FIDDLER ON THE ROOF – A TRIUMPH AT STRATFORD

Scott Wentworth (centre) as Tevye with members of the company. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Reviewed by James Karas

Fiddler on the Roof gets a sensational production at the Stratford Festival that is a pleasure to watch from the first violin chords to the final expulsion of the residents of Anatevka, Russia. There is no nitpicking, no reservations, no adverse comments just fulsome praise for theatre at its best.

Fiddler on the Roof is nearing its 50^th anniversary (it opened on Broadway in 1964) and it is, by any measuring stick, a great musical. Based on stories by Sholom Aleichem, it has a plot that is moving, funny and infused with such humanity that it tugs at everyone’s heartstrings. The people are unforgettable, the music and songs are memorable and the dance routines stupendous.

Now all you need is a first-rate director/choreographer, an outstanding cast and an army of behind-the-scenes workers and hope that theatrical magic will descend like manna from heaven for a theatrical marvel.

Stratford struck gold. Tevye, the poor milkman with five daughters who talks to God but gets no answers, dominates the musical. The role was originally played on Broadway by the inimitable Zero Mostel and a number of other actors such as Topol, Herschel Bernardi, Theodore Bikel and Harvey Fierstein have followed. Add the name of Scott Wentworth to the list as one of the best Tevyes. I associate Wentworth with Shakespearean roles but he makes an awesome Tevye. He is wonderfully human – funny, dramatic, humane, narrow-minded, generous, put-upon and cruel in his treatment of his daughter who marries outside the faith. Wentworth gives a performance that entitles him to the highest praise and a contract to do Tevye for as long as he wants.

The rest of the cast deserves the highest praise as well because they make you feel that you are in a remote Russian village in 1905 and not watching theatre in Stratford, Ontario. Tevye’s tough-minded and enduring wife Golde is done marvelously by Kate Hennig. Their three older daughters Tzeitel (Jennifer Stewart), Hodel (Jacquelyn French) and Chava (Keely Hutton) are young girls everywhere who are dreaming of the future and looking for husbands. In their society, only a matchmaker like Yente (Gabrielle Jones) is allowed to do that and the final decision rests with the father.

None of Tevye’s daughters respect that tradition. Tzeitel marries Motel, the tailor (Andre Morin) instead of Lazar the butcher (Steve Ross); Hodel marries the radical Perchik (Mike Nadajewski) without asking for her father’s consent and Chava marries the Russian Fyedka (Paul Nolan) and Tevye declares her “dead”. He does mutter a “God be with you” when they separate, he for America, she for Poland but that is as far as he is willing to go.

Fiddler on the Roof has some of Broadway’s most memorable music and songs. From the Fiddler’s plaintive and nostalgic music (played beautifully by violinist Anna Atkinson, to the exuberant “Tradition” and “If I Were a Rich Man,” the melodious “Matchmaker”, the moving “Sunrise, Sunset” you are treated to magnificent music and lyrics. The singing is excellent.

Let’s sing the praises of Donna Feore as director and choreographer. As director, she captures the essence of the musical as the picture of a community trying to maintain the essential elements that keep it together in a world that is changing fast. What was tradition one day becomes unacceptable the next and people like Tevye are asked to compromise or bend so far that they are on the verge of breaking.

There is a long list of actors and dancers in the programme listed as The Community. That is the focal point of the musical because the destruction of the village and the vision of America as the hope for the future are the connecting links between tragedy and hope.  We see and become a part of the community and we want it to stay and change. You cannot have both. Great work by Feore.

She has also choreographed the production. Fiddler provides some great opportunities for heroic and highly demanding athletic dancing and Feore has done outstanding work in choreographing  for those scenes.

I think I have gushed enough about a musical and a production that merit the word triumph. Go see it.

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Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) opened on May 28 and will run in repertory until October 20, 2013 at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.www.stratfordfestival.ca

MEASURE FOR MEASURE – IMMORALITY AND FUN IN 1949 VIENNA AND A FINE PRODUCTION

  Carmen Grant as Isabella and Tom Rooney as Angelo in Measure for Measure. Photo by Michael Cooper. 

