After Dark, October 9, 2012

Joiners
The strength is there...if we can get past the laziness
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

It's easy - if you're willing to go beyond signing petitions and saying you'll boycott and bewailing - after the fact - the injustice of it all. It is the use of the power of groups to change things. It's why ACTRA, CAEA, PACT and other groups representing an active mass, work, and groups representing non-joiners - the lazy mass - do not work.

There are two issues in the news, lately, that require theatre artists to do more than shriek an (ever-tedious) outrage on Facebook. They require people going beyond saying they are in a boycott (or not).

The Show, October 8, 2012

(Photo credit: Paul Kolnik)

For years he was a film great - the archetypal Handsome Harry (ask your mothers or aunts). Then he was a running gag in the Doonesbury comic strip (jokes about tanning). But the thing that defined him - star quality - never left George Hamilton. And here he is, this week, in La Cage aux folles, a musical adaptation of a movie that was adapted from a play. Hamilton is not all that is fun about this upcoming production - the story of two aging Gay men confronted with the horror of their straight son marrying (into an arch-conservative family). The songs are great. ("I am what I am" is, of course, an anthem.) The costumes, set and lighting are 100% showbiz, and, ultimately, this farce has a very touching core. It's naughty, it's nice, it's sugar and spice, it's family-friendly for the new millennium.

Theatre For Thought, October 7, 2012

(photo credit: Ashton Doudelet)

BLOOD AND BELIEF

joel fishbane

The first thing composer / lyricist Joseph Aragon thought after hearing about 19th century serial killers William Burke and William Hare was “that would make an awesome musical!”. Infamous in their own time, Burke and Hare were a pair of Irish immigrants who supposedly sold the bodies of their victims to medical schools who used them as cadavers. “The story had large emotions and large stakes,” said Aragon. “At the same time [it had] sophisticated themes, like class struggles, medical ethics and the value of human life.”

And so Bloodless was born. A new musical that isn’t based on a popular movie or book is a rare thing today. Rarer still is a new Canadian musical being given a plum spot in the Mirvish’s new season: Bloodless will appear in Toronto’s Panasonic Theatre throughout October.  “It's more than a little overwhelming,” admitted Aragon. “This production represents a lot of firsts for me: my first fully professional production, my first major production outside of Winnipeg." 

Interview: Nina Lee Aquino

Open your hearts and your imagination.

by Jasmine Chen

Nina Lee Aquino is a director, dramaturge and playwright. She is the Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre Company and half of the interim Artistic Team of the Factory Theatre. Her play Every Letter Counts opens January 26, 2013 in the Factory Mainspace.

CHARPO: What was the initial impulse to write this story? 

AQUINO: The inspiration really came after seeing Marjorie Chan's The Madness of the Square. I saw it here at the Factory Mainspace, but I followed it through its development. I really connected to the piece, in that it spoke of revolution set in a young people's world. It really resonated with me, as someone who was brought up in revolution. The message of the power of action to change a nation - those University students wanting freedom and basic rights, fighting for their lives - really resonated with my experiences, specifically in the Philippines, and what my last name means to me. That got the ball rolling and I took it from there.

Review: Sister Act

(Photo Credit Joan Marcus)

Like the Stations of the Cross—But Without the Humour
Sister Act on stage is anything but Heavenly

by Stuart Munro

Philadelphia, PA. Christmas Eve, 1977. Deloris Van Cartier (Ta’rea Campbell) is auditioning for a chance to perform in her boyfriend Curtis’s club. At the end of her number, Curtis (Kingsley Leggs) says she’s not ready and she doesn’t understand why. I can tell you. Despite having a stellar voice and killer moves, when Ms. Campbell starts to sing, her face goes completely blank and the last thing anyone wants to do is watch her. Ten seconds after the curtain came up on her and her back-up singers, I was more interested in both of the back-up singers. This is understandably problematic, having a star who is boring to watch. But this is what we’re left with on Sister Act’s national tour, currently at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.

Based on the 1992 film of the same name, Sister Act is the story of a wannabe club singer who, after seeing her gang leader boyfriend shoot a man in the head, is sent into witness protection at the local convent, the last place anyone would think to look for her. In many ways the film seems like an obvious choice for a musical adaptation; music was a large part of its plot, and its slightly over the top nature would seem well placed on the Broadway stage. Sadly, none of the memorable music from the film has been transferred to the musical, and the joy of the film has been completely lost.

