Live and in person at Crow’s Theatre, the Streetcar Crowsnest, Carlaw and Dundas, plays until April 24 2022. (held over).

www.crowstheatre.com

Written by George F. Walker

Suggested by the novel “The Life of a Useless Man” by Maxim Gorky

Directed by Tanja Jacobs

Set by Lorenzo Savoini

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Logan Raju Cracknell

Sound by Thomas Ryder Payne

Cast: Christopher Allen

Shayla Brown

Kyle Gatehouse

Patrick McManus

Michelle Mohammed

Eric Peterson

Paolo Santalucia

Shauna Thompson

A big-hearted play about disappointed people who prevail, by George F. Walker, a master of playwrighting if ever there was one. Beautifully created, acted and directed by artists who know the value and pacing of humour to overcome despair.

The Story. It’s 1905 in a small town in Russia. Vasley has been an orphan since he was seven-years-old (as per The Life of a Useless Man by Maxim Gorky, on which Orphans for the Czar is ‘suggested.’). His Uncle Piotr has taken him in to live. It’s not a happy existence for Vasley. He’s hungry because his aunt does not feed him properly. He’s regularly beaten by his ‘friend’ Yakov, of the village. One of Vasley’s few friends is Rayisha, a sweet young woman who is blind. He tries to describe the darkness of the world (so she won’t feel out of place in her own ‘dark’ world) and that gets the ire of Rayisha’s mother who says that Vasley scared her with his doom and gloom.  Life wears him down.

Piotr suggests that Vasley goes to St. Petersburg to live and work with his half-brother (or cousin—the relationship is murky) who owns a bookshop. Life is no better there. Vasley has to run the bookshop and decide how much to charge per book, feed his Uncle (referred to as Master) and provide him with accommodating young women who don’t mind that Master is riddled with syphilis. Vasley can read, but what use is that when every thought is gloomy.

One day, Vasley is visited by Makarov (Patrick McManus), a successful-looking man who wants Vasley to keep an eye on the bookstore customers and feed him the information who in turn will give the information to the Czar. Unrest is mounting. Revolution is bubbling. Vasley is being paid by Makarov to spy. For the first time in his life Vasley is well fed, while those as hard done by are starving.    

The Production. Lorenzo Savoini’s set is evocative of poverty and age. The back wall is dull grey wood with two doorways in it. A staircase goes up the side of the wall with one of the doorways at the top. The floor is well worn and also rough. To the sides of the stage are tables laden with books of all sizes, shapes and colours. You want to approach the tables and read the titles (okok, and “borrow” a book) but the ropes in front of the stage let one know that is a ‘no-no.’ Over the course of the play the tables will be moved around to create the bookstore or a table on which to eat. A bench will also be used. This simple set has created the poor world of Vasley (Paolo Santalucia) and his Uncle Piotr/Master (Eric Peterson).  

Ming Wong’s costumes continue this world of poverty vs prosperity. Whether in the small country village or in St. Petersburg the clothes are thread-bare, frayed, well-worn and tattered. Vasley’s ‘coat’ is not only full of holes and thin, it looks like it’s rigid with dirt. I thought that a wonderful touch.  The characters of Olga (Michelle Mohammed) and Maya (Shauna Thompson) are not peasants but are working for the peasant class. They are part of a group wanting a better life for the people. For them revolution is imminent. These are two of the characters on whom Vasley is spying.  Olga’s costume is a sturdy frock. She can afford to buy books. Maya dresses in stylish pants, a shirt and a tie. She is often mistaken for a man and she doesn’t care.

The costume for Makarov is another matter. Makarov is the ruling/moneyed class. He works for the Czar. Patrick McManus as Makarov is the essence of success and money. His beard and hair are trimmed and combed. He wears a beautiful fitted black suit and vest with a pocket watch. His shoes are shined. He exudes success and power, especially because Patrick McManus does not play the power. He is quiet speaking, except when dealing with Sasha (Kyle Gatehouse) a hot-headed thug. McManus listens and we listen too.

To add one more dash to this impressive creation, lighting designer Logan Raju Cracknell has lit Makarov in his first appearance so that it throws a shadow that goes to the top of the wall. That shadow and that character overpower everything else on that stage. It’s a fantastic effect to suggest monumental power, so bravo to Cracknell and director Tanja Jacobs for that image.

Playwright George F. Walker has created in Vasley almost an empty canvas. While he can read he has no opinions on anything except that his world is dark, depressing and almost hopeless. Vasley is so used to beatings, usually at the hands of his ‘friend’ Yakov (Christopher Allen) that Paolo Santalucia plays him stooped, as if he expects to be thumped. His brow is always furrowed. Worry creases his face. He is a man with questions and a sense of curiosity to explain why he should think better of his dark world.  Yet Vasley has a self-deprecating sense of humour that is hilarious. That Santalucia has wonderful timing in floating a laugh-line makes the humour always get its mark. But at the end, Vasley has an epiphany, born of total frustration that results in a shift in attitude. Our reaction is subtle but resounding.  

As Piotr and Master, Eric Peterson gives a masterclass in acting. As Piotr he is animated and kindly with dashes of frustration that his nephew is so morose. As Master (either a half-brother or cousin?) Eric Peterson is slow moving as if every movement hurts. In both characters Peterson knows how to pace a line and fill it full of nuance, making the audience lean in and listen to every single word, waiting for the last one, that is the joke. Masterful.  

Director Tanja Jacobs and her gifted cast creates a sense of community with those characters, and certainly regarding Rayisha—taking care of her because she is blind—and that sense of community is so obvious with how these actors take care of each other. Shayla Brown plays Rayisha with delicacy but also inner strength. It’s an impressive professional debut.

