More is Better... When it comes to Fringe Shows!

Back at it today with the Program and my calendar... It's going to be tough but even if I don't get to them all, I will come out a winner!

Here's a few more shows that are catching my eye:

Cowboy: A Cowboy Story - Accidental Humour, Edmonton, CA - Garneau Theatre
Guaranteed to be the show that brings me closest to laughing so hard I pee my pants, you cannot go wrong with Accidental Humour. I've said it before, these guys are the best at merging theatre with film and their wacky sense of humour and understanding of genre is phenomenal. Might even be the one we go to for our 20th Wedding Anniversary.

Trail and Error - Northern Sabbatical Productions, Edmonton, CA - Old Strathcona Public Library
A New Work from Linda Wood Edwards - I'm in! Plus it's got the oh-so-charming Ellen Chorley in it - Sign me up again!

We Were Dancing: Two Short Plays by Noel Coward - Bright Young Things, Edmonton CA - Varscona Theatre
It's the pedigree of the cast and creative team for this show AND you can see it in the beautiful new Varscona Theatre (which is ah-maz-ing!). Noel Coward is also a pretty good bet.

Ta Da! - Casavant Productions, Edmonton, CA - Old Strathcona Public Library
Hoping to take my youngest to this one. He's a magic buff and this show looks tailor-made for those fascinated by "how'd they do that?"

Pacamambo - Cardiac Theatre, Edmonton, CA - The Roxy on Gateway
After seeing Scorched a few years ago at the Citadel I am a big Wajdi Mouawad fan.  Also, I was impressed with Cardiac Theatre after seeing their show this past season. I am definitely up for more from them.


Next I am going to look at the musicals... Not as many as last year but some great options!

Tracking Through the Fringe Progam... aka The List is Growing...

I guess it's a good year for me to not have any Fringe shows of my own as it gives me more time to see things! And as I waded through the Fringe Program my list of shows started to grow exponentially as I turned the page, at least that's how it felt.

So here's a few more on my "I think I want to see that show" list:

Letting Go of Alone - Soul Productions, Edmonton CA - Old Strathcona Performing Arts (Venue 8)
When you combine Jake Hastey of Toy Guns Dance Theatre and the talented Nadine Veroba and Justin Kautz then I really don't think you can go wrong. A new work merging dance and live music exploring relationships in the modern age. This one is definitely on the top of my list.

CLIMB - Deathbench Productions, Bellingham USA - Westbury Theatre (Venue 1)
The write-up says: Using striking visuals and unexpected humour, CLIMB fuses breathtaking aerial circus performance with four connected narratives set to an original score. I'm intrigued to see how they've merged circus aerial work with the narratives as I always like to see what happens when artists merge disciplines.

Drinking in America - Ronin Theatre, Edmonton CA - Backstage Theatre (Venue 2)
The ever charismatic Neil Kuefler attacks this series of monologues from Eric Bogosian. It might be one of the darker ones I go to, but I expect both the writing and acting to be strong, and I have to mix it up a bit with dark and light shows.  

Epic Tragedy - iiii theatricals, Edmonton CA - Walterdale Theatre (Venue 3)
I missed this Gerald Osborn comedy about Medea and Oedipus when it was at the ADFA a few years ago.  It's filled with talented local artists who know how to make an audience laugh. I'm hoping to check it out for some epic laughs.

Stones in His Pockets - Harbour Theatre, Prince Rupert, CA - King Edward School (Venue 5)
I've always wanted to see this play and here it is. Here's the description: When a film crew invades an Irish village, the movies spark big dreams in starstruck locals. Two lighthearted extras, Jake and Charlie, cultivate an uneasy friendship in a community wrestling with visions of fame and burdens of tradition.

The Dragon - Dead Rabbits Theatre, London UK - King Edward School (Venue 5)
Maybe it's the picture in the program but I keep coming back to this one. It promises kinghts and dragons and monsters and says it will be a high-powered, hilarious and touching tale. I'm going to check it out and see.

That's it for now... trust me, my list is much, much longer... stay tuned for more!

Couple More Shows I Am Hoping to See...

The Unsyncables by Rebecca Merkley looks like it's going to be a very funny hour of entertainment. The cast of 4 features some very hilarious women and, always a fan of new work and new playwrights, I'm intrigued to see what Rebecca Merkley has written. She's always hysterical when she's onstage so it's going to be fun to see what has come from her brain!

Description: A love letter to the 90's, this heartwarming comedy celebrates the world of pre-teen friendships. Mary has decided to form her very own synchronized swimming squad. Her quirky team hope to make a big splash at a local competition, but trouble arises when Mary runs into her former teamates. H2-Uh-Oh!

Starring: Alyson Dicey, Maddy Knight, Kristin Johnston Snelgrove and Brianne Jang. 
Written and Directed by: Rebecca Ann Merkley

BYOV Venue #41, Rutherford School. 


