Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Prairie Dame

January 14 – 26, 2013

Lunchbox Theatre

http://www.lunchboxtheatre.com/blanche.html

 

As I walked into the theatre to experience Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Prairie Dame, I couldn’t help but notice that the production was selling CD’s of the show’s seventeen original songs. As I walked out of the theatre sixty-four minutes later I couldn’t help but wonder who on earth would buy a recording of some of the most lyrically atrocious and musically discordant songs I have had the displeasure of experiencing. As I couldn’t wait to get out of there fast enough I actually have no idea if any sales were made, and if so, why. Nor do I know why this biographical show of a somewhat remarkable life, made utterly unremarkably uninteresting by both song and structure has been getting such affection. All I knew for certain was that this fondness was not going feature in my review.

The show is the creation of Calgary actress Onalea Gilbertson and is a love letter/homage to her Alberta-born grandmother Blanche. Gilbertson got the idea to explore her grandmother’s past when she moved her into a nursing home, and as part of the move uncovered an old photo album of Blanche’s that documented  her life. The show gives the audience snippets of this life, told only through song and very poor quality recordings of Blanche’s own raspy and sometimes unintelligible voice. Gilbertson, playing both a young Blanche and herself along with three onstage musicians who do turns as the men in Blanche’s life, lurch along from one snapshot moment to another hoping that the lack of character development will be overlooked due to a running loop of old photographs and emotionally manipulative numbers.

Trust me; I’m not without heartstrings to be pulled. And if given the chance to really connect with Blanche, I might have cared that her first love froze to death or that her husband was missing in action in WW2 or that she doesn’t find much to laugh about these days as she bides her time before death in a care facility. All of these things could have had the dramatic and emotional heft that they deserved. But when put into lyrics that were obviously taken from Blanche’s own words (and let me clear,  Sondheim she ain’t) and put to atonal or simply unremarkable music, the empathy flies out the window and all we are left with is Glibertson’s decent piano playing and strong voice. A voice that when rid of the constraints of someone else’s thoughts and words can actually be quite moving. For one small number, Gilbertson sings of the last time she saw her grandmother in the home. It was a beautifully expressed set of feelings and the only moment in the show where things felt genuinely poignant.

That moment however was fleeting, as inexplicably, immediately after this number and about three-quarters into the show, Gilbertson and her director Rachel Avery decide to switch from a linear narrative to time shifting.  Again, I have no issue with this type of storytelling. But to all of a sudden jump back and forth in time more than halfway into a show only served to make the flow feel even clunkier than it already was. Kids are spoken of without explanation as to when they came into the picture. Other family members’ names get tossed out without context or care to make us want to understand. And a strange marriage situation gets glossed over in an unsatisfying manner.  By the time the last number was sung and the final image of Blanche was projected, I felt like I had spent an hour with characters I might have liked to know more about but was blocked from doing so at every turn. I suspect that this isn’t the “bittersweet” reaction they were hoping for.

 

RATING

For the guys – Yes Blanche is a tough dame, or at least her voice sounds like she is. But with only thin details, there is no reason for you to relate to her. SKIP IT

For the girls – Sure we can all empathize what life was like for a woman in Blanche’s time and she does seem like a practical fun-loving woman. But we never really get the emotion behind the facts and that renders the empathy mostly hollow.  MAYBE SEE IT

For the occasional theater goer – Gilbertson has a lovely strong voice and she obviously has a great love for Blanche. But the music won’t thrill you and the story leaves a lot of holes. MAYBE SEE IT

For the theater junkie – Horrid structure, contrived direction, lackluster lyrics and music. So little done with so much. SKIP IT

 

People You May Know

January 16 – February 2, 2013

Big Secret Theatre

https://www.hprodeo.ca/2013/people-you-may-know

Listen to my review of People You May Know on CBC’s Eyeopener at http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/theatre/2013/01/17/people-you-may-know/

 

Hands up those of you who have seen a recent play that hasn’t used some kind of multimedia, tech–wizardry to jazz up the production and bring a conception of “cool” to the show. Ok, so not every production does it, but more often than not we are being bombarded with theatre that relies on avant-garde tricks through the use of film, video or graphic projection to, at worst, compensate for a weak narrative or more satisfying to add relevant punctuation to an otherwise interesting story. I often imagine the pre-production meetings as going something like this….”Well the story’s fine and everything but we need a huge video wall that can show the real-time digestive tract of each character so that we can really KNOW how they are feeling.” Frankly, I’m getting bored with the whole thing.

So it was with great hesitation that I approached One Yellow Rabbit’s offering at the year’s High Performance Rodeo. People You May Know is not just a show that uses technology to enhance the production, in this play the technology is the production.

The gimmick here is a digital puppet show where the actors create their characters using the Photo Booth technology found on computers. This facial-morphing application allows one to play around with a photo, or in the case of the show, a live stream image, to make all sorts of comical modifications such as huge eyes, tiny head, massive teeth, bulbous nose etc. With this tool in hand, the actors sit on stage, each at a desk with their own laptop, and project their characters above them on a big screen as the story unfolds. Only three actors on the stage but with this technology they have the ability to play a multitude of characters, 7 in total, by just changing the look of their digital face.

Happily, the visual gag turned out to be a unique and compelling way to tell a story and gave a tremendously modern feel to the whole production. It was a shame then that the story the Rabbits chose to tell was such an outdated tale. Ever since the Bernie Madoff scandal in 2009, Ponzi scheme narratives have been addressed by everyone from Hollywood studios to HBO to Network television shows. Point being that by the time Law and Order dedicates an episode to the subject (2010) you know the idea is passé.