Tanja Jacobs has established the sense of ennui pervading the lives of these characters who keep working without a hint of doing better. But the humanity and humour that fill this production and play, both self-deprecating and aimed at the unfairness of the world of these characters, in its way establishes a sense of hope, a glimmer of light.

This is a wonderful, bracing, very funny play about people who keep on keeping on, so of course it’s a play for our times.

Comment. Russia is rich in writers who illuminate and describe the history and people of that country, but no one writes with as much compassion and understanding of the downtrodden, poor, peasant class like Maxim Gorky does. Similarly in Canada, no playwright captures the world of the marginalized and forgotten with as much heart and gentle embrace as George F. Walker. He’s been illuminating these characters and their world since the 1970s. What a perfect melding of writing worlds that George F. Walker has created in Orphans for the Czar. (And is Walker winking at Orphans of the Storm, D.W. Griffith’s silent film of 1921 about the French Revolution that was echoing Bolshevism in Russia?).

This is a big, bold play of 10 characters and it takes guts to produce it in these tricky theatre times. So bravo to Crow’s for taking it on.

Produced by Crow’s Theatre

Runs until April 24, 2022. (held over)

Running Time: 90 minutes.

www.crowstheatre.com

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Tuesday, March 8-13 at 8:00 pm (in person)

Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, Toronto, Ont.

Light (World Premiere)

Written by Rosa Laborde
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
In-person (subscriber exclusive) March 8 – 13
Tarragon Chez Vouz digital access March 15 – 27

Seekers come from far and wide to discover ‘the truth’ of their existence at an ashram devoted to meditation, contemplation and relinquishing thought. But a new student threatens to undermine the whole endeavor while simultaneously, and unexpectedly, becoming undone. A play about who we think we are versus the thoughts that make us what we think.

www.tarragontheatre.com

Wednesday, March 9, 10, 12, 2022.

March 9 AND 10, 2022—7:30 P.M.
March 12, 2022—1:00 P.M. AND 7:30 P.M.

Performed at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre
227 Front St. E., Toronto, Ontario

Fantasma

By Ian Cusson and Colleen Murphy

Sung in English

The Canadian Opera Company Theatre hosts the world premiere of Fantasma by former COC Composer-in-Residence Ian Cusson, with a libretto by Canadian theatre legend Colleen Murphy, and direction and dramaturgy by Julie McIsaac. Sung in English and set in contemporary times, Fantasmafollows best friends Léa and Ivy as they stumble upon a dark secret at an old-fashioned family carnival. Fantasmais highly recommended for young adults—if you have someone age 12-18 in your life, this is a great way to introduce them to opera as a living, breathing, contemporary form of cultural expression.

Performance time is approximately 45 minutes with no intermission

Learn more

March 10 to April 18,  2022

1 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ont.

THE LIBRARY AT NIGHT

Created by Robert Lepage

Based on works by Alberto Manguel

Lighthouse Immersive, North America’s leading producer of ground-breaking experiential art exhibits, in association with Luminato Festival Toronto, announces that the next work to inhabit their Toronto Lighthouse Artspace at 1 Yonge Street will be the Toronto premiere of an immersive experience from internationally acclaimed Canadian theatre artist Robert Lepage and his company Ex Machina, THE LIBRARY AT NIGHT.  The unique, enveloping experience will open March 10th running to April 18th. Inspired by Argentinian Canadian writer Alberto Manguel’s acclaimed 2006 book The Library at Night – which explores the theoretical, architectural, and social dimensions that underlie any library’s existence/

lighthouseimmersive.com.

Thursday, March 10-20, 2022, 8:00 pm

Capitol Theatre, Port Hope, Ont.

BOOM

A trip through the music, culture, and politics of the BABY BOOM generation.

Created by Rick Miller, BOOM  takes us on a heartfelt journey through 25 turbulent years (1945-1969) and gives voice to over 100 influential politicians, activists, and musicians. It’s an astonishing experience for audiences of all generations and–with 385 performances already–a hit in Canada, the U.S., France, and Taiwan.

www.capitoltheatre.com

Thursday, March 10, 2022,

BARVINOK

The Blyth Festival Raises funds for Ukraine with Award Winning Show

Gil Garratt announced today that on Thursday March 10, the Blyth Festival in partnership with Pyretic Productionswill be presenting an online reading of Barvinok by Edmonton based playwright Lianna Makuch to raise humanitarian funds for Ukraine. 

Originally produced by Pyretic Productions in association with Punctuate! Theatre in Edmonton in 2018, the productiongarnered four Sterling Award nominations and in March of 2019 went on to premiere at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre; plans for a national tour were scuttled by Covid19. Barvinok is a two act play directed by Patrick Lundeen, and starring Lianna Makuch, Mariya Khomutova, Andrew Kushnir, Maxwell Lebeuf, Tanya Pacholok and Christina Nguyen.

Lianna Makuch is a second generation Ukrainian Canadian Theatre Artist. She is the playwright and principal performer in Barvinok, which has garnered her awards and recognition from across the country and internationally.

Gil Garratt says, “This is a moment in history our generation has not seen before. It is crushing to see what is happening in Eastern Europe and we knew as an organization we needed to do something tangible. The play Ms. Makuch and Pyretic have created is extraordinary. They built the script through grassroots, immersive story building, traveling to Ukraine over and over for years, gathering interviews and insights. These artists have tried to hold the heart of Ukraine in their hands and share it. We are all richer for it.”

