Theatre: Arrabal

Who knew I would like dance?  I have always asserted that I find pure dance performances boring because I prefer shows, especially musicals, that have a strong story, dialogue and preferably singing.  After watching Arrabal, I stand corrected.  While there was no dialogue or singing, Arrabal told a very powerful tale of political injustice, personal loss and the quest for truth.  The plot was conveyed exclusively through the use of expressive dances that ranged from passionate to moving, and clever staging which included lighting effects and video.

Arrabal opens in the context of 1979 Argentina, which was controlled by the vicious military dictatorship that was responsible for up to 30,000 "forced disappearances".  Alleged political dissidents were abducted, tortured and sometimes killed.  Rodolfo, the father to baby Arrabal, is one such protestor who flaunts his allegiance to the former Peron regime by proudly displaying his "PV" (Peron Vuelve, meaning Peron will Return) t-shirt at a political rally.  He is caught, beaten and then executed by the soldiers of the military junta led by General Jorge Rafael Videla, while his best friend El Puma flees, unable to help him.

Eighteen years later, Arrabal dreams of her lost father in a tender ballet that turns into a nightmare as he is torn away from her.  El Puma decides it is time to tell Arrabal about her father and sends his servant to lure her to his tango club.  Along the way, she encounters the streets of downtown Buenos Aires as well as the patrons of the tango club.  She is fascinated by the intense and sensual tango dancing, especially by Juan, with whom she forms an instant connection, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Nicole.  El Puma approaches Arrabal and dances with her, but loses his nerve and runs off in shame as he relives Rodolfo's torture and his own guilt at not trying to help him.  Juan rescues Arrabal when she is cornered by a group of predatory men, and the two fall in love (yes this is quick, but it is a dance story).  El Puma finally summons up the courage to reveal all to Arrabal after conjuring up happy memories of his and Rodolfo's childhood days.
Arrabal is devastated by what she hears but comforted by the ghost of Rodolfo who gives his blessing for her to be with Juan.

The scene that gives the story its greatest poignancy is rooted in history–The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo were a group of Argentinian mothers of the disappeared, who gathered and marched at the Plaza de Mayo carrying signs with photos of their children around their necks, demanding answers regarding their children's fates.  In the show, Rodolfo's mother joins the march as haunting faces of the missing are shown in the background.  Then in a dream sequence, Rodolfo and other "disappeared sons" drift on stage to have a touching dance with their mothers before fading away again.  As their mothers embrace them, the men spread their arms in a religious "Christ-like" pose.

Black and white video footage of those dark times in Argentina help accentuate the horrors of that period.

The beautiful ballets and fast-paced tangos were thrilling to watch, but it was the moving story that drew me in.  A thorough synopsis provided in the program really helped to highlight the various plot points.  The show also included much audience participation. Prior to the start of Arrabal, members of the audience could go on stage for tango lessons, which were then put into good use when they were led back on stage for a quick dance in the middle of the show.  A few lucky patrons were able to watch the show from cabaret-styled tables located  both on stage and along the front row in front of the stage.  Although that would have been a unique experience, I'm not sure it would have provided the optimum sight-lines to watch the intricate dance patterns.  We were quite happy with our seats further back, where we could see the entire stage.

Library Talk - The Curious World of High-End Contemporary Art

We recently attended a fascinating library talk titled "The Curious World of High-End Contemporary Art" which was presented by economist, professor, and author Don Thompson.  Thompson wrote the book called "The $12-Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art" which explores the reasons why some contemporary works of art, by artists who may still be alive, command such high prices at auction.  He theorized that the exorbitant amounts being paid by elite collectors in the art world had less to do with the technical skill of the artist or the esthetic virtues of the art, and more to do with scarcity, branding and back-story.  Scarcity is easy to understand since it plays directly into the iconic supply vs demand model of economics.  Branding and back-story required further explanation, and Thompson spent the rest of the discussion sharing anecdotes that proved his assertions.

