Live and in person at the Coal Mine Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Playing until June 7, 2024.

www.coalminetheatre.com

By Henrik Ibsen

Adapted by Liisa Repo-Martell

Directed by Moya O’Connell

Composer, Emily Haines

Set and costumes by Joshua Quinlan

Lighting by Kaitlin Hickey

Sound by Michael Wanless

Cast: Nancy Beatty

Diana Bentley

Andrew Chown

Shawn Doyle

Leah Doz

Qasim Khan

Fiona Reid

A powerhouse cast in a contemporary adaptation which seems strangely unfinished. The production has intriguing moments but generally is obvious and lacking in subtlety.

The Story. At the best of times, Hedda Gabler is a popular play. This summer it’s doubly so: Stratford is doing its own production. It’s a powerhouse part for an actress because the part seems relentlessly driven.

Hedda Gabler was considered a catch for any man in that Norwegian town. She came from an upper-class family—her father was the highly regarded General Gabler. Many of the men Hedda seemed to keep company with were less than ideal. She was attracted to men who were dangerous and exciting. But she was also a product of her society and its attitudes towards women. Women must be respectable and scandal-free. Hedda knew that and respected it. More than anything, she feared scandal.

So Hedda Gabler married the first respectable man who showed interest, Jorgen Tesman. The problem was he was dull. He was a studious, boring historian who was in line for a promotion at the local university.  Jorgen adored Hedda and tried to give her everything she wanted.  This promotion would be very helpful for Jorgen to make money to cater to Hedda.

Hedda and Jorgen have just returned from their six-month honeymoon where Jorgen was also doing research. Hedda got the sense of what marriage to him would be on that honeymoon and she wasn’t happy. When she got home, to a house she told Jorgen she always wanted, we learn that Jorgen’s aunt is dying; that his promotion might not be assured and that an old rival, Eilert Lovborg and a former suitor to Hedda, is back on the scene. There is also Judge Brack, a rather shady but suave character who has arranged for Jorgen to buy the house. He too is interested in Hedda. To make matters even more complicated, Hedda is probably pregnant. There is a lot going on.

The Production and comment. Joshua Quinlan has designed a beautiful, spare set that establishes the size and elegance of the house that Hedda said she coveted (in fact she was toying with Jorgen). There is a piano up at the back wall, a table and two comfortable chairs are in the middle; they are on an elegant patterned rug, and up at the back behind a gauzy curtain is a large backyard.

As the audience files into the theatre, director Moya O’Connell has Berta the maid (Nancy Beatty) fuss with the many flowers that have been delivered to the house to celebrate the return of the ‘happy’ couple. Berta has put the flowers in vases, at least four, but doesn’t know where to put the vases. She hesitates to put them on the piano. So she arranges them all on the table in the main room. This bit of business nicely establishes Berta’s concern that she will not measure up to the standards of the imperious Hedda Gabler. Berta has always worked for the undemanding Tesman family of Jorgen and his two elderly aunts. Now she will work for Jorgen and his demanding bride.

When the production ‘begins’, the lights go up on ‘something’ in front of the piano. In fact it’s the bare back of a woman whose dress is undone. She sits on the piano bench with her head on the keys. She lifts her head and begins to play a mournful but beautiful piece of music (kudos to composer Emily Haines). It’s the middle of the night. This woman can’t sleep. We can assume it’s Hedda Gabler (Diana Bentley) and she is not happy. Again, director Moya O’Connell beautifully establishes Hedda’s ennui at her situation.

That ennui is palpable when Diana Bentley appears as Hedda in the morning.  She is beautiful and impatient. Hedda if almost quivering with impatience and frustration at having to contend with her dim husband Jorgen (Qasim Khan), his aunt Julia (Fiona Reid) who has come to visit, Thea Elvsted (Leah Doz) whom Hedda terrorized when they went to school together, and Judge Brack (Shawn Doyle). Brack offers Hedda some relief from these tiresome people. He is a kindred spirit, with whom she can joke about the others. She visibly relaxes in his presence. They share knowing looks and jokes.  

