Little Shop of Horrors gets me in the mood for Hallowe'en!

I spent a fun afternoon out at The Citadel Theatre watching Little Shop of Horrors. I’ve never seen it onstage before and while some things were different than what I was expecting (having only the move for reference) I had a great time! I forgot how it ended, so that was a surprise! Ha ha ha! I loved hearing Suddenly Seymour and Somewhere that's Green (two of my favourite musical theatre songs) and both were delivered excellently! Tenaj Williams was a terrific Seymour, and John Ullyatt was hilarious in his many identities! Great to groove to the doo-wop! Audrey Two was also a hi-light (both the vocals and the puppetry!)! Only drawbacks were that the band was occasionally too loud and it was hard to hear lyrics in some of the bigger energy songs, and some of the lighting was oddly dark and even though I was in row B, I had trouble seeing all of the production numbers when there was a spotlight on a featured singer.

I guess Hallowe’en is a “come in costume” night. Definitely the right show for this time of year!

Little Shop of Horrors runs until November 19th in the Shoctor Theatre at the Citadel. Tickets range from $40-130 and are available here. 

Prison Dancer at the Citadel - Always cool to see new works at a Regional Theatre

 

Photo Credit: Nanc Price

This week I caught Prison Dancer at the Citadel Theatre. It's a new work with Music and Lyrics by Romeo Candido, Book by Romeo Candido and Carmen De Jesus and Directed by Nina Lee Aquino. The Citadel was planning on doing this a couple of years ago but it was delayed by the shut-downs. Now it's up on their Shoctor stage and literally getting the audience up and dancing! I admit, when I first heard of the show I thought it was going to be in the smaller Rice Theatre, like other niche musicals have played (Gay Heritage Project, Craigslist Cantata, Bittergirl) so I was surprised to see it was on the much larger Shoctor. With the set and big dance numbers it made sense when I saw it. 

It's a fun show in many ways, but seeks gravitas with the fact that prison life (particularly in the Philippines) is not easy. It is fun, because the prisoners have to find a way to find joy in their otherwise bleak and sometimes violent lives. It is fun, as well, because the music is pop-infused and delivered by good voices along with enthusiastic and athletic dance moves! There are some really great voices in the cast, the standouts being Daren Dyhengco as Christian Serrano and Diana Del Rosario as Christian's girlfriend on the outside, Cherish. Their songs were my favourites, both their solos and their duet. Their story also had the most hope, which a prison story definitely needs. 

There were a few issues, it's clearly a new work, well on it's way, but hopefully this run in Edmonton will allow for a depending and strengthening of the script which lags a bit in places and is a little cliché in others. I also had issue with the sound balance, particularly in the first half of the show. Too often the band was too loud and I couldn't hear the vocalists.  When you throw in accents and very rapid lyrics, it made for a challenge in knowing what was being said. 

That being said, I was entertained and invested and it was fun to dance with a full house at the end of the show! There were a lot of younger audiences members who definitely were having a fabulous time form start to finish so I highly recommend for those of an age where you're still going out to dance AND for those who want to invest in new work, particularly new Canadian work. I can tell this show has a future and I will be pleased to say I saw it at the beginning!

Prison Dancer runs to May 28, 2023 at the Citadel Theatre. 

They range from $33-126.

Tickets can be purchased here.

All Rested Up From Fringe... So It's Time For the 2019-2020 Theatre Season to Start!

I'll be kicking off my 2019-2020 Theatre Season next week starting on Tuesday night, when I take in The Color Purple at the Citadel Theatre. It's the musical adaptation of Alice Walker's 1982 novel of the same name which was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985 starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey. I'm excited to see this, as I am a great fan of the book, having read it shortly after it was published and similarly loved the movie. As I am a musical theatre fan, I think I will have hit the trifecta! There are a lot of new-to-Edmonton artists involved in the production, but it also stars Tara Jackson as Celie. Jackson was previously seen in Edmonton at the Citadel in Hadestown, Bittergirl: The Musical and Mamma Mia! and at the Mayfield in Jesus Christ Superstar. She's one of my husband and my favourite local musical theatre performers and I can't wait to see her onstage in this show. I'm seeing the show early in the run, because I seriously and thinking it will be one that I want to see again! Right now, my only issue is that I have a really hard time with the American spelling of color... but that's just habit!