Half the Battle is another new work from a new playwright, Owen Bishop, who is also starring in the solo show. Telling the story of a Canadian pilot and co-pilot who were shot down during the Second World War and were buried together with tombstones attached to commemorate their partnership lasting through to the afterlife. Bishop plays both Adams and Davis on their one-way journey to the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. It's billed as a comedy and I heard the the preview bit at the Fringe showcase was hilarious. 

Starring: Owen Bishop
Written by: Owen Bishop
Directed by: Joel Taras

Venue 9: Telus Phone Museum

Fringe is Almost Upon Us!

It's a strange feeling for me this summer. After a few summers in a row with multiple Fringe shows, I find myself with the luxury of just haivng to watch shows this year! Sont' worry, I have enough things outside my theatre life to keep me busy, but I am looking forward to seeing A LOT of Fringe Shows!

I thought I would do a few profiles on shows that I am hoping to take in!

First Up: Confessions of a Middle Aged Drama Queen - a new work written and performed by local Edmontonian Erika Conway, is a comedy about self discovery, overcoming obstacles and managing a desire to meet a hot strapping fireman! I've seen Erika onstage several times over the past few years and she has an electric personality and charisma as well as terrific comedic timing.  I'm excited to see what she has done in her first foray as playwright!

To be or not to be a Drama Queen…. that is the question!

                                           

Confessions of A Middle Aged Drama Queen - Madelyn Sharp wants nothing more than to be loved and adored.  Her quirky ways, imagination and perspective on life has saved her from going to the dark side too often but also finds her in very unique experiences. Reality and her dreams just don’t get along and this is the struggle she faces as she makes her way to discovering what is on the other side of the door. 

Final Move in a Long Game... Chess at Walterdale opens Wednesday!

Where have I been? Well, for the last 11 weeks or so, I have been in rehearsal for Chess at Walterdale. It's a complicated show with a lot of moving pieces, gorgeous but challenging music, and a cast of 23+3 (we have 3 young ladies playing Young Florence). I have been blessed with a wonderful cast - I do not know how many times the creative team has said to ourselves, "We really cast some very nice people" - and that doesn't always happen (but I will not tell any tales now). Tonight is the 2nd and final Preview, with Opening Night on Wednesday, July 6th. Last night proved that they just needed an audience as it came even more alive with the reactions from the house. 

Chess is a show that I have wanted to do for a long time. I probably wasn't ready until a few years ago. The music is some of my all-time favourite and we have been blessed with a terrific cast who can really do it justice. I can thank Sally Hunt, our Music Director, for making sure that's looked after. She has also assembled a tight, talented band, to accompany our cast. We also have a cast who is not only super-nice as I mentioned earlier, but they are talented and dedicated to telling this story as excellently as possible. They have embraced everything asked of them, from Bethany Hughes' inventive choreography to the challenging score to caring about a fictional game or 3 of chess! I feel blessed as a director. 

Why Chess? The music is first and foremost why I wanted to do it. It is what brings most people to this story initially. But the story is also compelling.  Perhaps it's because I was a child of the 80's - a teenager during the worst of the Cold War - that I get what these global politics are about. Perhaps it is the comment made about excusing the bad behaviour of the supremely talented that made me think it's still a very relevant story. Perhaps it is because I think we still draw so many invisible lines between countries today - maybe not US vs. USSR, but we certainly see the xenophobia alive and well today directed at cultures that are different. I love that Chess shows us the humans behind the labels.  It asks us to look beyond our prejudices and national identities and see the people. At least that's what it does for me. 

Anyhow, it has been a joyful journey and I am so excited to share it. Hopefully you will be able to check it out. Chess runs July 6th - 16th at Walterdale Playhouse (shows at 8 pm and 2 pm on Sunday). You can get your tickets at www.tixonthesquare.ca or 780.420.1757 or gamble at the door 1 hour prior to show start. Several nights are already very close to selling out so don't wait!

Photos:

Florence (Lauren Pearson) and Anatoly (Todd Hauck)

Freddie (Matt Boisvert) and Anatoly (Todd Hauck)

Photo Credit: Jessica Poole

A Weekend of Song and Dance! City of Angels, West Side Story (AGAIN), and Hair!

This past weekend, we took in not one, nor two, but THREE musicals all within the span of about 27 hours! We also squeezed in a meeting with a contractor and piano lessons so we really maximized our time!

We started on Friday with ELOPE's production of City of Angels.  This is one of my all-time favourite shows to sing and I was very pleased with the production I saw.  It's a show that suggests a huge proscenium with flys and trucks and revolves as it switches from real life to the story of film so I was curious how it would play on the Faculte St. Jean stage. They did marvelous job making it all work. Kudos to the cast for handling the challenging music, particularly the super tight Angel City Four and the stellar leads - Jason Hlus, Trevor J, Monica Roberts, Andrea Graham, Erin Vandermolen-Pater and James Toupin. It was great to see the show on stage again (I haven't seen it in over 20 years) and have it live up to my memory.

