Wait Until Dark at the Shaw Festival worth waiting for

 My last show of the season at this year's Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake was well worth the wait...the classic thriller "Wait Until Dark".  

I knew of the play and later the movie of course.  Frederick Knott's play hit broadway in 1966 and met with great success.  The 1967 film that followed was a classic, starring Audrey Hepburn as Susy and Alan Arkin as Harry Roat, Jr.  Oddly enough, I had never seen either the play nor the movie before attending the current production at Shaw; I was most familiar with the movie soundtrack provided by Henry Mancini.  Well I am a musical person after all!

Perhaps not seeing an earlier production of "Wait Until Dark" is not a bad thing, really, as I went in as a virgin, as it were, and let it work its magic on me for the very first time.  And that it did.  

The original by Knott was updated by Jeffrey Hatcher in 2013 and the play was moved from the Greenwich Village of the 60s all the way back to the 40s, and to my eyes it just seems to work better.  We see characters right at home in a 40s-era thriller and not one of them seems out of place.

"Wait Until Dark" involves Susan, a blind woman who lost her vision a few years earlier in an accident and managing to make her way in the world that has totally changed for her.  At this moment in time however, her husband is out of town after the two of them acquired a musical doll for some reason.  But the doll is more than just musical.  There is something valuable inside.

Enter a bunch of thugs who figure it will be easy pickings getting the doll and the enclosed valuables back from Susan while she's alone.  She's blind after all...but...she is far from helpless.  We meet Carlino, posing as a hard-nosed detective, played by Martin Happer.  He is working with Roat, played by Bruce Horak, and returning serviceman Mike, supposedly an old friend of husband Sam, played by Kristopher Bowman.

Susan has no reason to suspect Carlino nor Mike are anything other than what they say they are, but over the course of the play she starts to figure it out and realizes her life is in real danger.  It is then her steely resolve takes over and she has to outsmart them.  This she undertakes with the help of the only true friend she has at the moment, a prostitute and neighbour in the apartment building, Gloria, played by Eponine Lee.

The first act is rather long, building up to the pivotal second act which is played out in darkness but not completely due to theatre lighting.  It is then Susan is no longer the only one with a visual disadvantage and she makes it work for her with her heightened senses due to her lack of eyesight.

Director Sanjay Talwar keeps the tension building throughout and has an excellent cast at his disposal.  As Susan, Sochi Fried is both sweet and trusting until she can't afford to be; her performance is outstanding.  Happer is just seedy enough to fit the bill of a 40s-era hard-nosed detective to a "T".  

Bruce Horak as Roat, in several guises throughout the play, is fascinating to watch, especially when we realize in real life Horak is himself visually impaired.  Yet he navigates the stage with little problem throughout the play.

As Gloria, Eponine Lee is cocky, smart-ass and just enough help for Susan when she needs to be.  This is a finely drawn characterization.  Towards the end of the play we finally meet Susan's husband Sam, played by J.J. Gerber, as he returns home from his trip just in time.

The stage set is spare with a very long staircase indicating this is a basement apartment, but because of the huge space on the Festival stage, a rather large one.  But if I have one real complaint about the set it is the apartment door at the top of the stairs.  It sounds like nothing more than a closet door, when it should sound heftier and look more secure given this is Greenwich Village after all.  But that's a minor quibble.

Sure the play is showing its age a little bit, even with Hatcher's updating in 2013, but with the right cast and direction as we have in this Shaw production, "Wait Until Dark" still packs an emotional punch for today's audiences.  

"Wait Until Dark" runs at the Festival Theatre until October 5th and rates a strong three out of four stars.  For tickets and information go to www.shawfest.com.

Enjoy your week!

August 12th, 2025.

Tons of Money at Shaw Festival...Funny Money?!

 The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake has a long history of producing uproarious farces over the years, many of which I have enjoyed mightily.  I was eager to return to Shaw this season to catch director Eda Holmes' take on the classic 1922 farce Tons of Money, written by Will Evans and Valentine, otherwise known as Archibald Thomas Pechey.