While Hedda hated scandal, she loved hearing about them and sordid events and so Judge Brack, with his colourful but sort of respectable background, was a perfect friend, as long as he didn’t get too friendly. But Judge Brack wanted to get close to Hedda and her husband, forming something like a triangle. Then Eilert Lovborg  (Andrew Chown) came back into her life. He had been trying to live a respectable life, acting as a tutor to two children. In the process he had an affair with the step-mother of the children. That was Thea Elvsted. She left her husband and his children to follow Eilert to this town.

Hedda is stifling. She’s married to a bore. She is pregnant and that is trapping her in another way. Judge Brack is posing an untenable connection. Hedda’s world is closing in on her. She is frantic to cope until she sees only one way out. I don’t think this is a spoiler alert, since the play has been performed since its debut in 1891 in Germany.

The cast is very strong, led by Diana Bentley giving a terrific, imperious performance as Hedda Gabler. Qasim Khan as Jorgen Tesman is a satisfied man. He has married the most unattainable woman in the town; he is in line for a promotion which will ease the worry of the debt he has incurred trying to please Hedda. And his beloved aunt Julia has given him his old slippers. He is buoyant with joy. Simple things please him. He is dim to every one of Hedda’s little slights. His glasses intrigued me. Jorgen wears wire-tipped glasses that he often takes off to wipe his eyes for effect, or to take them off to stare at a person to make a point, again for effect. Indeed, he took those glasses off to hold them so often, I wondered why he wore them at all. Hmmm.

As Judge Brack, Shawn Doyle is dapper, smooth, charming and dangerous. He and Hedda have a past. She is attracted to dangerous, unsuitable men. Brack served a purpose to amuse her until she found respectability with Jorgen. But Brack knows he has a hold on Hedda and he intends to tighten his grip.

Leah Doz is a highly charged Thea Elvsted. And joining her is the equally impressive Andrew Chown as Eilert Lovborg. These two characters are hanging on by a thread. They are trying to reform and cope. Wonderful work from Leah Doz and Andrew Chown.

Hedda Gabler is directed by Moya O’Connell, who herself is a very fine actress. She played Hedda Gabler in 2012 in a stunning production at the Shaw Festival. She is now adding directing to her many talents. Moya O’Connell has a good feel for staging and a clear idea of the world of the play. And one cuts some slack when O’Connell is beginning work as a new director in the theatre. But I couldn’t ignore the sense that the production seems tentative, unsteady. The pace sometimes is laggy. And dare I say it, it lacks subtlety. Moya O’Connell goes for the obvious in her direction.  Ordinarily there is a sexual innuendo between Hedda and Judge Brack. Here the sexuality is overt. When Brack first visits Hedda Shawn Doyle as Brack sits with his legs wide apart, one foot raised on something, widening the position, when talking to her. This removes a subtle inuendo that is hinted at. Here there is no mystery. Sex is what Brack is conveying. It’s more like, wham, bang, thank you ma’am that is too abrupt.

And the ending in Moya O’Connell’s production is absolutely bizarre. At the end, Hedda does something drastic to end her sense of being trapped. The ending is abrupt with little dialogue.  But then Hedda seems to resurrect herself to perform a frantic, crazed dance upstage with her back to us, her arms flailing and her hair flying. What does that mean, that Hedda will be eternally damned to hell and will not find peace in her drastic end? Bizarre. Moya O’Connell is smart, it’s just that I could not make head no tail of that ending.

This text of Hedda Gabler is adapted by Liisa Repo-Martell. She’s a wonderful actress in her own right who has gone into writing and adapting as an expansion of her art. Liisa Repo-Martell did the wonderful adaptation of Uncle Vanya that originally played at Crow’s Theatre, a year or so ago, and recently was presented in a co-production by Mirvish productions and Crow’s earlier this year.  Liisa Repo-Martell has a wonderful facility with language as is evident in Uncle Vanya. And she shows the same sensitivity in Hedda Gabler. There is a certain freshness to the adaptation in giving a sense of the claustrophobic society for women. But I couldn’t help but feel that the adaptation is unfinished. Of course, there are many adaptations of the play out in the universe, but there are aspects of the play that are similar in each adaptation. With this version they seemed to be cut completely. The ending in particular is abrupt without Hedda offering teasing lines along the way—that she is resolved and will fling knowing lines to those who will remain. I thought that this abrupt ending so strange, if not jarring.

So while there are things to admire in this production of Hedda Gabler, on the whole, I found it a disappointment, sadly.