Reviewed by James Karas

Measure for Measure is the second play by Shakespeare offered by the Stratford Festival this year. It is directed by Martha Henry at the Tom Patterson Theatre. The production has many virtues but it also many points for disagreement  which do not necessarily qualify for the ascription of vices.

Henry sets the play in Vienna in 1949, as good year as any place, I suppose, for a society to give itself over to rampant immorality and vice. Henry displays a good grasp of the possibilities of the play and treats it with imagination and creativity. Most of her ideas work.

When the lights go on a robust woman with too much makeup and a hideous blonde wig walks on stage. She takes off the wig and her dress to reveal that it is the Duke Vincentio (Geraint Wyn Davies) in drag. This explains quite deftly how the virtuous and softhearted duke has learned that his city has become licentious and that his laws are simply not enforced. Excellent opening.

The Duke appoints the virtuous and upstanding Lord Angelo (Tom Rooney) as his temporary replacement. Angelo shows up in military uniform with his jacket off and his hair disheveled. Hmmm.

The upshot of the plot is that Isabella (Carmen Grant), a novice, will come to Angelo to beg for her brother Claudio’s (Christopher Prentice) life. He has been condemned to death for getting Juliet (Ruby Joy) pregnant without being married to her.

Angelo develops an overwhelming lust for Isabella and he proposes to free her brother if she has sex with him. Lust is no respecter of anything but for Angelo to desire Isabella so fiercely there must be something in her to make her irresistible. She must have some sexual magnetism that Grant simply does not project. This is no doubt a tall order because Isabella has chosen monastic life but I still hold that there has to be a certain latent sexuality in her to make Angelo renounce all sense of morality. Otherwise, Isabella is fine as a thin-lipped upholder of her morals even if it means her brother’s death.

Grant has a mannered way of speaking which includes nodding her head a shade too much and grimacing a tad more than necessary. A future nun should speak with a virtuously straight or at best sanctimonious expression.

Davies is quite straightforward as the Duke as is Peter Hutt as Escalus. They are both men who hold high office but the Duke gets a lot more fun by disguising himself as a monk and watching immorality in action.

 

From left: Christopher Prentice as Claudio, Stephen Ouimette as Lucio and Ruby Joy (background) as Juliet with members of the company in Measure for Measure. Photo by Michael Cooper.

In tandem with the Duke-Angelo-Isabella plot is the story of the low-lives of Vienna. They are the pimps, prostitutes and officer Elbow who are far more entertaining than the ruling class. Stephen Ouimette makes a marvelously slimy Lucio. He is a liar, a fantasizer and a delicious scoundrel. He is in good company with Mistress Overdone (done splendidly by Patricia Collins) whose character is summarized by her name and Pompey (a superb Randy Hughson) whose specialty is getting beaten up.

Constable Elbow, played to perfection by Brian Tree, is a strutting and completely ineffectual martinet who produces laughter with every over-done salute.

What Isabella lacks, Mariana (Sarah Afful) has in abundance. She exudes sexuality and is dressed for it. She was betrothed to Angelo but he dumped her because her dowry fell through. If Angelo is a man of lust, Mariana is the woman to satisfy his desires. It may be that he is attracted to Isabella’s forbidding virtue rather than her sexual appeal.

Another example of Henry’s directorial talent is her treatment of the secondary role of the Provost (Stephen Russell). Henry finds a brilliant way of humanizing the straight-backed, stiff Provost shortly after he comes on stage. He notices that one of the shoelaces of the pregnant Juliet is undone and he bends down and ties it. The functionary becomes a mensch.

A few words about Stephen Russell. He is in his 31st season at Stratford and at one time played leading roles such as Richard II and Julius Caesar and did them well. That was a long time ago and recently he has been demoted to practically walk-on roles. The part of the Provost and the upcoming Duke of Venice in Othello are better roles than he has been getting for some time. The question is why is he given such minor and frequently crappy roles?

The Duke’s last words to the Provost in Measure for Measure are equally applicable to Russell: “Thanks, Provost” says the Duke. “We shall employ thee in a worthier place.”

