Understudies... they get the job done! Clue at the Citadel Theatre and a return visit to Hamilton with Broadway Across Canada!

I had a terrific two-city theatre weekend! After seeing Hamilton in Edmonton earlier this month, I tried for and won lucky lottery tickets to see the show again in Calgary. This meant a quick road trip down south with Gibson on Saturday to catch the evening show and a quicker return home because I had plans to see Clue with my Mom at the Citadel theatre in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon! Road routes were carefully planned because of the Pope's visit and it's many road closures. My article title refers to Understudies and both these experiences speak to the power and incredible skill of understudies. 

First, Hamilton! It was so nice to see the show again and seeing it from the front row was amazing. It was such a treat to see the show up close. Gibson (due to his music background) was thrilled to be able to watch the conductor at certain points in the show. I loved the show when I saw it first but this second viewing proved to me that it is the kind of show you can see multiple times and still be engaged and thrilled. We were also pleased to see two different performers in key roles. Between the two shows we saw different Aaron Burrs (Donald Webber Jr. and Ellis C. Dawson III) and Angelica Schuylers (Marja Harmon and Charlotte Mary Wen). These four performers were all excellent and between Gibson and I we each had different favourites (I won't say who liked who better) but above-all we felt that it was so awesome to see the show with different casts, particularly casts of this caliber, as it made us engage with the show differently and appreciate it even more. I truly appreciate that with a show like this, which is so specific, that the actors were allowed to bring themselves into the roles and not merely recreate the well-known performances of the originators. Regardless, it makes me confident that you will see a terrific show regardless of who in this company is onstage on any given night. 

After arriving home on Sunday morning at 11:55 a.m. I quickly changed and picked up my Mom to take her to Clue at the Citadel Theatre. In the pre-show announcement we were informed that the actor playing Mr. Green was unable to perform and that the Assistant Director Corben Kushneryk would be filling in and that he might have to use a script on occasion. Well, it was a riot! It took me a few minute to get into it (probably because of the driving) but once all the players were assembled it took off with a bang! The show was well cast and director Nancy McAlear did a fabulous job keeping the hi-jinks high! The Set (Designer Scott Reid) is an amazing puzzle box and I was delighted by it! I have to mention the outstanding job done by Kushneryk! It's hard to believe that he was just filling in as he was incredible in a very physical role! It was clear to see during the bows that the rest of the audience agreed! It was also delightful to see John Ullyatt as Wadsworth as his was also a tremendously funny and physical role. But really the whole cast worked together so well - with precision looks and choreography. They were a well-oiled machine and it was so fun to laugh so much! I highly recommend checking out this show!

Clue runs at the Citadel in the Shoctor Theatre until August 7th. Tickets range from $30.00 to $123.00 and are available here.

Burning Bluebeard... If we spirits have offended...

There was a moment in Edmonton Actors Theatre's production of Burning Bluebeard at Theatre Network where I experienced a flashback.  In high school I did a lot of volunteering both onstage and backstage at Keyano Theatre in Fort McMurray. When I was in grade 10, I was working running crew on Aladdin, the Christmas Pantomime.  I had just placed my *rock* onstage and was waiting backstage for the end of the scene when I heard a loud bang onstage.  I was instantly worried that my rock had fallen over so I rushed to the stage door and opened it to the sight of smoke and fire and the Music Director rushed out of the smoke yelling, "Get out! Get out!" The set was on fire.  I helped lead the orchestra out the stage door (they had been located upstage in a burlap tent) and exited the theatre out the back loading dock. Outside on the loading dock, in December in Fort McMurray were the dancers and actors from the show. There the girls in their tights and sequinned bodysuit stood, shivering in the cold as we waited to find out what happened. This was the moment I recalled as John Ullyatt (as the Stage Manager) described lifting 6 dancers up through the coal chute onto the chilly Chicago street outside the burning theatre. For the Iroquois Theater it was stage lighting and hanging scenery and a stray spark, for us it was the pyro, used in the cave scene, a stray spark ignited the hanging backdrops.  The loud bang was the fire curtain dropping.  The actress playing Aladdin had to jump into the audience and exit with them through the front doors of the theatre. It was the second show of the run. Some people blamed the ostrich feathers that were used in the show (I saw an ostrich feather onstage in Burning Bluebeard too, and my breath caught), someone wondered if the Scottish play had been mentioned (it happens) or if someone had whistled backstage, most understood that pyros and burlap (even fire-proofed burlap) don't always mix well.

I thought a lot about that fire as I watched the show.  We were lucky - no one was hurt, and the worst thing that happened was the show was cancelled. For the 1903 audience of Mr. Bluebeard in Chicago at the Iroquois Theater, it was much, much worse.  The audience of Burning Bluebeard, however, was treated to a wonderful show - funny, irreverent in places, sad, and magical. It incorporated the audience without alienating them. It felt modern and fresh despite being about something that happened in 1903. It's use of low-tech magic was whimsical.  The cast of 6 (John Ullyatt, Amber Lewis, Braydon Dowler-Coltman, Vincent Fortier, Stephanie Wolfe and Richelle Thoreson) was a brilliant ensemble - multi-talented, all clearly in the same world, performing with an infectious joy and an undertone of sadness, and totally embracing the aesthetic. Dave Horak's direction is imaginative and playful.

