Theatre: Marry Me A Litte - Elegies: A Song Cycle

I unequivocally and unabashedly love musicals, whether presented in movie or live theatre formats.  I will give just about any new musical a try, but I've always preferred ones whose lyrics convey the plot and narrative through verse.  For me, Jersey Boys did not fit my definition of the perfect musical–rather, it was a play which included characters singing some tunes by the Four Seasons.

The songs don't have to be originally created for the musical, but they do have to make sense in advancing the plot.  Mamma Mia was one of the most successful recent examples of adapting songs from another source into a musical and cleverly weaving in the story-line to match the words of those songs. I also prefer a musical that actually has a plot that runs from beginning to end, rather than ones where each song is a separate vignette.  Accordingly, I was less than enamoured by two recent musicals which I watched, because they did not meet my personal criteria of an enjoyable musical.

The Tarragon Theatre hosted a new adaptation of Marry Me A Little, a 1980's musical which strings together songs written by Stephen Sondheim for different musicals, most of them cut and never used in those musicals.  Since I think that Sondheim is a bit of a lyrical genius, even his "second-rate" songs are still complex and entertaining.  The problem is that his lyrics are so detailed and specific that they are not easily taken out of context.

Told entirely through song, this adaptation attempts to show the rise and fall of the relationship between two lonely New Yorkers.   Unfortunately the songs don't all work in telling the story or advancing the plot, especially in the middle section, which dragged on a bit.  More is discerned from the actors' glances, expressions and pantomimed gestures than from what they are actually singing.

The best usage of the Sondheim songs comes towards the end of the musical, when the female declares her love by singing the titular song, originally used in the musical Company– "Marry me a little .. I'm ready!!".   The horrified look on the male's face while she was singing this was hilarious.  He replied with lyrics from the misleadingly named song Happily Ever After, which was cut from Company–"Someone to hurt you too deep...  Someone to read you too well .. that's happily ever after - in Hell!".   If the lyrics sound familiar, it is because very similar lyrics were used in the climatic song called Being Alive, that ended up as Company's eleven-o'clock number.  My favourite lines came from the breakup song Rainbow (written for Into the Woods) that highlighted the couple's differences in personality and outlook on  life. He tells her "You're always expecting rainbows" and she replies "You're always expecting rain".

Despite my ambivalence about the musical itself, I was impressed by the talented two-person cast for their singing and acting abilities.  The staging was also very innovative in the way they used the same set and space to represent each person's apartment prior to their meeting.  The two of them weave around the two symbolic, but one physical apartment at the same time, making it feel like a choreographed dance.  It was also interesting to watch the piano player who provided the background music, seen clearly through an "apartment window".  This was juxtapositioned with the male lead, who was a composer and played the piano within the apartment, as part of the scene.   

The second musical that I didn't quite connect with was Elegies: A Song Cycle.  I  actually resisted watching this show the previous times that it was staged, because I knew that there would be no plot, but in the end, I was swayed by the glowing reviews.  As the title clearly intimates, this musical is comprised of a series of relatively disparate songs that each eulogize the death of a family member, friend or even pet of the composer William Finn.

The problem with these vignette songs is that there is very little time to reveal the back-story and establish an emotional connection with the unknown deceased who is being eulogized. The exceptions for me, were the elegies for Mark, the lawyer who used to host the annual "All Men's Thanksgiving Dinner", and Monica, who asked for a special song to be written and performed at her funeral.  By the time their deaths (from AIDS and cancer respectively) were described, I felt an affinity towards them and was touched by their passing.

There were a few light-hearted songs, including one that lamented the early demise of all of the composer's beloved pet dogs, compared to the unjust longevity of the one dog that he despised.  The last few songs were powerful tributes to 9-11 terrorist attacks.  I did not realize this at the time of viewing, so they seemed like just two more generically sad songs that followed an entire afternoon of melancholy.  Now that I understand what these songs were supposed to be about, I appreciate both the lyrics ("Just saying my goodbyes" .. "Boom, Boom, He sees his buildings burn) and the staging (papers were thrown up in the air and allowed to float to the ground, to symbolize the impact of the falling of the twin towers) so much more.

