FIRST MÉTIS MAN OF ODESSA – REVIEW OF PUNCTUATE! THEATRE PRODUCTION AT YOUNG CENTRE

Reviewed by James Karas

The First Metis Man of Odessa is a beautiful, autobiographical play written and performed by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova. He is a Métis from Edmonton and she is a Ukrainian from Odessa and the play tells the true story of the courtship, love and marriage in Ukraine and their settlement in Canada. The Russian invasion of Ukraine forms a riveting part of the play as the couple describes their experiences during that war and its consequences for Khomutova and her friends. It is a captivating story and what follows will be nothing but praise for a marvelous night at the theatre.

MacKenzie went to Ukraine to interview people and met the beautiful and cultured actor Mariya Khomutova. They seemed like an unlikely pair but acquaintance led to courtship which lasted for many months of trans-Atlantic communication.  This led to the real thing – love followed by trans-Atlantic trips, consummation and pregnancy. The only way to ensure admission to Canada and health insurance was for Matthew and Mariya to get married in Odessa. They do and after some misadventures she comes to Canada. Their son is born and her mother comes to look after the baby.

Mariya Khomutova amd Matthew MacKenzie. Photo: Dahlia Katz

The story they tell is moving, funny, fascinating and wonderful. I am not giving any details deliberately because it should be enjoyed as they tell it. MacKenzie is a writer and he tells his side of the story matter-of-factly and we do not expect more from him Marya is an actress and she speaks with flair and an affecting  emotional range.

The brutal Russian invasion is always a part of their lives and we get glimpses of direct experiences and stories of the lives of their friends in what can only be seen as a crime against humanity.

The stage has only two chairs which they use very effectively with superb lighting. The lighting  and projections are used to express or emphasize stress, confusion, emotional distress  and motion.  Kudos to Daniela Masellis for Production Design and Amelia Scott for Projection Design.

Director Lianna Makuch must have had her hands full having to direct two people who wrote their own story and, even tougher, were playing themselves. She controls the pace of the performance, evokes humour and leads to the climax of the play about the relationship between the two people.  

The First Métis Man of Odessa is extraordinary theatre in its simplicity, its beauty, its drama, its humour, performances and production values. It is a “must see.”
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The First Métis Man of Odessa by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova opened on May 9 and continues until May 19, 2024, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4. www.soulpepper.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press 

DOG MAN: THE MUSICAL – REVIEW OF 2024 THEATRE WORKS PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Dog Man: The Musical is a robust and rambunctious play intended for children but entertaining for everyone. It is based on four graphic books by Dav Pilkey who adapted them for the musical with book and lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila and Music by Brad Alexander. I confess I have not read any of the books.

Who is Dog Man? You ask. Well, he was a nice cop who was not very bright but owned a very smart dog. The dog met an unfortunate demise but its brain was transferred to its owner who, you guessed it, became very bright. He has dog ears and cannot speak but being smart helps and he is ready to go after criminals. Brandon James Botorovich is fast of foot and thought as Dog Man  even if he cannot speak.

George (Metri Lyons) and Harold (Gage Thomas) are our hosts and they tell us that they are in grade 5 and have decided to create a musical based on their favorite graphic books. But they encountered some difficulties that they were able to work out. They found a way of transferring the cartoons from the page to  the stage.

The fast-moving plot is about good versus evil and it takes about seventy minutes for the good guys to triumph over the baddies. Petey (Jake Wernecke) is a baddy who tries to clone himself into another criminal but ends up with  a chatty but funny kitten called Li’l Petey (an effervescent Sadie Jayne Kennedy). He tries to make her evil but it does not register on her and she sings a “Happy Song” which you do not expect from a villain.  Li’l Petey and Dog Man become friends and become “The Perfect Mashup.”

                                         SCENE FROM DOG MAN: THE MUSICAL. 

Photo Jeremy Daniel

Flippy (Glory Yepassis-Zembrou) is a telekinetic fish and there is a Robot that is supposed to make the kitty become evil. But the  dastardly and very funny villains are no match for Dog Man and Li’l Petey  and law and order. All the actors take on other roles with maximum speed and minimum fuss. There are only five actors and far more roles to fill. They do it with humour, energy and plain gusto.

The set by Timothy R. Mackabee is a colorful room that can be changed to different locations with little fuss. The costumes are again colorful with touches of humour, all intended to fit the high-octane performances by the actors.

There are thirteen musical numbers that emphasize  rambunctiousness and comic spirit that suit the plot and I admit that I cannot recall any particular tune. The singing involves the company in every number and aims at moving the plot and to entertain us rather than impress us or become embedded in our memory.

Director and Choreographer Jen Wineman sets the relentless pace and maintains it throughout,

The intended audience is young people, perhaps elementary school pupils but but a good show entertains everyone and Dog Man: The Musical does just that.

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Dog Man: The Musical by Kevin Del Aquila (book and lyrics), Brad Alexander (music), adapted from the books by Dav  Pilkey, a Theater Works production, opened on May 9 and will run until June  9, 2024, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St, Toronto ON, M4Y 1Z9  www.mirvish.com/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

MEDEA – REVIEW OF THE 2024 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Luigi Cherubini’s Medea has finally premiered in Toronto, a handful of years since it opened in Paris in 1797. No need to get churlish about it because  it had its New York debut at the Met in 2022. In fact, what we have is a coproduction by the COC, the Met, the Greek National Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. That’s quite a cast.

The COC’s Medea deserves a thunderous ovation on all counts. The cast, the direction, the orchestra and the design are probably of historic importance and a repetition of a production of this quality may not be around the corner. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait 217 years.

The opera is dominated by its central character, Medea, sung by the incomparable Sondra Radvanovsky. The soprano must handle a complex character who goes through a gamut of emotions that most of us cannot imagine. Medea was a princess and a sorceress in Colchis, a city on the east shore of the Black Sea, today’s Georgia. She betrayed her father to help the Greek hero Jason get the Golden Fleece. They married and had two children but Jason abandons her to marry Glauce, the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth.