Over the past few years I have been able to see quite a bit of theatre around the city.  Some companies I find hit and miss - I like one show, but the next I go 'meh'. What I am finding with the Edmonton Actors Theatre is that even if I am not totally a fan of the play or the message of the play, the company never fail to impress me. I always leave thinking about the show I have seen for some time afterwards. With Burning Bluebeard, I really liked the play and the show, so I double-lucked out, and I am still thinking about it...

Freewill Players' As You Like It - Great to be back in the park!

Sunday night my husband and I took in As You Like It in Hawrelak Park - the comedy of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival.  It was so lovely to be back at the park under the big white canopy.  I enjoyed Taming of the Shrew last summer, but there is something about seeing Shakespeare outdoors that feels so right. It was good to be back.

The show was so much fun.  No terrific surprises in the delivery of the play, but solid performances from everyone and a lot of laughs for the audience.  I loved the Downton Abbey inspired costumes by Hannah Matiachuk. Everything was picture perfect and the aesthetic really seemed to suit the play.  As You Like It is one I have seen a few times before, and this look gave the play a really fresh feel.

The company is so very solid, and we see many familiar faces on the stage.  I think if you normally shy away from Shakespeare because you feel you won't understand it, then this is certainly the show to see to get you over that fear. The actors in Freewill, even the newbies, have a facility for the language that makes everything accessible.  It's also great fun.

Highlights in action for me included the wrestling (both the warm-up and the actual bout), the wonderful BFF connection between Rosalind (Mary Hulbert) and Celia (Belinda Cornish), Amiens' (Nicholas Donald Rose) wonderful singing, Touchstone (Ryan Parker) making his cane a character of it's own (he's hilarious, even when he messes up - perhaps more so!), and Ashley Wright's excellent portrayal of Jaques.  Jaques is often too morose for me, but Wright played him in a refreshing way, almost like a scholar of melancholy as opposed to a sufferer of it. There are lovely little moments in the piece that give testament to the maxim, "There are no small parts, only small actors." John Ullyatt proves this with his hysterical performance as Le Beau, as does Nancy McAlear with her delightfully abrasive Phebe.

All in all, it was a lovely night.  Next weekend I shall be back for Coriolanus (which I have NEVER seen - so I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!)!

A Steady Rain... fine, layered, complicated performances

I took in Blarney Productions' A Steady Rain last night, at C103.  It's a dark and gritty story of two cops, friends from kinnygarden, in Chicago.  The show explores the grey area morality of Joey (Jesse Gervais) and Denny (John Ullyatt) as they tumble through re-telling the events of a summer in Chicago where everything goes wrong and the rain never stops.

Both actors give layered performances as they take turns telling the events of their shared history.  As beat cops aiming for promotion to detective and getting overlooked each tries their own way to cope and try to get ahead. Denny (Ullyatt) is married with the perfect wife and two young children.  He's the alpha of this relationship but despite his perfect looking life he is also the more corrupt. Joey (Gervais) is the worrier and the peace-maker, he sees the the wrong in what Denny insists is right, but he is challenged by his own hesitancy and the pattern of their relationship to push for what is right. The tale is told back and forth, and interspersed with dialogue between the two. Narration is often a challenge, but both are born story-tellers and the twists of the story and it's horrible inevitability are handled deftly. It becomes particularly interesting when each presents the details of the same events.  There is significance in the differences.

Director Wayne Paquette has wisely cast the eminently likable Ullyatt to play the more reprehensible Denny - his natural charisma bleeds through in a way that makes you not hate him, and which makes you understand how he has gotten away with what he has.  Gervais' emotional connection is also quite wonderful when he is stuck in Joey's inertia and helplessness as some of the more horrible things play out.  Although on opening night some moments felt a touch under-rehearsed, overall it made for a compelling and engaging 90 minutes.  

Friday was One of Those "I LOVE MY JOB!" Days!

Sometimes I feel like I am unusual, because I generally wake up very happy to go to my job.  It's a terrific fit for me.  I work at the Citadel Theatre in the Marketing Department, so right off the bat you have me working in a theatre, and I love that. It's also a theatre that produces a wide variety of work and at a very high level so that's a super double bonus.  For the actual work I do, it's a great fit for me in that it uses my organization skills, my people skills, my problem-solving skills and I get to work with a lot of fun people.  It's also busy, and while some people are not as fond of that, I do like a fast pace, and there are periodic lulls to recharge when you need to.

Anyhow, I really like my job, but on Friday I had one of those I LOVE MY JOB days.  We had a photo shoot for the upcoming ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS which stars John Ullyatt and for a couple of hours in the afternoon we were entertained my his antics in front of the camera.  He kept us giggling the whole time with his contortions, ad-libs and improvising with the various props.  I was there to take behind the scenes shots and it was the most fun couple of hours anyone ever got paid for!