I think I was in the minority in my assessment of Elegies, since the rest of the audience gave the cast a standing ovation.   In fact, the cast was very strong in general, with Thom Allison being the standout both from a singing and acting perspective.  Structurally and plot-wise, or lack of plot-wise, it just wasn't my cup of tea.. but I should have known that and probably not gone to see this.

Theatre: Two Worlds of Charlie F

When preparing myself to watch "The Two Worlds of Charlie F", based the real life experiences of and starring actual soldiers who have been injured on active duty, the words "poignant", "gripping", "inspiring", "powerful" and "illuminating" all sprang to mind.  The play certainly fit all of these adjectives.  What I did not anticipate was how unapologetically irreverent, and even occasionally humorous it would be.

Right from the start, the soldier/actor who played titular Charlie F. defiantly flaunted his amputated leg.  He walked onto the middle of the stage with the help of crutches, the stump of his missing right leg clearly exposed, then hoisted the stump up over the top of his right crutch and stared out at the audience with a cheeky grin, almost daring us to comment.  The action was reminiscent of the old gunslinger movies where the hero would sling his leg over the bar stool at the saloon.

This play was developed as a type of therapy, to give wounded soldiers a voice, and act as a vehicle for them to share their experiences, pain and trauma.  In addition to professional actors, the cast included men and women of the military who have suffered brain damage, are single and double leg amputees, paraplegics, have fractured spines, and other injuries. 

The opening scene is based on Charlie F. portrayer Cassidy Little's real experiences when waking up in the hospital after his injury, suffered in an IED blast.  Disoriented, afraid, and thinking that he had been captured by the Taliban, he thrashed, called for help, fought off and swore at the nurse, doctor and even his own family who tried to calm him.  The scene was shown eerily as a silhouette, as the action took place behind a screen.

We were then presented with the histories of the vets, why each of them joined the military and how they were wounded. The real-life soldiers played characters that were closely based on their own stories.  Maurilla Simpson and her character Lance Corporal Simi Yates shared the same back-story about growing up in Trinidad, wishing to be a soldier and to move to where "the Queen lives".  Charlie F./Cassidy Little joined the Marines as a quick way to win a bet that he could get into shape.  This was followed by scenes depicting the training that the soldiers went through, including learning how to handle their weapons and the importance of their gear. 

In a very powerful scene called "Field Medic Course", an instructor explained what happened to the human body when you stepped on an IED.  He illustrated the point by drawing marks on a stripped-down soldier's body to indicate the areas of destruction.  He described the results of losing too much blood, or if your arms or legs got crushed by a blast.  But the most pressing concern for most was whether their testicles and penis were still intact.

The final scene of the first half symbolically played out the contact with the enemy that resulted in the soldiers' injuries.  As devastating as this scene was, it was just the start of their journey.  What followed in the second act, which dealt with their physical and emotional recovery processes, showed that their experiences will stay with them forever.  Doctors, physio therapy, psychologist visits, flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, feelings of alienation, are all part of their new reality.

To our surprise, although not quite a musical, The Two Worlds of Charlie F. actually featured songs and even choreographed dances involving the entire cast.  The soldiers chanted spiritedly as they went through their physical training period (.. "Just one way to survive.. you work as a team to make it out alive" ...).  When receiving physical rehabilitation treatments and medications, they sang a song whose lyrics simply named all of their pills, to highlight how many were required ( ... "Codeine, Tramadol, Fentenyl"... )  There was even a beautiful dance between three soldiers in their wheelchairs and their respective loved ones.  As the soldiers spun and moved across the stage in their wheelchairs, the women danced around them, jumped into their laps, and even did flips over them.

It was enlightening to also get the family's perspectives, as wives, girlfriends and mothers described about how difficult it was, not knowing what was happening. During their regular phone calls and letter communications, ".. I talk about .. the weather .. when I really want to ask him if he got shot at today...".  They then had to deal with the post-traumatic stress symptoms when their men returned.

The soldiers sang a haunting "Sleep Song" about how "it's worst at night, scared to close my eyes.. I'm not reliving it, I'm living it".  They woke up thrashing and fighting and occasionally even accidentally punched their wives in their sleep.  The women described how they had nightmares too.  One woman found out about her husband's injuries at 5am, and now she wakes up every morning at 5.  It's in her "body clock forever".