We need to keep in mind that Medea committed gross crimes against her father and her country, became an outcast in Corinth, all to help Jason. He betrays her for another woman and Medea is in danger of losing everything, especially her two children. She still loves Jason who rejects her, she still loves her children and wants to kill them. The complexity and depth of emotions make her a woman full of pain, fury and betrayed love and she morphs into a monster. She decides to kill Glauce on her wedding day by giving her a poisoned garment and butcher her children as the ultimate revenge against Jason. She accomplishes both despite all moral standards to the contrary. Iago, Lady Macbeth, Clytemnestra and Lizzie Borden have nothing on this lady. I mention all of this because it is important to understand Medea’s character and appreciate the magnitude of Sondra Radvanovsky performance. 

Sondra Radvanovsky as Medea in Medea, The Metropolitan Opera, 2022, 

Photo: Marty Sohl

Cherubini’s opera contains all those conflicting and terrifying emotions and it is up to Radvanovsky to express them. She has the vocal power, the magnificent vocal prowess and the tonal expressiveness, beauty and fury to achieve it all. She rolls on the floor, agonizes about her decision. She pleads, indeed begs for her children, loves, cajoles but all her efforts fail. In the end, she slaughters her children in a performance that should be embedded in one’s mind indefinitely.

Soprano Zoie Reams gives a distinguished performance as Neris, Medea’s maid. She is faithful to the nth degree and delivers the poisoned garment to Glauce. Her singing is deeply moving and she turns a relatively minor role into a triumph.

Soprano Jane Brugger sings the role of the hapless Glauce who is about to marry Jason. She is nervous and afraid of what Medea might do and is brutally and mercilessly killed.  She is the blameless victim of Medea’s vengeful fury and she sings her aria “O amore, vieni a me!”  (Love, come to me) with such longing and fear that leaves one deeply moved.

King Creon and the ambitious Jason who is marrying Princess Glauce for the throne are not as sympathetic as the women though one could argue that no one is as bad as Medea. Tenor Matthew Polenzani is a virile Jason who pleads for his children and tries to be conciliatory to Medea but he does not get too much sympathy. Polenzani sings superbly and his Jason is well drawn.

A scene from  Medea, 2024, Photo: Michael Cooper

Bass-baritone Alfred Walker plays the authoritative King Creon who tries to assuage Medea’s fury by promising to look after her children – and raise them in the temple. Kudos to Walker for an authoritative performance vocally and physically.  

Two more stars deserve mention and praise. The COC Orchestra under the baton of Lorenzo Passerini performed Cherubini’s complex score with exceptional ability.

David McVicar’s direction and set design deserve the ultimate accolade of the word masterpiece. The set features a huge mirror above the performers so that we see the back of the performers as well as the front. There is judicious use of projections that in the end give one an extraordinary visual effect. The full drama of the opera is displayed in an unforgettable production. It is as if we are making up for ignoring the opera for so long.

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Medea  by Luigi Cherubini (music) and Francois-Benoit Hoffman (original libretto in French) in Italian version by Carlo Zangarini will be performed six time’s on various dates until May 17, 2024, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

DON PASQUALE – REVIEW OF 2024 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Don Pasquale was Gaetano Donizetti’s 63^rd opera and the last time it was produced by the Canadian Opera Company was a hefty thirty years ago. It is hoped that no one has had to wait that long to see this bouquet of melodies and comic business. It is paired this year with the heavy-duty Medea by Luigi Cherubini and no one can complain about the choices.

Don Pasquale inundates us with gorgeous melodies, a funny if thin plot and the COC’s production is a delight. The plot is as old and wonderful as comedy. Don Pasquale (Misha Kirla) is usually a rich old man but in this production is the owner of a small  pensione in 1960s Rome. He wants to marry Norina (Simone Osborne), a young and pretty widow who happens to be also smart and spirited. She is in love with Ernesto (Santiago Ballerini), the nephew of Don Pasquale. We need someone to get things moving and that happens to be Dr. Malatesta (Joshua Hopkins) who arranges the marriage of his “sister” (Norina really) to Don Pasquale to be officiated by a Notary (Alex Halliday) who may be no notary at all.

All the players are in place and the plot must move to get rid of the old fool and restore the young lovers to “happily ever after” and I hope I am not disclosing too much of the plot.

Andre Barbe and Renaud Doucet from Montreal are credited with stage direction, dramaturgy, sets and costumes. That’s all the COC program discloses. André Barbe does costumes and set designs while Renaud Doucet does stage direction and choreography. This production does not need choreography but it does get some dramaturgy and I suppose we can guess who did it.

 

Simone Osborne as Norina and Joshua Hopkins as Dr. Malatesta. 

Poto: Michael Cooper

Don Pasquale requires a bass, a baritone, a tenor and a soprano with good voices to deliver the gorgeous melodies, obviously, but also singers with a comic sense to bring out the laughs inherent in the plot. Don Pasquale must do well vocally and comically and in Misha Kirla the COC has found an outstanding singer/actor. Kirla is a baritone in a role that is usually sung by a bass. He is a big man especially compared to Ballerini and Osborne and made them look almost tiny.  

Soprano Osborne is a small woman but proved to be spitfire on occasion but she has a relatively small voice and she was overwhelmed by the bigger-voiced men around her. At times I found her unsatisfactory but she gave a spirited performance and showed spunk.

Ballerini as Ernesto was energetic and vocally spirited as the young man who wants to save his love and defeat his uncle who has a double-barreled gun pointed at him, he wants to deprive his nephew of his love and his livelihood by throwing him out. 