During the pre-recorded event, links to donate to the Red Cross and the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation groups will be featured and easily found both on Blyth Festival social media channels and the Blyth Festival website (www.blythfestival.com).

The recording will be available on the Blyth Festival YouTube channel for the next month while we bring awareness to this urgent crisis.

For more information regarding this event please contact Gil Garratt at

ggarratt@blythfestival.com or Rachael King at rking@blythfestival.com

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Streamed live, digitally, produced by Factory Theatre, Feb. 24-March 5. https://www.factorytheatre.ca

Written and performed by Augusto Bitter, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, Rosa Laborde and Anita Majumdar

Directed by Nina Lee Aquino

Set by Camellia Koo

Costumes by Joyce Padua

Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

Sound and composer, Mikael Bensimon

Broadcast designer and operator, Miquelon Rodriguez

Terrific in so many ways. Funny, insightful and deeply moving.

Nina Lee Aquino, the mighty Artistic Director of Factory Theatre, had an idea to engage four gifted theatre writers to create four personal pieces, about what ‘home’ means to them, that they would also perform in their homes, under the umbrella title of “Year of the Rat.” Each piece was performed and filmed in one room in each writer/performer’s home, directed by Nina Lee Aquino. The results are streamed digitally, on line until March 5.

While the most recent “Year of the Rat” was technically 2020, one can extend that ‘year’ to the time of the pandemic that kept people indoors, often against their will, sometimes not; had them thinking about who they were, who they thought they were and how that changed.

Three of the pieces are very personal, dealing with the lives of the writers, their joys, losses, regrets, despairs, uncertainty and quirky humour. One seemed a flight of fancy about a wannabe Instagram influencer, that in a way was a personal story as well. There were rats too.

Abuelita! Abuelita! (Grandma! Grandma!)

By Rosa Laborde

Rosa Laborde writes from her bedroom. It was supposed to be from the kitchen but she heard a noise and, well, the “Year of the Rat” turned out to be something like foreshadowing. Laborde writes of the joy-stress of giving birth, living in cramped quarters until she and her husband and baby move to a roomier apartment and she writes of ‘abuelita,’ her Grandmother who was from Chile, a formidable woman. Laborde writes of her parents’ breakup; living in Ottawa when she was a kid, and how much she missed her Grandmother when she (the Grandmother) went to Chile for a visit.

Laborde is an engaging performer, charming, funny and moving. She is a wonderful writer. She had to go to Chile on her Grandmother’s behalf to get some things and describes that “she had the smell of her homeland on my skin.” That is an image that is intoxicating and full of heartache. Laborde writes of being Jewish and notes a time during the war when the Canadian government’s immigration policy regarding how many Jews to admit into the country was: “None is too many.” A line that always makes me weep.  

Abuelita! Abuelita!  is a beautiful piece of writing, wonderfully performed. Nina Lee Aquino directed this with such sensitivity and wit.

Stairway to Heaven

By Augusto Bitter

Augusto Bitter is a buoyant, expressive performer who is anxious to go out for a night of karaoke if only he can find the proper shoes. He performs his piece in the tight confines of the hallway just at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to his apartment in the house he shares with friends.  He goes through the racks of shoes at the side of the hall, looking at and throwing the shoes behind him, up the stairs. There are sandals; ones with heels; boots; brogues; funky boots. None seem right. He talks of his sexual encounters in Europe; he talks of his father coming from Venezuela. He muses on home and how he feels he should move but doesn’t. Hiding under all that energetic bravura is uncertainty about what home is and where he belongs and where can he find acceptance, love, belonging. It’s a performance that makes you sit back the energy is so huge in the telling. Dandy.

Want Now.

By Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman performs her piece, Want Now, in her attic, where she goes for solace, peace and to write. She is often found and ‘captured’ by her toddler son who wants whatever he wants NOW and doesn’t stop saying “Want Now!” until he gets it. She lives in the house with her husband, son and father. She works under a lot of stress, trying to create, trying to be a good wife and mother and feeling she is failing. Corbeil-Coleman feels she is “a bad actor in my life.” She feels her heart is racing all the time. She tells her stories at break-neck speed to such an extent that one wants her to slow down. The point is, she is talking as fast as her heart is racing. It’s a wonderful bit of direction from Nina Lee Aquino.

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman has had a lot of sadness to contend with. When she was 15, she lost her mother, writer Carol Corbeil to cancer. Corbeil-Coleman coped by writing about the experience, (Scratch)  starting her on her career as a writer. Writer Linda Griffiths became Corbeil-Coleman’s surrogate mother/confidante. The bond was strong until Griffiths died of cancer when Corbeil-Coleman was 29. In a sense, she lost her mother twice.  Life experiences have deepened Corbeil-Coleman’s perceptions of the world, herself and her place in that world. Her performance is witty, quirky, self-deprecating and totally engaging. I loved being breathless through this moving memoir.   

Candice the Cosmic Snitch

By Anita Majumdar

Candice is in her bathroom. She wears a bad red wig, bright red lipstick and a sweatshirt that says “Positive Energy.” She talks in the lingo of the Instagram influencer, wanting to be important and ‘liked.’ She references: being a ‘hop on-hop off bus guide, ‘the prophet Joe Rogan (!), the men who disappoint her, living in St. Catharines and the many and various texts she receives while she’s talking to us. They appear on our screens as well as hers. For Candice it’s all a pose when she finally takes off her wig revealing her own dark hair. She knows she is trying to be someone she is not.

Anita Majumdar has created an intriguing character in Candice, with her own language that echoes the stuff of the internet. On the one hand Candice is superficial but then there is depth to her despair at the disappointment she has felt in that fast-paced-click-if-you-like-me world.   