The Two Worlds of Charlie F. avoided becoming too maudlin by tempering the painful moments with ones filled with humour.  There was a scene where the double-amputee Leroy compared stumps with the single-amputee Charlie .. "How come your stump's so f***ing Gucci and mine's like an f***ing arse?".  Leroy then revealed that he had been offered porn work while Charlie had not.  "Must be a double amputee thing..".

This play gives such a unique perspective of the realities of war, as it comes right from the horse's mouth.  We left feeling inspired, grateful and full of admiration for these brave men and women.

Design Exchange - Hermès Festival des Métiers / This is Not A Toy

While I've have spent a lot of time at Toronto's primary museums and art galleries, only recently have I come to recognize the Design Exchange as a venue that regularly offers interesting exhibits, focusing on Canadian and International design.  I attended several very interesting shows in the past few months.

The high-end French designer boutique Hermès brought their traveling show called Festival des Métiers or Festival of Crafts to the Design Exchange this past October.  Artisans and craftsmen displayed their skills at making and repairing handbags, ties, gloves, watches and more.

The highlight of the exhibition was the silk screen printing demo that resulted in the creation of the beautiful and iconic Hermes scarves.  Starting with a white sheet of silk, dyes of the various colours found in the pattern were applied one by one.  There was a separate panel for each shade of colour found on a scarf, with stenciled cutouts of the parts of the pattern represented by that colour.  The appropriate dye was poured onto the panel and then a scraper (chosen from ones of varying thicknesses) was used to push the paint over the stencil, onto the silk.  It was fascinating to watch the pattern build up as each additional layer of colour was added.

ToBeUs is an Italy toy company known for making toy cars out of blocks of "16 x 7.5 x 7.5 cm Lebanese cedar wood".  The shape of the car is created by two consecutive cuts into the wood, one longitudinal and one transversal (diagonally intersecting the original cut).  ToBeUs invited over 100 designers from around the world to try their hand at creating one of these cars.

The results were astounding and in some of these cases, I cannot see how it is possible that they were accomplished with only two cuts!

Finally, the "This is Not A Toy" exhibit currently on display until May 19, 2014 is curated by rap star/song writer/producer Pharrell Williams.  These designer pieces, ranging from small miniatures to full-sized figures, can cost anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.  Williams and other collectors treat these objects not as toys but as works of art that comment on pop culture.

It is understandable how these figures can be mistaken for toys at first glance.  They are bright, colourful, whimsical, and many of them are modeled after traditional images of iconic toys.  But look closer and you can see a subversive twist to each of these items.  The Ronald McDonalds have their brains and innards exposed.  Charlie Brown and Bart Simpson are grinning a bit too lasciviously and Lucy has abnormally big boobs. A mouse-like figure brings to mind what Mickey Mouse would look like drag.  Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket and the little blue smurfs each have their eyes or the hands covering their eyes "X"-ed out–a signature feature of artist Brian Donnelly, nicknamed KAWS.

There is a definite Japanese influence, even in pieces not designed by Japanese artists.  Many of them are based on Japanese anime, which are hand-drawn or computer generated animations and manga (Japanese comics).  I have found that there is often a somber and slightly creepy, sinister air to source material and this translates into the figures as well.

The series of characters by American artist Huck Gee pays tribute to Samurai lore with specific reference to movies like "The Seven Samurai".  His "Red Shogun" and "Red Geisha" figures can be found on eBay, with an asking price of almost $800 US.

One of my favourite parts of the exhibition was the floor-to-ceiling glass case full of 3-inch "Dunny" figures. Dunny is a curved bunny usually with rabbit ears, made by the company KidRobot, that comes with a blank face which can be  repainted and reinterpreted by different artists. It was fascinating to look closely at the hundreds of little figures, all on loan from a single collector and compare the diverse designs that the various artists came up with for their Dunny.

In sourcing the "not-toys" for this exhibit, Pharell Williams contributed items from his own collection and asked for loans from many of his collector friends.  He also co-designed a large piece called "The Simple Things" with toy designers Takashi Murakami and Jacob Arabo.  Made of multi-coloured fiberglass, the monstrous head with sharp fangs has its mouth open to display bejeweled miniatures of William's favourite items including ketchup, a can of Pepsi, a cupcake, a running shoe and a bag of chips. 

The delightful items in this exhibition may not be toys, but that did not stop me from wanting to play with all of them.