 

Antoni Cimolino should heed the Duke’s words vis-à-vis Russell.          

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 Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare opened on May 29 and will continue in repertory until September 21, 2013 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

MARY STUART – CIMOLINO TURNS SCHILLER INTO GOLD AT STRATFORD

Lucy Peacock (left) as Mary Stuart and Seana McKenna as Elizabeth with members of the company. Photo by David Hou.

Reviewed by James Karas

Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart is a long and ambitious play. It is about the confrontation between Mary Queen of Scots and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I and deals at some length with legality, justice, religion, treachery, loyalty, love and international relations. That could result in verbosity leading to tedium but the current production at the Tom Patterson Theatre with its all-star cast, is a theatrical tour de force.

Much of the credit goes to the deft handling of the production by Director Antoni Cimolino. He has inserted a several coups de théâtre such as putting the intermission in the middle of Act III just as Mary and Elizabeth meet. But that is the least of his intelligent, judicious and indeed outstanding direction.

He is lucky in having an outstanding cast.

Mary Stuart pits two proud, imperious and ambitious women with claims to the throne of England and different religions. The conflict was real but the two women never met. Mary is a prisoner of Elizabeth; Elisabeth is on the throne and fears that her cousin may find a way of reversing their positions.

Both Lucy Peacock (Mary) and Seana McKenna (Elizabeth) have distinctive voices, what in opera singers is called timbre, a certain coloration that makes them different from other performers. They both have a unique presence so that everything revolves around them when they are on stage.

Mary is intelligent, manipulative, deeply religious and murderous. Elizabeth is politically astute, wants to maintain and expand her power and must rule over men who are equally manipulative, power-hungry and sometimes treacherous.

McKenna and Peacock give signature performances.

The production succeeds because the secondary roles are also played exceptionally well.

Geraint Wyn Davies plays the treacherous, lecherous, Machiavellian and cowardly Earl of Leicester. He pretends and perhaps even believes that he is in love with Mary and is a favorite of Elizabeth. Davies gives a convincing portrait of a despicable man.

An almost unrecognizably wigged Ben Carlson is the cunning and ruthless Lord Burleigh, Elizabeth’s trusted counselor who takes it upon himself to carry out the order to execute Mary.   

Ian Lake gives a notable performance as Mortimer, a Catholic fanatic who would stop at nothing for his faith. With his hair slicked back, Mortimer has the perseverance, intelligence and ruthlessness of a jihadist.

Veteran actor Brian Dennehy is given the role of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Supporting himself on a cane and shuffling around the stage, Shrewsbury (and Dennehy?) looks ancient. He tends to talk into his chest and although he finds his voice and tone when necessary, I could help wondering if the character or the actor is very, very old.

James Blendick as the jailer Paulet and Patricia Collins as Mary’s servant Hanna Kennedy deserve kudos for their performances.

The theatre-in-the-round stage of the Tom Patterson places severe limitations on the set designer. For this production, Eo Sharp is simply called the “Designer.” There is sparse and pathetic furniture in Mary’s apartment at the beginning; a dramatically lit red cross on the stage boards near the end; stage props are brought in as necessary and all is fittingly well done.

Schiller’s poetic epic was first produced in 1800 and the current production is a new version by Peter Oswald. There are numerous accents that can be attempted. Do we try to emulate how the English spoke in the 16^th century or today? The play can accommodate Scottish, English and French accents with the probability of all being done badly.

Cimolino has wisely chosen to forego all attempts at different accents and lets the actors speak in reliable Southern Ontario tones. It works perfectly well and saves us from listening to incongruous tones done badly.

All trepidations about a long, poetic German play disappear as soon as the lights go on and we get an outstanding production and Cimolino and the cast a standing ovation.

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Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller in a version by Peter Oswald opened on May 31 and will run in repertory until September 21, 2013 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

BLITHE SPIRIT – OTHERWORLDLY AND VERY FUNNY COMEDY AT STRATFORD

 Sara Topham (left) as Ruth, Ben Carlson as Charles and Michelle Giroux as Elvira in Blithe Spirit. Photo by David Hou.