The only twist to the well-worn story here is that People You May Know sets the financial ruin inside an RV dealership. Bill and Pat are the owners of the business and one day they sell a $200k RV to a seemingly wealthy German man named Ulf who impresses them both when he pays cash on the spot. While Pat is closing the deal, Ulf lets it slip that he is part of an exclusive investors club that’s sitting on a mother-load of cash from a gold mine they own. Money-hungry Pat immediately wants in on the deal but Ulf turns her down saying that he’s already full on investors with a long waiting list to get involved. And nothing puts Pat’s greed into overdrive like rejection. She hounds him relentlessly until eventually Ulf and his partner Cyril let her in on their gold mine. In fact not only do they let her in on the deal – but they encourage her to invite Bill and all her staff to invest as well at a whopping 12% return. With figures like that, who could say no? Everyone at the dealership maxes out their savings takes out mortgages on their homes and does all sorts of risky financial things in an attempt to benefit from this get rich quick scheme.

Everyone that is except Frances, the accountant, who senses that something just isn’t right but is ignored by an office full of people drunk on the promise of easy money. No big surprise what happens next and here the Rabbits do nothing out of the ordinary but show you the first realizations of a lives in financial ruin. What starts out as a very funny sketch comedy type play follows a predictable path toward the final tragedy of the cautionary tale genre.

But back to the technology. There is no doubt that Photo Booth creates some hilariously designed characters and this itself is a great source of laughter throughout the show. But the real test of the actors is how they transcend the easy visual humour to create characters personalities that you can relate to and care about. And here is where the play has great success. Denise Clark, Andy Curtis and David Rhymer each play several parts and as each actor unfurls their characters to the audience, the strangeness of their look fades away and they become personalities you recognize and attach feelings to as you gaze into their big emoting faces. Perhaps none more than Clarke’s naïve, sweet trailer-trashy secretary named JamieLynn who kept me laughing even when I saw her jokes coming and Curtis’ Bolton, the dim-witted but earnest salesman who broke my heart with his unravelling. The technology may have brought the visual representations of these characters to life, but it was the sharp writing and excellent performances that kept us attached to them.

However, like every case where technology is employed in the theatre, things can go wrong and break the spell.  As with any puppet show, it does take a while to grow accustomed to the performance method. So sure at first you watch both the performers sitting at the computer screens talking and at the projections they are creating. But I was surprised at how fast I locked into the projections, ignored the real actors and quickly dismissed the fact that this play lacked any sort of props or setting or physical interaction between the characters. So it was especially jarring when the tech issues reared. Thankfully they were short-lived and only broke the magic for a minute of two. More problematic for me was Curtis’ difficulty maintaining consistency with his character’s look and the sound synching issue. Much of the look of each character is accomplished by tilting the computer screen at a certain angle to achieve a specific warped image. While the other actors seemed to have their settings down perfectly, Curtis often gave us incorrect looking versions of his characters or at times simply a fuzzy image of himself. The bigger issue however was the sound. The dialogue and the images were about half a second off and if you’ve ever watched ill-synched over-dubbed movies you know how annoying this can be. I have no idea if this issue is a natural outgrowth of using Photo Booth or if it was simply a problem at last night’s performance, but it’s most definitely something that has to be fixed if this show is going to have legs.

All things considered, People You May Know is both a very of the moment play as well as a retread effort. Of the moment because the play successfully stretches the boundaries of technology in theatre and retread due to the old and tired plotline that really should have been edited by about 15 minutes to get rid of some tedious bits in the flow. But with well written dialogue and wonderfully funny and unique performances, I could forgive the story, enjoy the experience and appreciate the effort of a creative company pushing ideas and giving us something new to enjoy.

 

RATING

For the guys and the girls – With wonderful characters that may seem familiar to you on some level you will laugh at them until there is nothing to laugh about anymore. Yes, there are no surprises in the story, but it’s done well enough for it not to matter all that much. SEE IT

For the occasional theater goer – The comedy of the show just might help you get over the non-traditional process of the production. It’s a lot less “out there” than you think. MAYBE SEE IT

For the theatre junkie – Forget being wowed by the story. Ain’t gonna happen. Instead focus on the talent and technique and see something you probably haven’t’ seen done before. SEE IT

Left to Right: Jeff Wiseman, Brian Thiele, Murray Melnychuk, Photo Credit: Darren Stewart

Spamalot

January 11 – 26^th

Victor Mitchell Theatre

http://www.frontrowcentre.ca/

I’ve recently been asked why, as a professional theatre critic, I bother reviewing Community Theatre productions. People cite the fact that these shows are generally not up to expert standards, are often are cast with what is available as opposed to who is suitable and are usually done–to-death, crowd-pleasing safe musicals that trade solely on nostalgia.  The answer is simple – my primary goals as a critic is to  make people aware of what’s  going on theatrically, to encourage them to think critically about what they see and most of all to engender an excitement and love of the theater so that audiences will support this amazing artistic expression.

For many people, Community Theater is the only type of production they attend. Whether this is because of ticket price or production taste or simply because their son or daughter happens to be in the show. Frankly I don’t care why they attend, I’m just so happy that they do! It takes a tremendous effort to put on these shows and I have been very fortunate to see some performances in Calgary that rivaled professional productions on many levels. It also takes a giant effort to get off your duff on a snowy, cold Sunday afternoon in the dead of winter to see a play. But that’s what a near full house did for Front Row Centre’s production of Spamalot this past weekend. That’s a lot of sweat and work and hope and anticipation in one theatre. Shouldn’t I put in the same work considering the production? Obviously as you can see, my answer is yes.

Monty Python’s Spamalot is a musical comedy “lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the movie, the musical is a cheeky spoof of the Arthurian legend. The musical however goes one step further parodying the Broadway musical process as well as flushing out some of the well-known Phython-esque humour. Eric Idle, a member of the Monty Python team, wrote the musical’s book and lyrics and the show went on to win three Tony Awards, including the award for Best Musical of the 2004–2005 season.

