury Story – Alberta Theatre Projects

Vanessa Sabourin – Hunger Striking – Urban Curvz

Kevin McKendrick – Race – Ground Zero/Hit and Myth Productions

Georgina Beaty – Big Shot – Surreal SoReal Theatre/ Ghost River Theatre

Best Director Musical

George Smith – Avenue Q

Mark Bellamy – Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Vertigo Theatre

Glynis Leyshon – Wizard of Oz – Alberta Theatre Projects

Max Reimer– Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – Stage West

Best Actor in a Play

Haysam Kadri – Jim Forgetting – Verb Theatre

Dave MacInnis – Fool for Love – Sage Theatre/Shadow Theatre

Chad Nobert – Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad – Beyond the Brink Productions

Ryan Luhning – Race – Ground Zero/Hit and Myth Productions

Best Actress in a Play

Jamie Konchak – Hunger Striking – Urban Curvz

Meg Roe – Mary’s Wedding – Alberta Theatre Projects

Denise Clarke – Taking Shakespeare – One Yellow Rabbit

Caley Suliak – Summer of my Amazing Luck – Sage Theatre

Best Actor in a Musical

Bruce Horak – Wizard of Oz – Alberta Theatre Projects

Kevin Aichele – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Vertigo Theatre

Tory Doctor – Jeremy de Bergerac – Forte Musical Theatre Guild

JP Thibodeau – Avenue Q- Storybook Theatre

Best Actress in a Musical

Roberta Mauer Phillips – Jeremy de Bergerac – Forte Musical Theatre Guild

Madeleine Suddaby – Avenue Q – Storybook Theatre

Ksenia Thurgood – Wizard of Oz – Alberta Theatre Projects

Elizabeth Stepkowski Tarhan – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Vertigo Theatre

Featured Actor in a Play or Musical

Alexander Plouffe – True Love Lies – Alberta Theatre Projects

Rejean Cournoyer – True Love Lies – Alberta Theatre Projects

Kevin Rothery – Fool for Love – Sage Theatre/Shadow Theatre

Bart Kwiatkowski– Avenue Q – Storybook Theatre

Tim Koetting – Last Christmas – Lunchbox Theatre

Featured Actress in a Play or Musical

Karen Johnson-Diamond – Last Christmas – Lunchbox Theatre

Laura Parken – When Girls Collide – Vertigo Theatre

Monice Peter – Race – Ground Zero/Hit and Myth Productions

Mabelle Carvajal – Drama: Pilot Episode – Alberta Theatre Projects

Best Solo Performance

Shaun Smyth – Playing with Fire: The Theo Fleury Story – Alberta Theatre Projects

Julia Mackey – Jake’s Gift – Lunchbox Theatre

Jon Lachlan Stewart – Big Shot – Surreal SoReal Theatre/ Ghost River Theatre

Raoul Bhaneja – Hamlet (Solo) – Hope and Hell Theatre in association with Richard Jordan Productions Ltd

Best Design

Narda McCarroll – Sweeney Todd – Vertigo Theatre

David Fraser – Playing with Fire: The Theo Fleury Story – Alberta Theatre Projects

Roger Schultz -True Love Lies – Alberta Theatre Projects

Bretta Gerecke  -Enron – Theatre Calgary

Terry Gunvordahl – Rope – Vertigo Theatre

To attend the Calgary Critics’ Awards please RSVP to critterawards2012@gmail.com as soon as possible as there are a limited number of spots available. Doors open at 7pm with complimentary nibbles for everyone, the awards will begin at 8pm and the celebration will continue until they kick us all out.

The Calgary Critics would like to thank their event sponsors: Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Davis Jensen Law, Bottom Line Productions, Auburn Saloon, The Collectors’ Gallery of Art and Petrocraft Storage Inc. for their support and enthusiasm.

Photograph by: Joan Marcus , ¬©2011 Joan Marcus

Jersey Boys

June 28 – July 15, 2012

Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

www.DancapTickets.com

Listen to my live review on CBC’s Eyeopener on Tuesday July 3 at 7:40 http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/

My feeling is that when it comes to reviewing Jersey Boys, it’s better to get the cranky critic stuff out of the way right off the top so I can go on to tell you why the 2006 Tony-Award winning musical is such a beloved and enduring hit.