Reviewed by James Karas 

If Tommy made your stomach vibrate, Blithe Spirit will soothe your soul and make you laugh at a delightful comedy from another era and, yes, another world. Noel Coward’s comedy should delight people during the summer and well into the fall at the Avon Theatre.

Much of the credit goes to its director Brian Bedford. He has a fine ear and feel for comedies of wit which require impeccable delivery, perfect timing and that indefinable quality called style. The play exists in its own world, however, distant it may be from us and the director, and actors must create an atmosphere that is both convincing and utterly entertaining.

Coward wrote Blithe Spirit during World War II when the Luftwaffe was bombing London and the Allies were being hammered by the Axis powers. Blithe Spirit could not be farther from the war and it is a perfect escapist comedy.
 

Novelist Charles (Ben Carlson) has invited Madame Arcati (Seana McKenna), an eccentric medium, for a séance to communicate with the other world. He just wants to get some background information for his next novel. The result is that his dead first wife Elvira (Michelle Giroux) appears, ethereal and beautiful, and can only be seen by him. You can imagine how his second wife Ruth (Sara Topham) will react to the new guest.  

Among a number of superb performances, I give the laurel wreath to Topham. She jumps from the teenage Juliet to the middle-aged Ruth and does the role with style, perfect articulation and comic intelligence. She is simply a pleasure to watch.

Carlson plays the overwrought husband who finds himself with two wives in the house. Each wife wants to get rid of the other but Ruth cannot see or hear Elvira. Impeccable delivery by Carlson.

Giroux’s Elvira, in see-through attire, is sultry and sexy the way Ruth is reserved and proper. She floats around the set as becomes a spirit and is quite amusing.

Seana McKenna seems to be having the time of her life as the other-worldly Madame Arcati. The medium goes into a trance, collapses on the floor, flails her arms and is given numerous opportunities for comic over-acting. McKenna takes advantage of every such opportunity and milks every possible laugh out of the meaty role.

Coward liked putting eccentric servants in some of his plays and Edith (Susie Burnett), the house maid is no exception. She is from the navy and has the habit of sprinting from one place to the next. Burnett gets the laughs intended for her role.

James Blendick and Wendy Thatcher are the necessary plot movers as Dr. and Mrs. Bradman. They are the dinner guests for the séance and they do their job.

The set by designer Simon Higlett represents the type of brightly lit, well-furnished drawing room that you wish you lived in. Men wear tuxedos and women long gowns for dinner and fine suits as casual wear as envisioned by Costume Designer Katherine Lubienski. The whole thing defines a splendid way of life in rural England that is even more attractive for being imaginary.

One more compliment to Bedford. He pays attention to every detail of the dialogue and the actors’ movements. He does not miss an intonation or a pause that will produce a laugh where none would be apparent in the script. For example, in one scene, Charles is trying to humour Ruth after the previous night’s row. She is unresponsive and at one point he comments that “you are very glacial this morning.” Bedford inserts a very slight pause before the word glacial and the line becomes funny.

A thoroughly enjoyable production.

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Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward opened on June 1 and will in repertory until October 20, 2013 at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

 

THE THREE MUSKETEERS – SWASHBUCKLING THEATRE FOR THE YOUNG

From left: Jonathan Goad, Luke Humphrey, Graham Abbey, Mike Shara. Photography by Don Dixon.

Reviewed by James Karas

The Stratford Festival has mounted The Three Musketeers again in a full-blooded production at the Festival Theatre. Peter Raby’s adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel was first staged in 1968 and revived in 1988 and 2000.   

I had not seen any of the previous productions and indeed, I thought it had been produced many more times. It is a swashbuckling, fast-paced adventure story that has been made into numerous films during the last one hundred years or so as well as television series, musicals and games.

The Musketeers represent youth in action. They are expert swordsman, brave, impetuous and rebellious, who fight against the enemies of their king and for the honour of their queen.