From the reaction I saw at Front Row Centre’s production of the show, the audience heartily agreed with the accolades. They laughed enthusiastically at the jokes, even though it was apparent that most audience members knew the bits well from undoubtedly numerous viewings of the cult classic film. Yes, the Black Knight who loses his arms and legs, yet still wants to fight is included in this show. As are the Knights who say Ni, the “Bring out yer Dead” bit, the rabbit with a killer instinct and of course the ridiculous but strangely still funny coconut-clacking, horseless riders. But with some hit and miss performances and at times clunky direction, I couldn’t help wondering if the laughs were actually resulting from the action on stage or if much of the delight was familiarity and memory-based.

I will admit to being a Python fan back in the day, and while dipping once again into their vault doesn’t excite me all that much anymore, I can find some affection for the old gags. So from a story-line and writing point of view, Spamalot, even with the addition of some new material, was nothing more than a nice memory of what used to make me laugh.  The biggest issue for me however was the show’s lack of lead actor(s) talent. Neither King Arthur (a stiffly mediocre Mike Beattie) nor his band of Knights had the chops to make their solos sound anything but passable. Of the bunch, only Sir Galahad (the long-maned rakish Doug Keeling) and Sir Lancelot (the sweetly earnest James McGowan) were able to let go enough to pull off their quirky characters despite slipping in and out of accents that were cringe-worthy at best.

Thankfully, the supporting cast was there to pick up the slack. Most notably the spectacularly voiced Carlyn Miller as the Lady of the Lake, a new character to the story whose main purpose is to urge on the plot and provide a bulk of the show’s piss-taking out of the Broadway experience. Also delightful was Colton Duane as Arthur’s working-class assistant, Patsy, who seemed to be the only performer on stage who could stay in character/accent while doing wonderful double duty as a strong actor/singer. A couple minor characters also stood out as better than the rest. Hayley Feigs gave us a screechingly funny Mrs Galahad and Brian Thiele as an anti-singing father was the closest thing to a true Python performance I saw all afternoon.

Director Janos Zeiler kept a mostly tight flow on the production, but seemed not to know what to do with his crowd scenes where more often than not, actors simply stood around awkwardly and rather unprofessionally. Danielle Desmarais’ choreography which was executed by a chorus of “Laker Girls” was fairly run of the mill with far too many missed cues and out of step performers, but one dancer did stand out for me and kept my eye the entire performance. Through her energetic moves and adorable positive energy, Ginette Simonot’s dancing was a joy to watch and more than once I couldn’t help tap my toe along with her fabulous efforts.

Kudos as well to the entire set design and costume team who managed to populate the stage with castles and ships and monsters and very cute gore-ridden equivalents. Even if the action on the stage wasn’t always up to snuff, the look of the show was sharp and made a lot out of the resources available.

RATING

For the purist Monty Python fan – No one can pull off those characters like the original cast can. And while there are some decent performances in this show, you will be left with the unsatisfied feeling you had when your high school friends did Python imitations over and over and over. SKIP IT

For light Monty Python fans– the jokes may be old but many of them are still quite funny and enough are done passably to get a giggle out of you. MAYBE SEE IT

You’ve never seen Holy Grail? – If you had an eccentric sense of humour and want a decent-enough, silly time in the theatre this may work for you. MAYBE SEE IT

For Kids – Apart from some foul language and one sexy PG rated gay scene, kids will probably find much of the show funny. I heard one young lad laughing his head off the entire show. MAYBE SEE IT

 

Metamorphosis

January 9 to 13, 2012

Max Bell Theatre

https://www.hprodeo.ca/2013/metamorphosis

 

With just two performances left of Lyric Hammersmith and Vesturport’s  highly unique production of the Franz Kafka classic, I felt  that rather than eating up valuable time researching and writing a lengthy review of Metamorposis, I would simply share some thoughts on the show. If you have already seen the production, I hope these musings add to your own ideas about what you experienced. And if you are booked to see the show in the next day or two, perhaps I can offer some information that might help you get in the mood for what you are about to experience. So… in no particular order

 

#1 This ain’t your parents Kafka

It’s been a long time since I read Metamorphosis and I certainly can’t claim to remember every little detail. But I do recall that the novella was written in first person – or first insect as the case may be. When Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning inexplicably transformed into a giant insect, it’s his voice that tells us the story and lets us in on his thoughts and feelings. Therefore I was surprised that this adaptation takes the opposite approach of telling the story through the eyes and feelings of the Samsa family instead.

On the one hand – it’s a very interesting approach that further illustrates the isolation and de-humanization that Kafka’s story attempts to address. By not giving the insect a true intimate voice, the playwright distances us from Gregor further, making the story even more chilling underneath the absurd humor.

On the other hand – because the Samsa family is so cold and unfeeling in a cartoonishly surreal way, the audiences’ engagement to the play is for the most part overly detached and cold as well. It wasn’t until the beautiful and heartbreaking final scene that I really connected with the pathos of the story and felt fully engaged with the production.

 

#2 The music

The original music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is nothing short of brilliant. In turns haunting, despondent and beautiful, the score of this production is as much a reason for its success as any other element.

 

#3 But really it’s all about the staging

By now you’ve probably heard me or someone else talk about the two-story stage and the physically demanding acrobatic wizardry of Gisli Örn Gardarsson as the insect. And yes, it is quite amazing. Was I expecting more? Perhaps I had read too much hype about the “jumping from one precarious point to another” and had envisioned a Cirque du Soleil type of performance – which this isn’t. But I kept waiting for the physicality to cease being difficult and interesting and instead be jaw dropping. It wasn’t – and while I was a little disappointed, there is no doubt that it is a stellar performance and a pretty darn excellent interpretation of how a giant insect would behave.