This is the second time Shaw has produced the farce; the first time was Derek Goldby's 1981 production starring master farceur Heath Lamberts.  That was the year I moved to Niagara for the final stage of my radio career so alas, I missed that production.

Lamberts owned farce at Shaw for 12 seasons, including the immensely successful 1985 production of One For the Pot.  His comic timing and knack for wringing every last laugh out of most any situation kept the seats filled at the Festival every season he appeared.  

Alas, this current iteration of Tons of Money, though laudable on many levels, misses the mark when it comes to uncontrollable laughter, which would never happen with Lamberts leading the cast.  I smiled, I enjoyed, but frankly didn't laugh uproariously once.  Neither did most in the audience at the performance I attended.

Director Holmes in her Director's Notes references a magnificent 1899 silent film found on YouTube featuring author Will Evans called "The Musical Eccentric".  In it, Evans performs acrobatics with nothing but a chair, and it is breathtaking to watch.  She appears to take her cue from this silent short in directing this production as it is indeed physically demanding and at times borders on over the top antics by the actors.  

It takes a talented cast to pull off a play such as Tons of Money and make it truly hilarious, and the cast here is uniformly first-rate.  They give it their all but somehow, there are times the laughs seem hard to come by.

The story centres around failed inventor and debt-ridden aristocrat Aubrey Henry Arlington and his scheming wife Louise.  Deeply in debt, they discover Aubrey is in line for a sizeable inheritance but darn it all, even that won't cover all their debts.  What to do?  Wife Louise devises a scheme to have Aubrey fake his own death, thus wiping out his debts, and then come back as the next in line for the inheritance, cousin Henery from Mexico.  

In theory, good plan.  In reality, not so much.  As the Mexican cousin Aubrey has to face Henery's wife, who now realizes he is not dead and in fact all of a sudden quite wealthy.  Hmmm....Louise decides Aubrey must die again and come back this time as a parson.  But does that solve their problems?  This is a farce after all so I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say much merriment ensures.  Just not uproarious merriment.

As Aubrey Arlington Shaw stalwart funnyman Mike Nadajewski flips, flops and generally cavorts about the stage with wild abandon, much like Will Evans did with the chair in the silent film.  He is always fun to watch and his timing is spot on.  His wife, Louise, played by Julia Course, is a good foil for his acrobatics all the while showing she is adept at getting a laugh regularly.

The rest of the cast is equally talented, especially Shaw veterans Graeme Somerville as the conniving butler Sprules and Marla McLean as the maid Simpson.  Andre Morin makes a memorable turn as the real Henery and Cosette Derome filled in admirably as his wife Jean Everard at the performance I attended.

This is the final season for the venerable Royal George Theatre, as at the end of the year work supposedly will begin on a new, slightly larger and much more accessible theatre in its place if all goes according to plan.  But in this cosy space the play is beautifully staged and dressed by Judith Bowden, who designed the sets and costumes.

This will not be the best show at the Shaw Festival this season, nor is it the best farce they have ever presented.  But if you have the time and the means to add an extra show to your visit, this one will be a good one to catch.  Just be mindful it is a farce that could be just a little bit more.

Tons of Money runs at the Royal George until October 5th and rates a respectable three out of four stars.

For tickets and more information, go to www.shawfest.com.

Enjoy your holiday weekend in Niagara!

August 4th, 2025.

Anything Goes at Shaw Festival a runaway hit this season

 If ever there were a musical any theatre company anywhere in the world could bank on to fill seats and then send the patrons home afterwards in a great mood, Cole Porter's classic "Anything Goes" has to be it.  Ever since the musical first opened on Broadway in 1934 after a brief tryout in Boston, this musical has packed houses the world over, and with good reason.

First and foremost, this is Cole Porter, a master craftsman of both music and lyrics, at the absolute peak of his craft.  One has only to look at the list of songs that are readily identifiable in their own right besides their inclusion in the show:  the title song of course, along with "I Get a Kick Out of You", "You're the Top", "Easy to Love", "Friendship", and "It's De-lovely"all leading the pack and classics all.