Coal Mine Theatre presents:

Playing until June 7, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (1 intermission)

www.coalminetheatre.com

{ 0 comments }

2023 Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition Winner

The Child You Deserve

By Julia Peterson 

Directed by Michael Scholar Jr.  

It is 1957, and three generations of Jewish women are gathered around a Montreal apartment’s kitchen table. Jenny, a secretary and ‘accidental activist,’ has big dreams for her daughter and a surprising second chance at love with her partner, Rivka. When Jenny’s mother crashes into their lives the women have to confront their dreams, fears and responsibilities for their communities, the future and each other. The play serves as a sequel to A Man in the House by Elinore Siminovitch and was written by her granddaughter. 

Accessibility requests – please email emilym@mnjcc.org  

The Miles Nadal JCC

Sunday, June 2

7:00 pm

$10-$18

https://app.amilia.com/store/en/miles-nadal-jcc/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=xlZ4XEL

{ 0 comments }

The WeeFestival.

May 10 to June 9 2024.

This is a festival of 10 productions for very young audiences in music, theatre, dance, installation and shadow puppetry in intimate venues across the city.

Full programme and details at www.weefestival.ca

UP!

LagunArte (France)

May 10-12

Age range 6 months to 5 years.

Daniels Spectrum-Dance Arts Institute

As we enter the space Kristof Hiriart is there, barefoot and wearing a knitted cap. He is looking up at something in the distance, whistling to it, singing, making sounds. An illuminated balloon is floating in the air. In the playing space bordered by a rope is a step ladder, smooth rocks, small bowls, a beautiful tea pot, a bowl of water, a small harp/lyre and other stuff.

As the audience settles—kids in front on circular pads, parents close by—Kristof continues to make sounds, sings (beautifully), whistles to whatever is up there in the distance. He makes sounds that could be a mysterious language but it’s hard to tell what. At certain points in the performance he indicates, through this mysterious language, that the audience should also make sounds and they do. Babies are captivated and want to get closer to the action. Children a bit older are mesmerized. He plays the small harp/lyre, first making a sound by plucking one string. Nothing calms a fussy baby quicker than hearing a sound—a plucked string–that comes from somewhere mysterious.

Kristof engages completely with his young audience. No section of the performance—the singing, the mysterious language, the magical manipulation of the balloon and the making of sounds–lasts too long so the child is always involved.

At one point a baby crawled so close to him and seemed a bit cranky that Kristof bent down to pick up the child, looked at the mother and said, “May I?” And the mother said, “Of course.” Kristof gently picked up the baby and held him a few seconds, when the baby realized this was a stranger and Kristof instinctively passed the child to his mother. Respect all round. This was a wonderful show.

{ 0 comments }

Review: In Seven Days

Live and in person at the Harold Green Jewish Theatre. A co-production with the Grand Theatre and the Harold Green Jewish Theatre. Playing until May 16, 2024.

www.hgjewishtheatre.com

Written by Jordi Mand

Directed by Philip Akin

Set and costumes by Sean Mulcahy

Lighting by Siohbán Sleath

Sound by Lyon Smith

Cast: Mairi Babb

Ron Lea

Brendan McMurtry-Howlett

Shaina Silver-Baird

Ralph Small

NOTE: This is mainly a reprint (with some variations) of the review I did of In Seven Days when it played a few months ago at the Grand Theatre in London, Ont. with the same cast. I saw the production at the Harold Green Jewish Theatre at the second last preview.

A smart, funny, moving play about living even when one person chooses not to go on.

The Story. Rachel is a harried lawyer from Toronto, visiting her father and his partner Shelley in London, Ont. She’s brought Shelley the six dozen bagels she asked for to take to Temple the next day. They are the wrong kind of bagel. Who brings six dozen poppyseed bagels, I ask you? And then there is the little matter of Rachel’s father Sam deciding that since his cancer has come back and he’s in constant pain, he will avail himself of MAID (medical assistance in dying) in seven days. Rachel is not having a good day, and the bagels are the least of it.

The Production. The production is wonderful and has grown since I saw it a few months ago when it first played at the Grand Theatre in London, Ont. Sean Mulcahy has designed a stylish, neat set of Sam and Shelley’s living room/kitchen. The room is light-filled with comfortable furniture. The kitchen is pristine with everything put away. A tea-towel hangs over the oven door handle. There are doors up center and to the house right and house left side.