Misha Kiria as Don Pasquale and Joshua Hopkins 
as Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, COC 2024. Photo: Michael Cooper

Joshua Hopkins as Malatesta is an ambivalent comic character who tricks his friend Pasquale into marrying his sister (a lie) by a Notary who is not a notary. Norina knows how to make Pasquale regret he ever married her in a well done and hilarious scene.   

Barbe and Doucet, as indicated, made Pasquale the owner of a pensione and thus allowed the chorus to be used as his tenants. It also facilitated the look of the set with several floors of windows towering over the main part of  the set which contained Pasquale’s living quarters. What looked like sheets hanging on a clothesline were lowered as the backdrop for the scene in the park and then changed for the scene with Malatesta and Norine.

Don Pasquale with its reliance on the eternal comic plot of the young outwitting the old for love and security and its shameless copying of commedia dell’arte characters suffused with the splendid music of Donizetti is a sheer delight and we should not have to wait thirty years to see another production.
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Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti opened on April 26 and will be performed a total of eight times until May 14, 2024, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION – REVIEW OF 2024 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Who killed Mrs. French?

That is the burning question in Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution and I will fearlessly cool off your anxiety by leading you to the truth.

In the meantime, I will treat you to a few words about the play and the current production of the famous crime drama at the Shaw Festival. I will assume that you don’t know the plot of the play but you have heard that this is one of the best courtroom dramas ever written,

Leonard Vole (Andrew Lawrie) is accused of murdering the rich Mrs. French. The eminent Sir Wilfrid Robarts, QC (Patrick Galligan), agrees to defend him but the chances of getting Vole off the hook look very bleak. The testimony of his wife Romaine Vole (Marla McLean) is not enough to sway the jury but a mysterious woman appears with some incriminating letters written by Mrs. Vole to a lover and that promises to bring in a “not guilty” verdict. Hold your breath.

Director Alistair Newton has opted for an aggressively dark production. The set from Sir Wilfrid’s chambers to the imposing courtroom are black or gray and the costumes with the exception of what Mrs. Vole is wearing are all gray and the lawyers’ robes are of course black. The office of a senior lawyer, including the law books in the back and even the judge’s imposing high bench are all bleak. This is Newton’s creation with Set Designer Karyn McCallum, Costume Designer Judith Bowden and Lighting Designer Siobhan Sleath.

Marla MaLean as Romaine Vole in court.

All of this sets the tone for the play and the actors perform in the theatre noir atmosphere created by Newton. Witness is set in London and English accents are de rigueur but on the whole not achieved. Some actors are better than others but we are not quite convinced that we are in a lawyer’s office or a court room in London. 

 Courtroom scenes are notoriously difficult to stage. We have a great view of the raised, imposing bench with its carved wood where the judge sits as if he were above humanity. But in a courtroom, the accused and the lawyers face the judge and we see their backs. The problem is solved reasonably well in this production. Vole sits with his back to us and the lawyers sit on the side of the judge’s bench. The witnesses sit on the opposite side facing the lawyers. The theatre audience is addressed as if they are the jury and the whole thing works reasonably well, especially considering the small stage of the Royal George Theatre.

We have two QCs, Sir Wilfrid for the defense and Mr. Myers QC (Graeme Somerville) for the prosecution, fighting for their cause with equal competence. We really want Sir Wilfrid to be brilliant and outshine Myers but Galligan lacks the pyrotechnics to achieve legal stardom.

McLean as Mrs. Vole is a clever and conniving German but she did not sound like a German and looked affected and almost a caricature. She wears what must have been a very stylish hat and dress for the period of the play. Lawrie as Leonard Vole was more convincing with the only difficulty being to decide if he is lying or telling the truth.

Shawn Wright doubles in the minor role of a clerk in Sir Wilfrid’s office and the more substantial role of the imposing Justice Wainwright that he does well.

The witnesses, Martin Happer as Inspector Hearne, Cheryl Mullings as Dr. Wyatt, Monica Parks as Janet Mackenzie do good work and move the plot to the final twists, surprises and oh my god!

The plot twists of Witness are extraordinary and the play and its adaptations have never failed to amaze and entertain audiences. If you have never seen it, you will be thrilled, if you have seen it, it is still an enjoyable play. As to Newton’s style, you have to decide for yourself.

The fastest way to learn the plot, including the final twists, is for me to tell you how it ends.

But I won’t and you will just have to see the play!        
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Witness for the Prosecution  by Agatha Christie continues in repertory untiL October 13, 2024, at the Royal George Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.

SHANIQUA IN ABSTRACTION - REVIEW OF WATSON’S PLAY AT CROW’S THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Shaniqua in Abstraction is a new play written and performed by bahia watson. It is a solo performance and watson deserves huge credit for a bravura performance. Shaniqua is a woman of mixed race with blond hair and dreadlocks. watson takes on half a dozen or more personalities from a modern woman to a nineteenth century slave, to a young mother and microphone-in-hand performer. She adopts different accents, does dance steps and acts with ferocious energy when necessary and more quietly when need be. The performance lasts about 75 minutes without intermission.    

bahia watson as Shaniqua. Photo by Roya DelSol

What the play is about is more difficult to describe. “In abstraction” of the title may indicate that this is not a straight narrative about Shaniqua. There is much said about black and mixed-race women in an impressionistic way so that we get  numerous vignettes but rarely a concrete picture. Watson deals with the relations between black men and white women, black men and black women and white men with black women.

Like a chameleon, watson takes us through the time periods indicated above and the different personalities but being an abstract or an impressionistic portrait there is no coherent narrative. It often sounded like a stream-of-consciousness recitation of memories, or expressions of thoughts that went through Shaniqua’s mind that she shared with us.

The production is done in the small Studio Theatre and there is liberal use of lighting effects and projected videos including some news reports about black women. Warson wears an orange exercise outfit and portrays the many facets of Shaniqua's life or the lives of black and mixed-colour women but the details provided are too numerous, quick and opaque for me to retain more than an impression of what I was watching.