The musical, which employs a straightforward biographical approach to the story of The Four Seasons (Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, Nick Massi and Frankie Valli), who topped the charts in the ’60s with songs like Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry,  December 1963 (Oh What a Night), Ragdoll and Walk Like a Man, is an incredibly poor example of insight storytelling. As in, there is no insight. Instead Jersey Boys presents what some have labeled a “shrink-wrapped” narrative or as I call it, flash-card story-telling, that plays out for about two and a half hours in a, “this happened, then that happened, then this happened, let’s sing” kind of format with very few true dramatic moments. You get the top notes of the story, but it’s a Cole’s Notes version at best.

Not once do we really get inside the heads of the boys – how did they deal emotionally with their rise to fame, what motivated them to get there in the first place and how do they deal with becoming the inevitable has beens? Nor do we get any illuminating details about the process that allowed them to create those memorable songs or that signature sound.  All things that I really wanted to know and I think would have made Jersey Boys more than just a vehicle for what is essentially an exercise in big production karaoke.

But oh what amazing karaoke it is! And this is where as a critic I have no choice but to put my cynical pen down and admit that whatever narrative failings Jersey Boys has, the music and more importantly the singing performances are thoroughly outstanding.

Beginning from when the band first started to assemble, Jersey Boys divides up the narrative between the four members so each can tell his side of the story. But regardless of who is doing the talking, the music is the real star of the show. And with thirty-three numbers jam-packed into the performance, there is no shortage of swooning, heart-soaring exhilarating musical moments. Jukebox musicals such as Jersey Boys (where none of the songs are original) have often been accused of relying solely on the strength of the familiar music and nostalgia factor to be a success. No doubt this is part of the allure of the production, but to say that this performance of Jersey Boys rested solely on its musical laurels would be to do an unforgivable injustice to the four performers who step into The Four Seasons’ shoes.

Preston Truman Boyd as Bob Gaudio, Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi and John Gardiner as Tommy DeVito may not be the best actors you’ve ever seen (the men played stereotypes rather than characters), but wow can they sing. However, as with most pop bands, the real draw is usually the lead singer and this show is no exception.  The pitch-perfect and stunningly powerful falsetto singing of Joseph Leo Bwarie as frontman Frankie Valli, goes way beyond nostalgia or simple impersonation and instead delivers a crowd-roaring performance that feels both personal as well as reverential. Singing most of the show’s thirty three songs, Bwarie rips through the impossibly high notes with breathtaking ease and offers up song after song of high energy Doo-Wop mastery.

It’s exactly what the crowd comes for and the reason the entire audience at the Jubilee stood on their feet cheering at the close of the show.  They were not thinking about the passably efficient rather than interesting direction by Des McAnuff. They were not thinking about the pedestrian-looking catwalk-cum-fire-escape minimalist set design by Klara Zieglerova. They were not thinking about the atrociously written and performed scenes when Bob loses his virginity or when Frankie learns of his daughter’s death by overdose. They were thinking about the music. Some perhaps about what those songs meant to them back in the day. Some maybe hearing it for the first time. But either way, if judged purely on the songs and singing performances, the standing ovation was well-earned.

Me? I like my pop concerts to be pop concerts and my theatre experiences to offer something more. So yes, cranky critic to the end, I remained seated.

RATING

For the guys – As far as musicals go, it’s a fairly masculine one. The Four Seasons were blue-collar guys, some with mob connections, and all with eyes for the ladies. The singing is big and the music is great. MAYBE SEE IT

For the girls – It’s not because they’re guys that you’ll have a hard time connecting with these characters – it’s because the show gives you nothing to relate to. This plus all the female characters are either tramps or whiny nags. Still, what a songbook and what voices! MAYBE SEE IT

For the occasional theatre goer – I can’t recommend this enough to you. It’s an easy to follow story with some fluffy laughs along the way and the music and singers will blow your socks off. A perfectly fun night in the theatre. SEE IT

For the theatre junkie – If you love the music so much that you’ll forgive the show’s many failings then perhaps you’ll enjoy. But make no mistake, good theatre this isn’t. MAYBE SEE IT