Finster Finds

I received  the following enews from the EAC (Edmonton Arts Council): 2029: Building Edmonton's Community Plan for Arts & Heritage  In 2006, members of the arts and heritage community in the City of Edmonton came together in recognition that the economic boom in Alberta had increased the pace of development, creating a need for a proactive plan for the arts, heritage, and culture. The resulting plan,  The Art of Living   2008-2018: A Plan for Securing the Future of Arts and Heritage in the City of Edmonton , spurred 17 arts recommendations and 11 heritage recommendations. The arts recommendations focused on space, education and mentorship, investments including grants, recognition, and integration of the arts into the civic fabric. The recommendations reflected the adventurousness, creativity, and optimism for the future of arts and heritage in Edmonton. With  The Art of Living  reaching its end, the EAC, on behalf of the City of Edmonton, is pre...

Last night we took in Motown The Musical presented by Broadway Across Canada at the Jubilee Auditorium and it was simply terrific! Okay, I'm a major Motown fan, so I was thrilled by the song list, but I also only enjoy it when it's well done and in this show everything was simply perfect! When you are presenting so many iconic songs and artists it can be a challenge because everyone has expectations, but this production certainly rose to that challenge and met it handily! Motown The Musical is a jukebox show, using the story of Berry Gordy Jr.'s life and decision to " be the best Berry Gordy Jr. he could be " by creating the iconic music sound that came to be known as Motown. The shows uses a framing device of a 25th Anniversary Television special where all the artists he worked with have come back to perform but there is some question as to whether Gordy (played by Kenneth Mosley, who has a phenomenal voice and impressive stage presence) will show up. To exp...

A mad dash across the city and we made it just in time to catch  Tempus Extraordinarius at L'Uni Theatre on Saturday night. Featuring Tubby and Notubby as two clownlike figures in a post-apocalyptic world, the show was in both French (70%) and English (30%) with surtitles to capture the opposite language for the audience. It was an interesting show and the simple, yet effective projections and staging were well-used. It left a lot to chat about in terms of the cycle of the world's history through oppression and struggle into a more peaceful world and back again. Sprinkled throughout were references to Shakespeare and songs. I'm always interested in seeing the L'Unit Theatre shows as the added layer of language makes me work harder as an audience member. I think that makes me less passive and more engaged.  Tempus Extraordinarius ran From February 7-10 so you can't catch it, but the next L'Uni Theatre show will be E n Mémoire de Moi/D o this in Memory of Me...

Once I got through fumbling with the words of my pre-show speech I was treated to a nice evening of estrogen fueled laughter at Walterdale Theatre with The Women . Directed by Catherine Wenschlag, it's the stage play of one of my all-time favourite movies from 1939 starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell and a whole bunch of other women. It was ground-breaking in that in the film none of the men were ever seen, only talked about. The play is the same. A cast of 17 women playing many more roles tell the story of the loving and loyal Mary Haines (Roseanna Sargent) as her marriage falls about when she discovers her husband is fooling around with the predatory Crystal Allen (Julie Whelan). I clearly enjoyed it, as so many people commented to me after the show on how much I was laughing. It was filled with quite a few scenes of witty conversation and larger than life characters. There's a lot going on in the show as the play serves to show the disintegratio...

I actually started my day taking media photos for The Women at Walterdale Theatre, but scurried quickly next door to Fringe Theatre Adventures to catch Minosis Gathers Hope as part of the Rubaboo Festival . It was a TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) production about a young girl, Minosis, who has to spend the summer with her grandparents. She's lonely, and fearful about meeting new friends, and begins to explore the backyard. She travels to the four directions of the Medicine Wheel (forgive me if I get details incorrect, I am not an authority, merely interpreting what I saw) and finds ribbons at each corner. The journey helps her reconnect and learn more about her culture and religion and also helps her adjust to where she is. Told with narration from 5 dancers who symbolize the four directions of the Medicine Wheel and Mother Nature, it is the dance that keeps the piece dynamic and magical. There were no programs so I sadly cannot identify all the actors, but the actress playin...

By my latest count I have 12 shows to see this month... That's not quite 1 every two days, but pretty close... I'm earning a few nights off by booking matinees on Saturdays! It's all in the planning. I kicked off the month of theatre tonight at Opening Night of Empire of the Son at the Citadel ( full disclosure - you all must know I work there ),    a touching and resonant one-man show created and performed by Tetsuro Shigematsu about his relationship with his distant and seemingly unemotional father. Shigematsu is an effective and likable story-teller who clearly loved and respected his father but who also found it hard to really communicate with him. He's crafted this story of his life and that of his father well, sharing the remarkable details of what his father witnessed (Hiroshima, tea with the Queen, Marilyn Monroe's birthday serenade to JFK...) and contrasting his awe against his father's placidity. It's a story that everyone can relate to an...