Closing out the Stratford season this year was a
disappointing musical by
George F. Walker
(his first) entitled King of Thieves (with music by
John Roby) based on The Beggars Opera, the 18th century play by
John Gay that was the same vehicle famously reconstructed by
Bertolt Brecht and
Kurt Weill as
The Threepenny Opera. Money markets, financial swindles, the corruption
of the banks, fraud and outright theft should have made for an entertaining
evening that just rings (and sings) with todayÕs headlines and readymade for
WalkerÕs pulsating, spare-them-no-mercy writing style. Sadly, the lame
direction by Jennifer Tarver, the repetitive score by John Roby (it sounded
like he was playing the same song throughout the entire show - first fast, then
slow then a little razamatazzy) and a meandering book by Walker left me
scratching my head as to how this show ever made it to one of StratfordÕs main
stages (albeit the smaller Studio Theatre that did mitigate the damage
somewhat). Some redeeming performances (the appealing Jay Brazeau
and
Nora McLellan come to mind as the libidinous
Peachums) still could not pull off this heist successfully.
A much stronger closure was offered by the Shaw Festival
productions of
John BullÕs Other Island
and Harvey. JBOI was a super
production here directed by Christopher Newton, AD emeritus of
the Shaw Festival. The politics of the play really defines
Bernard Shaw in many
ways as the phenomenon that he was; an Irish socialist in the British theatre
of his day. Dubliners would probably have booed (or yawned) the play off the
stage in 1904 but for Londoners it was not that simple. Standout performances
by
Jim Mezon as Peter Keegan, a prescient liberation theologian who has
been ex-communicated from the Catholic Church and Severn Thompson as Nora Reilly, the lass from the working class who
has more faith in humanity than religion. The rest of this superb cast
includes Benedict Campbell, Guy
Bannerman, Mary Haney, Thom Mariott, Patrick McManus, Craig
Pike, Ric Reid, David Schurmann, Graeme Somerville, Jonathan Widdifield and Tim Ziegler.
Harvey (playing
through November 14th) by Mary Chase is (if you havenÕt heard by
now) a comedy about a gentlemanly alcoholic named Elwood P. Dowd (here played to great
satisfaction by Peter Krantz) who, many years ago, was befriended
by a six foot, two inches tall invisible rabbit named Harvey much to the dismay
of his social climbing sister and niece with whom he lives in a not
uncomfortably inherited house with a substantial inheritance that allows him to
pursue a rather leisurely and sufficiently inebriated lifestyle. The
interesting thing about this show is its enduring quality - and I say this modestly
not having seen a production of Harvey on stage for at least 30 years. The
original production (directed by
Antoinette Perry, who invented the Tony
Awards) opened on Broadway in 1944 and ran for five years later being made into
a film with Jimmy Stewart in one of his signature roles.
Joseph Ziegler directs here with the same surety that led him to
such success in his acting of other major American classic roles such as Joe in
The Time of Your Life and (currently) in an outstanding production
of
Death of a Salesman - both
for Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. In short, Ziegler just knows when to step
back and trust the material - right down to the smallest roles which in this
case was a wonderful turn by Peter Millard as the taxi cab
driver, E.J. Lofgren who reminds us that no one - including all the psychiatrists
of this world laid end to end - really has a handle on reality. One leaves the
theatre with that warm glow that only a tall one can provide.
Meanwhile, back in Toronto several productions of note
opened the fall season.
Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes, (after two years of touring and an overwhelmingly
positive reception to his work in Canada, Australia and the UK) chose to close Billy
Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy in Toronto at the Factory Theatre.
To sold out audiences, Mr. Burkett continues to amaze with prodigious acting as
well as technical skills in the manipulation of his various charges which at
one point included a hand puppet skillfully handling a marionette who was
putting on a show with yet another (tiny) marionette. Truly remarkable.
Next at Factory is the eagerly awaited
Bethune Imagined, written and directed by Ken Gass,
about the Canadian communist icon, Norman Bethune, who loved women as much as
he did the revolution.