 

#4 The comedy

I can’t say I remember laughing reading Metamorphosis. Yes it is absurd….but funny? Not so much. But this production does play up the laughs in a darkly surreal type of way and it presents an interesting layer on the narrative. This production presents a ridiculous situation with preposterous characters that do make you laugh, albeit in odd and sometimes uncomfortable ways. Lurking very closely underneath this thin veneer however is the deeply uncomfortable metaphor that Kafka is trying to communicate. It’s a cleverly manipulative type of storytelling that teases you with the laughs and occasionally lets you peek behind the curtain to see the darkly disturbing meaning of the story.

 

#5 So what is it really about?

Well Kafka himself never really said so all I can do is offer my interpretation. I see two major metaphors highlighted in this production. First is the notion that Gregor, in working like a machine with no time for a life outside of work in order to become a success, support his family and benefit from his material status, became – metaphorically and literally – an insect. You can also say that his family, by mooching off him, only viewing him as their meal ticket and treating him like a …well….like a worker beetle (no pun intended) with no purpose but to earn money,  helped to turn him literally into an insect as well.

The other metaphor at play is the notion of “otherness” and how that is treated in society. Whereas initially the Samsa family revered Gregor for his earning potential, once he transforms into an insect, an “other” they reject him and treat him like vermin. Like something to be exterminated. Something that can bring down their position in society and therefore must be done away with.

 

#6 Bottom Line

Truthfully, there are many allusions to Marxist, Fascist and Nazi-esque themes and ideas in the production. How much you want to take from the show depends on your desire to delve into its meaning.  Sure it’s possible to enjoy the show simply on its surface merits and with such a strong production that would be easy to do. But for me, as wonderfully produced as Metamorphosis is, I feel it does the story a disservice not to at least try to glean some meaning from what is otherwise an absolutely incongruous story.

Go, watch, think.

Ride the Cyclone

January 9 – 12, 2013

Martha Cohen Theatre

https://www.hprodeo.ca/2013/ride-the-cyclone

Listen to my review on CBC Eyeopener here http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/theatre/2013/01/10/jessica-goldman-reviews-ride-the-cyclone/

 

It’s never fun to be the critic that isn’t totally won over by a new, plucky Canadian musical. Especially one by a small indie theatre company that through hard work and good luck just might be positioned to be the next great cross border success story. But through a mix of style over substance and imagination trumping solid storytelling I’m afraid I just can’t get on the Ride the Cyclone love train.

The show is the brainchild of Atomic Vaudeville, a small Victoria-based company. In 2010 they performed Ride the Cyclone at Summerworks in Toronto to much fanfare. The show then went on a small three-city tour and once again enjoyed rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. From there, things just snowballed into one bit of good news after another. In addition to several requests from regional theatre companies to program their work, Ride the Cyclone caught the attention of a big shot Broadway producer (of the Tony-award winning Avenue Q and Drowsy Chaperone fame) who came on board to workshop the show to see if it could be performed south of the border with a possible Broadway run. And that’s where the High Performance Rodeo performance comes into play. Presently, Ride the Cyclone is on a 6 city tour with a new snazzed up production as a kind of test ground for its readiness for bigger things.

The show concerns six choir kids from the economically dying town of Uranium, Saskatchewan who perish in a roller coaster accident at a travelling fair. Before they die, each of them has their fortunes read by a mechanical oracle machine named Karnack. Despite knowing the teen’s fate, Karnack doesn’t warn them due to his switch being set to “Family Fun” mode. After all, he says, telling someone they are going to die at a carnival is the opposite of fun. However, guilt gets the better of Karnack and he resurrects the choir telling them that he can allow one of them to live but the decision of who that will be must come from a unanimous group decision. So to convince the other choir members that they are worthy of life, each teen gets their turn at a fantastical musical number that expresses who they really were, what they struggled with, what they wished for and why they deserve to live.

With such a diverse group of characters, we are then treated to six very different weird and wonderful monologue musical numbers that vary in topic and style. Ocean Rosenberg (strongly performed by Rielle Braide) the straight A, ambitious, socially conscious class president brags about her high achievements. Noel Gruber (a wonderfully prickly Knolby Wardell) the only gay kid in town and proof  according to Ocean that not all gay men are fun, sings of his desire to be a down in the gutter glamorous French film noir prostitute. Ricky Potts (the dynamically diverse Elliot Loran) the mute, handicapped boy, shows off the sexy space-age world he has created in his mind. Misha Bachinsky (a gruff but loveable Jameson Parker) the Ukrainian gangsta rapper talks of his dual natures of passion and rage. Constance Blackwood (the perky and heartbreaking Kelly Hudson) admits that she actually likes the town she comes from despite it being uncool to do so. Finally Jane Doe (hauntingly and beautifully voiced by the creepily black-contact-wearing Sarah Jane Pelzer)a girl no one can identify because she was decapitated in the accident and no one can find her head, sings longingly of her unknown identity.

On paper it sounds terribly maudlin, but it’s anything but tragic. Ride the Cyclone is 100% quirky, weird and clever fun. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be.

There is no question this hard-working cast is fun to watch and Brooke Maxwell’s music flows along nicely helped in part by a live four-man band on stage to give the sound some oomph. But other than Constance, the nice girl, who has the final fantastic and emotionally grabbing song, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. I didn’t dislike them per se, but I wasn’t rooting for any of them either. I certainly did appreciate that their personal stories all had unexpected and often very funny twists. These are thankfully not cookie cutter characters –Ricky for example the handicapped teen has an amazingly weird and wonderful story to tell that involves of all things, sexy space felines from the planet Zoltar.  But playwright Jacob Richmond and Maxwell’s lyrics just didn’t provide enough emotive traction to have these characters become anything meaningful.  The phenomenal imagination and creativity driving the idea for the show just didn’t translate into a satisfyingly compelling storyline and instead resulted in a clunky narrative that unfortunately wasn’t all that interesting.