After Porter's infamous and tragic fall from a horse at a party, with the horse rolling and crushing his legs, his musical output dwindled over time, but the quality never did.  This pre-fall musical romp ranks amongst his finest stage works.

All that music would be for naught if it were not for an exceptional cast and intelligent, sure direction and choreography, and this current offering at the Shaw Festival in NOTL has it all...in spades.  Shaw stalwart Kimberley Rampersad takes on the dual role of director and choreographer in this production and knows clearly what she wants.  She gets it too, from a cast about as talented as they come, either here in NOTL or anywhere.

Rampersad brings out the best in the cast and presents finely drawn characterizations right across the board, even in areas where in other productions certain characters might well suffer by comparison.  No doubt she had the pick of the litter, as it were when it came to casting this show.  But it helps of course the talent pool is so strong.

Jeff Irving is spectacular in the pivotal role of Billy Crocker, who has not lost his love for his one-time girlfriend, Hope Harcourt, played here with great feeling by Celeste Catena.  Wouldn't you know he finds his way onto the same ship for a voyage with Hope and her very refined mother, Evangeline, who hopes dear Hope will find true love not with part-time young and dashing Crocker but with the wealthy and well-connected Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, who is also on board.

Then there's Michael Therriault as Public Enemy No. 13...Moonface Martin.  A small time gangster, he makes it onto the ship as a minister.  He makes the most of his time on stage, as he almost always does.

Yes there are mistaken identities and some hurt feelings ensue but in the end, Billy gets his girl.  But what of the Lord, played with a lot of style by Allan Louis?  Well he finds he has more than a passing interest in firecracker former evangelist-turned-entertainer Reno Sweeney, played by Mary Antonini, who initially had her eye on Billy as well.  In the end, couples get paired off correctly and Mama Harcourt seems to accept the unexpected turn of events with her usual grace and refinement.

Musically and stylistically, the show hits the mark on almost all counts.  The pit band is sharp, the dancing throughout the show is spot on, especially in the bring-the-house-down finale to the first act, and there is really not much to find fault with here at all.

Design wise the set is aboard ship, as it were, but I think a little more colour in the depiction of the ship might have added to the uplifting tone of the whole show.  But it's a minor quibble; overall this is one strong show and a guaranteed winner at the Shaw Festival this season.

If you see only one show this season make it this one.  If you see several, please include this one rather than ignore it.  You will not leave the theatre disappointed!

"Anything Goes" runs at the Festival Theatre until October 4th and rates a perfect four out of four stars.  For tickets and information go to www.shawfest.com.

Enjoy your week!

July 16th, 2025.

New Year, New Me! My yearly update...

 It has been awhile since I wrote in this space but you know how it is when you retire...oh it will get done tomorrow!  But I thought I should start writing again, even if just occasionally, and begin the New Year with my annual update on me, as I have done each year since I lost Sophie in 2020.

Each year there are incremental improvements in my mental and emotional health, and I am so very glad about that.  There is no set time for a person to recover from a devastating loss; each person heals at a different pace.  For me it has been perhaps slower than most but this is what works for me.  I know others might be ready to move on much quicker, but for me I needed more time to get over the heartache of my loss and feel optimistic again about the future.

I started to feel significant movement back in 2022 but this year, the start of 2025, I feel I am pretty much back to my old self again.  That in no way minimizes the loss nor does it indicate all is in the past now.  When you lose a spouse, child, parent, even a beloved pet, you can't just go on without working it through your system, and that takes time.  I know some might appear to be fine in no time, but I can assure you inside, the ache in the heart remains and may in fact never go away.

I have resolved this year to live my best life possible as that is what Sophie would want me to do,  Granted, I am sure she would have wanted me to get to that point much sooner but as I say each person recovers at their own pace.  For me five years seems just about right.