Year of the Rat is terrific in so many ways. And the fact that the evening started exactly when it said it would at 7:30 pm was so heartening for the future when we return in person.

Produced by Factory Theatre.

Plays on line, until: March 5, 2022.

Running Time: 90 minutes.

Home

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Wednesday, November 3-Dec. 12,  2021. 8: 25 pm

From Soulpepper

Draw Me Close by Jordan Tannahill

Immersive live theatre experience.

DRAW ME CLOSE

After captivating imaginations around the globe, this pioneering work makes its Canadian Premiere.

Draw Me Close blurs the worlds of live performance, virtual reality, and animation to create a vivid memoir about the relationship between a mother and her son charting twenty-five years of love, learning, and loss. Weaving theatrical storytelling with cutting-edge technology, the performance allows the audience member to take the part of the protagonist, Jordan, inside a live, animated world.

www.soulpepper.ca

Thursday, November 4-6 2021.

Emma Rice:

Wise Children’s “Wuthering Heights” (Nov. 4-6)

Streaming. Note the time change from Britain.

Thursday, Nov. 4-14, 2021

The Spectators’ Odyssey

From TOlive.

This unique show consists of two distinct experiences – Blue and Red:

 Blue:

Inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey, in this journey you will embark upon a multidisciplinary voyage across art forms including radio documentary, dance, playwriting, poetry, virtual reality filmmaking, and augmented immersive concerts. Travel through the backstage of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and make choices that will influence the narrative you experience. 

Red:

Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, in this journey you will lose yourself in an underworld hidden among the real-life streets of Toronto and the St. Lawrence Market at night. Visit a world suspended between ancient and contemporary, sacred and profane, and experience close encounters with your inner mysteries and the ones of those around you. 

Please be advised:

• This piece contains explicit language and mature themes.

• At times, during the piece, there are intense flashing lights, those with photosensitivity, are advised.

• During certain sections of the piece, audiences may find themselves in dark and/or small spaces

• As this work is interactive, you may come close to an actor. Please do not actively touch the actors. They will also not actively or intentionally touch you.

Please note that audience members will be on their feet throughout the event and will need to move through a variety of spaces. It may not be possible to accommodate all accessibility needs, and those with questions about accessibility should contact us as soon as possible.

Tickets: PERFORMANCE DETAILS & BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
The Spectators’ Odyssey – o dell ’Inferno will be performed with timed entry. Groups of 8 will begin their voyage every 15 minutes for one of two different journeys,

each approximately one hour. Audience can choose to do journey A or B or both.

DATES & TIMES
Tuesday, Nov 2, 7PM – 10PM

Wednesday, Nov 3, 7PM – 10PM

Thursday, Nov 4, 7PM – 10PM

Friday, Nov 5, 7PM – 10PM

Saturday, Nov 6, 7PM – 10PM

Sunday, Nov 7, 1PM – 4PM & 6PM – 9PM

Wednesday, Nov 10, 7PM – 10PM

Thursday, Nov 11, 7PM – 10PM

Friday, Nov 12, 7PM – 10PM

Saturday, Nov 13, 7PM – 10PM

Sunday, Nov 14, 1PM – 4PM & 6PM – 9PM

TICKETS: $50 per journey or combined ticket of $75 for both.

Tickets are available online at www.tolive.com, by phone at 416-366-7723 & 1-800-708-6754, or by email at boxoffice@tolive.com.

TO Live box office phone and email support operates 1pm – 6pm Monday to Friday. On-line sales operate 24 hours per day

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2021. 8:00 pm

Theatre Gargantua presents;

Live and in person:

A TONIC FOR DESPERATE TIMES

NOVEMBER 3RD – 14TH, 2021

Emerging from a global state of isolation and uncertainty, Gargantua presents a vital exploration of hope: A Tonic for Desperate Times.  This world premiere, two years in the making, investigates our instinct for optimism, and the surprising places hope can be found — in the fractal patterns of nature, the swing of a pendulum, the murmuration of starlings in flight.  Merging dynamic physical movement with sound and video installations, this live and in-person performance is at the forefront of Toronto’s return to theatres.

Premiering in the heart of Toronto’s vibrant west end at Historic St. Anne’s Parish Hall, A Tonic for Desperate Times is a communal experience of resilience and courage. A balm for injured souls.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Performances run November 3^rd to 14^th, 2021 at Historic St. Anne’s Parish Hall (651 Dufferin Street).

A Tonic for Desperate Times (Preview)Wednesday November 3, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate Times (Preview)Thursday November 4, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesFriday November 5, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

Join the Waiting List

SOLD OUTA Tonic for Desperate TimesSaturday November 6, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate Times (Pay What You Can)Sunday November 7, 2021 – 02:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesSunday November 7, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesTuesday November 9, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesWednesday November 10, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesThursday November 11, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesFriday November 12, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesSaturday November 13, 2021 – 02:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesSaturday November 13, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT

SelectA Tonic for Desperate TimesSunday November 14, 2021 – 02:00 PM EDT

Select

https://theatregargantua.thundertix.com/

Saturday, November 6, 2021. 2:00 pm

Streaming for free:

From the National Arts Centre in Ottawa

Copenhagen by Michael Frayn.

Free Video-on-demand available

Add to Calendar

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Live, in person, under the Festival Theatre Canopy at the Stratford Festival until September 5:

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Curated, directed, musical directed by Beau Dixon

Lighting by Kaileigh Krysztofiak

Sound by Peter McBoyle

Music arrangements, Beau Dixon

The Singers:

Robert Ball

Alana Bridgewater

Beau Dixon

Camille Eanga-Selenge

Gavin Hope (Standby)

The Band:

Beau Dixon, Conductor, keyboard

Rohan Station, Acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Roger Williams, Acoustic bass, electric bass

Paul Antonio, Drum kit

Joe Bowden, Percussion

A rousing, throbbing cabaret of songs and words about freedom.