From a production point of view, obviously there’s been a lot of work done on this play since its festival origins and while it certainly isn’t a big fancy production director Britt Candide Small does nicely squeeze out some big feeling musical numbers from the cast. But I think they are still struggling with how to go from a relatively intimate play to something that will fill a larger space with more polish. Some of the effects still feel low rent and indie, a couple of costume changes happen awkwardly but worst of is the dragginess of the show.  In fairness, the production has recently added five new songs to try to beef up the production and perhaps they are still struggling with how to incorporate them into the whole. But several moments feel superfluous and very much “added on” in a more isn’t necessarily better type of fashion. Broadway-bound or not, I would have preferred a punchier tighter show.

With a definite cultish kind of element to Ride the Cyclone…as in a Rocky Horror meets Glee kind of thing; I have no doubt that there are audiences that will absolutely love this show. But I can also imagine that many audience members will leave wondering what the point was and honestly I don’t have an answer for them because I’m not sure I  took anything away from it myself. However sometimes the point is simply to be entertained and for the most part Ride the Cyclone delivers that.

As for whether Calgary will love the show as much as the rest of Canada seems to…well the audience I saw the performance with was a mix of medium-size clapping with a few up on their feet at the end of the show. Personally I wish I had liked it more, but will gladly give three cheers for Atomic Vaudeville’s effort to bring something different to the stage and I will be proudly Canadian should they ever make it to the Great White Way.

 

RATING

For the guys – Don’t worry – this isn’t a bunch of kids singing their hearts out expressing FEELINGS. It’s politically incorrect, culture skewering, dark humour throughout. You may not relate to any of the characters – but you might have fun watching them do their thing. MAYBE SEE IT

For the girls – Constance, the nice girl, will make you laugh and break your heart. And the rest of it might make you giggle along the way. MAYBE SEE IT

For the occasional theatre goer – If by occasional that means you only like shows such as Evil Dead the musical, then yes do see it. Otherwise, stay at home… too quirky for you. SKIP IT

For the theatre junkie – If only to see what all the fuss is about and to say that you saw it before it got big. Plus the cast is a delight to watch and for the most part the production is well oiled. MAYBE SEE IT

High Performance Rodeo

January 3 – February 3, 2013

Various Venues

http://www.hprodeo.ca

Listen to my overview and picks for the Rodeo on CBC Eyeopener from January 7th at http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/theatre/2013/01/07/high-performance-rodeo-kicks-off/

 

Well, here we go again – the 27th year of the High Performance Rodeo, the international festival of arts – and I have been squirming with anticipation ever since I saw the line up back in November. With a tremendously strong roster of performances and an extra week  in the schedule to give us all some breathing room, I am keeping my fingers optimistically crossed for a spectacular month of theatre in Calgary.

My top two picks are shows that I have been hearing about from critics and audiences for some time now. Ride the Cyclone is a show from Victoria based Atomic Vaudville and is  a comedic musical about a teenage chamber choir from Saskatchewan. The twist is every member of the choir is recently dead due to a roller coaster accident, but that doesn’t stop them from having a final recital where they get to sing their hearts out as they come to terms with their death.  Very odd premise to be sure, but this show has been a HUGE hit everywhere it’s played, with audiences and with critics alike. It not only won the Dora Mayor award for best touring show, but my colleagues in Toronto awarded it Best Musical at the Toronto Critic’s awards last year and have been urging me to see it ever since.

The second play I’m looking forward to is Metamorphosis – yes the Franz Kafka’s famous story. A man wakes up one morning to find that he has inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. Understandably his  family is horrified and repulsed but they all try to press on with life and deal with the situation. This is a co production between an Icelandic and UK theatre company and it has played to world-wide acclaim – and I mean like 5 stars in the Guardian, rave reviews in Australia, Hong Kong, New York, Germany you name the city, they’ve loved it. What makes the production so compelling is that the actor playing the insect literally acrobats himself all over the stage as an insect would – hanging from the ceiling, jumping from one precarious place to another. I’m told  it’s a jaw dropping performance and is definitely a unique theatre experience not to be missed.

On the local front, Calgary’s One Yellow Rabbit is going in a completely different direction this year to bring us People You May Know, a digital puppet show about a financial Ponzi scheme.  Apparently the show was inspired by the Photo Booth software on computers that transforms facial images into funny mutations a la  Funhouse mirrors. The actors in the show sit on the stage and use this technology to create the story’s characters which are projected above them. So while there are only three actors in the show – the face mutating technology allows them to  play a whole cast of characters. It’s certainly a bold and unique choice for the Rabbits and I’m very curious to see how they pull it off.

In addition to these shows, I will be seeing and reviewing:

Look Mummy, I‘m Dancing – a monologue performance about a transsexual woman slowly peels off her sixty-year-old skin until she reveals the reverse side of her soul.

This is What Happens Next – Master solo performer Daniel MacIvor in a stream of consciousness take on everything from divorce to The Little Mermaid to addiction to your own free will.

Schlachter – Tango – About a  Jew sent by the Germans to a concentration camp for homosexuality and then, post liberation, opens the first gay bar in Hanover.

No question there is lots to see this month. All of it decidedly unconventional – which makes me happy as I like risk-taking in the theatre and I do believe that Calgary audiences are sophisticated and open-minded enough to enjoy this kind of theatrical challenge. So let’s get out there and Rodeo!! And as always – I’ll see you at the theatre.

