Great Music & Theatre from U of A and Grant MacEwan U...

Photo Credit: Lindsey Tran,
@understudystudio_

I ticked off one of my bucket list shows this past week! I'm a self-avowed Sondheim lover and thanks to Grant MacEwan University's production of Sunday in the Park with George, I finally got to see a show that has long been on my list. I'm so glad I caught it (it closes today so you might not be able to if you are just reading this now). The music is very-Sondheim and I caught bits that reminded me of Into the Woods and Company, and it is not easy, but this cast did it very well. Lead by Eli Yaschuk as George (George Seurat, the French painter) and Rain Matkin as Dot (his fictionalized model and lover), the young cast of students in the BFA program deliver the show with commitment, enthusiasm and skill. Yaschuk and Matkin are both terrific, anchoring the show musically and emotionally. I hope we see more of them on our city's stages in year to come. And the entire cast delivered my favourite song, Sunday, beautifully.

Photo Credit: Lindsey Tran, @understudystudio_

It's interesting how forward thinking the show was. It seemed like it was meant for this modern age of projections. The lighting, set, costume, and projection designers (Travis Hatt, Ross Nichol, Deanna Finnman, Matt Shuurman) did a phenomenal job of bringing the art to life. After seeing the show I went and rewatched the Tony performance from the original production, which had wowed me at the time I first saw it, and was struck by how much more active projections add to the piece. 

I hope to catch a few more of the MacEwan University shows in the future. We are blessed with so much theatre in Edmonton, we sometimes forget that MacEwan and U of A both have incredible programs offering terrific shows with the future of Edmonton theatre on their stages. 

Speaking of U of A, I also caught a wonderful musical performance by the University of Alberta Music Department featuring their Concert Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. The performance was called The Old Sod, and was presented on St. Patrick's Day at the Winspear. It also featured dancers from the Edmonton Ceilidh Dance Academy. It was a terrific way to spend St. Patrick's Day and enjoy some wonderful pieces of music. 

Robot Girls is full of Laughs and a Love for Science at Shadow Theatre!

If you’re looking for a show on in Edmonton this week and next, I highly recommend Robot Girls presented by Shadow Theatre at the Varscona. It’s a brand new work by Trevor Schmidt about about a school science club at an all-girls junior high school. The four actors (played by Larissah Lashley, Hayley Moorhouse, Abigail McDougall and Jayce McKenzie) are letter perfect as grade 7, 8 and 9 students who endeavor to build a robot in their club to go to an international science competition. Their teacher advisor is missing in action, so it’s all up to them to figure out how to get the work done.

As a junior high school science teacher myself, I was both tickled and impressed by the portrayals. McKenzie is simply hysterical as the grade 7 club member Vanessa. She's filled to the brim with a golden retriever puppy energy that feels all too real. Moorhouse, on the other end of the age spectrum, plays the senior member of the club, grade 9 Bloody Mary, with just the right amount of distain and compassion for her younger club mates. In the middle, we have two grade 8 of varying temperaments; Lashley with her student council Vice President authority, and McDougall who just needs a club to be in while she balances the demands of her family. I was struck by how accurate (in a heightened way) the three ages were portrayed. You wouldn’t think there was a wide difference difference between a grade 7 and a grade 9, but there is, and this show capitalizes on it and really makes it work. It was also terrific that these weren't 'mean girls' or 'troubled girls', but real kids who happen to be smart and like science and want to belong somewhere, which is far more my experience with the age group. 

The laughs start immediately with this show. Schmidt has a knack for writing funny and truthful, young female characters. Co-Directors John Hudson and Lana Michelle Hughes keep the action moving with clever lights and robot dancing. The pace is brisk and tight. The relationships are honest, sometimes unintentionally hurtful, often touching, and most of all very humorous. 

Of course it’s not all simple. With the lack of a teacher in the room, the four girls must figure everything out on their own both with the robot building and how to deal with each other. Mistakes are made, but then fixed, and the future for women in science looks very hopeful.

I can’t overstate how funny it is, and how much the packed opening night audience was howling with laughter. If you have a daughter or granddaughter, or niece, aged 12 and up, I highly encourage you to take them to see this show. It might be really cool for them to recognize themselves on stage (whether they are a science kid or not). It’s more about the relationships than the science, but the science is pretty cool, too. It’s Spring Break next week so you could take your kid and they don’t have to get up early the next morning for school.

Robot Girls by Trevor Schmidt runs to March 31st at the Varscona Theatre. Tickets are $25-$38 with a Pay-What-You-Can night (at the door), and can be purchased here.

Photo Credit: Marc J. Chalifoux Photography and Video

A Monstrously Exciting Season on the Horizon for Northern Light Theatre!

There were quite a few hints about what might be included in Northern Light Theatre's upcoming season rolling our in advance of their Season Launch last Monday.  Quotes from thrillers and murder mystery authors had me preparing for a spooky and scary line-up. I'm always down for what Northern Light Theatre is offering. They consistently choose the unusual and challenging and deliver with complete design concepts. Unlike other theatres in town, you are more likely to see something that surprises you and makes you think about something you haven't before. 

The new season, titled Making A Monster, presents three plays featuring characters possessing qualities of modern monsters in our midst!

"This season, NLT wants to examine the human capacity to be monstrous to other human beings", says Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt. "We want to ask ourselves and our audience what keeps us from behaving cruelly- and we want there to be discussion. Nobody is immune to terrible actions. We’re all prone to regressive processes. It’s very easy to enter the dark abyss where evil dwells. We all have the capacity to be monsters."

The first show is a World Premiere, Monstress by Trevor Schmidt, starring Julia van Dam and Sydney Williams. A twist on the Frankenstein story (with a reading evocative of the recent Oscar-nominated film Poor Things), one wonders where this will go and who the real monster will turn out to be. I'm looking forward to see the dynamic between the two women - disgraced scientist and horrible creation - and the inevitable conflicts inherent in that relationship. 

Next is the play that sparked the season's theme, Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner, starring Cody Porter. Porter plays the utterly miserable Roger, third assistant manager at a Safeway grocery store. With his life at crisis point, Roger is close to bursting. But when he stumbles upon Angry Alan - an online activist- he finally feels someone is speaking his language. Schmidt said that this was the show that started the search for more monstrous plays and he wondered if it was going to get them in trouble. It explores what happens when an ordinarily tolerant, but dissatisfied man is radicalized by false reasoning online, and begins to blame feminism for all that is wrong in his life. I'm looking forward to squirming in my seat next season. This is most likely the one that's going to make me do so!

The season will wrap up with Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley, starring new grads Rain Matkin, and Eli Yaschuk, along with NLT favourite Holly Turner. In the modern age of out-of-reach property acquisition, it tells the story of an engaging young couple, Ollie and Jill, who had to do some shocking things to get their dream home. A wickedly comic satire about a young couple offered a 'too good to be true' way onto the property ladder. The scene presented hints at a Faustian bargain, or perhaps a deadly game show. It looks to be the kind of show to make you laugh out loud,... but guiltily. 

I'm looking forward to meeting the monsters up on NLT's stage next season, be they real or imagined, or perhaps living right next door! 

Subscriptions for all three shows are now on sale through Northern Light Theatre's website northernlighttheatre.com. Subscriptions start at $80 VIP pricing until June 1, and single tickets go on sale August 1, 2024.