There are other problems. 

Review: Die Fledermaus

Tamara Wilson (Photo: Michael Cooper)

A Party Worth the Hangover
by Shannon Christy

According to T.S. Elliott, "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." The COC’s production of Die Fledermaus takes us on a just such an exploration but it is with King Champagne, a smile and one hell of a hangover. 

To put on the world’s most popular operetta and do it in a way that still produces a genuine laugh and catchy innovations is a real accomplishment. Director Christopher Alden has done a marvelous job at bringing out the emotions from the actors and the levity from the situation. Michael Schade is captivating as Gabriel Von Eisenstein. He appears through all three acts as a rotund man-child who drives the action forward either plotting, mourning, or trying to escape the results of his actions. The other heroine is his wife Rosalinde, Tamara Wilson, whose touching aria about her recently departed husband and his empty coffee cup would be convincing if her lover Alfred, played by David Pomeroy, did not keep poking in and out of the scene. These are but two examples of an ensemble of brilliant performances whose success rest on the shoulders of their direction.

CharPo's Real Theatre! October 5, 2012

The Still, October 4, 2012

We didn't need our reviewer, Christian Baines, to tell us that Antony and Cleopatra was a sizzling production, we just had to look at the portfolio of pictures for the show from Dahlia Katz. This shot is a particularly successful one: the steady glance of the queen, looking beyond her lover but his arm (masculinity personified) holds her both authoritatively and...desperately?

(Read Mr. Baines' review)

Whiskey-a-Rainbow, October 3, 2012

Week 3
by Stuart Munro

It’s Sunday night (though I suspect you’re reading this in the future) and, with glass in hand, it’s once again time for Over the Rainbow! This week kicked off with a somewhat lacklustre//// performance of “The merry old land of Oz.” Down to eight girls, the ensemble sounded a bit thin and tired, making me wonder if two of the strongest voices have already been booted off . . . but I digress. Finally, and much to my relief, the girls are singing show tunes this week! Why the girls ever sing pop songs is a bit beyond me. With us again are the handsome Daryn Jones; the “silver spitfire,” Louise Pitre; Daryn’s World of Warcraft avatar, Thom Allison; and Webber’s longtime yoga buddy, Arlene Phillips.

Up first was AJ with “One night only” from Dreamgirls. Despite the ridiculous audition scenario they placed her in, AJ sounded pretty fierce, especially when the song moved into the disco version. I wish they’d given her a little more choreography to rock out with, but this was a pretty strong start to the episode. Louise and Thom both wanted a bit more of a story arch from the song, but Arlene appreciated her commitment. Casandra didn’t really use her crooner abilities to her best on “Maybe this time” from Cabaret, and the performance fell a little flat for me. A bit disappointing from someone I’ve adored so much up to this point. Louise suggested Cassandra be less afraid to be something other than happy, a sentiment I completely agree with. 

In a Word... Erica Kopyto, Dramaturg/Literary Manager, Nightwood Theatre

Small/Big Question: What IS a Dramturg(e)

In any given day I can google: vagina dentata, lotus slippers, consensual sibling incest and polyamourus relationships.

CHARPO: I think of a dramaturg as someone who tries to bring cohesiveness to a script; is that anywhere near what a dramaturg does?

KOPYTO: I think it is now agreed upon that finding a singular definition of what a dramaturg is or does will never be satisfactory. It is forever destined to be one of those things that  takes a few sentences to explain. I think trying to bring cohesiveness is likely as good an explanation as any. Of course, dramaturgically I would problematize this by suggesting not every script wants cohesion. At times it might benefit the project to bring chaos to the script.  Diagnosing with the playwright and possibly producers and directors what the overreaching goal of the story is, breaking it down into viable, doable tasks and supporting the creators to get those tasks done is more or less what I do in the script development portion of my job. Providing context for the narrative and the production also seems to be something worth mentioning.

The Vid, October 3, 2012

The absolutely stunning images from the wordless I On The Sky at YPT.

Read the creator, Yves Simard's story on its genesis.

After Dark, October 2, 2012

Self-inflicted wounds
The internet was supposed to kill print...think again
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

(Patience...this IS about theatre...eventually.)