Theatre: Metamorphosis

The play Metamorphosis, currently playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, is based on the 1912 absurdist, existentialist novella, written in German by writer Franz Kafka.

At the start of the story, Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who financially supports his parents and sister Grete, awakens one morning to find out that he has turned into a giant insect. The rest of the plot deals with how Gregor's family reacts to this strange turn of events, which they just seem to take at face value.  There is no discussion about how or why Gregor has turned into an insect or whether he will ever revert to human form.  Rather, the family is repulsed by Gregor's appearance and the unintelligible sounds he now makes.  They are also distressed that as an insect, he will no longer be able to earn an income, meaning that the rest of the family must now go find employment.  Eventually the family's treatment of Gregor causes him so much distress that he dies in order to spare them of his presence.  Without Gregor to worry about, the family moves to a new home and are hopeful for a better future.

Gregor's plight is the fantastical physical manifestation of Kafka's own feelings of isolation, and inadequacy.  Kafka led an unhappy life, with a strict, abusive father who disapproved of his physical frailty and his passion for writing and the arts.  Instead, Kafka was forced into a hated insurance company job which he was too weak-willed to quit.  He felt like an outsider and a burden in his own home, his work, and even his country, as a Czech Jew living within the German dominated Austrian-Hungarian Empire.  Metamorphosis has many autobiographical themes, as Kafka poured his personal feelings of alienation and marginalization into this story.

 

 The play, a British/Icelandic collaboration from London, does a magnificent job of interpreting and staging this very strange story.  The fascinating set reveals the two floors of the Samsas' home, with the living and dining room on the bottom, and Gregor's bedroom on top.  To simulate Gregor's insect ability to walk on walls and the ceiling, his room and its contents have been rotated by 90 degrees.  The inverted perspective may also reflect Gregor's feelings of disorientation after his transformation.

The amazingly athletic Icelandic actor who plays Gregor spends the entire duration of the 90 minute play either crouched like a grasshopper, or hanging (sometimes upside down) from the "walls" or "ceiling".  His role is so demanding and so complicated to learn that he has no understudy to replace him if he gets hurt or sick. At one point, he bounces like a bug, on a small trampoline installed in the divider between the two floors of the set.  Eventually, he actually crashes through and falls down onto the main floor.

Gregor's death scene is beautifully melancholy, as he acrobatically hangs from and slides off a long red ribbon formed from the window curtains, which I took to represent his blood.  Others have interpreted this sequence as a representation of the "Descent of Christ" as Gregor sacrifices himself to spare his family from further grief.

The power of Kafka's story is that its themes are still so relevant today, transcending time, nationality and culture. In a panel discussion about the play, we heard about three different audience members who personally identified with Gregor–A wheelchair-bound girl, who could communicate only through eye-blinks, indicated that she understood what it felt like to be isolated and perceived as a burden.  Another woman compared the treatment of Gregor to that of her heroin-addicted brother.  A Chinese girl related Gregor's sacrifice to the ones made by Chinese revolutionaries during the Revolution.

The playwright accentuates the autobiographical nature of the story by giving Gregor's originally unnamed father the same name as Kafka's father Hermann.  He also moved the time frame of the play from early 1900s to the 1930s, to build upon the subconsciously political overtones in Kafka's story.  Grete's change in wardrobe throughout the play mirrors her changing attitudes towards Gregor.  Her initial love and sympathy is reflected by her pink, girlish sweater.  Later, when she is begrudgingly forced to work and take care of Gregor, her feelings of annoyance and then revulsion are shown in her stark, brown jacket and skirt. The military-like uniforms that both Grete and Hermann wear after taking jobs, along with her use of the words "Vermin", and references of the importance of work, seem to foreshadow the horrors of Nazi Fascism that is on the horizon.

I was blown away by the staging and presentation of this strange story.  While Metamorphosis could not be described as a feel-good play, watching it was intellectually challenging and stimulating.  This was a truly unique and memorable experience.

Theatre: Twenty Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The musical Twenty Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was nominated for a Tony Award back in 2005, played at the Al Green Theatre back in September.  The cast consists of six young spellers, two judges and a "comfort councilor", each with his own quirks, idiosyncrasies and personal issues.  The judges give humorous introductions as each contestant comes to the front to take his or her turn.