I am enjoying life again, smiling more, laughing much more and generally feeling pretty good about the future.  That is the goal in your recovery and I feel I have now arrived at that point.  But don't think for a moment I don't think of Sophie every day, stop dead in my tracks and think of something we shared together when I see something that reminds me of a particular memory.  But that does not mean I cannot live a full, happy and fulfilling life.  I believe I can and I'm proving it each and every day.  I want Sophie to be proud of me and what I have achieved.

Losing a close family member, particularly a spouse or partner, is quite frankly devastating.  For me it has been the hardest thing I have ever had to go through.  I have lost close friends, senior family members including both parents, and of course a myriad of beloved pets.  But nothing comes close to the loss one feels from the loss of a life partner.

I found strength I didn't even know I had and I suspect others, including Sophie, didn't think I had either.  It kept me going, sustained me through my grief and pulled me out the other side with my sanity and dignity intact.  I am ready to live again as I have plenty to live for.

So what does the future hold?  I really don't know.  More travel I hope, although last year and likely again this year I will be limited to shorter trips within my own province of Ontario as I have two pets with special needs and I need to provide the best care I possibly can for both of them as long as they are with me.  They are my last living connection to Sophie and I feel I owe them that as they helped me get to where I am now in my recovery.

I will continue to reimagine my home with my vision while always honouring the vision Sophie brought to our home.  I have no intention to move until I must.  This home holds so many memories for me and I know I am not living in this house alone even now.

I will continue to live as well as I can within the confines of my senior's income of course, but I have no doubt I will make my retirement as grand as it can possibly be. After all I have to do this for both of us now.

Will I love again?  I really don't know at this point.  I started dating off and on back in 2022 and each and every opportunity resulted in heartache and hurt feelings on my part.  I don't regret a single one of my dating experiences, but I am not exaggerating when I say I could write a book at this point and it could very well be listed in the "believe it or not" section of your local library.  Suffice it to say I had no idea dating at this stage of my life could be so difficult and awkward for both parties.

I am still relatively young and blessed with good health, no debt and no other commitments so a new romance is certainly not out of the question.  But you know what?  I am comfortable in my own skin, confident in my ability to live a good life on my own that if it doesn't happen, I am fine with that.  The difference is between wanting someone new in your life and needing someone new.  I am fine on my own thanks, but always open to new experiences.  As I often say, I am ready of my next big adventure.

So there you go.  I am fine and happy to be who and where I am at this point.  I have made some resolutions for the New Year, mostly related go how I move forward this year.  I want to present myself always in the best way possible, so I plan to dress as well as I can while in public and make sure I am in all ways a true gentleman.  But I also plan to have fun, and just yesterday I acquired new eyeglasses that give me a much bolder look.  I want that, and I feel it is just the beginning.

I am ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille...let's make this next chapter of my life all that it can be.

Happy New Year and have a great weekend!

January 4th, 2025.

Foster Festival chooses not to simply "mail it in"...

 Back in July I was contacted by my old business contact and friend Emily Oriold about their upcoming World Premiere of Norm Foster's play "Whit's End", now onstage until August 4th at the Mandeville Theatre on the grounds of Ridley College.

She wanted to know if I, as a now-retired employee of Canada Post, could scare up an old letter-carrier satchel for the play?  They just needed it as a prop as the central character, Whit, played by Peter Krantz, has just retired as a Canada Post letter carrier.  I pulled some strings (not hard to do with all the good friends and contacts I still have down at the depot) and voila!  I produced a suitably battered satchel for the show.

Emily offered me tickets to the show as thanks and I was happy to take her up on the offer.  I have slowly begun getting back to my pre-pandemic arts participation but sadly, the Foster Festival has not seen me back yet post-pandemic, and I must say I am all the poorer for it.  Might just have to change that in the future...

I knew going in there would be some similarities between me and Peter's character, as I too, delivered the mail for awhile using the exact same satchel as featured in the show.  Seeing it in the trunk of my car again as I picked it up from the depot made me smile and brought back plenty of memories of walking the routes as long as I did.