The Color Purple runs from September 21 to October 13 in the Shoctor Theatre. You can purchase tickets here. 

I'll also be taking in the final offering of the season from Teatro la Quindicina next week. Vidalia by Stewart Lemoine opens on Friday, September 27th at the Varscona Theatre. I'm excited to see the fabulous Belinda Cornish onstage with the always funny Andrew MacDonald-Smith as they lead the cast in this show billed as a contemporary spin on the classic screwball form. There's also a promise of 3 identical briefcases, haberdashery, and industrial espionage, which suggests intrigue, oh and there's onions!

Vidalia runs from September 27 to October 12 at the Varscona Theatre. You can purchase tickets here.

Also this month - The Play the Fool Festival - running from Sept 26-29. Play the Fool is Edmonton’s festival of clown-theatre and physical comedy. Held in historic Old Strathcona at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, the home of The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. Now entering their fourth year, this festival brings together seasoned and emerging local, national, and international clown and physical theatre artists for four days of performances that embrace risk, exploration, and play. Click here for the line-up and to find out how to get tickets to this laugh-filled festival. 

If you like Rock and Roll, especially the classics, you can also check out Million Dollar Quartet now playing at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. It runs until October 27. It's a great show with so many songs you love from Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.  You'd also get to have the always delicious buffet while you watch the show! Click here for tickets. 


It's a great looking September. I'm also excited about October, but I will get to that later! One month at a time!

BEAUTIFUL: The Carole King Musical (Broadway Across Canada) at the Jubilee Auditorium: It will move you with it's heart and iconic music!

I'm always a little nervous about Jukebox shows, but Beautiful, currently playing until November 11th with Broadway Across Canada, manages to weave the iconic music of Carole King wonderfully with the first part of her life and career. Sarah Bockel, as King, is terrific. She embodies the sound and look of King without caricature, and manages to convincingly shift through the stages of her life from a 16 year-old aspiring songwriter, to young mother, to the vocal powerhouse who creates and performs Tapestry. Although the entire cast is great, it's Bockel that the audience rose to their feet for. The role is bigger than life, much like King herself.

The music is all recognizable, although you may not have been aware that King wrote them (mostly with her ex-husband Gerry Goffin), and the show cleverly creates tension by showing the competition between rival songwriters (and friends) Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (played with great humour and intelligence by Jacob Heimer and Alison Whitehurst). The result is a score with dimension and a very cool peek inside the hit-maker factory world of the 1950s-60s. You can see how the competitive environment produced all those iconic songs.

The music and songwriting world is fun, but it's King's personal life that gives the show its heart. Bockel and Dylan S. Wallach (who plays Goffin) have real chemistry as songwriting partners and as a romantic couple, which makes their eventual break-up even more sad. It's how King grows out of that break-up to write and perform some of her most well-known songs and embrace her place on the stage that makes the show a real journey. She was an unconventional superstar, but her talent is undeniable.  Bockel's rendition of (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman clearly demonstrates she's up to the challenge.


See the show - it's funny, and the music will make you laugh and cry and smile. I wanted to sing along and to be honest I've been singing the songs since I left the theatre!

Beautiful runs until November 11th.
Click here for more information or for tickets.

p.s. Gilmore Girls fans will appreciate the musical Easter Egg in the score...

