Date Night with Martin Dubé, oh, and my husband...

This past Monday, we received tickets from our Investor's Group Rep to go see Martin Dubé, an Impersonator.  Mark and I had seen Mr. Dubé perform in Fort McMurray years ago at one of the Keyano Galas and we remembered him as being quite entertaining so we did a bit of transportation juggling so that we could catch the show.  It was in the beautiful Winspear Centre and we got exceptional seats (4th row centre!) so we sat back and enjoyed the show.  Now, for those of you who know me, an Impersonator is not my usual cup of tea.  Many years the Investor's Group show is a Stand-Up Comedian and I usually pass on those (Mark still went but he would bring a friend instead of me), but because I remembered the show being fun from before and because mark and I haven't had a chance to go out much together lately I made it happen.

Anyhow, about the show... It was very good and tight. I watch this kind of a show the way you would a Cirque du Soleil show.  It is not about the character arc, or story or connection, but more about just saying "Wow! How do they do that?!?!" There is a very cabaret feel, and some of the jokes are a bit cheesy, but it isn't the punchlines that bring you to a show like this.  It is the 5 octaves and extreme malleability of Mr. Dubé's voice.  He goes further than just the vocal acrobatics, like all truly good impersonators, incorporating in physical mannerisms and dance moves.  This is a guy who can go from Willie Nelson, to Louis Armstrong, to Celine Dion, to Maria Callas to Josh Groban in mere seconds.  It was pretty impressive.

Mark and I also had a great time out.  The last 10 minutes of the show had us up on our feet dancing and being pretty silly.  He had a tough day and I think the evening out made up for it.  And while this isn't my usual or preferred entertainment option, I did enjoy myself.  I am also happy that the kids are getting older so that we can do these couple things more often without shelling out a tonne for babysitters.

Dreamland Saturday Nights - Wonderful!

I got to go and see Dreamland Saturday Nights at the Varscona last night (Shadow Theatre). I was so glad. It was wonderful. I was so very impressed. What a lovely script and the actors were well cast. I thought a lot about it on the way home. It was so nice to go to a show where you knew right away that you liked it. I have been to so many that I had to think about it for a while before I could figure out what I relaly thought about it. I think that is a bad sign with regards to the shows in question. I find that there is a lot of theatre trying to be "dark and thought provoking" that it misses out on being well done. There is a real snobbery in the theatre community about "fluffier" stuff, you know, musical theatre and comedies. Often these are poo-pooed by the artsie-fartsies. I have a problem with that. I don't see anything wrong with entertaining people. As long as you do it well. This need to be dark and brooding is serverly over-rated. Besides, it is usually done ineffectively, riding on the script or the idea without really doing the work required to be good. I read the review of Oliver from the Citadel and Liz Nichols seems to revel in the extra "darkness" of the production. OMG, Oliver is a dark musical to begin with. If anything it should be lightened up. I know that was the problem with the production I was in --> TOO DARK. I am not sure if I am going to Oliver so it will be hard to check on it, but I just wish people would not necessarily equate darkness with quality.

That being said, I am off to Hello Dolly this afternoon. I know Brian (the director) has commented in his preview articles about it not being a lightness and joy, but I am kind of hoping it is more so than not. I love a good entertaining musical!