The spellers include Olive who is neglected by her parents and waits in vain for her father to show up for the tournament, Leaf who only made it into the contest by default, Logainne who has two gay dads that want her to win at any cost, Marcy the stereotypical overachieving Asian who is tired of being expected to excel at everything, Chip who is distracted by an attractive girl in the audience, and William Barfée who has a severe peanut allergy and spells out the words with his "magic foot".

The other spellers each have their methods of pre-visualizing the words, including Logainne who writes on her arm with her finger, and Olive who whispers into her hand.  Leaf goes into a weird trance and somehow comes up with the correct spelling.  Each speller is allowed to ask for a definition of their word, and for it to be used in a sentence.  This gives the judges opportunity to deliver some jokes related either to the word or to the contestant.

Adding excitement and unpredictability to each show is the inclusion of four audience members as extra spellers.  It is scripted and pre-planned as to how many rounds the audience spellers should last.  This is achieved by giving them an easy first word such as "cow" (much to the chagrin of the regular spellers from the cast), and then a difficult word to eliminate them.  Every once in a while, an unexpectedly proficient audience member correctly spells their second word, in which case the judges try to give him progressively more difficult words until he finally gets one wrong.  The jokes used to introduce the audience members as well as their word definitions and sentence usage are often ad-libbed based on the characteristics or wardrobe of the people chosen.

The judges include former spelling bee champion Rona Peretti who still basks in the glory of her former win, and Vice Principal Douglas Panch who has unrequited feelings for Rona and hints at some previous "incident" from which he claims to be in a better place now.  Mitch Mahoney is an ex-convict performing community service as the "comfort councilor" of the Spelling Bee.  His role involves handing an eliminated speller a consolation juice box as the others sing the "Goodbye" song.

While there are many funny moments in this musical, it is the touching stories of the young contestants, who share their anxieties, hopes and dreams, that give the show its heart.  And you learn how to spell a bunch of complicated words that you've never heard of before.

Theatre: Way Back to Thursday

Way Back to Thursday is a two-hander musical, chronicling the relationship between a boy and his grandmother over a period of about 15-20 years.  As an 8-year-old child living with his single mother, Cameron looks forward to the Thursday visits to his grandmother's house.  Together they watch movies, including golden oldies featuring Rock Hudson, while grandma regales Cameron with made-up tales of her past as a movie star.  As the years past, the two grow apart as Cameron tries to distance himself from his grandmother to hide the secret of his sexuality.  Moving across the country to Vancouver, Cameron ignores his grandmother's calls and pleas to come visit until it is too late and she becomes too overcome by dementia to recognize or respond to him.

The two actors alternate songs and point of views throughout the 90 minute show.  Each magically age on stage before your eyes, through the use of quick change in wardrobe, hairstyles, voice and posture.  Despite being a tall, lean, adult, Rob Kempson, also the creator of the play, does a great job of making you believe he is an eight year old boy.  Astrid Van Wieren, as Grandma, starts as a vibrant, sassy senior who dances around the stage.  But as she ages, she develops a limp, her body stoops, and when dementia sets in, the results are devastatingly realistic.  Both actors delivered strong and touching acting and singing performances.

The song cycle approach and the use of the different parts of the stage to represent the initial emotional closeness and later, the distance of the pair, is reminiscent of the Jason Robert Brown musical "The Last Five Years".  Grandma and Cameron start off their Thursday play-dates to the right of the stage with their chairs side by side.  When Cameron relocates to Vancouver, he physically moves his chair to the far left of the stage.  A small set of steps in the centre of the stage further accentuates the gulf between them.  As an interesting aside, the music for "Way Back to Thursday" was composed by Scott Christian, who also wrote "The Misfortune", which we saw at winter Fringe a few weeks ago.

What is the most tragic about this story is all the wasted time and energy Cameron spent hiding a secret that Grandma implies in song that she already knew or at least suspected.  There are parallels drawn to her own secret, that she was never really a movie star, but made that up to entertain her grandson.  This part seemed a bit weak and forced to me.  Watching this musical makes you want to rush out, spend time with your loved ones, and tell them you love them ... before it's too late.