A Laughter-filled Trip to Avenue Q

Was it just last week that Avenue Q opened at the Citadel? The amount of buzz has been incredible that it makes me feel like it was longer ago that I saw it! I usually see the Dress Rehearsal as part of my job, but I was out of town and had to wait until Opening Night to see it.  Even that was not a given because the hosue was so full, but luckily I could squeeze in.  I sent my husband and older son to see it, and several friends saw it in Previews and I kept hearing how great it was, so I am pleased to report it was a show well worth the wait! I'd seen Avenue Q before and thought it was a clever show with a saucy side, but it didn't prepare me for how terrific our production would be.  The cast of seven actors (Andrew MacDonald-Smith, Rachel Bowron, Ryan Kelly, Justin Bott, Saccha Dennis, Kimmy Choi, and Elizabeth Stepkowski-Tarhan - who play a dozen characters - some felt, some flesh) are outstanding.  It's hard to single any out because there are no weak links.  They switch puppets fluidly and some voice more than one on stage at the same time and you barely notice because they are so good.  You can see all the puppeteers, but very quickly you forget they are there. They simply become Princeton, or Kate, or Trekkie or Rod.  The direction and choreography (Dayna Tekatch) is also very clever - so connected to the puppet, you swear that that's Princeton's legs kicking or Lucy's swaying hips.  It's not a deep play, although I think it speaks to something that a lot of people relate to - not being where you think you will be in your early 20s and 30s.  It is also very ribald and saucy and steps into naughtiness frequently and unapologetically.  So, basically, not for kids.  There's a puppet sex scene that pushes all the boundaries and is hilarious. I do not think you could do this show any better, in fact, I've heard from a couple people who saw it on Broadway and on the West End who told me that this production is better.  I believe it.  I can't imagine how you could improve on it!

Avenue Q runs to May 24th at the Citadel Theatre.
780.425.1820 or www.citadeltheatre.com

Photo Credit: EPIC Photography

Opening Night! SHOUT! onstage at C103

It has felt like a whirlwind, but a good one.  The best is working with the fabulous people involved in this production... no wait, the best is singing this music... no wait, the best is being onstage again... no wait... how can you sum up 'the best'? It's just really a great time.  There are nerves but mostly excitment about Opening Night and sharing this with an audience.  I really feel like we need one.

We received some nice words from Colin MacLean in the Edmonton Sun.  He came to our Dress Rehearsal last night.

Shout! takes us back to the 60s

"The music is warmly familiar, the ladies create five distinct characters, have excellent voices and their long stage experience makes them completely at home in front of an audience." - Colin MacLean, Edmonton Sun

There are only 4 shows, January 7th - 10th, so I hope you can make it out for this Fab Mod Musical! The music is terrific and it's a fun, colourful way to warm up your January!

Tix available at www.tixonthesquare.ca or at the door (Cash only at the door).

This is Why I Feel So Happy Lately...

I get to work with these people:



Most of the Cast of Nine and some of the Production Team (photo by Janine Hodder)

  
















We had the lovely Janine Hodder come in and take pictures for our call board and some rehearsal shots.  She got some wonderful pictures and I love the spirit of this one.  You can tell a lot about the people in my cast from it.  First, they are really good looking and second, they are a lot of fun!

Check out some Dramaworks...

Every second summer Theatre Alberta puts on Dramaworks in Edmonton.  The workshops offered are in different areas of dramatic discipline and cater to people at a variety of levels in their theatre career.  There are workshops targeted to the beginner, the enthusiast, the teacher, the intermediate and the professional.  I will be participating in Dramaworks this summer - taking a course from Vern Thiessen in Playwriting - and I encourage you to take one as well.  I believe there are some sessions that are already full, but there are others that have space.  Check it out.

For those of you who are musical theatre performers, this is one I highly recommend: Kim Mattice Wanat's Unleashing the Expressive Voice.   I was fortunate enough to take a workshop with Kim a few years ago and as a singer/performer I found it very valuable.  The instruction had some general components, but it also addressed specific issues of each of the participants.  I found that it released me some from very bad habits and gave me a confidence I never knew I had.

I think that Theatre Alberta and their programs like Dramaworks and Playworks Ink and Artstrek do a phenomenal job of providing ongoing training for every level of theatre artist in Alberta.  Check it out.  I was glad I did many, many years ago! I hope to see you there.