Scratch a media pundit and they will bemoan the replacement of print journalism by the anarchism and - woe is us! - lack of FACTS of the internet. Where they see chaos, others - especially the young - see a joyful noise - a new world that requires us to use judgement towards what we are seeing.

In Canada, in the last two weeks, we have come to look askance at information and thank Christ and finally! Messes in "real" press didn't start this year. Lies were being printed in newspapers as far back as the Hearst empire and to the great broadsheets of England before that. More recent examples of big media failures are easy to find: how the press colluded with the Bush Whitehouse to drag America into a nonsensical and bloody war in Iraq. Elsewhere - and at another time - new media (The Drudge Report) and "reformed yellow" media (The National Enquirer) were breaking big stories that didn't even appear on the radar of the soi-disant serious press. Yes, the Monica Lewinsky story was risible, but it stopped the world - we all paid attention; it was not only a Republicans v. Democrats story, it was - around the world - a barometer of values.

Opinion: Mirvish, Gehry and the Dead Princess

“That the Empire [Theatre] is beautiful is not to be denied, but I think it could come down tomorrow and the loss would be less profound than you’d expect. All that was most valuable here is gone by the end of every night. It’s taken away by the people who came and watched and listened. These buildings that we call theatres… some last, some don’t, and this is surely how it’s always going to be, but the thing is to see that whenever you may lose one… you find another.  A smaller one, a bigger one, it doesn’t matter… but they must always be replaced.”

-          Sarah Bernhardt in Stewart Lemoine’s “The Zenith of the Empire”

by Christopher Douglas

(all photos courtesy of Gehry International Inc.)

On the first of October, David Mirvish, son of the improvised theatre impresario Honest Ed Mirvish, will officially announce his grand redesign of two blocks of Toronto’s Entertainment District. Everything between the western wall of his crown jewel, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, and John Street, fronting King, will be redeveloped into a creative new concept by the legendary architect, Frank Gehry. Included in that two block zone are the former Mirvish dining establishments now housing some chain restaurants and bars as well as offices and, of course, the elegantly large and stylishly modern Princess of Wales Theatre.

Yes, folks, that’s right. Mirvish, head of a theatre empire in one of the world’s biggest theatre towns, plans to demolish his own theatre. In fact, it’s the only theatre he has ever built. While his company owns the Royal Alex, the Panasonic and the Ed Mirvish – the recently rededicated Canon and previously Pantages – the only one of those venues constructed during David’s lifetime was the Princess of Wales, which, in the next three to seven years, will be no more.

The Show, October 1, 2012

There are small productions which seem to draw your attention. An investment banker, a subway station, an unconscious woman; these are elements which make you pause and think, "This may be interesting." Fraser Elsdin's Vacant, a directorial and writing début for the actor, takes on the digital age where a story becomes a cause, an obsession, a madness. Who is this woman who does not know, herself? The banker, too, becomes obsessed and his life unravels. Designer George Quan takes on the challenge of the Alumnae Theatre Studio Space for Triangle Pi Productions.

Review: Il Trovatore

Russell Braun (behind) as Conte di Luna, Ramón Vargas as Manrico and Elza van den Heever as Leonora. Photo: Michael Cooper

Better Heard than Seen

by Shannon Christy

The great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso once said that all it takes for a successful performance of Il Trovatore is the four greatest singers in the world. This piece is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire despite the fact that the music was written for the masses; and the story, though extremely convoluted, is compelling.  However, in addition to having essentially four leads with incredible range the opera itself requires an additional quality, acting.  The Canadian Opera Company’s production of Il Trovatore succeeds with the music but fails with the acting. 

Manrico, played by Ramón Vargas, and Azucena, performed by Elena Manistana both succeed in their portrayals and musical performances. When he discovers that his betrothed, believing him dead, has decided to join a convent Manrico looks properly horrified and motivated to do anything to stop it.  When Azucena, condemned to burn alive, reenacts the night she witnessed her mother share the same fate you can see the wretched charred body of her mother with her hair being consumed by flames, empty melted sockets where her eyes should be, gasping with her last breath that she should be avenged. This is because both Mr. Vargas and Ms. Manistana use their bodies and especially their faces to convey these emotions.