Shakespeare In Love at Walterdale Theatre - A fun ride behind the scenes of Romeo and Juliet!

Last night was Opening Night of Shakespeare in Love at Walterdale Theatre. I haven't been to an Opening Night at Walterdale for a while because I found it hard to manage when I had to teach the next morning, but summer holidays and an abundance of sunshine allowed me to make the weekday theatre trip to Verona! I also got to attend this one as proud Mama, as my youngest son, Gibson, was Music Director for the incidental music in the show (it's not a musical, but there are several times when the ensemble sing giving depth to the the soundscape of the show). 

Photo Credit: Scott Henderson, Henderson Images

It was a terrifically fun night of theatre! I am a big fan of the movie, and have seen the stage play previously, but it was really cool to see the show translated to the intimacy of Walterdale's stage. There are a lot of moving parts to the show and I remarked after to Director Anne Marie Szucs that it must have been like directing a musical as the scenes flit from location to location and the ensemble switches characters as they walk off and on the stage again. The flow of the show was well maintained and was aided brilliantly by the elegant and flexible set design (Brooke Emberley). I particularly loved the clever revolve that switched from balcony to bed to upper floor of the backstage rehearsal area. There was also some very funny choreography (Barbara Mah) that made the ball scene more than just a simple meet-cute for Will (Matt Boisvert) and Viola (Ren Elliot). The world is completed by the beautiful costumes (Cathy Dragon) - some of my favourite outfits were Marlowe's and Queen Elizabeth's; but the panorama and variety of costumes helped to indicate who had the power and who did not in Shakespeare's world!

Photo Credit: Scott Henderson, Henderson Images 

The cast is enthusiastic and committed as a whole in telling this story. Standouts for me were Boisvert as Will Shakespeare and Elliot as Viola de Lesseps. The two have a delightful chemistry. Boisvert has most of the heavy lifting in the show, but he attacks it with a true sense of purpose and recklessness that makes you wonder about the 'real' Shakespeare! I also really enjoyed Ethan Handford as Ned Alleyn and Josh Young as Richard Burbage. The energy picked up considerably when the two (playing the best actors of their generation) came into contact with each other. Each had their own brand of swagger that mixed in a 'what will happen next?' kind of way. First timers on Walterdale's stage, John Gaunce as Fennyman and Ian Hicks as Henslowe, were also great to watch and they played off each other well. I hope we see more of them on the Walterdale stage in the future! There are lots of great moments from the rest of the ensemble cast, including the dog (Rain, the night I went).

This is a fun one to watch, particularly for the Shakespeare fan, as there are many references and Easter eggs in the script alluding to famous quotes and almost quotes and situations. And while there are bits of Shakespeare's language in the play, it's all accessible as it's more about the behind the scenes story!

Shakespeare in Love runs to July 19th, with shows at 7:30 pm and a 2 pm Sunday matinee. They have already had one Sold Out performance so I recommend buying your ticket sooner rather than later. The run also features a 2for1 night (Thurs, July 10) and a Pay-What-You-Can Night (Wed, July 16). Tickets are $25-27 and can be purchased here. 

A Trip to Runyonland... ELOPE presents GUYS AND DOLLS at the Timm's Centre

I have a fond attachment to ELOPE Musical Theatre.  When I moved to Edmonton in 2005, the first how I auditioned for (and got in) was ELOPE's Fiddler on the Roof. There I met many good friends who remain part of the core of my friends today.  A few years later I was in Baby with ELOPE which added many more terrific people to my friends list and a few years later I directed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which was an amazing experience.

This season, ELOPE is putting on the classic Guys and Dolls at the Timm's Centre.  It's a fun world of gansters, gamblers, showgirls and salvation army misionaries in New York in a time long past. The songs are highly recognizable from the cutsey A Bushell and a Peck, to Sue Me, to I'll Know, to the title song Guys and Dolls. This cast handled the music well, particularly the leads.  Christina O'Dell and Stephen Allred as the mismatched Salvation Army Missionary Sarah Brown and Gambler Sky Masterson both had sweeping voices well equipped to handle their soaring love ballads.  O'Dell handled the challenging If I Were a Bell terrifically with a full sounding soprano and Allred's Luck Be A Lady was similarly well delivered. James Toupin and Karin Thomas as the more comic couple Nathan Detroit and Miss Adelaide had a real chemistry.  They've appeared as a couple onstage previously (The Full Monty) and their ease with each other really worked onstage.  Thomas was a lot of fun and made some terrific character choices to great comic effect.  Toupin's Detroit was a great foil and always believable.  They were great onstage separately and even better when they shared the stage together. Another highlight for me was Joe Garreck as Nicely Nicely Johnson.  He did a fantastic job on the show stopper Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat.  

If I had one criticism, it would likely be to clip a few of the dance numbers both in length and in people onstage.  Sometimes in the big numbers like the Havana scene and Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat it got hard to know what to look at because there was just too much going on.  With a show this length some of the dances originally put in to cover scene changes could have been shortened to move it a long faster.  But that's me... I'm sure someone else has a different opinion on that.

It's a fun show and one you leave humming the songs.  A little birdie from Tix on the Square told me that it is selling really well, so this might be one to buy your tickets in advance for.  It was certainly a packed house last night!