The set by Echo Zhou consists of a chair and a bench with the rear of the stage  used for projections  of shimmering lights, videos of news reports and some titles designed by Kimberly Purteil.

watson’s performance is worth seeing, otherwise be prepared for impressionistic, abstract, stream-of-consciousness theatre.   

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Shaniqua in Abstraction by bahia watson. a Crow’s Theatre production in association with   paul watson productions and Obsidian Theatre Company,  continues until April 28, 2024, in the Studio Theatre of Streetcar/Crowsnest Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.  http://crowstheatre.com/

ALL IS LOVE – REVIEW OF OPERA ATELIER’S ECLECTIC PRODUCTION OF LOVE SONGS AND MORE

Reviewed by James Karas

No one can overestimate the talents of Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg because you may praise them highly only to see your estimation needing to be amplified. And that’s one way of opening my review of their current production of All Is Love in Toronto. 

They do provide a gorgeous array of arias about love, mostly from the Baroque era with splendiferous daces  by the Artists of the Atelier Ballet. There are 19 pieces of arias and ballet segments that are done in about 75 minutes so exquisitely, that you simply want more. 

Henry Purcell, Handel and Rameau provide four compositions each and several composers from the Baroque era and up to the twentieth century complete the program. There are two pieces by Claude Debussy (the opening scene of Pelleas et Melisande and the haunting “Nuit d’étoiles”) as well as compositions by Charpentier, Reynaldo Hahn, Edwin Huizinga (who also performs his work for solo violin) and Matthew Locke,   

The gorgeously-voiced Measha Brueggergosman-Lee starts off the program with the All is Love, an aria described as a mix of Henry Purcell and Reynaldo Hahn, created specifically for Brueggergosman-Lee by Christopher Bagan (who is also the piano soloist). It is a perfect vehicle for her luscious voice with beautiful arching phrases in praise of sweet and mellow love. She also sings “Nuit d’étoiles”, a poignant reminiscence by their fountain and of her deceased lover whose blue eyes are the stars and the rose is his breath. A superb rendition of beauty in melancholy.

There are eight singers including Measha and they deserve a standing ovation which, together with the Artists of Atelier Ballet, they got.

 

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee with Eric Da Silva
 as Amour and Tyler Gledhill as Morpheus. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Tenor Colin Ainsworth is a veteran singer with Opera Atelier and around the world. He sang “Plus j'observe ces lieux” from Rameau’s Armide and “Where’er you walk” from Handel’s Semele. In the latter aria Jupiter serenades his love Semele and assures her that wherever she sits the trees will crowd to provide her with shade. Beautifully done.

Baritone Jesse Blumberg as Jupiter robustly and authoritatively assures  the mortal Semele to “Lay your doubts and fears aside.” He also sings “L'heure Exquise” by Reynaldo Hahn and the title describes both the aria and Blumberg’s rendition of it.

Soprano Meghan Lindsay and Bass-baritone Douglas Williams perform the touching  opening scene of Pelleas and Melisande. Prince Golaud meets the distraught Melisande by a well in the forest. She is lost and he tries to help her, touchingly done by Lindsay and Williams. Lindsay and Cynthia Akemi Smithers sing the alluring “Two daughters of this aged stream” from Purcell’s King Arthur. The “daughters” try to lure Arthur to share pleasures with them but, like Odysseus and the Sirens, he resists them.

Mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan sings “Music for a While” from Purcell’s Oedipus. The melancholy aria assures the unfortunate king that music will beguile all his cares as MacMillan beguiled us. She also sings “Mi Lusinga il dolce affetto from Handel’s Alcina. Ruggiero sings that his beloved delights him but is there treachery as well? A moving and sad aria done by MacMillan.

Some of the arias have dancers participate and the  Artists of the Atelier Ballet perform between the vocal pieces. The choreography, as always and unfailingly beautiful  is by Zingg. 

The Tafelmusik orchestra, a sine qua non for Opera Atelier is conducted by David Fallis. And all adds up to a wonderful, magical evening.

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All is Love is being performed from April 11 to 14, 2024 at Koerner Hall in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto. www.operaatelier.com/

THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK - REVIEW OF BALLET BY LEPAGE AND CÔTÉ

Reviewed by James Karas

“Who’s there?”

Those are the opening words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet but you will not hear them or any part of the text of the play in Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté’s brilliant balletic version of the play, Lepage and Côté have codesigned the production and the former directs with the latter providing the choreography to the music composed by John Gzowski.

The story of Shakespeare’s play is danced for us by a corps of nine dancers who must convey through movement in 100 minutes what the bard needed several hours to achive.  It is a fascinating, intriguing and superb production that never lags and always fascinates.

The spare use of surtitles gives us a clue as to what part of the play is being represented. Guillaume Côté as Hamlet dominates the production and we see the Prince as a disturbed young man with his friend Horatio (Natasha Poon Woo), his father’s murderer Claudius (Robert Glumbek), in the furious scene with his mother Gertrude (Greta Hodgkinson) and of course Ophelia (Carleen Zouboutes).

The hot-headed Laertes is danced by Lukas Malkowski and Polonius is done by Bernard Meney. The clownish Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are handled by Connor Mitton and Willem Sadler respectively.

We witness the angry scene in Gertrude’s bedroom where Polonius is mistaken for Claudius, killed and his body is dragged out by Hamlet. Ophelia’s drowning is shown with her fighting against a shimmering sheet, a very effective illustration of her death that we do not see in Shakespeare.

The final scene with the sword fight between Laertes and Hamlet is also shown and we see Claudius’ attempt to have Hamlet poisoned by Laertes’s sword. The stage is strewn with bodies in the end with Horatio as the only survivor.