Rachel (Shaina Silver-Baird) arrives, calls out, flops the bags of bagels on the counter in the kitchen and calls out again. Shelley (Mairi Babb) comes out of one of the closed doors up center. She asks Rachel to be quiet because Rachel’s father Sam (Ron Lea) is sleeping. Then the two have an extended conversation about bagels, specifically sesame vs poppyseed. Rachel has bought six dozen poppyseed bagels when Shelley is sure she asked for sesame. They didn’t have sesame, there was only poppyseed. Shelley questions Rachel on when she bought them and chided her for buying them so late when they only had poppyseed that no one at Temple would touch. Shelley has to make a good impression because she’s responsible for the bagels. You can’t buy good bagels in London, Ont. Rachel can’t see the importance of it all. She’s exasperated. Then she has to explain that she didn’t bring ‘the boyfriend’ because they broke up. More interrogation.

Sam (Ron Lea) appears from the same room that Shelley appeared from. He walks slowly with a cane, and is obviously in pain. He’s happy to see Rachel but has something to tell her. His cancer has come back and it’s spread. He can’t face more chemo treatments. He’s decided to avail himself of MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) in seven days. Rachel is horrified and goes into overdrive to change his mind and call all sorts of experts to offer an alternative. As Rachel, Shaina Silver-Baird is direct, take charge, impatient when challenged because she feels that she is doing right and yet unsettled by this turn of events.

And so playwright Jordi Mand begins her buoyant, moving play with the setup of humour about bagels and making an impression and then drops the bombshell of Sam using MAID because he’s tired and hurts and wants to decide when he will leave this earth, on his terms. And of course Shelley is not really upset about the bagels. This is misplaced anger. Shelley is upset because she’s already had the conversation with Sam about his wanting to end his life, and she has to face the fact that this man she loves, wants to die. Still playwright Jordi Mand sets up the first scene beautifully.

This all happens in about the first 10 minutes so this is not a spoiler alert. In Seven Days is a serious comedy. It’s a comedy about living not dying and it will move you to your toenails.

Over the course of the 90-minute play people will gather to offer comfort. Rachel’s ‘former’ boyfriend, Darren, (Brendan McMurtry-Howlett) will arrive from Toronto, hoping to offer her support, even though they broke up. Sam’s boyhood friend Eli, (Ralph Small) now a rabbi, drops by both as a friend and to put things into a Jewish perspective. What Sam is planning to do is murder. It’s a sin. Sam knows it. The discussions between these two old friends, performed by Ron Lea as Sam and Ralph Small as Eli is to watch two acting pros play these two Jewish characters, who know the body language, the nuance and the profound eloquence of a perfectly placed shrug.

Ron Lea plays Sam as a man who is content with his life and his decision to end it. He’s loving to those around him, certainly Rachel and Shelley. He even comes to appreciate Darren, and that’s because Brendan McMurtry-Howlett as Darren won’t let him off the hook. There is a wonderful scene involving ice cream in which both men learn about the other and form a respect and appreciation. Brendan McMurtry-Howlett gives a charming, boyish and accomplished performance as Darren.

Mairi Babb plays Shelley as a woman who has done all the heavy lifting before we arrive. We assume that Shelley has had the gut-wrenching conversation with Sam when she first got the news of his recurring cancer and his decision to end the pain. Shelley is a woman who loves her partner and will support his decision, no matter how she feels about it.  She goes about her duties with determination and an effort to focus on doing well for the Temple when she brings the bagels, albeit the wrong kind! Mairi Babb plays Shelley as a woman who has to put up a good front, both for herself and for Sam. One can see the reasonings behind it. Mairi Babb gives a delicate, subtle performance of a caring woman.

Director Philip Akin digs deep into this play that is so suffused in Judaism and being Jewish. The relationships are beautifully illuminated, not just between father and daughter and loving partners, but also between two old guys who have known each other since they were little kids when they traded baseball cards while sitting on the curb. There is a physical expression of that close relationship late in the play between Sam and Eli that is perfect—it leaves you limp in your seat with the quiet emotion of it all. As I watched that scene and others again with this present production, it brought home the physicality of expression between Sam and Eli was so familiarly Jewish. In Seven Days is a play about ceremony, ritual, tradition and making a hard decision that is right. Jordi Mand and her gifted cast and director, will have you thinking about it long after you leave the theatre.