The subtitle of the Freedom Cabaret is: “Spirit and Legacy of Black Music.” The description of what the cabaret is about is clear and resounding: “From the moment Black people landed on North American soil, their music took room and became the basis of much of the popular music we hear today. There is an endless list of exceptional Black musicians who have been lost to history, while their white counterparts gained fame. From church hymnals to the blues, from jazz to rock ‘n’ roll, R & B and rap, we owe much of our musical history to Black culture, and it’s time to give credit where credit is due.”

And in his own program note, Beau Dixon writes: “Black music, at its heart, is about freedom—not just the idea of social and economic freedom driven by racial injustice, but a freedom of the mind and soul. It’s possible that the Black voice is singing for all people who are seeding freedom from within.”

In Beau Dixon’s meticulously curated cabaret of 23 songs and a reading, the spirit and legacy of Black music is clear and bold. The cabaret is divided into categories: Negro Spirituals, Silent Voices, Message Lost in the Voices, Encore, and Reading (Emancipation Poem by Haui (Howard J. Davis). Within these categories are songs such as “Freedom for My People”, “Trouble So Hard”, “When the Levee Breaks”, “Hound Dog”, “Crossroad Blues”, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free.” “Pata Pata” “Change is Gonna Come”. 

Dixon puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of Bob Marley and his songs in the expression of freedom and emancipation. He includes four Bob Marley songs: “One Love”, “Zimbabwe”, “Slave Driver,” and “Redemption Song,” “One Love” might seem a gentle one but it has a solid message. The others by Marley are more pointed in their intention.

The Blues are given their due with a fascinating comment—that even though they depict a darkness in their lyrics, they also convey a humour and wink as well.  Beau Dixon said that a lot of the blues were written by or for female artists. I wish he had expanded on that fascinating fact with more examples.  

The cast of four bring their own gifts to each song and interpretation: Robert Ball has a beautiful tenor voice and a courtly manner and imbues his singing and interpretation with poignancy; Alana Bridgewater digs deep through her rich voice and puts the heart and soul into such songs as “Hound Dog” and “Home is Where the Heart Is” among others. Camille Eanga-Selenge has a pure soprano voice and sings “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy with all the intoxicating rhythm contained in that celebrated song. Beau Dixon seems to be able to do anything. Music pours out of him he is so gifted. He curated the Cabaret choosing the songs carefully and who would sing them; he is the music director; he plays the keyboards and multiple harmonicas as further accompaniment; he is the music arranger; a performer and the conductor of the cabaret. He would make a kicking motion for further percussive emphasis. And when one thought he must be getting tired, he flopped on the ground and did three full pushups. I was exhausted.

At one point towards the end of the concert, Dixon yelled out that he had something to say. The band played quieter to let him speak. What followed was a list of various people of colour who were leaders in creating inventions, accomplishments, social change and the young girl who won the championship spelling Bee. I have a quibble here, about the sound. I can appreciate that it’s thought the audience should hear both the singers and the band. I just wonder why the band has to be as loud in amplification as the singers. The band is supposed to support the singers not drown them out. I found that happened occasionally during Freedom. Some of the lyrics of some songs were drowned out by the band.  I would like to have heard that list of people and what they invented-accomplished without the attendant amplification. Also, Camille Eanga-Selenge had a speech that seemed very important but I could not make out what she was saying because she was drowned out. The message of all these songs and speeches is important. We have to hear the lyrics. Nothing will be diminished if the amplification of the band is decreased. In fact the message will be heard ‘loud’ and clear, which is the point.

In any case, Beau Dixon’s curation of Freedom is a huge accomplishment, an education, and an eye-opener regarding music by Black artists. And it’s seductive—the message is pointed but the music gets you swaying to the beat and tapping your toe. It’s music that came from pain but expresses joy.

Produced by The Stratford Festival.

Plays until: Sept. 5, 2021.

Running Time:  1 hour 30 minutes.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Live and in person out-doors in the Greek Theatre at Guild Park and Gardens, part of Guild Festival Theatre, until August 15, 2021. www.guildfestivaltheatre.ca

Written by David French

Directed by Helen Juvonen

Production design by Simon Flint

Cast: Alex Furber

Sarah Gibbons

A bitter-sweet play done well.

The Story. This is David French’s lovely play about the beginnings of the Mercer family story. It’s a moonlit night in a small community in Newfoundland, 1926. Jacob Mercer has returned from being away in Toronto for a year. He has come back to woo Mary Snow, a young woman, now 17, he left without a good-bye or a letter in all that time. It won’t be easy. Mary is engaged to be married in a month to the son of a prosperous family. And she’s furious with Jacob for leaving her. Jacob is confident, a charmer, a poet and a man who holds a grudge. They are what the other needs. Will they be able to drop their anger and disappointments and have a meeting of their minds and hearts?

The Production. The production plays on the lovely grounds of the Guild Park and Gardens on the Greek Theatre stage. The set is spare. With that backdrop, you don’t need much else besides a rocking chair and a few props. As Jacob Mercer, Alex Furber is fit and dashing in his suit and tie. He has just enough confidence and boyish charm to win over the audience. Winning Mary Snow will take more than that. Jacob spins a poetic line to let himself off the hook, without actually apologizing for leaving Mary without a word or a letter in a year. As Mary, Sarah Gibbons imbues Mary with a steeliness but also vulnerability. She is mighty angry at Jacob for his terrible treatment of her and she lets him know it. Gibbons gives a clear, nuanced performance. Both Furber and Gibbons play beautifully to each other.