On Saturday afternoon, I finally made my way back for a second viewing of West Side Story at the Citadel.  I had seen it Opening Night and was blown away by it! The Singing! The Dancing! The Momentum! I cried twice and spent a good deal of the show in awe of the talent onstage.  Pamela Gordon as Anita is literally as-good-as-it-gets! Eva Tavares as Maria is both fierce and delicate with a voice that cannot be more perfect.  George Krissa as Tony has a charm that emits like a strobe light from the stage. The whole cast is incredible particularly when they dance.  The direction and choreography is flawless. Choreographer Laura Krewski has worked some true stage magic that makes you think this show should ALWAYS be done on a thrust stage, and director Bob Baker has amped the testosterone levels so that it's terrible end feels tragically inevitable. Going again on Saturday confirmed for me how fabulous the show is.  I cried, again, but in totally different places. And oh, to her Pamela Gordon and Eva Tavares sing together in their heart-breaking duet... just fabulous! Only one week left for this one as it closes on May 22nd.  You can get tickets by calling 780.425.1820 or going online to www.citadeltheatre.com.

Finally, we grabbed a bite to eat and settled in at The Mayfield for a groovy evening with Hair. The show was a lot of fun with great voices delivering the catchy, rambunctious songs of the hippie-love-in show. I am not as familiar with the show, but found the ensemble cast quite entertaining. I really liked the comic character bits, especially those portrayed by Sheldon Elter and Amber Bissonette. The show runs until June 12th at The Mayfield and you can get tickets here. 

A Series of Anti-Heroes...

Sometimes theatre lifts you up and makes you leave inspired and joyful... sometimes the people on the stage are a cautionary tale about what 'not to do'... I had a little streak of theatre that was more the latter.  So odd that it all clumped together.

The first was The Supine Cobbler presented by Maggie Tree. Excellent direction and acting, a terrific soundscape, and a really cool concept allowed for some laughter as the Western trope was played to the max in the most unusual of circumstances - the waiting room of an abortion clinic. I would have liked to have seen the concept applied to a more compelling situation as there never really seemed any obstacles to the outcome and the whole play seemed to serve more as public therapy. I left no more or less shaken in my belief that legal, safe abortions must happen but that they are not something to be rejoiced about. And there were attitudes expressed by the characters that bothered me: a trio of women laughing gleefully about 'not becoming a mother' (one twice in one year); and a defiant response to the question about using birth control, "sometimes it just isn't convenient". I personally don't judge those who've had to make that choice as I presume they have their reasons and that's good enough for me, but this play kind of made me want to...

Then I saw Gordon at Theatre Network.  It's in the tradition of those films where everyone is bleeding at the end of the film and the survival of anyone past the credits is questionable.  Filled with a quartet of unlikable people it was hard to really connect.  Again, the production itself hit all the markers - well cast and well acted with great gory effects in a perfectly constructed half-derelict kitchen. The soundscape seemed off as it wanted us to prepare for something funnier than the play actually was. I will admit, I had trouble with the script.  Lots of short cut scenes - written more like a movie than a play - which chopped up the momentum. A play like this needs to feel like an impending train-wreck and although it ends in a terrible place, complete with blood and an uncertain future, it never quite earned it. Too much lag, and not enough charm written into the characters leaving the actors with little to work with outside the ugly. I think if you are into that kind of Quentin Tarantino aesthetic, this would totally appeal to you - but I needed a little more.

Finally, there was Wish at Northern Light Theatre. This one is more complicated.  Certain aspects of it were fascinating and again, like the other two shows, it was very well executed. Up to about 2/3 of the way I was completely drawn in - I liked the story of the child of deaf parents finding teaching sign to be his calling and that leading him to teaching a gorilla to sign and developing a real connection with the animal.  It's tied up in animal rights and the concept of informed consent and it started several interesting thought progressions.  There are many layers. It takes a truly disturbing turn, however, when the relationship between the man and the gorilla becomes physical. I couldn't handle it. I shut down in the audience. It felt like pedophilia. I could find no justification.  I might have been okay with it if there was something in the play's ending that supported my feelings, but I might have been too shut down at that point to recognize it. There were more troubling things said in the talk-back but as they lived outside the play, I won't comment on what they were. However, I do know that those things said made it even harder for me to appreciate the show. It's hard for me, because there were so many well done things in this show: brilliant physicalization of the gorilla by Ainsley Hilliard; a complicated look at communication; committed acting and a beautiful looking production.

Theatre is so individual and each show does something different. They can't all make you feel happy, I get that. I have thought about all those these shows and the issues they raised several times since seeing them, so perhaps they did accomplish their goals...