There are more than forty characters in Raby’s adaptation of the novel plus extras. If the Festival Theatre had a smaller stage there would be traffic congestions at times. There is not much of that happening, of course, because Director Miles Potter keeps everyone moving at a brisk speed. This is an adventure drama and there is no time for standing around. Little provocation is needed for the swords to be unsheathed and a display of swordsmanship to ensue. The programme names the Fight Director (John Stead) just below the Director, a spot usually reserved for the Set Designer, in this case Douglas Paraschuk.

There is also an Associate Fight Director (Kevin Bennett), two Assistant Fight Directors (Anita Nittoly and Kostas Tourlentes), a Fight Captain (Wayne Best) and a Movement Captain (Bethany Jillard).

The fighting and loving is done by the Musketeers D’Artagnan (Luke Humphrey), Porthos (Jonathan Goad), Aramis (Mike Shara) and Athos (Graham Abbey). D’Artagnan is technically not a musketeer but there is no reason to lose any sleep over that.

They have serious enemies such as Cardinal Richelieu (Steven Sutcliffe) and his nasty agents The Comte de Rochefort (Michael Blake), Milady de Winter (Deborah Hay) and others. I am loth to give the plot away but let me reveal only that the musketeers are successful and all is well in the world until they return for a number of sequels.

I cannot pretend that I particularly enjoyed the production and in fact started wondering why the play was put on at all. The very large number of actors and other resources that the production requires seem to indicate a substantial use of funds that may not tally favourably in a cost/benefit analysis.

Someone who knows about programming reminded me that The Three Musketeers is intended as the family show. If you want to introduce a 10-year old to Stratford, none of the season’s dozen productions is more suitable or likely to please than The Three Musketeers.

Viewed from that perspective, The Three Musketeers makes sense. Therefore, throw your youngsters in the back seat, take their video games and mobiles out of their hands and take them to Stratford. You will have a good time with them and lend a hand in saving civilization as we know it.

  
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The Three Musketeers by Peter Raby, adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, opened on June 1 and will run in repertory until October 19, 2013 at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario.www.stratfordfestival.ca

TOMMY HAS PRODUCTION VALUES AND VOLUME TO MAKE YOUR STOMACH VIBRATE

Robert Markus (centre) as Tommy with members of the company in Tommy. Photo by Michael Cooper.

*** (out of 5)

Reviewed by James Karas

As the audience is settling down for the opening of Tommy, there is a blast of music that is so powerful, it shook my stomach. The volume was turned down for some parts of the rock opera but my stomach vibrated for an inordinate amount of time during the performance.

Tommy, of course, is the hugely successful musical by Pete Townshend (music, lyrics and book) and Des McAnuff (book). McAnuff was the Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival and last year his Jesus Christ Superstar was produced there and later taken to Broadway.

The volume at which much of the music and singing is done in Tommy is reminiscent of bars where people are supposed to drink, talk and mingle but the music is so loud I cannot imagine how any communication is possible.

The production values of this staging are substantial.

Tommy has an interesting and fascinating plot, far better than one would expect from a musical. As a child, Tommy witnesses the murder of his mother’s lover by his father. His father was presumed dead in World War II but returned. The boy becomes blind and deaf but reacts and comes to life, in effect, when he starts paying a pinball machine. He becomes nothing less than a heroic Pinball Wizard.

This production gave me the feeling that I was inside a pinball machine. That means that in addition to the often powerful and very loud music there are flashes of light, a dizzying display of colours, changes of scene with incredible speed and an astounding number of theatrical effects.

There is liberal use of projections from airplanes and parachutists at the beginning (Tommy’s father was in the air force) street scenes, interior and exterior scenes throughout. The production is intended to and succeeds in overwhelming the audience with its prodigious onslaught of music, colours, movement, dancing and singing. The audience is barely and rarely given a chance to catch its breath. That is what I mean by production values.

Credit is due to the designers who deserve a bow and mention by name: John Arnone (set), David C. Woolard (costumes), Howell Binkley (lighting), Andrew Keister (sound), Sean Nieuwenhuis (projection). 