Comment. In Seven Days Jordi Mand has written a play about living, grabbing life, showing up when a friend or loved one needs you there, no matter how dire the circumstances. It’s about changing your mind, but not in the way expected and changing your perspective but not in an easy way. It’s about doing what’s right for our loved ones. Terrific play. Cause for celebration.

A co-production with the Grand Theatre and the Harold Green Jewish Theatre

Plays until May 16, 2024.

Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

www.hgjewishtheatre.com

NOTE: Respectful comments are accepted on this site as long as they are accompanied by a verifiable name and a verifiable e-mail address. Posts that are slanderous, libelous or personally derogatory will not be approved.

Leave a Comment

Name *

E-mail *

Website

Respectful comments are accepted on this site as long as they are accompanied by a verifiable name and a verifiable e-mail address. Posts that are slanderous, libelous or personally derogatory will not be approved.

{ 0 comments }

Live and in person at Young People’s Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Playing until May 16, 2024

Home

Directed by Herbie Barnes

Cast: Tim Blair

Lisa Merchant

Paloma Nuñes

For audiences 11 years old up.

Improvisation (improv) for young audiences, now that’s brave. But the student audience with whom I saw this show was game. Many knew what improv was; they had seen an improv show, or they had participated in an improv show.

The three experienced improv actors: Tim Blair, Lisa Merchant and Paloma Nuñes, engaged with enthusiasm with the young audience.  They talked about little trick they learned doing improv that acted as tools to perform an improve show. They talked of having to build a character, situation or story that was funny, fully developed and didn’t-over stay its welcome. The audience certainly would tell the performer if the sketch was working or not—they would either laugh at the situations and seat of the plants performing or they wouldn’t. I noted both in the student matinee I attended.

One skit involved Lisa Merchant being the centre of the piece as a student who was called to the principal’s office. Merchant had to leave the theatre while the other two polled the audience for suggestions about why she was sent to the office, what accomplices were involved and where the transgression took place. Biting her nails and Taylor Swift factored heavily. Then Lisa Merchant was called back into the theatre and had to guess the transgression, the celebrity and where the transgression happened.

Another sketch was more elaborate. Before the show, the students had to note on slips of paper their favourite villain, a saying, and various other things. The slips of paper were then divided into categories and put in a separate box by categorty. As the three actors improvised a situation they would regularly take a slip of paper from a box and use what was written to progress the story. A favourite villain proved interesting. The Joker was very popular but one student listed “my mother” as the favourite villain. I don’t know what to make of that. The skit seemed to go on past its best ‘end-time’ but the audience was appreciative.

Tim Blair, Lisa Merchant and Paloma Nuñes are inventive, tenacious and charming. Director Herbie Barnes instilled a sense of pace and energy into the show. Unwritten: The Improv Show is an intriguing production from Young People’s Theatre’s usual fare. It was an interesting effort.

Young People’s Theatre Presents:

Playing until May 16, 2024.

Running time: 60 minutes with a Q & A (no intermission)

Home

{ 0 comments }

I’m interviewing Lynda Hill, the Artistic Director for the WEE Festival on CRITICS CIRCLE, CIUT.fm 89.5 on Sat. May 11 at 9 am, live to talk about this year’s WEE Festival.

It’s a wonderful festival for very young children from 0-6 years old. It runs from May 10 to June 9

https://weefestival.ca

{ 0 comments }

Live and in person at Koerner Hall April 11-14, 2024. Now closed.

https://www.operaatelier.com

This is a preprint with new comments from a piece I wrote when this first played in Feb. 2022.

