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.

A Return to Jane Austen for a Holiday Celebration! Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley at the Citadel

Although Christmas is still a month away, this week I felt it creeping closer and closer. Part of that was the switch-over to Christmas music on the radio station my son prefers, and part of it was taking in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley at the Citadel Theatre. For me, it was particularly fun to return to the land of Jane Austen, having immersed myself in the world of the Regency Era as part of my role as Assistant Director of Sense and Sensibility two seasons ago. The show, although lighter and funnier than Pride and Prejudice, has much to recommend itself to Austen aficionados. You will re-meet four of the five Bennet sisters, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley. For the most part, they are recognizable from the novel, but changes to their lives in the years since allow for new discoveries. 

The show centers on the middle sister, Miss Mary Bennet, played with a prickly charm and much wit by Toronto-based Mikaela Davies. Mary is the forgotten middle sister, left to her books and piano as her other sisters have gone on to marriage and other adventures. She clearly longs for something more, but understands her position in the world leaves her few options. She has come to Pemberley to spend Christmas with her sisters and their husbands and to have a little escape from her life spent with her aging parents. Enter Lord Arthur de Bourgh (Umed Amin), Mr. Darcy's cousin, who shares Mary's love for books and knowledge as well as her social awkwardness. The two seemed perfectly matched, until... Well, until a rival for Arthur's affections shows up in the form of Anne de Bourgh (the hilarious Gianna Vacirca). As the rules of Austen's society interfere with the budding romance, the laughter ensues as the romantic entanglements are sorted out. 

Davies and Amin are delightful as the central couple. Their awkwardness is countered by their intelligence and they share a lovely chemistry. As Mr. Darcy, local favourite Mathew Hulshof is perfectly cast. He looks and sounds the part and he's layered in a sensitivity that no doubt has developed as Mr. Darcy has gotten used to being a part of the Bennet family. Cameron Kneteman is wonderfully charming as Charles Bingley, and he made me remember how much I enjoyed the character in the novel. The youngest Bennet sister in attendance, Lydia (Emma Houghton), was suitably and humorously flighty. It was interesting to see the two older sisters, Lizzie (Allison Edwards-Crewe) and Jane (Emma Laishram), take a back seat to Mary in this story. I'm not sure if it was the writing in the script or the performance of Edwards-Crewe that made Lizzie seem more unkind to Mary than I remembered her being. I actually kind of wished the two older sisters were played by the opposite actresses - but that might have more to do with my personal impressions of the source novel and the characters and I am sure that there are many who disagree. I think layered in there is a presumption of what other people want in their lives, as the two older sisters, in their contented marriages, assume that Mary is perfectly happy with her life of books and music and give little thought to her wanting anything more. Fortunately, despite the interventions of Anne de Bourgh, the sisters and their husbands manage to redirect romance in the right direction. 

Director Nancy McAlear and her cast and design team have done a wonderful job telling this story. It's the perfect way for any Austen fan to welcome in the Christmas season!

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley runs to December 9th. Click here for more information and for tickets. 

Photo Credit: EPIC Photography

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!!!)!