 

 

 [L-R] Ali Momen, Alexa Devine, Clinton Carew.  Photo Credit: Tim Nguyen/Citrus Photography

Everything is Terribly Nice Here

December 12 – 22, 2012

Joyce Doolittle Theatre

http://www.ghostrivertheatre.com/

 

Listen to my review on CBC’s Eyeopener on Monday, December 17, 2012 at http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/

Halfway through Ghost River Theatre’s production of Everything is Terribly Nice Here, Theo Van Gogh realizes that the fundamentalist manifesto stabbed into his chest is written on an old ArtNews critique of one of his films. He reads the unflattering review aloud which calls his art, “corny, lazy work”.  I can’t imagine playwright David van Belle meant to make me laugh at this description, but I couldn’t help myself as those sentiments were exactly how I was feeling watching the preview performance of his play.

Unimaginatively directed by Eric Rose, Everything is Terribly Nice Here takes the 2004 murder of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and spins a surreal post-murder type of scenario out of the event. Van Gogh, for those that need reminding, was a filmmaker and a newspaper columnist who delighted in provocation. A fairly nasty and bombastically opinionated man, there were very few people and groups he didn’t offend at one point in time. In 2004 he collaborated with another outspoken figure, the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to make a ten minute film titled, Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam. Using shock as its selling point, the film showed female naked bodies with texts from the Qur’an written on them and women veiled with semi-transparent shrouds as they knelt in prayer. Needless to say, it was extremely offensive to many Muslims and resulted in a fatwa being called on both Van Gogh and Ali.  Taking up the cause, on Nov 2, 2004 Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Moroccan Muslim waited for Van Gogh outside his office and shot him several times, killing him on the spot. Bouyeri then walked over to Van Gogh and stabbed a knife into his chest holding a five-page religious and political manifesto detailing Van Gogh’s supposed sins against Islam among other issues.

When the play opens we see Theo and a Mohammed-inspired character named Haitham in a room resembling a concrete cell with no doors or exits of any kind.  Van Gogh wakes up to find the manifesto stabbed to his chest and Haitham on the other side of the room, praying. Looming over both men is a digital clock-like readout on the wall that seems to be counting up to 1,000. The play quickly becomes a what if scenario -– what if you took these two radical men with such extreme and opposing  views and put them in a room together for 1,000 years. As overly precious as the construct is, I do applaud van Belle for creating a play that attempts to take us from the known (the murder) to the unknown (the 1,000 year conversation). It’s a thinky–talky kind of storytelling that has the potential for some deeply interesting insight and questioning of beliefs. But unfortunately we get none of this due to the incredibly shallow writing, pedantic staging, and poor performances.

To be fair, I can’t completely fault the actors for their part in the play’s failure. They weren’t given much to work with. Theo is inexplicably written as an unexamined, unintelligent, loud-mouthed buffoon and consequently Clinton Carew who portrays him, spends most of the play walking around slack-jawed and somewhat goofy in his pronouncements, that as a result have no conviction. This is certainly not a character that would be capable of writing a weekly newspaper column, let alone creating Arthouse films.

Ali Momen, who plays Haitham, does better predominantly because he’s given the more interesting dialogue, making him come across as the more reasonable and reasoned character. But it’s a character that is terribly one dimensional without anything compelling or thought provoking to say. It’s interesting to note that while van Belle put the real life character of Theo in the play, he turned the assassin Mohammed into a Muslim named Haitham because the real Mohammed was apparently quite ignorant and van Belle thought this would result in a character whose arguments were too easy to knock down. The result is the exact opposite in the narrative. Theo is the one that comes across as ignorant and ill-informed while Haitham is the more thoughtful and even perhaps morally superior character. Regardless of your politics or allegiances to any side of this issue, this wildly lopsided match-up made for a completely unsatisfying debate and robbed the narrative of any intellectual exercise or engagement.

Further hurting the script was the inclusion of occasional attempts at dark humour. When removing the knife from his chest, Van Gogh notes that’s it a Henkle brand knife. Haitham responds with, “The best you can get by quality and it never lets you down.” It’s perhaps mildly amusing but totally out of place with the rest of the dialogue which flails and lurches unsuccessfully in an attempt to give heady importance to questions of faith and morality.

As problematic was the staging. Dealing with a completely propless, bare set can lead to some really innovate and interesting direction. But not only was director Eric Rose’s staging not creative, it was downright boring with far too much pacing around and standing about and yelling at each other from opposite ends of the room with mounds of awkward body language. But the biggest offense centered around a third character – a ghost like shrouded female who is on stage the entire time but unseen by the men despite the occasional interaction with them. Every once in a while this “She” character would pipe up and deliver a non sequitur, muddy, metaphoric monologue to the audience, similarly pacing about the set with no real purpose. The only difference in her favour was the head scarf she wore which she could wind and unwind into different configurations. But really, when a scarf is your only interesting directorial point of interest, you’ve got a problem.

There has been much talk lately about the joys of writing (and reading) a skewering review – the idea that going off on a performance or restaurant or book in a cleverly negative fashion is some kind of ego trip for the author. While I’m sure this is the case for some critics, as someone who loves theatre and truly wants every performance to be a success, I take absolutely no pleasure in it. And even less so in this case due to the fact that I was really looking forward to this play. Not only was it a wholly original work (which we need more of in this city) but it was billed as a political, moral and religious debate that would leave me surprised and thinking and asking questions. But with no weight to the dialogue, no heft to the debate, nothing new offered or discussed and a climax and resolution that was as unbelievable as it was poorly conceived,  the only question I asked was about 30 minutes in, when I checked my watch to see how much longer I would have to endure.