Conductor, David Fallis

Stage director, Marshall Pynkoski

Choreographer, Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

Resident set designer, Gerard Gauci

Lighting designer, Kimberly Purtell

Choreographer (Inception), Tyler Gledhill

Composer (Inception), Edwin Huizinga

Singers: Colin Ainsworth

Jesse Blumberg

Measha Brueggergosman-Lee

Meghan Lindsay,

Danielle MacMillan

Cynthia Akemi Smithers

Karine White

Douglas Williams

Dancers: Eric Cesar Del Mello Da Silva

Juri Hiraoka

Elizabeth Kalashnikova

Kevin Law

Courtney Lyman

Julia Sedwick

Edward Tracz

Dominic Who

Xi Yi

This production is a remount (with some cast changes) of a shorter run of All Is Love that ran Feb. 2022, but it is worth comment to give a sense of how exquisite the production was in every single way.

And as I have explained when reviewing other Opera Atelier productions, I will concentrate on the theatricality of the performance and not technically on the dancing or singing—not my forte.

The program was composed of songs and dance pieces from Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, George Frideric Handel, Jean-Babtiste Lully, Raynaldo Hahn, Edwin Huizinga, Claude Debussy and others.

The evening began with Measha Brueggergosman-Lee appearing, as if out of the air, at the top of two small staircases that met from stage left and right. She sang “All Is Love” with an incandescent glow of the transporting power of love, the euphoria of it, the intoxication of it, as she wrapped her arms around her as if enveloped with it.

The evening flowed from dance excerpts involving the Artists of Atelier Ballet, Tyler Gledhill’s thrilling solos along with Eric César Del Mello Da Silva’s beguiling angel of love, to vocal solos with Colin Ainsworth, Danielle MacMillan, Cynthia Akemi Smithers, Jesse Blumberg and Measha Brueggergosman-Lee among others. Composer-violinist Edwin Huizinga played from his “Inception” with Tyler Gledhill dancing to the choreography he created for the piece.

The beauty of Marshal Pynkoski’s direction is that each separate piece always looked like it was part of a whole. Transitions from one scene to the next never seemed jarring and always flowed seamlessly. Projections above the stage always enhanced a scene and never detracted from it. Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg’s choreography established that world of form, beauty, elegance and grace.

I do have a quibble. The male singers are dressed in the same kind of costumes as the male dancers: leotards, flowing shirts etc. Why then can’t the singers be guided/directed to be as graceful as the dancers. The dancers enter silently, whether running or jumping. The singers seem to ‘clump’ on. It sounds jaring. It’s a quibble since the whole is exquisite, but still…..

Presented by Opera Atelier

{ 0 comments }

Live and in person at Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, Ont. playing until May 11.

www.theatreaquarius.org

By Tom Wilson and Shaun Smyth

Inspired by the book “Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home” by Tom Wilson.

Directed by Mary Francis Moore

Music supervision and Orchestrations/Arrangements by Bob Foster

Set by Jay Havens

Costumes by Yolonda Skelton

Lighting by Kevin Fraser

Sound  by Ranil Sonnadara

Movement by Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo

Cast: Phil Davis

Sheldon Elter

Kristi Hansen

Brandon McGibbon

Valerie Planche

Jeremy Proulx

Thompson Wilson

Band: Bob Foster—Keyboards

Gary Craig—drums

David Gray—Guitar

Anna Ruddick—Bass

Beautiful Scars is a moving musical about identity, finding it and embracing it especially with its challenges.  

The Story.  Beautiful Scars by Tom Wilson and Shaun Smyth (who are both listed as playwright and co-creator), is about how Tom Wilson learned in his early 50’s that he was Indigenous. This was a deep family secret. First, Tom Wilson learned that the woman he thought was his cousin Janie, was in fact his mother. Janie was from Quebec. She got pregnant as a teenager and the man responsible took off.  The idea of having a baby out of wedlock was humiliating for the family so Janie gave up her baby to her aunt Bunny and uncle George. George was blinded in WWII which also complicated matters. Bunny could not have children, and probably didn’t want them, but took Tom and raised him as if he was her own.

Janie would visit, but had to swear that she would never tell Tom the truth about his birth. There was a rapport between Janie and Tom. When Tom learns the truth, he learns that he is of the Mohawk tribe. Being told he was Indigenous sent Tom into a tail spin.

In a way this was not a surprise because Tom had a sense that something was not right as he was growing up. It meant that he felt that he didn’t belong in the world he thought he was born into, a white one. He found music and became a successful rock and roll singer, with five Juno Awards for his albums. He’s a painter. Has written two autobiographies. He is a member of the Order of Canada.