Special mention is deserved by Wayne Cilento for his choreography. Here is athletic coordination, synchronized movement and creation of energy that is simply outstanding.

The strong cast which frequently sings at the top of their lungs is headed by Robert Markus as Tommy. He sings and acts well. Kira Guloien  and Jeremy Kushnier are very good as his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walker, with Steve Ross as his pervert Uncle Ernie. Paul Nolan is outstanding as Cousin Kevin.

The musical has a large cast and its success lies in the production values that I mentioned and not in any single aspect.

I must admit that my appreciation of rock music falls short of being keen and for that reason I have concentrated on the positive aspects of the production. One day I may even come to appreciate really loud music that makes my stomach vibrate.

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Tommy by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff opened on May 30 and will run in repertory until October 19, 2013 at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

OUR BETTERS COULD NOT BE BETTER AS A COMEDY AT SHAW FESTIVAL

Reviewed by James Karas

Shaw Festival, thank you for Our Betters.

Our Betters is a play by Somerset Maugham that is now playing at the Royal George Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It has never been produced at the Shaw Festival and I dare say most of us have never heard of, let alone have seen, this pleasant comedy.

Maugham wrote Our Betters in 1915 and took up the then familiar topic of rich American heiresses marrying titled but financially strapped Englishmen. “You give me a coronet and I will bring over a few million dollars” was the bargain. No love or attraction or any other boring middle class sentiments required.  

American Pearl Saunders (Claire Jullien) married an English baronet and became Lady Grayston of Grosvenor Square, Mayfair. Read: posh. Her sister Bessie (Julia Course) has arrived from America and Pearl has set the wheels in motion to find her a poor peer to marry.

Pearl is just one of a group of loaded Yanks who married pauper peers. Minnie (Laurie Paton) became the Duchesse de Surennes and Flora (Catherine McGregor) rose to Princess della Cercola.

Pearl has become a force in English society and is a serial adulteress, in fact, a slut. She offers her body for sex and money. Minnie has money therefore she can afford to buy sex and she finances a gigolo.

The play does have a centre of morality represented by Bessie, her American friend Fleming (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) and Flora who has come to terms with what she did and what she has become.

The rather straightforward and predictable plot has many pleasures. Jullien is the perfect society woman; a smart and manipulative trend-setter who uses men as if they are mere toys. She is counter-balanced by Course’s well-done Bessie: a decent woman who almost falls into the same trap as Lady Grayston.

Paton gives us a pathetic cougar as the aging Duchesse who has nothing but money and sexual desire left. McGregor is excellent as the smart and perceptive Princess and Lorne Kennedy is perfect as the rich, pretentious and not-too-bright Fenwick, mere putty in the hands of Pearl who milks him for his money.

Many Canadian actors have considerable difficulty affecting that cut-diamond, upper crust English accent. In Our Betters the problem is partially solved because we have Americans trying to do an English accent. They do it indifferently but that is precisely what we expect of them. There is a problem with the characters who are in fact English and Canadian actors must struggle to deliver the chiseled goods.

Both Charles Gallant as the gigolo Tony and Ben Sanders as Lord Bleane, the man who wants to marry Bessie, have that problem.  This becomes more pronounced because Neil Barclay as the super-sized American Thornton Clay pretends to be a perfect Englishman. He is just a boorish American, of course, and his accent is perfect and his performance very good.

The play is set in a drawing room in Mayfair and the morning room in the country (if you are rich you can afford rooms for different times of the day!). Set Designer Ken MacDonald does a splendid job. The Mayfair set is all beige and most of the costumes are of similar hue. This creates a rarefied and unreal world of elegance. The morning room with its patterned wall-paper and leather couches strikes a different note of opulence that is so rich and so country. Flick your wrist, please.

Morris Panych directs with panache. The timing, the pace, the humour are all worked superbly. They do not make social circles or plays like the world of Our Betters but it is a sheer pleasure to visit both for a couple of hours in Niagara-on-the-Lake for a wonderful night (or afternoon) at the theatre.    

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Our Betters  by W. Somerset Maugham will run in repertory until October 27, 2013 at the Royal George Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.