This has been a busy few months for me, not just with theatre, but with life. I started a new position which seems to be ever-evolving and that has taken up a lot of mental and physical space in my life; I am also working on a show (Waiting for the Parade - Walterdale Theatre - I am doing Props - it goes up sooooooon!) so that naturally has taken up time in my life; I have had a nice visit from my sister from Toronto; I remain active on the Walterdale Board; and I am still trying to occasionally read. Somewhere in all that, I have managed to see some shows AND NOT write about them... My reflections on these will be briefer than usual.
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| Photo by Brianne Jang |
Most recently, I saw
A Chorus Line at MacEwan University. The show itself is not my favourite structurally, but I thought they did a really good job with it. I always forget how many of the songs I know! It's also nice to see this show done by people the right age (
or close to it) who can also handle the dance. I felt the dancing was really strong (and it needs to be). Standout moments for me (
besides the big dance numbers) were Ethan Bintu-Watt's vocals (he played Richie), a monologue from Don Raphael Figueroa (Paul) which made me cry, and the lovely trio who sing my favourite song from the show,
At the Ballet (Layne Labbe, Harmony B, and Mana Middleton).
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| Photo by Nanc Price |
I also saw
The Wizard of Oz at the Citadel. It was good and I think kids in particular will love it. I enjoyed the afternoon but having done the show myself many years ago, it was hard to wow me and I think they actually missed a few opportunities to do so. Yeah, yeah, I know, they fly people. That's cool. And really, it's not like there was anything wrong with the 'pieces' of the show, but I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between Dorothy and the 3 friends and that's the heart of it for me. They were all individually good, some stronger than others, but they didn't feel connected. My favourite parts were the ensemble numbers and I think the ensemble was outstanding. The costumes and the big group dance numbers were really what made the show for me. By the way, if you want to be the one that the lead jitterbug surprises in the audience, I can tell you the exact seat because I was sitting in it! ha ha ha! Anyhow, the rest of the audience was up on their feet, so it's quite possible I just had an off day.
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| Photo by Nanc Price |
Before that I took in
Death of a Salesman at the Citadel. A classic that I have seen three times before. They did a solid job, but there were a couple actors were miscast (in my opinion) and the ending didn't really give me the punch that it usually does. It would, however, be hard to beat the production that the Citadel produced 15 odd years ago. I was a bit distracted by the staging with the alley of musical instruments and for a show that is long to begin with, adding length with a cinematic score didn't really serve the piece. But sometimes I was drawn to watch the instrumentalists instead of the action and I wasn't really sure why that choice was made other than it seemed like a cool thing to do. Also, by casting a person of colour as Charley, it really changed our perceptions of why Willy rejects his help. It makes it seem that Willy is racist, as opposed to it being about pride and failure. The moment is shifted dramatically and it greatly alters what playwright Arthur Miller likely intended.
Please remember, these are just my ramblings and my personal reactions to these shows. I respect that others will have engage with the material in a very different way. I don't have to love everything I see and I'm cool with that.
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