Along the way Tom Wilson went to Los Angeles fell into the world of drugs and spiraled out of control. Beautiful Scarsis a musical that chronicles Tom Wilson’s journey to self-discovery of who he is, who his family is and what his identity is.

The Production Comment. The rule is that in the first five minutes of a musical you have to establish the theme, tone, idea etc. through the first song.  At the beginning of Beautiful Scars is the ‘song’ “RABBIT DANCE” which is a traditional Haudenosaunee song, played on the drum and sung by Phil Davis who is an Indigenous collaborator. That first song beautifully establishes the Indigenous world of Tom Wilson played with mournful detail by Sheldon Elter. There is a melding of Wilson’s music and traditional Indigenous music and dance to give the sense of the two worlds that he inhabited, even though he didn’t know about the Indigenous world until his early 50s. Then he embraced his Indigenous identity fully.

The rock band acts as spirits and characters in Wilson’s life who waft in and out of the action. Kristi Hansen usually in black leather, and singing, also plays Tom’s mother Bunny wearing a prim wig and comfortable clothing. Brandon McGibbon gyrates and rocks to the music but then morphs into George, Tom’s blind, respectable father.

And there is a wonderful character of Bear (Jeremy Proulx) who shadows Tom everywhere—because he is a protective presence who was with him even in the bad times. This is not a trickster who is impish, but an imposing presence in black leather and a black top hat.  He is beautifully played by Jeremy Proulx; imposing, commanding and yet calm.  Tom Wilson is played with anger and a sense of heart-break by Sheldon Elter. He has a haunted look in his eyes for much of the play until Tom Wilson realizes his long lost identity.

The production is directed by Mary Francis Moore with respect and sensitivity. She has paid homage to the Indigenous tradition by giving her production a sense of ceremony. Jay Havens’ set looks like a collage almost in miniature of important items in Tom’s life: the Bridge commemorating the Mohawk Skywalkers who build such bridges; stars that look like ceremonial lanterns; flowers, a moon, buildings suggesting a big city—all served the whole picture.   The production plays like an Indigenous ceremony full of tradition as well as a rousing rock and roll story.  The band and singers are rousing. Occasionally it was hard to make out the lyrics because the band drowned out the singers—always tricky to balance the sound.

Still, Beautiful Scars is a tribute to Tom Wilson who made a life for himself in the world of music and found his Indigenous roots and a sense of belonging in Hamilton, Ont. where he is revered.

Theatre Aquarius presents:

Plays until May 11, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (1 intermission)

www.theatreaquarius.org

NOTE: Respectful comments are accepted on this site as long as they are accompanied by a verifiable name and a verifiable e-mail address. Posts that are slanderous, libelous or personally derogatory will not be approved.

{ 2 comments }

Live and in person at Theatre Orangeville, Orangeville, Ont. Playing until May 12, 2024.

www.theatreorangeville.ca

Written by Leslie McCurdy with Cassel Miles

Directed by David Nairn

Musical director, Nicholas Mustapha

Choreographer, Candace Jennings

Co-set designer, Beckie Morris and Lisa Lahue

Costumes by Alex Amini

Lighting by Chris Malkowski

Cast: Leslie McCurdy

Cassel Miles

Band: Matthew Leombruni-Bassist

Nicolas Mustapha-Piano

Matteo Romaniello-Drums

An important musical revue told with insight, sensitivity and joy.

The Darktown Stutters’ Ball is about identity in a way, finding it and embracing it especially with the challenges that come with it.

The show is billed as a ‘compelling new musical revue’ which chronicles the contribution and stories of Black artists in the 20^th century and how they paved the way for other Black artists to tell their stories and those of others. The Darktown Strutters’ Ball by Leslie McCurdy with Cassel Miles chronicles the contributions of Black artists to music, theatre etc.

Of course, the title is ‘borrowed’ from the song “At the Darktown Strutters Ball” that was written by Shelton Brooks, born May 4, 1886 – September 6, 1975. Shelton Brooks was a Canadian-born African American composer and performer of popular music and jazz.