But the character of Whit is also widowed, as I am now, but unlike me he has found love again in the form of Nikki, played by Melanie Janzen.  Lucky him, although the play deals with the many complications of introducing the new love of your life to the children of your old love of your life, and that fortunately will not be an issue for me.  As Sophie and I met late in life as it was and neither had married previously to meeting, there are no children involved should I ever face that next chapter in my life.

As for Whit, what seems like a pretty simple exercise turns out to be anything but.  He has retired, met a new love, they are moving in together, and moving to a new city and indeed province, and that is a lot for his two grown children to take in when they both visit for "the big announcement".  As is often the case in these situations, Nikki can't believe Whit hasn't even told the kids about her yet, but then, such is the great divide between men and women it seems.  

Well, one of many, actually...

The play has Norm Foster's trademark humour to soften the blow of the more serious nature of the subject matter running as an undercurrent throughout the play, although I have heard Foster's wit in somewhat sharper focus in earlier productions.  But still, he remains a master of showing a mirror up to ourselves and making us laugh at ourselves in the process.

The cast is uniformly strong here, with Krantz as mentioned in the title role of Whit being suitably gruff and a little rough around the edges.  Melanie Janzen as Nikki is all bubbly and the perfect foil for Krantz's gruffness, but she possesses a lot of knowledge that oftentimes seems lost on her new love.

The two kids, David Rowan as Steven and Caroline Toal as Erica, flesh out this foursome with good, solid performances and just the right amount of "concern" for their father and just how his life is about to change.  

The set is simple yet stylish, and director Jamie Williams sets a fine pace for the actors from the get-go.

All in all, an afternoon well-spent with like-minded souls in search of a few laughs on yet another hot summer's day.  Whit's End rates a strong three out of four stars.

The final performance is tomorrow afternoon at 2, so go to www.fosterfestival.com for tickets and more information.

Enjoy your weekend!

August 3rd, 2024.

A farcical feast at the Shaw Festival this season

 As mentioned earlier in my review of the Shaw Festival's "My Fair Lady", the big musical has a big job this season...put bums in the seats in record numbers to erase memories of last season's artistically sound yet financially troubled season.  The shortfall last season meant this season some shows had to be guaranteed winners.

"My Fair Lady" is putting bums in the seats in spades this season, and with good reason.

But offering up a laugh-a-minute supporting role this season is Richard Bean's clever yet nonsensical farce "One Man, Two Guvnors" at the Festival Theatre.  Written in 2011 and based on Carlo Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters", this play exemplifies the British art form, if I can call it that, of uproarious farce.  It takes an exceptional cast to pull off something this inane and make it seem worth your time, and thankfully Shaw has assembled an almost ideal cast here.

Director Chris Abraham should buy a lottery ticket considering how well he cast the lead here, hapless and hungry Francis Henshall, played by Peter Fernandes.  In need of money and well, food, Henshall enters into employment as the servant of not one but two well-off British gentlemen (and I use the term gentlemen rather loosely here) and therefore sets off a full afternoon or evening of laughs, pratfalls and mistaken identities.

Fernandes conjures up memories of another Shaw comedic luminary in a riotous British farce, Heath Lamberts in "One For The Pot" years ago.  His abilities in the fine art of physical comedy is unequalled here, as it was a generation ago with Lamberts.

It takes someone of Fernandes' calibre to rescue this romp and make you want to feel a bit of sympathy for his plight while he subjects audience members to verbal and sometimes physical abuse, in the name of low-brow comedy gold.

Supporting Fernandes is an able cast of characters, all of whom have great fun aiding and abetting him in the search for laughs.  A standout in that regard is Matt Alfano as old Alfie, the server and barman at a ritzy restaurant who is at the mercy of a recalcitrant pace-maker and his body appears to be made of rubber.

The two "guvnors" in question, Martin Happer as Stanley Stubbers and Tom Rooney as Charlie Clench, each have their own collection of idiosyncrasies and challenge poor old Henshall at every turn.  Clench also breaks the sartorial rule of not wearing braces with a belt in order to keep his suit pants up.  The anarchy!  Happer as Stubbers is a high-brow twit and plays it to the hilt.