RATING

For the guys and the girls – Thin acting, weak dialogue and characters that are underdeveloped leaves nothing but a cool idea gone wrong to hold on to. SKIP IT

For the occasional theatre goer – I would rarely recommend a thinky–talky play to you. And this one for sure not. SKIP IT

For the theatre junkie – It has such potential. But not in its present form. I couldn’t even find a nugget that could be workshopped of fiddled with for the opening night to make this a more successful piece.  SKIP IT

*Warning to viewers – this play contains some nudity and harsh language

I wasn’t going to do it. I resisted doing it. I didn’t want to do it. But then I got caught up in the end of season lists that litter our collective and media consciences at this time of year and I was sucked into it. With everyone putting their favorites out there, how could I resist giving my two cents? Anyone that knows me, knows that I rarely give up the chance to forward my opinion, so here I go…. Best of the 2012/13 Calgary theatre season thus far, in no particular order or comprehensive category framework. This is simply a mentioning of those shows and/or performers that left me with a lasting positive impression that still resonates with me on some important “wow” level.

It’s a nice narrative twist to say that my favorite shows this year comprise two productions that I did not review and one that I had not planned on reviewing.

I caught The Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet and Quest Theatre’s The Gardneron the last day of each performance. Hence, no point in reviewing. But if I had, I would have said that Hamlet was a terrifically beautiful economic production with overwhelmingly strong acting and extremely clever staging. Despite being just one day off of a 13 hour time difference, this production kept me engaged and excited and glad to have such tremendous talent in our city.

When I heard that two of my favorite actors were starring in The Gardner, an in-school children’s show that was getting a public showing for 2 days only, I jumped at the chance to see it. Not only did Christopher Hunt and Duval Lang reaffirm my belief that they are some of the most agile and affecting actors in the city at present, I was amazed at how this simple children’s story could be as compelling for us adults in the audience. Big kudos to director Ron Jenkins for bringing this delightful and interesting story to life on the stage and congrats to Quest for bringing such quality theatre to our kids.

When I saw the production dates for Downstage’s Bashir Lazhar I was crestfallen. The opening was the day after I was to leave town. Having never seen the stage version and very curious to see what Simon Mallet would do with the production, I begged a seat into a preview performance the evening before my flight explaining that I was just there to watch and didn’t have time to review as a result. Well so much for that idea. From about 10 minutes into the show I knew I had to review it. Imaginatively directed by Mallet and superbly and affectingly performed by Haysam Kadri, I was quite simply blown away by the entire effort. The production may have ruined my night as I went home and wrote my review in lieu of dinner or packing of the hundreds of other things I was supposed to do. But with theatre that good, I was happy to let everything else wait.  https://applause-meter.com/2012/10/24/bashir-lazhar-review/

On the actor/actress front, there have been many performances that have made their way onto my potential Critter nominee list. Thirty-four to be exact. And while I won’t reveal all the names here, I will point out a few of the performances that easily rise to the top for me. In addition to those already named or alluded to above, of course.

In the solo performance category:

Sam Mullins for Tinfoil Dinosaur. This one man monologue in at the 2012 Fringe was in turns funny, emotional and respected the intelligence of the audience. Was a standing ovation from me. https://applause-meter.com/2012/08/07/calgary-fringe-tinfoil-dinosaur-review/

Chantal Perron  for  Aviatrix.  Alone on a stage with a famous story to tell can overwhelm many actors. But Perron put on one hell of a show despite some flaws with the script. Tough and sweet and human, this performance was a joy to watch. https://applause-meter.com/2012/11/19/aviatrix-review/

Musically speaking:

Robert Markus in Next to Normal. By far the strongest voice and most charismatic actor on the stage in this unique and well executed musical. This is a kid that will no doubt go far.

https://applause-meter.com/2012/09/15/next-to-normal-review/

Scot Shepley in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown. The one VERY bright spot in an otherwise dreary musical. Shepley’s showstopper “Suppertime” may go down as the best musical number all season. https://applause-meter.com/2012/11/24/youre-a-good-man-charlie-brown-review/

Supporting roles.

Julie Orton and Graham Percy in Intimate Apparel. Orton made me bristle and Percy broke my heart. They both did so with incredible performances that I wish were given more weight in this problematic play. https://applause-meter.com/2012/10/13/intimate-apparel-review/

Paul Welch in It Could Be Any One Of Us. THIS close to being too over the top to find funny, Welch manages to keep in just within the lines enough to deliver a hysterical performance delivered without the slightest tinge of irony. https://applause-meter.com/2012/11/16/it-could-be-any-one-of-us-review/

Matt McKinney in The Underpants. Where did this actor come from and how do I see more of him. Outstanding surprise performance that was flawless and funny from start to finish. https://applause-meter.com/2012/12/01/the-underpants-review/

Actor/Actress

Garrett Ross and Franz Zotter in Jack Goes Boating. Deliciously quirky and human, these two actors define perfect ensemble acting for me this season and set the bar very high for all other performers.

Wes Tritter in Second Chance, First Love. If for no other reason than one of the funniest and hard to pull off entrances I’ve seen all season. Tritter’s made me laugh with his ease of performance and grace in a show that wasn’t altogether satisfying. https://applause-meter.com/2012/10/10/second-chance-first-love-review/

As I said, many more worthwhile performances than are listed here. And for that I’m grateful. I’m also terribly excited about the 2^nd half of the theatre season here in Calgary as there are many productions to look forward to. Stay tuned for early January when I will be doing a preview look ahead to this year’s High Performance Rodeo and my picks of the performances.

So, there you go. I made my list, I checked it twice. Let me know your thoughts. Do you agree? Think I’m nuts? Want to argue for your favorite play/performer? I’m all ears. Because after all, theatre is all about opening up and starting a discussion. So let’s have it.