Canadian Stage opened their season with
Fernando Krapp
Wrote Me This Letter (An Attempt at the Truth)
by German playwright Tankred Dorst. This is the first look at
Mathew JocelynÕs work for many in Toronto who was hired two years ago to helm
one of TorontoÕs premiere non-profit spaces replacing Martin Bragg as artistic
and general director. DorstÕs parodic play was mirrored by JocelynÕs satirical
bit of street theatre at the playÕs opening by having the theatre ÒpicketedÓ by
staffers carrying signs that read ÒLive Theatre is KrappÓ as patrons entered
the theatre. Although some in the audience agreed with them by the time they
exited, IÕm of the opinion that Jocelyn has programmed a challenging first
season for Canadian Stage with a number of interesting local partnerships that
should only enhance the theatrical landscape of the city. Upcoming productions of interest include the musical
Parade (a collaboration between Studio 180 and Acting Up Theatre Company),
Ruined (Obsidian Theatre in association with Nightwood Theatre),
Studies in Motion: the haunting of eadweard muybridge from the Vancouver based Electric Company Theatre, and
Saint Carmen of the Main by Michel Tremblay (directed by Peter Hinton and co-produced by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa).
Mirvish Productions has announced that
Rock of Ages, which has now played at the Royal Alexandra Theatre
in Toronto for over a year, will close in January so I thought it time to get
in to see this acid rock jukebox musical featuring the tunes of Journey,
Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, et al, about the shy country girl who meets
the big city rocker on LAÕs Sunset Strip circa 1980s.
First of all, let me say that I did not know any of the
music from this show and the best I can say for the period is that it replaced
disco which was fine by me (after putting in earplugs I was fine). In the
musical
We Will Rock You (which featured
the songs of Freddie Mercury and Queen and was a better show) the Òwe shall
overcomeÓ dynamic revolved around the Orwellian Globalsoft Corporation that was
hell-bent on controlling the world. In Rock of Ages the stakes are much lower with the threat coming
from a developer who wants to tear down a seedy section of the Strip (probably
not a bad idea when you think about it). In any case, itÕs a musical and the
niche marketed book by Chris DÕArienzo played successfully to the
fans of the heavy metal bands who were there in abundance.
Just opening at MirvishÕs Princess of Wales Theatre is
Pricilla
Queen of the Desert which is based on the
movie about three drag queens who hit the road in a bus named Pricilla to put
on that one last show for one of their buddies. Found music is again
interpolated in this fun filled romp which is hands down the best drag show in
any city that it plays. Will Swenson,
Tony Sheldon, Nick Adams and C. David Johnson all
have their turn at the wheel of this fast paced vehicle. By the end of the
first act (which by my watch ran 1 hour and 5 minutes) one can only take a deep
breath and wonder aloud if they could push one more show tune into that space
of time - oh wait, Act 2 is beginningÉ
And not to be outdone,
Cirque du Soleil was also in town
this fall (at the Canon Theatre) with a re-working of
Banana Shpeel which by now has gone through several incarnations
on its way to Broadway (again) and destinations internationally. This is the
second Cirque show that IÕve seen this year. Totem, which opened in Montreal in
May, was directed by Robert Lepage and centered on the theme of DarwinÕs theory
of evolution. Perhaps Lepage was thinking about his upcoming mounting of
WagnerÕs Ring Cycle at the Met in New York this fall as he was directing the
show because it seemed like after a few funny sight gags (the evolution of homo
sapiens in motion from the lowly ape to the upright man with suit and brief
case was inspired) and some scenic effects, he lost interest in the script and just
let the circus acts take over.
In
Banana Shpeel
there was a more concerted effort to develop a book (written by David Shiner)
around the circus acts and for the most part the effort succeeds in elevating
the clowns, which normally play second banana in the Cirque shows, to the
central force driving the story.
Danny Rutigliano (as producer and head ring master Marty Schmelky) is reminiscent of a
young Danny DeVito in the lead role and is ably assisted by Shereen
Hickman, Claudio Carneiro, Patrick De Valette and Daniel Passer along with some incredibly talented and agile
aerialists, jugglers, contortionists and acrobats.
Finally, it should not go unmentioned that TorontoÕs
Soulpepper Theatre continues to mount an extremely successful season and has
just announced a blockbuster 2011 season (beginning in January) featuring 17
(IÕll spell it out folks, thatÕs seventeen) productions. Currently playing at
the Young Centre for the Performing Arts are two superb productions.
Death
of a Salesman features the husband and wife
team of Joseph Ziegler and Nancy Palk as Willy and Linda Loman (directed by Albert
Schultz) while the gifted direction of
Weyni Mengesha guides the winning performances of Alison Sealy-Smith and Charles Officer as Lena and Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in
the Sun.
Coda: for Aisle Say readers who are interested in a more in depth
survey of the Canadian theatre scene nationally, there is a new outlet
on the Net entitled ÒWebplayÓ which is a compilation of theatre reviews
put together by members of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association (of
which I am a member) that can be found at the following URL:
http://www.canadiantheatrecritics.ca/reviews.html