The following two reviews were broadcast on Friday, November 1, 2013, CIUT FRIDAY MORNING 89.5. fm: le fa le do at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Upstairs until Nov. 2, and Abduction from the Seraglio at the Elgin Theatre, until Nov. 2.
The guest host was Phil Taylor
(PHIL)
Good Friday morning. It’s theatre fix time with Lynn Slotkin our theatre critic and passionate playgoer.
Hi Lynn
(LYNN)
Hi Phil
(PHIL)
What’s on tap this week?
(LYNN)
A bit of an eclectic mix. First from theatre français de Toronto we have le fa le do a zany, film-noirish, mystery-comedy-musical. And from Opera Atelier Mozart’s comic opera, Abduction from the Seraglio.
We haven’t covered productions from either of these worthy companies in too long a time.
(PHIL)
1) Ok let’s start with le fa le do. Do you need to know French to enjoy it?
(LYNN)
No because there are performances with surtitles. I so appreciate them since my French is not strong. They are always helpful and nothing is lost in appreciating the production.
(PHIL)
2) What’s the story?
(LYNN)
le fa le do as in fa and do of a musical scale, is an off-the-wall-blast. It’s a mystery; it’s a comedy; it’s political and satiric; it’s about following your bliss; and it’s a musical with Fado singing and karaoke.
Albert is an archivist nearing retirement who is called in to clear out almost all the recordings of the National Archives. This offends him as a preserver of important things, but he does it. Julien is a young scientist working on his late mentor’s project of finding the secret of being young and perhaps even changing brain genetics. His mentor recorded several tapes of his scientific findings. One tape is missing and one of the storylines is trying to find it.
His mentor was killed in an explosion in the lab three years before. Julien was in the same explosion, survived but can’t remember a thing about it. His ‘aunt’ runs the company and is close mouthed about the explosion and just wants the young man to find the secret because it will bring her company millions.
She also seems inordinately attached to Julien who has also announced that he has found the love of his life, in a karaoke bar of all places. Albert luckily finds a tape with a woman singing Fado beautifully. He is intrigued and needs to know who she is. He plays the tape again and again. But something is odd. There seems to be another voice ‘underneath.’ Who could it be? There is also Jean-Daniel, a former Bay street trader who has found his bliss being a cowboy karaoke singer and doer of odd jobs.
(PHIL)
3) Off-the-wall, indeed.
(LYNN)
As I said off the wall and beautifully, hilariously written by Luc Moquin. With every twist and turn in the story, the jaw drops more and more at the incredulousness of the story. It’s a perfect example of a show in which you must suspend your disbelief and enter into the dark zaniness of it all.
(PHIL)
4) I would think that’s where the director comes in.
(LYNN)
It’s directed with a wonderful, zany seriousness by Mathieu Charette. Part film noir, part documentary, part thriller and mystery, mashed up into an intriguing whole. Together with his design team the whole look shimmers with atmosphere. Melanie McNeill’s set is like a puzzle of various moving parts, which when all the components are rolled together around a central pole creates one setting. And when each component is pulled away from that central pole, we are in another setting.
Simon Rossiter’s moody lighting puts us in a world that can be a smoky karaoke bar, or just murky enough for a murder.
(PHIL)
5) And it’s a musical?
(LYNN)
And it’s a musical of all sorts of styles of music, from Karaoke, country and western and Fado. Claude Naubert composed the wonderful music.
The cast is uniformly fine. They have a terrific sense of the humour and play it very straight which is essential. And they can sing. It’s hilarious and worth your time.
(PHIL)
6) And now for some opera Abduction from the Seraglio. (Pronounced: Ser ahl yo) I’m sure you’ll tell us what a seraglio is when you tell us the story.
(LYNN)
Of course. I’m not touching on the music or the singing because that’s not my forte. I’ll talk about it from a theatrical point of view. Two couples are on a frigate.
They are the noblewoman Konstanze, her lover Belmonte; her English maid Blonde and Blonde’s lover Pedrillo. They are overcome by the Turkish henchmen of Pasha Selim. The women and Pedrillo are spirited away leaving Belmonte behind. The women are kept in an enclosure with the Pasha Selim’s other wives and concubines, called a seraglio. Pedrillo is kept a slave to the Pasha. Blonde is kept as a wife by Osmin, a beefy guy who oversees the Pasha’s harem.
The Pasha keeps putting the moves on Konstanze to be his favourite wife but she’s reluctant because of course she loves Belmonte. Belmonte is on the move to rescue them all. And it’s all hilarious and played out to Mozart’s glorious music.
(PHIL)
7) Why is it hilarious?
(LYNN)
Because it’s done in the style of Commedia dell’arte an Italian street theatre. Very fast moving, broadly acted—you have to grab your audience quickly. In the theatre this is fast and furious. And of course director Marshall Pynkoski directs this with his usual style and wit.
In the first scene when the women and Padrillo are captured the henchmen look like they are carrying their captives by the hand and feet and then throwing them into their boat. They are throwing dummies of course, but the visual impact is very funny.
A wily Belmonte trying to steal into a palace to save his lady-love and avoid the beefy Osmin, is funny. Lots of pratfalls, lots of broad humour.
(PHIL)
8) Without commenting on the singing, talk about the performances.
(LYNN)
The women of Ambur Braid as Konstanze and Carla Huhtanen as Blonde fair better than their rather lightweight counterparts. Braid has a hauteur with a touch of goofiness as Konstanze. Huhtanen is spunky, earthy, and beautifully comedic. As the beefy Osmin, Gustav Andreassen has a wonderful comedic style and an ability to rotate his head while singing that is quite effective.
And as Pasha Selim, Curtis Sullivan is impressively robust but courtly in a sweet kind of way, as he is disappointed again and again by being rebuffed by Konstanze. As always it’s beautifully designed and lit.
Abduction from the Seraglio is typical of Opera Atelier, classy, tasteful, beautiful to look at without a hint of snootiness.
(PHIL)
9) Opera Atelier is a bit different than most opera companies, isn’t it?
(LYNN)
It is. It specializes in opera, ballet, and drama from the 17 and 18th century. The presentation is very stylized, down to even using instruments of the period; lavish décor; exquisite costumes. There is also a ballet component.
Co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, he directs, she choreographs the operas, scrutinize paintings of the period to realize the poses, stances, body language etc. to bring as authentic a look as possible. And their taste is exquisite.
If you want to introduce someone, even children to opera this is the company that might be the ticket.
(PHIL)
And can you tell us what you will cover next week?
(LYNN)
Coming up next week is the opening of MOSS PARK at Theatre Passe Muraille, it opens Monday and I’ll review it next Friday. And I’ll also review: The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble that opens at Factory Theatre.
I’ll also interview director David Ferry and actress Claire Armstrong who are preparing for their production of After Miss Julie that opens at the Storefront Theatre on Bloor Street. Lots of good stuff out there.
(PHIL)
Thanks Lynn. That’s Lynn Slotkin our theatre critic and passionate playgoer. You can read Lynn’s blog at www.slotkinletter.com
le fa le do plays at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Upstairs until Nov. 2 (that’s tomorrow)
The Abduction from the Seraglio plays at the Elgin Theatre also until tomorrow, Nov. 2.
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