I cannot comment on the quality of the dancing (I am a theatre critic with scant knowledge of the intricacies of ballet) except to acknowledge its beauty and effectiveness in conveying the story of the Danish prince in a different media with extraordinary beauty and emotional impact.

The largely dark costumes designed by Michael Gianfrancesco and Monika Onoszko convey the bleakness and tragedy of the prince and the entire situation where only one person survives. I would have preferred some more differentiation among the costumes to help identify the characters more readily but it is a small matter.

Gzowski’s music is moving, dramatic, approachable and splendid work that deserves a much bigger audience.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Demark is a big and complex undertaking. This was its first production and it played for only five performances. It is a moving, dramatic and splendid work that deserves a much bigger audience.

Who’s there? Well, it’s a brilliant version of a familiar work.

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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark designed by Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté, directed by Lepage and choreographed by Côté for Groundbreaking Dance Theatre Productions, Showone Productions et. al. played between April 3 and 7, 2024 at the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto.

 

RED VELVET - REVIEW OF ARTS CLUB THEATRE PRODUCTION IN VANCOUVER

Reviewed by James Karas

Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti tells the dramatic story of an American black actor doing Othello in London in the 1830’s. The actor was Ira Aldridge who was successful across Europe but in England he met bigotry and critical opposition on a massive scale and despite his popularity was drummed out of that country. He found great success on the continent and died in Poland in 1867.

English actor and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti has written a paean to Aldridge and the play has received a redoubtable production by the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. Quincy Armorer plays Aldridge with finesse and resonance. We see the great actor in old age in Poland, cantankerous and arrogant and as a young man called upon to replace the great Edmund Kean. He gained recognition as a great dramatic actor but also attracted the opprobrium of the critics and much of the theatrical establishment.

The play opens in Poland where Halina (Tess Degenstein, who also plays Betty and Margaret Aldridge), a young reporter tries to interview the impatient star. The scene opens with the characters speaking German (or was it Polish?). It is annoying and unnecessary but that is the fault of the author and not of the production.

Quincy Armorer, Nathan Kay, Anthony F. Ingram, 

Kyla Ward, and Lindsey Angell in Red Velvet,.

 Photo by Moonrider Productions for the Arts Club Theatre Company

The stage boards open creating a large hole in which a part of the set is lowered and we next see Aldridge in London. He meets the cast of Othello where he is stepping in as a replacement for Edmund Kean. The deep-rooted prejudices and perhaps loyalty to Kean of the English cast against the newcomer becomes obvious. The most vehement opponent to Aldridge is the arrogant and vicious Charles Kean, the son of Edmund. Sebastien Archibald gives an outstanding performance, nose up in the air, of unrelenting hatred and superiority.

Lindsey Angell plays Ellen Tree, the fiancée of Charles Kean and Desdemona to Aldridge’s Othello. In a superb performance, Ellen becomes attracted to Aldridge and realizes the quality of his interpretation. Aldridge believes in a more realistic approach to the Moor with fewer melodramatic hand motions.

John Emmet Tracy plays Pierre Laporte, the theatre manager and Aldridge’s friend who is forced by management to fire the popular performer, we know, because he is black. There is a riveting scene where Laporte tries to defend the indefensible in the face of Aldridge’s powerful but useless arguments against his dismissal.

The vicious racist attacks on Aldridge in the press and some of the actors are more than management can endure and they decide irrevocably to close the theatre rather than continue with a production that is popular with the audience.

The set by Amir Ofek is excellent. Aldridge and his desk are lowered below the stage boards when the opening scene in Poland is over. Backstage in the theatre and Aldridge’s home scene are intelligently designed and we get the idea of a performance on stage.

Director Omari Newton handles everything judiciously and superbly. He illustrates the overdone acting of the early 19^th century as well as giving a fine reading of the play. The opening scene and the closing scene are unclear and unnecessarily unhelpful to the play. But one thing is clear in the final scene. Watching Aldridge putting gobs of white makeup on his face in preparation for playing King Lear is powerful and bitingly ironic.  Chakrabarti, it seems could not find a satisfactory beginning or ending, aside for the application of makeup by Aldridge. The rest of the play more than makes up for these glitches and are forgivable in a first play.

I should note that I saw the play in its final preview and consider it a polished performance.
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Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti will run until April 21, 2024, at Staley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville St. Vancouver BC https://artsclub.com/shows/2023-2024/red-vel.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

FATHER TARTUFFE - REVIEW OF ARTS CLUB THEATRE PRODUCTION IN VANCOUVER

Reviewed by James Karas

Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure is a hilarious reimagination/adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe set in Canada during Expo 67. The would-be victims of the religious fraudster are indigenous Canadians who refer to themselves as Indians at the time of our centennial celebrations in Montreal.

Playwright Herbie Barnes is imaginatively faithful to Moliere but also shows inventiveness in setting the play in a middle-class indigenous family whose father falls for Father Tartuffe’s hypocritical holy roller lies.

Orin (Sam Bob) works for Canada’s centennial bash in Montreal and lives in a well-appointed house with his family. He comes under the total control of Father Tartuffe (Aidan Correia), a fervent religious hypocrite who goes after Orin’s money, daughter, and wife.

Orin’s lively daughter Maryanne (Danica Charlie) is in love with the handsome Valant (Frankie Cottrell) and we are momentarily concerned that true love may be thwarted by parental interference and hypocritical lust.

Tartuffe has his eye and other parts of his anatomy on Orin’s wife Elise (Quelemia Sparrow, also co-director) and he makes a valiant attempt to establish contact with her anatomy. 

                            Quelemia Sparrow and Aidan Correia. Photo Moonirider Productions 

Braiden Houle as Orin’s red-bandana-wearing son Dennis showed anger but no humour. Marshall Veille as Granny had an awkward time dealing with his lines at the beginning but was funnier in the end when he was allowed to crack lines about the rhyming couplets.