At times it seems that director Helen Juvonen is being extra careful by having a considerable distance between the characters/actors because of COVID so it is refreshing when Jacob and Mary play their scenes closer together in a few instances, creating the ‘intimacy’ they must have experienced before Jacob left.

At the production I saw (today, Aug. 10) there was a rain delay. The loyal audience stayed, umbrellas at the ready. A few adjustments were made to how scenes were to be played with a wet stage that added good natured humour to the enterprise. I liked that ingenuity. Sweet production.

Comment. This is the 10^th Anniversary of the Guild Festival Theatre, that brings theatre to Scarborough in this beautiful setting. It’s been a rocky few years, certainly with COVID cancelling last year’s season. This season has Helen Juvonen and Tyler J. Seguin as the new Co-Artistic Directors. Good luck to them. May I make a few suggestions: Signage, please provide some. The Guild Park and Gardens are large. Actually finding the Greek Theatre where the plays take place is a challenge and yet in the years I’ve been going to see theatre there, the poor signage prevails. Surely you can afford a sign that announces the Guild Festival Theatre and then have arrows pointing the way. You can’t assume we all have an inner GPS to find the place.

How about some lights to help us leave when the show is done? An evening show ends when it is dark. Yet again there is little or no light to guide us out of the place, No one with a flashlight leading us across the uneven ground to a walk-way. No lights along the ground to do the same thing. The audience would really appreciate that: signs to show us the way in and illumination at the end to lead us safely out to the parking lot.

Actors are brave souls. They work hard to project their voices, but sometimes in an open space, amplification is needed. I know there were floor mics that helped. But the wedding party tonight in one of the buildings had an MC with a strong microphone that interfered. Are body microphones for actors possible?

Thanks. And I would hope audiences know to bring bug spray. The mosquitoes in Scarborough are particularly frisky.

Produced by Guild Festival Theatre.

Runs until: Aug. 15, 2021.

Running Time: 90 minutes.

www.guildfestivaltheatre.ca

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Tuesday, July 27—Aug. 15, 2021

Live from Canadian Stage,

Live in High Park, Toronto, Ont.

BLACKOUT

THE MUSICAL STAGE COMPANY

Book by: Steven Gallagher
Music & Lyrics by: Anton Lipovetsky

A captivating new musical from Canada’s leading musical theatre company.

On August 14th, 2003, Toronto was sent into chaos when the largest blackout in Canadian history left millions stranded in the dark and unable to reach or connect with their loved ones.

Inspired by real events, BLACKOUT depicts three stories of connection that unfolded when the city was dark, and strangers banded together to find the light. A preview production of a new Canadian musical by two of Canada’s most exciting voices, Blackout is a story of hope, resilience, and community.

Originally developed through The Musical Stage Company’s innovative musical development initiative Launch Pad, a selection of this new work was first seen in 2019 as part of REPRINT.

www.canadianstage.com

Tuesday, July 27, 2021—3:00 pm

Live and in person at Hear for Now Theatre, New Works Festival, Stratford, Ont.

 Janet and Louise

Janet is determined to get over her mysterious ailments and keep her custodial job, so she’s agreed to take doctor-prescribed art lessons. Louise’s art studio is floundering; there is endless roadwork outside and her prickly personality chases people away. Janet arrives but thinks she might quit. Louise can’t afford to lose another student. Then Janet finds a man’s tooth inside a jar. . . At turns funny and heartbreaking, this new play asks what happens when two strangers confront what they’ve tried so hard to keep hidden.

Written by Deanna Kruger and directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey. Starring Brigit Wilson and Peggy Coffey.

Learn More

Tuesday, July 27, 2021- 7:00 pm.

Live and in person, at Here for Now Theatre, New Works Festival, Stratford, Ont.

Post Alice

Inspired by four haunting characters from four iconic Alice Munro stories, Post Alice is a stunning new contemporary play which asks the question: what really happened to Mistie Murray? And what happens to all our missing girls? Come sit around the fire with four bright and hilarious Huron County women as ghost stories emerge, songs fill the air, family secrets are revealed, and mysteries unravel into those wonderful contradictions which live inside us all.

Written by Taylor Marie Graham and directed by Fiona Mongillo.

Learn More

Wednesday, July 28, 2021 7:00 pm

At the Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont.

Live and in person.  

The Rez Sisters

By Tomson Highway.

About a group of Indigenous women who decide to leave their reserve and go to Toronto to participate in the world’s biggest Bingo game.

The Rez Sisters

By Tomson Highway

Directed by Jessica Carmichael

 Featuring:

Jani Lauzon as Pelajia Patchnose

Brefny Caribou as Zhaboonigan Peterson

Lisa Cromarty as Marie-Adele Starblanket

Christine Frederick as Veronique St. Pierre

Nicole Joy-Fraser as Annie Cook

Kathleen MacLean as Emily Dictionary

Tracey Nepinak as Philomena Moosetail

Zach Running Coyote as Nanabush

July 23 to August 21 | Opening Wednesday, July 28

They have their dreams and their difficulties, these seven women. One yearns for a singing career; another for a white porcelain toilet. One grieves for her lover, killed in a motorcycle accident; another harbours the memory of a horrific sexual assault. The cancer that afflicts one of them is not the only malignancy they confront.