Theatre: London Road

London Road is a unique and innovative "verbatim-style" musical that feels like a cross between watching an opera and a documentary movie.  In 2006, the playwrights taped a series of interviews with the townspeople of Ipswich, U.K. (about 2 hours north-east of London) during the time that they were living through the real-life criminal investigation of a serial killer who had murdered five prostitutes so far.  The lyrics and spoken dialogue of the "musical" are comprised of the words contained in the interviews, taken verbatim including all hesitations, nervous tics,  coughs or giggles, and pausitory terms such as "umm..", "er..", "you know", or "like".  Great lengths are taken to capture the English accents and manner of speech of the actual people being portrayed.

The story is told entirely from the point of view of the townspeople, especially the residents of the neighbourhood called "London Road" where the murders were concentrated.  They sing of their fears in songs such as "Everyone is Very Very Nervous" and "It Could Be Him".  The latter song is sung both from the perspective of the women who are inspecting every male suspiciously, and from the local males who feel like they are being judged as they go about their own business.  The residents complain about how their lives have been turned upside down by the events, both by police activity during the investigation and by the invasive members of the media trying to get the inside scoop.

 However the neighbours also find themselves bonding and forming a stronger sense of community, as they are drawn together to create a Neighbourhood Watch group and then continue to gather for social events such as Christmas parties and gardening contests.

Although the killer is caught, tried and convicted in the course of the play, he is never shown and neither are any of the victims.  In addition to their main roles as London Road residents, each cast member also portrays a variety of smaller roles including shop proprietors, politicians, policemen, members of the press, teenagers, and even other prostitutes who sing about how the murders of their coworkers have affected them.

The show seems like an opera in that it uses repetition in the phrases for emphasis, and the music and songs sound more operatic than the typical musical.  The repetition was actually advantageous for me, since I have difficulty discerning accents, so hearing the same lyrics multiple times gave me more than one opportunity to catch the words.

London Road is very similar in tone to the only real opera that we've ever seen, which is the English language modern piece called Nixon in China.  While we really did not care for Nixon in China and hated all the mindless repetition, we actually liked and appreciated it in London Road.  I tried to think about why this was, and came to the following conclusions:

The story in London Road is much more compelling, with better songs and melodies.  Although the lyrics are repetitive, they actually advance the plot.  It also has some funny moments to lighten the mood, including one hilarious sequence where a reporter is trying to film a news article about the killer without using the word "semen" on network television.  His cameraman unhelpfully offers "Love Juice" amongst other suggestions.  In addition to being conceptually different and therefore exciting, we just found London Road to be much more entertaining than Nixon in China.  We're still not sure that we like actual opera, but we did like this show.

Next Stage Theatre Festival - Killer Business and A Misfortune

These days it is in vogue to declare that "X" is the new "Y", as in "Orange is the new Black".  The Toronto Fringe Festival has jumped on the band wagon with their mini winter Fringe festival called the Next Stage Theatre Festival (NSTF), whose motto is "January is the new July".  Although this festival has been held for the last 7 years, this is the first time we've been aware of it and we ended up seeing two excellent shows, "Killer Business The Musical" and "A Misfortune"–both musicals but each of a very different vein.

Unlike the summer Fringe Festival which selects its shows by lottery, the NSTF uses a jury of industry experts to pick what it considers are the 10 best shows.  These shows can be comedies, dramas, musicals or dance and maybe be new or revised works.  The main criteria is that all applicants must have participated previously in a Canadian Fringe Festival.  Because they are selected by jury, the collection of shows at the NSTF should have of higher quality than the summer Fringe, whose offerings can be hit or miss.  If the two musicals which we saw are any indication, this is definitely the case.

Killer Business is a comedic "show within a show" musical that is very much like the 2006 Broadway show "Curtains" which starred David Hyde Pierce.  As in that musical, a cast member is murdered in a theatre and the remaining cast and crew are questioned as prime suspects by a stereotypical gumshoe, decked in hat and trench coat.  In a clever twist, the two tall, seemingly clichéd dumb blond chorus girls, turn out to be ultra-smart forensic science and criminology students who become the detective's assistants in the investigation.  There is great tongue-in-cheek fun made out of the detective's name, including a hilarious song called "It's All About the Dick". 