Cathy (Cheri Maracle), a statuesque friend of the family was effective and funny as was Samantha Alexandra as Darlene. Barnes adds another element to his play by making Cathy a feisty lesbian.

Barnes’ adaptation and his rhyming couplets are good and there are some very funny lines about Canada’s indigenous people. Cathy, a friend of Orin has one of the best lines when she snaps that she has not ceded her body yet. Correia as Tartuffe was energetic and could remove his clothes at great speed. His attempts to seduce Elise were full of enthusiasm.

But the production in general has a few problems. Most of the actors have problems dealing with rhyming couplets. The lines require speed, enunciation, and poetic diction that most of them unfortunately lack. Without the ease of speaking the couplets, the actors looked like they were trying to walk quickly through mud. The rhyming couplets should propel the delivery of the lines and the action. In this production it did not work that way. 

Directors Quelemia Sparrow and Roy Surette have done much well but apparently could not solve the fundamental problem of the delivery of the lines.

The set by Ted Roberts showed a well-appointed middle-class room. The costumes and hairdos were appropriately 1960’s style.

The directors show some admirable inventiveness. One example is the position of Tartuffe and Orin on the couch as they express their religiosity. They twist and turn until they stop looking like God and Adam reaching towards each other in the famous tableau of the creation scene of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

How do you finish the play? Moliere had no difficulty wrapping up his play. Well, there is a modern and hilarious solution in this production which I will not reveal.
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Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure by Herbie Barnes based on the play by Moliere played until March 24, 2024, at the Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver B.C.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

THREE SISTERS – REVIEW OF INUA ELLAMS’ PLAY AT YOUNG CENTRE

 Reviewed by James Karas

Many of us who were around in the late 1960’s may recall a news story that dominated the media and was known as the Nigerian or Biafra Civil War. It raged from 1967 to 1970 leaving between five hundred thousand and three million people dead. The region of Biafra declared its independence from Nigeria and the rebellion was subsequently crushed.

The story of the Biafra Civil War is shown in Three Sisters, a play by Inua Ellams in a coproduction by Soulpepper and Obsidian Theatre companies at the Young Centre in Toronto. The play is subtitled “After Chekhov” and is a brilliant work of originality that echoes its Russian inspiration.

The three sisters of the Onuzo family are Lolo (Akosua Amo-Adem), Nne Chukwu (Virgilia Griffith) and Udo (Makambe K. Simamba), the daughters of a general who died a year ago. They are living in a small provincial town in Biafra, a province of Nigeria that, unlike Chekhov’s town, is seeking independence from Nigeria. The sisters are living with memories of their life and glamour of the capital. They have memories, dreams, hopes and perhaps even illusions about life in the great city of Lagos and it is the central motif of their life. They have fervent hopes and dreams of returning to the almost magical city.  

                                 Akosua Amo-Adem, Virgilia Griffith and Makambe K. Simamba 

                                    The three sisters. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Lolo is a teacher and dreams of changing the curriculum of her school to make it more relevant to their Igbo ethnic background rather than follow what was left by the British and adopted by the central government.

Nne Chukwu is the victim of an arranged marriage and turns unfaithful when she falls in love with Ikemba (Daren A. Herbert), the philosophy-prone army commander.

Their feelings are exacerbated by the memory of their father. Their brother Dimgba (Tony Ofori) is a feckless professor and reckless gambler who is married to Abosede (Oyin Oladeja), a Yoruba woman from a different ethnic group who does not fit with the ethnic group of the three sisters. She is dressed peculiarly and perhaps gaudily and is the butt of jokes. She will develop into a different person during the three years of the civil war and “pay back” the sisters.

The personal lives of the Onuzo family are inextricably affected by the civil war because their house is the hub of activity for the military leaders of the secessionist Biafra. The play takes place on two latitudes, the personal lives of the Onuzo family and the national issue of the civil war.

Army doctor Eze (Sterling Jarvis) is a disillusioned and cynical alcoholic who is ever present in their household.  Nmeri, (Ngabo Nabea) is the idealistic suitor of the youngest sister Udo. Rebellion leaders come and go from the pleasant house of the Onuzo family as matters deteriorate leading to a tragic end.

But hope persists for a while. Lolo the teacher dreams of changing the school curriculum to cover the history of the Igbo nation. But like the hopes and dreams of returning to Lagos all are crushed by reality

Perhaps there is a subterranean third latitude.  It is instructive to recall that Nigeria became an independent nation in 1960 after being a part of the British Empire since 1884. The play and much of Nigerian history reflects the British imperial presence, none of it in complimentary terms to the conqueror.

Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu does superb work in directing an outstanding cast. This is theatre that is historically important and drama at its best.
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Three Sisters by Inua Ellams continues until March 24, 2024, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4. www.soulpepper.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

NO ONE’S SPECIAL AT THE HOT DOG CART - REVIEW OF NEW PLAY AT THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE

Reviewed by James Karas

No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart is an ambitious one-actor play written and performed by Charlie Petch. A big hot dog cart is on stage and we are told it does business at Yonge and Dundas and at Gerard and Church, two well-known corners in Toronto.  

Petch receives a laudable description in the program listing a long catalogue of achievements and is also described as “a disabled/queer/transmasculine multidisciplinary artist who resides in Tkaronto/Toronto.” He is a “poet, playwright, librettist, musician, lighting designer, and host” and has won numerous awards and distinctions all of which are praiseworthy. My concern is the comment that they/he is disabled and I am not sure what if any effect it had on the performance of No One’s Special.

The title of the play may lead one to expect a play about interesting, perhaps humorous and dramatic events while selling hot dogs but there is much, much more than that in a play that lasts about an hour.

Charlie Petch in No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart

Photo: Nika Balianina 

 In addition to selling hot dogs, Charlie (they/he) becomes an emergency responder, a social worker able to help a troubled, homeless person  with his family problems and encounters with others in horrible situations by using  de-escalation techniques.