But one dream they hold in common is that of winning “the biggest bingo in the world” – and one day, accompanied by the transformative spirit guide Nanabush, they leave their Manitoulin Island reserve and set out for Toronto to do just that.

Ribald, harrowing and mystical, this seminal work of Indigenous drama celebrates the spirit of resilience and the powerful beauty these women bring to the tough world in which they live.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 7:00 pm

Live and in person at the Stratford Festival, in the Festival Theatre Canopy.

Play On!

A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape

Curated by Robert Markus, Julia Nish-Lapidus and James Wallis

Directed by Julia Nish-Lapidus and James Wallis

Music Director: Reza Jacobs 

Featuring:

Gabriel Antonacci

Jacob MacInnis

Jennifer Rider-Shaw

Kimberly-Ann Truong 

July 29 to August 15 | Opening Sunday, July 31 

Shakespeare’s influence on Western culture extends even into your favourite pop hits. Whether it be direct lines from his plays appearing in Top 40 lyrics or whole songs inspired by his plots, whether the borrowers be Taylor Swift, Madonna, Elton John, The Beatles, Prince or Radiohead, Shakespeare is still there, lurking in the mainstream, as cool and as relevant as ever. This lively celebration of terrific tunes affords a great opportunity to introduce a younger audience to Shakespeare’s continuing role in popular culture.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Live and in person until July 31, 2021. Stratford, Ontario. Under the Canopy at the Festival Theatre.

Curated and directed by Thom Allison

Conducted by Laura Burton

Lighting designed by Kaileigh Krysztofiak

Sound by Peter McBoyle

The Singers:

Alana Hibbert

Gabrielle Jones

Evangelia Kambites

Mark Uhre

The Band:

Conductor, keyboard, Laura Burton

Cello, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, George Meanwell

Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass, Michael McClennan

Drum kit, David Campion

This is the second of four cabarets that are programmed at the Stratford Festival, each playing for two weeks, each with its own theme.

Why do we love musicals? What is their allure for so many? Thom Allison, the gifted curator and director of You Can’t Stop The Beat—The Enduring Power of Musical Theatre and his exemplary cast, explain it all for us in words and songs.

Musicals have provided a magic world in which our imaginations can soar. When there were years of war and strife, depression and hard times, there was the musical with its up-beat story, cheering us, getting us to move on and be resilient. The musical can deal with difficult subjects and engage the audience, often better than straight plays can. Enduring musicals have dealt with such tough subjects as: racism and intolerance (South Pacific), xenophobia (Oklahoma), wife-beating (Carousel), racial intolerance (The King and I) and the rise of Nazism in Germany etc. (Cabaret).

Any good musical sets the tone and atmosphere in the first five minutes and You Can’t Stop The Beat is no different. The sassy, classy cast of Alana Hibbert, Gabrielle Jones, Evangelia Kambites and Mark Uhre establish the pulse and throb of the endeavor with their rousing singing of “Something’s Coming’ from West Side Story. Starting slowly but barely containing the pent-up energy of the song, they then explode into full throttle, each with their own body language that moves the song.

In the world of imagination, one might say that Don Quixote was delusional, lost in his own muddled thoughts. But you would be hard-pressed to believe that after hearing Mark Uhre sing “I, Don Quixote” from Man of La Mancha with such conviction and vigor.

Love gets great representation in the world of the musical—all those sweeping chords and heart squeezing words. Thom Allison  has created a medley of love songs in which the cast shine in their own way: “Twin Soliloquies” from South Pacific sung beautifully by Alana Hibbert and Gabrielle Jones, “People Will Say We’re In Love” from Oklahoma sung by the whole cast, “If I Loved You” from Carousel with Mark Uhre doing the honours, “Mr. Snow” from Carousel  sung beautifully by Evangelia Kambites.

Musicals and Merman naturally go together. Gabrielle Jones does an impressive impression of how Ethel Merman might have started off singing “Anything Goes” from Anything Goes—full-voiced and unvarying in the force of it. Fortunately, Jones eased into singing the rest of the song, in her own powerful style but with shading and variation.

There is a constant flow of easy banter between the cast as they tease, chide and josh each other. Gabrielle Jones is reminded “Gab we cut that part.” And she replying “But I put it back in ‘cause I wanted a bigger break before my next song.” They are attentive to each other when they sing and listen and that makes the audience do the same.

Thom Allison introduces the sobering nature of musicals by including “Suppertime” from As Thousands Cheer (1933) written by Irving Berlin. The song is sung by a mother who struggles with how she will tell her children that their father and her husband will not be coming home because he was lynched by a racist mob. Alana Hibbert was heartbreaking and tender singing that song. Do we listen to the song in a different way because a white composer/lyricist wrote it for a Black character? Is this cultural appropriation or a gifted musical creator who can express the heartache and inner life of a character that we can all experience? I am glad of the questions.

“Suppertime” provided a natural way into exploring the serious nature of musicals, looking at flawed, damaged, raging and troubled characters. And nobody covers that territory better than Stephen Sondheim.  We have the plucky, darkly funny “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd sung with impish style by Mark Uhre and Gabrielle Jones about the variations one can bake into a meat pie; the company sings “The Little Things We Do Together” from Company itemizing the good and annoying things that make a relationship; Evangelia Kambites does a masterful job of “Getting Married Today,” from Company breathlessly and frantically explaining why she won’t be getting married today. And in a wonderful change of pace, Thom Allison throws a stunning curve ball by having Mark Uhre sing “Could I Leave You” from Follies, a song usually sung by a woman whose marriage is failing. Mark Uhre sings it with biting emotion and cool contempt. It makes us listen to that song in a different way but it leads to the same conclusion. Loved that curve ball.

