I was initially hesitant about watching a musical about Alzheimer's, which I thought might be too sad and depressing. That it would be presented in “concert” with the cast sitting on stage without any sets, props, costumes, choreography or other stagecraft did not ease my discomfort. But knowing my love of musicals and desire to watch new ones, my husband Rich convinced me to attend “
The Last Piece” at
University of Toronto’s Hart House Theatre. Am I ever glad that he did. This turned out to be a wonderful experience, made all the more special by knowing that the book, music and lyrics were written by Shreya Jha, a U of T medical student in her final year of medical school. It is mind-boggling to consider how talented Jha is to excel at both medicine and musical theatre, let alone the time management required to focus on both—no left-brain vs right-brain preference here!
The Last Piece deals with 60-year-old Amara who has been acrimoniously divorced from, and out of contact with, her ex-husband Andrew for over 10 years when she gets summoned to the hospital in her hometown. Andrew has been admitted and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and Amara is listed as his emergency contact. Amara rants to her friends Morgan, Franchine and Shelby about this imposition and all the bad memories of the breakup that Andrew’s resurgence brings up. Through flashbacks played by a set of younger actors, we see how Amara and Andrew originally met in university and connected over their mutual love of jigsaw puzzles. The pieces of these puzzles become a metaphor for the couple’s relationship and their different goals and values. While Amara is careful and methodical, always starting her puzzles at the corners before filling in the middle, Andrew randomly attaches pieces and enjoys being surprised as to the outcome. Andrew wants to travel the world and experience new adventures, declaring that home is anywhere in the world where they can be together. Amara wants stability, permanence and the traditional definition of home, which includes a job, house, kids, friends and family. Despite their love for each other, these fundamental differences result in the constant need for unhappy compromises, and eventually drive them apart. Now Andrew is back, with his wanderlust and desire for change dampened by his disease and his fading memories taking him more and more to the past. Amara struggles with whether she should let Andrew back into her life and take on the responsibility of caring for him as his health declines.
The Last Piece is a moving tale of love, loss, memories and family. The proverbial “last piece” had many meanings in the play, including the physical last piece to complete their jigsaw puzzle, or symbolically to represent the last piece of Andrew’s memory that he struggles to preserve. The lyrics of one of the songs included the line that “you never know how beautiful a puzzle is until you put in the last piece”. A wonderful 6-person band featuring a violin, cello, guitar, reeds, base and drums sat at the back of the stage behind the actors, providing the score of the musical. Judging by their ages, they were probably U of T students. They also delightfully serenaded us with jazz classics prior to the start of the show.
The intimate songs and dialogue did not suffer from the lack of sets or movement, but the lack of costumes and the ages of the actors detracted a bit from the storyline. The older Amara and Andrew were played by actors well short of the sixty-year-old characters they were supposed to portray. The younger actors fit well when playing 20-year-olds but did not resonate as much when they “aged” three decades up to age 50, all while still dressed in young Andrew’s ripped jeans and young Amara’s school-girl pleated skirt and nylons. Having said that, the acting and vocal singing abilities of the entire cast was very good, especially the powerfully emotional performances by the two Amaras. The show is only playing for three nights (and one matinee) at Hart House. I hope that this musical gets a proper staging at some point, perhaps at a future Fringe Festival or even a larger theatre.