The murder victim is Stella, the beautiful, talented but bitchy leading lady.  The colourful suspects include Tony, her producer who is in debt with the mob over the financing of the show, Steve, her leading man who wants to "come out of the closet", Guy the wardrobe manager who is outwardly gay, Flo, the aging understudy who dreams of being the star again, Cleo, the second understudy and stage manager, who is in love with Tony, and finally Jason, an enigmatic handyman who spouts pithy sayings.

We watch all of Stella's movements and interactions before she collapses and dies during a performance of her show "Lucky in Love".  Then in one of the most inspired songs of the show called "That's What I Saw", each cast and crew member recalls some suspicious activity performed by one of the others.  During each recollection, the previous seemingly innocent interaction with Stella is reenacted, but this time with a much more sinister feel, as perceived by the witness.  It was impressive how many times Stella recreated her "death scene", falling each time in the exact same position.

Although the performances and singing qualities were a bit uneven throughout the cast, in general they were very good and the songs and staging were stellar.  The show is fast-paced and hilarious.  Hopefully it will play again some time, since I would love to watch it a second time.

In contrast, A Misfortune is a small, intimate piece, bordering on light opera.  It is based on the short story of the same name, written in 1886 by Russian writer Anton Chekhov.  The story explores themes of fidelity, desire and indecision as married Sofya tries to decide whether to run off with her enamorous suitor Ivan, with whom she has spent a flirtatious summer, or stay with her staid, passionless husband Andrey and their child.  In the musical, these relationships are contrasted with the volatile, lusty marriage of Masha and Pavel, when the five friends gather for a social evening.

The acting and singing of the entire cast was superb in this musical, and the clever, intricate lyrics were reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim.  In particular, there are similarities to Sondheim's "A Little Night Music", which has been named as a major influence by the composers.  I became even more impressed by the skillful writing of the musical's book and songs, after finding out that my favourite characters of Pavel and Masha were not even part of the original Chekhov short story.  The musical also flushes out the ambiguous Chekhov ending, bringing Sofya's inner conflict to a decisive conclusion.

One of the highlights was a song where the various characters toast each other's company.  Pavel and Masha's toasts to each other were amazing to watch, as they quickly move through a range of emotions, all in song.  The toasts start with feigned politeness before dissolving to vicious cattiness, as each accuses the other of infidelity, which then leads to arousal as they are turned on by the other's passion.  Their in-your-face attraction and desire for each other serves as a great counterpoint to the quiet, urgent love that the brooding Ivan exudes, and the repressed emotions of Sofya, who tries desperately to deny her feelings and stay within the acceptable social mores of a faithful married woman.

We were so impressed by the quality of these two Fringe shows, which could both easily make it in mainstream theatres.  Can't wait for next year.

Halloween Fun 2013

Halloween is such a fun time of the year, as many shops and even restaurants decorate their storefronts in celebration. We spotted these ghoulish figures at a piano store, a sushi restaurant, a kitchen store and a bong shop.

Last year, torrential rains throughout the Halloween weekend cancelled all of our plans.  This year although rain was in the forecast again, it was much lighter and we were determined not to let that spoil our fun for a second year in a row.

We went to the costume block party held on Church St. between Wellesley St. and Carlton St., not entirely sure how crowded it would be due to the rain.  As it turned out the streets were packed.  As always, the costumes were fabulous and sometimes quite topical, although perhaps not as elaborate as the first year that we attended this event.  Perhaps the rain did scare off some of the fancier costumes.

After last year's aborted attempt, we finally made it out the night after Halloween to see the annual Pumpkin Parade held in Sorauren Park.  We were amazed to see how many pumpkins had been contributed to the parade and how masterfully carved some of them were.

Some of the most impressive pumpkins depicted facial profiles of the cast from The Big Bang Theory, Jack Nicolson in the Shining, and a fierce looking Mayor Rob Ford behind bars.  It would be difficult enough to draw such exact likenesses, let alone carve them into a pumpkin.

Unfortunately once again, we did not make it out to the Clay and Paper Theatre's annual Night of Dread puppet parade which is held on the Saturday before Halloween.  This seems like such a fun event to either watch and photograph, or even to participate in.  The parade starts at Dufferin Grove Park and includes dancers, musicians, stilt walkers and puppeteers sporting paper mache masks, costumes and floats.  I'm determined to attend this next year, unless there is a monsoon!