Along with food, Henshall's other focus is on pleasing the lady he wishes to woo, winsome Dolly, played with suitable coquettishness by Kiera Sangster.

The remainder of the cast is uniformly excellent as well and the musical numbers by a skiffle band prior to the show, during and at intermission really add to the flavour of escapism in 1960s Brighton.

Is "One Man, Two Guvnors" worth your time?  So long as you check your logic at the door prior to entering the theatre, yes, it is a riotous romp.  The Shaw Festival delivers on the promise of serving up laughs by the boatload here and it is great fun.

"One Man, Two Guvnors" plays at the Festival Theatre until October 13th and rates a solid three out of four stars.

Enjoy your weekend!

July 26th, 2024.

Walking in the snow in July...in Elora

 I made my annual trek to lovely Elora this past Saturday afternoon, and in spite of a plethora of traffic on the way up there, which appears to be endemic now anywhere in Ontario during the summer of 2024, I had a delightful albeit short visit.

Sophie and I started going to Elora early on in our time together, and in fact I recall my first visit on my own goes back to about 1986 when I recall attending a recital at the Elora Mill Inn during the annual Guelph Spring Festival.  Well, that wonderful music festival is now long gone and the Elora Mill Inn, though still there, has undergone a major overhaul and looks simply grand.

There is simply something about this little corner of Ontario that has always appealed to me...the people especially, the shops, the dining establishments, and of course the scenery.  Take a walk around the Elora Gorge next time you're in the area and you'll know what I mean.

Last year was my first visit back to attend the Elora Festival since Sophie passed away and the onset of COVID, and although emotional for me, I was glad I did it.  It felt good to be back and I felt I had returned to our second home there.

This year I anticipated my return visit early on this spring, and thanks to a kind invitation from the Elora Festival, I attended one of the four Bach-themed concerts on Saturday, dubbed "Bach Day at The Festival".  The concert I chose to attend was J.S. Bach's Long Walk in the Snow, a 1:30 performance at the cosy St. John's Anglican Church in the heart of the town.  This is the home church for the Elora Singers the rest of the year as well.

This concert was more or less a follow-up to last season's performance that featured Bach's music and stories, told with great wit and wisdom by CBC Music host Tom Allen.  Last year appeared to me to be based a bit more on fact; this year it seemed a good dose of "what ifs" and "we can only surmise" peppered the narrative offered by Allen.

No matter.  As always, it was informative, entertaining and well worth our time.  Tom Allen is a master story-teller and to hear him in person rather than on the radio is always a joy.

His supporting cast of musicians were up to the task of entertaining the near capacity audience admirably, with several laughing along with the audience at some of Allen's clever lines.

There was a nice blend of updated and traditional Bach here, covering a formative period in the young composer's life as he was finding his way in the world, both musically and personally.  How much of the story-line is actually true is up to the listener of course, but the journey was an enjoyable one.

The musicians were comprised of Dylan Bell on bass, Lori Gemmell, former principal harpist with the now defunct K-W Symphony, Rebekah Wolkstein on violin and Suba Sankaran as lead vocalist,  Suba's voice and stage presence are both wonderful, and it was a joy to hear both her and her musical friends have a bit of fun with music by a master musician.

The final weekend of this year's Elora Festival is set to get underway starting tonight, with all four of the final concerts taking place at the spacious and acoustically-sound Gambrel Barn on the edge of town.  Tonight beginning at 6:30 the Elora Festival Barn Dance will be held, tomorrow night at 8 pm it will be a concert entitled Talbot:  Path of Miracles, Friday night at 7:30 will be Constantinople: A Filetta, and Saturday night at 7:30 the Festival closes with a rousing performance of Carl Orff's ever-popular Carmina Burana.

For more information and tickets, go to www.elorafestival.ca.  It should be a great closing weekend!

Thanks to everyone at the Festival for allowing me the pleasure of returning to the musical fold again this year, and here's to an even more successful 46th season next July.

Have a great weekend!

July 17th, 2024.