Charlie describes his work as a 911 responder and then as a worker  in a hospital emergency room and a bed allocator in a hospital. That is a long way from the hot dog cart and the play covers a much wider canvas than my summary suggests.

Petch performs several poems and we hear a couple of songs and have fleeting attempts at psychological depths. Unfortunately, it does not work.

Much of the time Petch speaks in an almost  monotonous voice that expresses a limited emotional range. Raising your voice’s volume is not the same as being expressive. The play tries to cover far too much ground in any event and the chances of reaching all the issues are slim. Speaking over a cacophony of voices does not help. Humour is almost non-existent and maybe we have the right to expect some amusing events at the hot dog stand or in Charlie’s other endeavors.

I do not know under what disability Petch is working and I speak of my perceived shortcomings of the play and the performance with trepidation. But my reaction was that of disappointment.  
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No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart by Charlie Petch, a Theatre Passe Muraille and Erroneous Theatre coproduction, continues March 23, 2024, at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. www.passemuraille.on.ca

 James Karas is the Senior Editor – Culture of The Greek Press. This review appeared in the newspaper.

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD - REVIEW OF PLAY AT CAA THEATRE

 Reviewed by James Karas

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as anyone who has seen Hamlet knows, are two non-entities in Shakespeare’s play and the title of Tom Stoppard’s play is a line from that play. Despite the title, Stoppard has given the two friends more life on the stage and on film than the two fictional characters could ever have imagined.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been invited to Elsinore by King Claudius to figure out why Prince Hamlet is acting strangely. Eventually  they are sent to England with Hamlet to deliver a letter to the English King telling him to kill Hamlet. Hamlet discovers the letter and changes it to read that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be executed.

Shakespeare has some fun with the duo but Tom Stoppard has created a funny, complex and wonderful play around the dumb pair. Nova Scotia’s Neptune Theatre has landed two superb actors to play the lead roles and David Mirvish has brought the production to Toronto at the CAA Theatre.

The Neptune production has thirteen actors but it can be done with many more. The main characters of Shakespeare’s play appear but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern dominate the play. In that regard Director Jeremy Webb has the fortune of having Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, two outstanding actors in the lead roles. Webb delivers a superb production that brings out the comedy and the complexity of the play with a light touch.

Photo Credit: @stoometzphoto

The opening scene sets the stage and the comic and intellectual level of the play superbly. Monaghan’s Rosencrantz and Boyd’s Guildenstern are playing what appears to be a mindless game. They flip coins. Rosencrantz calls ‘heads” and he wins consistently. This goes on for some ninety tosses and the coin never lands on “tails.” Have the laws of probability ceased to apply? Guildenstern wonders. They may wonder about philosophical issues but they don’t know where they are nor where they are going. Aha! They received an invitation to go to Elsinore where Hamlet (Pasha Ebrahimi), their university friend in Germany has returned because his father has been killed and his mother Gertrude has married his uncle King Claudius who has usurped the throne.

They meet a troupe of actors known as the Tragedians who are headed for Elsinore. They are headed by one called The Player (a feisty, quick-witted and agile Michael Blake).  

At Elsinore they meet King Claudius (Jonathan Ellul) and Gertrude (Raquel Duffy) who mistake the identity of their guests.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have to correct her as to who they are and they seem to be so lightheaded at times one wonders if they can tell who between themselves is who. Very funny and well done by Monaghan and Boyd.

Claudius explains to them that they must find out what is wrong with Hamlet and the two engage in a question-and-answer game as a possible approach to Hamlet. They confuse themselves thoroughly and have no way of finding out what is bothering their friend.

Photo Credit: @stoometzphoto

The two are inept at everything and they find out that they have been selected to take Hamlet to England and deliver a letter to the King. They converse about death, suicide and the representation of death (theirs) on stage. In their confused state of mind, they eventually find out who is carrying the letter to the King of England and open it. They don’t know where they are, wonder if they are dead and question how they will deliver it to the king.

As the play ends, the Ambassador (Mallory Amirault) announces that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and as Horatio (Santiago Guzman) speaks, the lights go down to end the play. But Webb is not prepared to leave matters there. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pop back on stage where they started. Nice touch. 

The play depends on the cleverness and comic talent of Stoppard but its delivery depends on Webb and the cast especially Monaghan and Boyd. They prove that they are masters of repartee and the presentation of the two characters who may be dumb but are also complex. They handle the dialogue with splendid speed, expressiveness and humour as necessary. The rest of the cast do fine work but compared to the leads have relatively smaller roles.    

Set Designer Andrew Cull uses two sets of rows of seats theatre-style that can be turned around and pushed off to the sides. There is an indication of a ship and they serve as the sets for the play. Economical and adequate. This is a verbal play and requires very little in the way of sets.

We get an intelligent and redoubtable production of a marvelous play.

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, in a production by Neptune Theatre, directed by  Jeremy Webb continues until April 6, 2024, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek press

ALADDIN - REVIEW OF 2024 EXTRAVAGANZA AT THE PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Disney’s Aladdin is musical theatre on a grand scale. It’s in its eighth year on Broadway and there is a touring company going across the United States to venues galore. It’s on tour in the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as Japan and Spain. Disney’s website tells us that more than 15 million people have seen it. Can intergalactic productions be far behind?

It is a popular show and I for one would not argue with the millions of viewers nor the enthusiastic full-house audience at The Princess of Wales theatre last Thursday. They enjoyed a grand show that may not be to everyone’s taste but they would not give  a damn about the opinions of others. Quite right.

Unless you have been living on the outer stretches of civilization you know about the young urchin Aladdin who lived somewhere a long time ago. He meets a Genie who lives in a small oil lamp and Jasmine, a pretty princess and the daughter of the Sultan. He likes her and she likes him but don’t be so impatient.