Thompson explained that Contemporary art collecting by the ultra-wealthy had much to do with conspicuous consumption, bragging rights and large egos competing at auctions, who need reassurance that their purchases will be appreciated as opposed to mocked by their peers.  This is where branding comes in.  Buying a work of art created by a recognized name (such as Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Banksy), handled by a respected dealer, sold at one of the high-end auction houses (Christie's, Sotherbys), or having other well-known collectors owning works by the same artist, ensures credibility and acceptance.  Thompson provided excellent examples of the importance of branding as well as the appeal and resulting value of an interesting back story.

Damien Hirst, one of the wealthiest and most successful contemporary artists of our times, is known for creating the designs for his works, but often uses assistants to actually produce them.  His "Spot" paintings are examples of this practice and he publicly acknowledges that many of the best ones were produced by his assistant Rachel Howard.  When Howard left to pursue her own career, Hirst let her take one of her unsigned spot paintings, which she sold for 90,000 pounds.  Hirst signed his name to another one of these identical spot paintings created by Howard and it sold at auction for 2.25 million pounds. 

AA Gill, a British restaurant reviewer was the long time owner of an unremarkable and valueless portrait of Joseph Stalin.  Nonetheless, he tried to get Christie's to sell the painting and was promptly refused with the reply that Christie's did not deal in works on such tasteless and politically incorrect subjects.  Gill called up his friend Hirst, who came to Gill's office, picked up a red marker, drew a red circle over Stalin's nose and signed the piece.  Not only did Christie accept this "work by Damien Hirst", but it sold for over 100,000 pounds.

The infamous and anonymous graffiti artist Banksy once went to a thrift shop and bought a generic landscape painting for around 50 pounds.  On it, he added the image of a Nazi officer, sitting on a bench, gazing out at the scenery.  He called this work "The Banality of the Banality of Evil".  Although his addition accounted for a miniscule part of the painting, this "Banksy" sold for 615,000 pounds.  Thompson revealed that many in the art world are well aware of Banksy's true identity, but conspire to keep it secret since this back story of his anonymity is a large part of his allure.

The ultimate example of paying mostly for the back story comes from the works of Felix Gonzalez Torres, who made multiple "sculptural" works as a tribute to deceased loved ones including his father, his lover Ross Laycock, and close friend and artist Marcel Brient.  Torres' works, such as his mounds of wrapped candy, are meant to be fluid and changing.  Interaction with the sculpture is encouraged, as viewers are prompted to take candy from the pile and consume it.  As the candy pile diminishes, this symbolizes the lost and letting go of the loved one.  Then as new candy is added back to the pile, this symbolizes rebirth and resurrection (which sounds almost Biblical).  He has a similar sculpture installed in Buffalo's Knox Albright museum where there is a pile of paper each with two joining gold circles on them.  The circles symbolize the eternal love shared by Torres and his lover Laycock who died of AIDS.  You are encouraged to take a sheet of paper with you and as the pile decreases, more are printed.  Each of these sculptures sold for millions of dollars and come with a certificate of authenticity.  But since the original sculpture is meant to be taken away and then restocked or replenished, what is actually being paid for is the concept and the extremely touching back story which moved me to tears when I first read about it in the Knox Albright.

Thompson gave some other examples of the power of branding and back story that were not related to contemporary art.  He described the auction of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry including her famous La Peregrina pearl which Richard Burton bought for $37,000 and presented to her as a wedding gift.  This pearl was originally owned by King Phillip II of Spain in the 1500s and was painted by Diego Velázquez who also painted Les Meninas. When it was resold at auction in 2011, the auctioneers came up with an estimated price by contacting the original jeweler to find out that you could have a similar piece made today for $2.5 million.  But the powerful association with Taylor and Burton drove the bidding up to $11 million. To put it another way, somebody was willing to pay $8.5 million for the back story! I find it an amusing comment on our celebrity worshiping culture that there seemed to be a much higher premium  put on the Liz and Richard back story, versus that of the King and Queen of Spain plus a renowned Baroque painter.

Thompson told many more intriguing and amusing stories that demonstrated what drove prices in the high-end Contemporary art world.  I look forward to reading his book The $12 million Stuffed Shark as well as his new book coming out at the end of May, called The Supermodel and Brill Box: Back Stories and Particular Economics from the World of Contemporary Art.

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.