He was known for his ragtime and vaudeville style, and wrote some of the biggest hits of the first third of the 20th century; including “Some of These Days” and “At the Darktown Strutters’ Ball“.  Brooks was born in Amherstburg, Ont. His father was a minister and Brooks taught himself music on their church’s pump organ. His family moved to Detroit in 1901. This is where Brooks first made his name in music and comedy.  Brooks sang, played piano, and performed on the vaudeville circuit (notably, as a Bert Williams imitator) as well as having a successful songwriting career. His first hit song was “Some of These Days” which became the signature song for Sophie Tucker. He had a radio show on CBS in the 1930s. Shelton Brooks had a huge career. Shelton Brooks’ song, The Darktown Strutters’ Ball  was the earliest jazz recording and it made Shelton Brooks the first superstar in the music business.

The show also notes the huge contribution of Florence Mills (who was the partner of Shelton Brooks until she died), Bert Williams, Bojangles Robinson, Billy Holiday with her devastating song, “Strange Fruit’, Josephine Baker who went to France because America was not hospitable, Nina Simone, Paul Robeson, Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, The Supremes, Gil Scott Heron, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Bob Marley, Queen Latifah and ends with fittingly with Canadian Oscar Peterson.

The Darktown Strutters’ Ball is written by Leslie McCurdy, who had the idea, and she performs it with her great friend Cassel Miles. Both are Black.  Leslie McCurdy is a force of commitment and determination. She has done a one woman show on Harriet Tubman and one on various black women in Canadian history in her show, Things My Four-Sisters Saw.” I’ve seen Cassel Miles act in straight plays like Driving Miss Daisy and Spaciousness. He is a fastidious actor, paying attention to the smallest detail of his characters. Here he sings and dances as well.

Both Leslie McCurdy and Cassel Miles are training and they bring their considerable dancing, acting and singing training to create a fascinating show. Both friends work beautifully together, riffing off each other’s stories, adding to them or just being amazed at the information being offered on these notable talents in history.

Both performers had a trunk with props, costumes and other stuff. There was a rack of clothes from which to pick a costume to illuminate a character and his/her song. Both Leslie McCurdy and Cassel Miles were like kids in a candy story, dipping into the trunks with their many surprises and treasures.

One story was particularly harrowing. Bert Williams was a Black comedian and a member of the Ziegfield Follies in 1910. W.C. Fields called Bert Williams “the funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest.” Bert Williams was the first Black man to appear in the Follies and several members of the company went to Ziegfield and wanted Bert Williams fired because they didn’t want to perform on a stage with a Black man. Astonishing Ziegfield said that he could replace all the white performers but not Bert Williams. That settled the matter.

Interestingly, Bert Williams had to perform in Black face which was the norm when a white performer did a minstrel song. To illustrate this Cassel Miles carefully put on the black face over his own Black face and said, ‘can you imagine what that must have felt like for Bert Williams in a sense to hide his identity with this makeup?’ It was a sobering moment in a show full of them.

When you are documenting the contributions of Black performers in history, of course it’s serious, but there is also humour, tenacity, grit, bravery, and simple guts to perform. And these artists were celebrated and revered for their contribution.

Both Leslie McCurdy and Cassel Miles riff and dance together beautifully. They each brought information to the show that illuminated that time at the beginning of the 20^th century. Choreographer, Candace Jennings recreated the dances of that time and used the performer’s dancing versatility to great purpose. David Nairn directed this with sensitivity, never getting in the way of the narrative. There was nice interplay with the band who also brought their own contributions to the evening.

If I have a quibble it’s that at times the balance of the sound of the band drowned out the performers. While they wore head microphones occasionally it sounded as if one or both of the microphones was not on. It’s always so tricky to have a band that is microphoned accompanying performers who are supposedly microphoned, and sometimes the singers are drowned out and hearing the actual lyrics is a problem.

However, on the whole, I thought the commitment, scholarship, research and open-hearted generosity of the show was a revelation of the huge contribution Black artists made to the theatre, Broadway, comedy, music, songwriting and the civil rights movement.

The Darktown Stutters’ Ball is both entertaining and enlightening. I loved it and found it very moving.

Theatre Orangeville presents:

Plays until May 12.

Running time: 90 minutes (1 intermission)

www.theatreorangeville.ca

NOTE: Respectful comments are accepted on this site as long as they are accompanied by a verifiable name and a verifiable e-mail address. Posts that are slanderous, libelous or personally derogatory will not be approved.

{ 0 comments }