White Christmas

November 23 to December 16, 2012

Storybook Theatre

http://www.storybooktheatre.org/whitechristmas

Listen to my review on CBC Eyeopener at http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/theatre/2012/12/06/jessica-goldman-reviews-white-christmas/

If I was going to be really snarky, I’d start this review by saying it would have to be a Christmas miracle for me to actually like this show. Not because Storybook’s productions are generally lacking or because I had previously disliked the efforts of anyone involved with the show. But because as a general rule, not only do I rarely find great affection for musicals, but add the fact that White Christmas is most definitely a holiday musical, and you have a caldron brew of ick for me. However, I am happy to say that my petulance is easily left at the door due to this wonderfully fun, slick and at times excitingly well performed production. The only miracles performed here are by the hard-working and for the most part extremely talented cast and crew.

For those of you who haven’t seen the famous film this play is adapted from or possibly just need reminding of the story, White Christmas is often described as a 4M narrative meaning – merriment, mischief and mistaken motives. Bob and Phil are army buddies from WW2 who have gone on to become a very successful song and dance team. To fill out their production, they feel they need a sister act, so they go see the Haynes sisters, Betty and Judy, perform at a nightclub. Bob immediately falls for Betty and Phil likewise falls for Judy. Phil and Judy hit it off, but Bob and Betty not so much. So Phil and Judy hatch a plan for the guys to follow the girls to their next show at an Inn Vermont in the hopes that Betty and Bob get a second chance at getting to know each other. However when they get to the Inn, there’s no snow as Vermont is experiencing a freak heat wave in December. Much to the dismay of the Inn manager Martha, all the guests who came to ski and enjoy the cold weather decide to leave meaning there is no audience for the girl’s show. But just as Bob and Phil are getting set to leave they learn that the owner of the Inn is their old commanding officer from the War who they were very fond of. The boys decide to stay and drum up business for the general by bringing their whole production team to the Inn for a big Christmas show. That’s when all the trouble starts. Betty thinks that Bob is taking advantage of the situation for his own publicity. Judy thinks Betty is upset because she’s afraid to fall in love with Bob.  And Phil can’t stop flirting with the showgirls and might ruin his relationship with Judy. So there are fights and misunderstandings and the show might not go on and just when it looks like the whole thing is going to fall apart… well … it’s a holiday musical, so we all know there’s going to be a happy ending eventually.

No doubt it was a bit daunting for the actors to take on such iconic roles made famous by the likes of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen in the main roles, but for the most part I thought this cast did very well. Or to be specific, they did very well in the singing department. This was a whole show full of sure and strong voices. All the music in the show is written by Irving Berlin, so there is no shortage of great songs to sing and I couldn’t find fault with any of the musical numbers as they played out with one great voice after another. In particular, Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go by Bob (smooth voiced Russell Moore) and Phil (magnetically entertaining and pitch perfect Brent Middleton),   Sisters performed by Betty (the clear voiced Heather Spearman) and Judy (fantastically expressive Madeleine Suddaby), Snow (performed by the full company), Let Me Sing and I’m Happy by Martha (the irrepressibly energetic voiced Jacqueline Strilchuk) were all show stoppers in their own rights. Frankly, looking through the list of musical numbers, the only one that wasn’t incredibly strong was the titular White Christmas which seemed to sag under Moore’s somewhat soulless, matter of fact delivery of the famous song.

In fact, Moore’s the acting side of the equation was also lacking in places. More often than not he delivered his lines to the audience instead of to the characters he was actually talking to with which resulted in much of his dialogue seeming read as opposed to acted and certainly not fully internalized. Also on a casting note, Moore was far too old to be playing this role. Bob is supposed to be a contemporary of Phil’s but the age difference between the two actors make it look like a father and son kind of thing that started off distracting and never lessened for me during the show. Also lacking strong acting acumen was the beautiful-voiced Heather Spearman whose Betty was just too stiff to ever really connect with.

But just like the last time I went to see a Storybook Theater production where I was totally wowed by two performers I had never seen before, the same thing happened for me during this show. Brent Middleton as Phil and Jacqueline Strilchuk as Martha held my rapt attention every time they took the stage. Both actors took their fairly two-dimensional roles and made them funny and human and likeable and utterly charismatic. Whether they were singing and dancing or acting or even just taking a back seat to the main action, they stole their scenes and delivered some of the best moments in the show.

However the real star of this production of White Christmas was the dancing. There were a number of fairly ambitious large dance numbers in this production and they looked fantastic. Credit must be paid to Director JP Thibodeau and Choreographer Laura Solilo for what they accomplished with these scenes. The dancers were excellent, the production of the numbers looked sharp and it gave a whole show a professional gravitas that it was impossible not to be impressed with. Especially when you consider that Storybook is a community theatre company, meaning that everyone in the production, actors included, are volunteers with only a limited amount of rehearsal time. But there is no doubt that when considering the singing and the dancing and the amazingly rich sound mix in this production that White Christmas is just as good as many of the professional shows I’ve seen lately.

Is it safe holiday theater that pushes no new boundaries and takes no real risks? Sure it is. And yes, there were some weaker moments with the acting. But this production of White Christmas is all about the singing and dancing and with that in mind; the show was a huge success. Miracle accomplished

RATING

For the guys – This is a fun holiday show with no tear jerker moments or heavy heart-string pulls. Just good singing and dancing in a well-polished production. SEE IT

For the girls – The lack of chemistry between Bob and Betty will disappoint you, but Phil and Judy more than make up for it with great performances by both actors. SEE IT

For the occasional theatre goer – Perfect holiday musical to take your whole family to. SEE IT

For the theatre junkie – Nothing new or terribly exciting here. But the singing and dancing are great and there are some fantastic performances to latch onto. MAYBE SEE IT