Nuit Blanche 2013

Reviewing the map to plan for this year's Nuit Blanche, it seemed to me that the events were much more concentrated than in the previous years.  Many of the exhibits were positioned in a direct route following the path of the U-shaped Yonge-University subway line.  This made for a much easier journey than in the past, when our route involved zig-zagging between streets and doubling back multiple times.  There also seemed to be fewer exhibits in the areas away from the downtown core, such as the Distillery District, Queen West, Wychwood Barns, 401 Richmond, making it less worth while to travel the distance to get there.

There were also many more large installations that could be seen from a distance, thus reducing the number of times where endless lineups scared us off from trying to view an exhibit.  My favourite of these was titled "Monster Child" and consisted of a huge spider-like balloon float with bright yellow legs that swayed in the wind.  Each leg is attached to a long ribbon that spectators were encouraged to pull, in order to make the monster bob up and down.  Attached to the back of the monster was another large float that might have been a pink bunny.  I guess this represented the titular "child".  A bit further down was a "wheel of fortune" which apparently was supposed to be the real focus of the attraction.  You were supposed to spin the wheel to pick a question from choices such as "Are We Happy", "Should I Believe",  "Can I Trust You", "Can I Help" and then apparently, the "oracle child" will provide you an answer through a headset that you wear.  Unfortunately the audio was broken when we passed by, so the spinning the wheel component was temporarily suspended.  That part sounded hokey anyways, but the visual spectacle of the inflatables was great. 

The installation that generated the most anticipation and buzz was Ai Weiwei's gigantic Forever Bicycles, 2013 sculpture set in Nathan Phillips Square.  This work expands on the piece that is currently on display at the AGO Ai Weiwei exhibition, which featured 42 bicycles melded together in a circular formation.  Both sculptures reference the Forever Bicycle Company and comments on its waning dominance in providing China's primary mode of transportation.  The bicycles in the Nuit Blanche installation are more stylized than those at the AGO.  They are mounted in such a way that the structure appears fuzzy or blurry when you look at it from a certain angle. This piece is also unique in that it can be touched and interacted with by the public.  There are pathways through the structure that you can walk through to view it "from the inside", and the wheels of the bicycles can be spun.                                            

The exhibit called Little People was not only cute and whimsical, but it actually had a strong political message as well.  The toy protest march, aptly held inside Toronto's City Hall, is in support for a similar event held in Russia to protest "alleged local election corruption".   The Russian toy protest was held after live protests were banned by authorities, but was also banned.  It reminds us of how lucky we are to live in a country where free speech is protected. The plastic toys held signs that read "Not Good Enough".  I asked my Ukrainian friend, who grew up near the Russian border, what wasn't good enough.  She answered, "Whatever people are upset about at the time - jobs, economy, political corruption, etc." 

As we strolled through the night, we were passed multiple times by the roving Renegade Parade, which was not even an official Nuit Blanche 2013 event.  But that did not stop the procession from swelling in the numbers.  Revelers danced and followed behind the blaring music and glowing lights of the parade truck that led the way.  The parade has become a yearly themed event. This year, participants were encouraged to dress up in animal costumes.  Through social media, they were pointed to the Japanese costume store Kigurumi, that was offering a discount on their plush, full-body animal suits.  The parade truck was made to resemble a zoo cage with bars to keep in the animals.  We saw young people, dressed as lions, leopards, lizards, foxes, unicorns, bears and pink bunnies, all having the times of their lives.

The exhibit at Yonge Dundas Square was called the (Re)Generator Project, but I remember it as Toilet Paper Art.  Multi-coloured rolls of toilet paper were used to create a sphere, a pointed hat, a rose and strategic covering for on photos of some otherwise nude men.  I’m sure there was a loftier message to the pieces that speaks to saving environment, reuse, and recycling.  But by the time we got to this exhibit, I was too tired to read the writeups and just enjoyed looking the pretty, vibrant works.

The food trucks were out in droves and making a killing during Nuit Blanche. There was a truck selling Tiny Tom Donuts, that reminded me of visiting the CNE.  We decided to try a unique spin on French fries called the Tornado.  It looked like a bunch of Pringles chips on a stick, but was actually slices of potato joined in a long spiral, deep fried and seasoned with a choice of sea salt, dill pickle, sour cream and onion, or buffalo wing spices.  This made for an awesome late night snack and was as fun to eat as it was tasty.