This wonderful, joyous, thoughtful concert concludes with the cast singing the anthem-like song “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen and “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray in which you also can’t stop tapping your toe thanks to the music, the cast and the solid band.  

You Can’t Stop The Beat—The Enduring Power of Musical Theatre plays at the Stratford Festival until July 31, 2021.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Performed live and in person under the canopy at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ont.

Curated and directed by Marcus Nance

Music Director, Franklin Brasz

Lighting by Kaileigh Krysztofiak

Sound by Peter McBoyle

The Singers: Neema Bickersteth

Robert Markus

Marcus Nance

Vanessa Sears

The Band: Franklin Brasz (conductor/keyboard)

Kevin Ramessar (acoustic guitar, electric guitar)

Jon Maharaj (acoustic bass, electric bass)

Dale-Anne Brendon (drum kit)

Why We Tell The Story: A Celebration of Musical Theatre is the first of five different cabarets that will celebrate music, song, lyrics and resilience that are performed outdoors under the canopy at the Festival theatre. I love that this show, the first of the 2021 rebounding Stratford Festival, officially opened on Tuesday, July 13, 68 years to the day that the Stratford Festival opened in 1953 under a tent. Love that symmetry.

Why We Tell The Story: A Celebration of Black Musical Theatre is curated and directed by Marcus Nance. In his gracious, open-hearted program note Marcus Nance writes: “The songs and poems you are about to hear, written by Black artists and allies, all speak to the Black experience. Black stories, Black history, the experiences of my parents, those of my ancestors and most importantly my own personal experiences have always been part of my creative instinct. Now that I have the opportunity to tell this chapter, I couldn’t think of doing it without including others….I hold great admiration for the extraordinary Black artists and allies with whom I share the telling of these stories, on this stage.”

Marcus Nance shares the stage with these gifted artists: Neema Bickersteth, Robert Markus and Vanessa Sears.

The show is composed of poems from Black poets such as Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, and songs from various Broadway musicals that would have been sung by black artists and allies. I appreciate the inclusive embrace of Marcus Nance regarding ‘allies’, white composers, lyricists and performers in tune with and sensitive to the Black experience. I am grateful to Marcus Nance for his generosity and sense of inclusion of all voices in this endeavor. Poets Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou are Black and write about that experience in such poems in the show as: “I, Too,” “Democracy,” “The Negro Mother, “I Dream A World,” “As I Grew Older” all by Langston Hughes; “Human Family” and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.  Many of the composers and lyricists of the musicals selected were Black telling their stories: Fats Waller, Andy Razaf and Harry Brooks, who wrote “Black and Blue” which is part of the score of Ain’t Misbehavin, Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake, one of the creators of the glorious song “They Live in You” from The Lion King, Charlie Smalls who wrote “Home” from The Wiz, Brenda Russell and Stephen Bray who are part of the composers/lyricists who wrote the stirring ‘anthem’, “I’m Here” from The Colour Purple.

Nance also includes the work of white composer/lyricists who illuminate the black experience in their work: Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once on this Island), George and Ira Gershwin (Porgy and Bess), Cy Coleman (The Life), Roger Miller (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Georges Bizet and Oscar Hammerstein II (Carmen Jones), David Bryan and Joe DiPietro (Memphis) Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (Show Boat) for example. In our changing world, do we listen differently to these songs because of who composed them? Do we embrace the story? Marcus Nance got me thinking about all of it.   

The whole enterprise was a terrific adventure. Marcus Nance opened the cabaret with a stirring reading of Langston Hughes poem “I, Too.” It’s a poem of hope, inspiration, and delicate, but firm instruction, to those with blinkered vision. This is one of the stanzas:

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes,

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.”

While the theme of the evening is the idea of “home” and the power of love and the human heart, Nance reading the poem in his resonant baritone voice set the tone—one of pride, patience, perception and resilience. The cabaret is divided into telling sections: Life, Pain, Family, Faith, Love, Hope and You. That last, You, includes the audience in the journey of telling the story. Each one of the 27 songs in the Cabaret forwards the various themes. Each singer gets to shine in his/her own way.

Neema Bickersteth sings a glorious rendition of “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. Vanessa Sears is world weary and hilarious singing “the Oldest Profession, from The Life. Robert Markus sings an impassioned version of “Change Don’t Come Easy, from Memphis about changing intolerant ways of thinking. Marcus Nance shows his comedic chops when he sings “Big Black Man” from The Full Monty when the only Black character in the show perceptively tells of his powers with women, and he does it with ease. When the quartet melds in such songs as “They Live In You” from The Lion King or “Wheels of a Dream” from Ragtime or “Why We Tell The Story” from Once on this Island their voices blend seamlessly, the result is soul-stirring.

As I said, it was a terrific adventure because ‘Mother Nature’ got involved. Neema Bickersteth was singing “Dat’s Love” from Carmen Jones—a modern version of Bizet’s opera, Carmen. I saw in the distance, a dark ‘wall’ quickly rolling towards the canopy. And then the rain clouds opened and sent a torrent of rain pelting down on the canopy so forceful and violent it sounded like the end of the world. The pelting reminded me of the ‘old’ Tom Patterson Theatre with its uninsulated roof and the banging of the rain.

That torrent on the canopy canvas could not overpower Neema Bickersteth’s singing. She stared down ‘Mother Nature’ and smiled and kept on singing, the sound rising up to meet the rain. Fearless. Nobody moved while they listened to her intently. A glorious adventure.

Why We Tell The Story: A Celebration of Black Musical Theatre plays at the Stratford Festival, under a canopy at the Festival Theater until July 21.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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