We have the bad guys too. The meanie Jafa wants to eliminate the Sultan and get the throne. He is accompanied by the silly and very funny Iago. There are ten other characters and an army of singers and dancers in the plot of the musical but I will not hold you in suspense. In a couple of hours (plus intermission) the bad guys are defeated and Aladdin gets Jasmine and we all leave the theatre happy ever after.

Marcus M. Martin (Genie), Adi Roy (Aladdin) and Company 

in the North American Tour of Aladdin. Photo Credit: Deen van Meer

But there is still work to be done so stay tuned. With about 20 musical numbers (some repeats) the evening passes with some nice songs, some loud numbers and almost non-stop singing and dancing. All is intended to generate excitement and give us a colorful show. Colorful is an understatement. Disney has costumes in middle eastern colors, gold and an array of changes that is intended to simply dazzle and bedazzle and overwhelm you. It works.

The show starts with the exuberant Genie of Marus M. Martin. He starts off on a high note and sings “Arabian Nights” with the ensemble and never slows down. We have the evil Jafar (Anand Nagraj) who wants to overthrow the Sultan (Sorab Wadia) and get his filthy hands on the kingdom and Jasmine. He has his sidekick Iago (Aaron Choi), a solid comic character from a different era.

Adi Roy is a handsome and energetic Aladdin and Senzel Ahmady is an alluring and pretty Jasmine and we root for them. They sing the simple melodies of “A Million Miles Away” and “A Whole New World” reasonably well and give us some quieter moments from the boisterous ensemble singing and dancing.

Anand Nagraj (Jafar) and Aaron Choi (Iago) in the North American 

Tour of Aladdin. Photo Credit: Deen van Meer

It is a musical and visual extravaganza and a relentless onslaught on all senses. I could have done with less (a lot less) volume but I suppose it is part of the combined assault that enthralls the audience.

The show is designed by Daniel Brodie and Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. There is a small army of behind-the-scenes personnel including an illusion designer, a hair designer and many others. Nothing is left to chance. And yes, Aladdin and Jasmine do ride on the magic carpet.     

For those interested in looking beyond the extravagant showmanship of the musical, the picking becomes very slim. All the characters are cartoonish. There is no room for development and the plot is threadbare, being largely expressed through song and dance with lyrics that are not always comprehensible.  Very few in the audience may care about that and the 15 million viewers may well be thrilled with the sensual experience. If you are looking for anything else it behooves you to understand that this is a show for younger audiences. It started as a cartoon and it retains much of the flavor of that. So be it. Enjoy it.
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Aladdin by Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin (lyrics) and Chad Beguelin (book) based on the Disney film continues until March 17, 2024, at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

GUILT (A Love Story) - REVIEW OF NEW PLAY BY DIANE FLACKS AT TARRAGON

Reviewed by James Karas

Guilt (A Love Story) is a new play that is performed by its author Diane Flacks in a solo performance at Tarragon Theatre. Flacks is a spirited storyteller and gives an energetic performance full of humour and drama. According to a note in the program “Guilt (A Love Story) is a story of a mother’s experience dealing with the end of her relationship and its impact on her family, and the re-discovery of her own sense of self-worth. Her experience is compounded by the many intersections she lives, ultimately unpacking the onion-like layers of what encompass that persistence of guilt.”

Flacks starts with the Bible and the murder by Cain of his brother Abel and being Jewish herself gives us the origin of the feeling of guilt and the specialty not to say almost monopoly of it by the Jews. The character that Flacks  portrays is of course fictional but she has some similarities  to the life of the author. The fictional character is  a lesbian who was married and had children with her wife. Alone on the stage with only a chair for a prop, Flacks gives a highly physical and effusive performance, never allowing the audience to stray from the comic and dramatic stories that she tells.

She tells many stories from brief, almost one-liners to extended ones. She tells us about her child being in intensive care for almost a year. She becomes friends with other parents with children in the same unit and is overwhelmed with guilt and anger when one of the other children is arresting and bey all the lights and noise as they try to resuscitate the dying child. But she is angry because the lights and noise of trying to resuscitate the child keep her child from sleeping.

Diane Flacks in "Guilt (A Love Story)" at Tarragon Theatre. 

Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann/Tarragon Theatre

 Guilt comes from many directions. Her youngest child is upset by the changes brought about by the separation. She tries couples therapy with her wife and it does not work and she would not recommend it.

She and her wife chose an “open” relationship and she meets and is pursued by a much younger woman that she calls a “racehorse”. She tries to resist the overwhelming attraction but succumbs.

Let’s not forget that there are some Jews that would make you ashamed or is it feel guilty of being Jewish. How about Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, and Woody Allen?

When she and her wife separated, they decided to take turns staying in the house to look after the two children. Her wife did not want her to sleep in the marital bed when it was her turn to look after the children and Flacks’ character ended up sleeping in the basement while the ex-wife slept upstairs in their bed.

Jews don’t celebrate Christmas so birthdays are more important. On birthdays the family made a big fuss waking the birthday person with cake and  singing “Happy Birthday.” On her birthday she was sleeping in the basement and she heard the family moving about upstairs and expected them to come down with a cake. They didn’t and left for the day. Her ex-wife had not organized a birthday celebration for her and she phoned her new partner/ lover for solace.

Guilt is a rich and amazing play and Flacks’ ability to deliver the whole thing alone is nothing less than a bravura performance. She gives us a fine summary of the play saying "I’m dehydrated, I’m broke, I’m crumbling. I know I should just let go of guilt. But I don’t understand how." But the play does end on an optimistic note when there is some kind of conciliation. Her, the ex-wife, her new partner and her parents take the children for a holiday in the Dominican Republic
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Guilt (A Love Story)  by Diane Flacks, directed by Alisa Palmer continues until March 3,  2024, at the Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario. www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press