It seems unusual to be writing about a Shaw Festival show this late in the season, but for unforeseen reasons this past weekend was the first opportunity to attend a Shaw performance this year. I am happy to report the wait was well worth it!
Although the so-called 'flagship musical' Me And My Girl opened in late May, seeing it this late in the season actually has some advantages: firstly, the show runs like a finely tuned Maserati. Nothing goes wrong and not a single bad note to be found anywhere. Secondly, there was not an empty seat to be found in the house at the large Festival Theatre at last Sunday's matinee. That cannot always be said early in the season as shows are staking out their territory for audience's affections.
Me And My Girl is a 1937 musical all the rage in pre-wartime England that faded from the spotlight somewhat until Stephen Fry revised the book for a 1985 revival of the show, updating things quite nicely. The original book and lyrics were by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber, with music by Noel Gay, a popular composer of the light-music genre back in the day.
Oh sure, some of the gag lines are just as bad as they were in 1937 - you can't change tradition too much, you know - but other than that, this is a vintage musical wearing a snappy new suit and freshly shined shoes. And wearing a hat, as in the Act II opening number "The Sun Has Got His Hat On."
That's one of the popular songs not in the original show, and the production makes the most of the moment with comic star Kyle Blair as Gerald Bolingbroke leading the ensemble in full cricket gear to kick off the second half.
Two other popular numbers added also make you wonder why they were not in the show from the very beginning: Noel Gay's ever-popular The Lambeth Walk closing out Act One and the sentimental ballad Leaning On a Lamp Post, sung by star Michael Therriault as cockney bumpkin Bill.
What's that, you say? Michael Therriault from the Stratford Festival? Yes it is, and without a doubt Michael was the first big "get" for new Shaw Festival Artistic Director Timothy Carroll. We met up with Michael at one of the Foster Festival performances at the PAC this summer and he genuinely seemed to be happy to be down in Niagara for a change this year.
Therriault is both charming and exceedingly funny as the cockney Bill, a long-lost son of a wealthy British lord who is set to assume duties as the head of the Hereford Estate, providing he meets with the approval of executors of the estate, played with great hilarity by Shaw stalwarts Sharry Flett and Ric Reid.
There is little more to the thin plot here: just enter the obligatory cockney girl-friend of Bill played with great charm and warmth by Kristi Frank who threatens to throw an ill-timed wrench into the proceedings by wanting to marry her man no matter what. But alas, they might be able to smooth over one cockney to fill a need; Bill is told he will have to marry 'up' in order to keep up appearances.
Enter complication number two: Elodie Gillett as the gold-digging Lady Jacqueline Carstone who has her eye on the prize and wants Bill, warts and all, for herself.
That's about all you need to know about the story here. Basically it's boy has girl, boy risks losing girl as he moves up in the world, boy struggles to keep said girl while all around him work against him, boy finally winds up with a new and improved version of his girl after all. What more do you need to know?
Sure it is well-trodden ground here, but hey, you are not expecting Saint Joan when you enter the theatre this time and as such, it would be hard to find fault with this show.
Indeed, the last two seasons have seen the big musical not hit the bullseye when it comes to ticket sales, so perhaps playing it safe this time around was as much a sound financial decision as an artistic one. Carroll and Company need not worry though. The full house on Sunday is proof they scored a winner with this show and that gives them some breathing room for next season.
The other notes on the show involve the exceptional work of Ashlie Corcoran, making her directorial debut at Shaw with this show, and the tasteful yet evocative sets and costumes designed by Drew Facey and Sue LePage, respectfully.
There was a sad note during the run, as the Festival had to announce the untimely passing of ensemble member Jonah McIntosh not long after the opening. He was replaced by Stewart Adam McKensy who stepped into the role on short notice and never looked back.
You won't leave the theatre with any more answers to life's questions than when you entered. But you will leave with the melody of The Lambeth Walk dancing in your head for days to come, and that is not a bad thing, really.
Me And My Girl rates a strong 4 out of 4 stars, and continues at the Festival Theatre until October 15th. For tickets, call the Shaw box office or go to www.shawfest.com to order yours.
Have a great week!
September 27th, 2017.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Friday, August 11, 2017
Foster Festival finale a fun, fitting way to end Season Two
So Wednesday afternoon of this week my far better half and I took shelter from the heat and the sun at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre as we caught the third and final Norm Foster play in the festival that bears his name. The play, Lunenburg, is a world premiere and well worth your time before it closes next week.
Norm as you probably know is arguably Canada's most successful playwright ever, having produced oh, about 150 plays or so since the whole thing started with The Melville Boys back in 1984. But until last year there was not a festival devoted to his creative genius.
That all changed when Emily Oriold, Executive Director and Patricia Vanstone, Artistic Director, decided the brand-spanking new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines would be the perfect venue for the new venture. They approached Norm Foster and he agreed, no doubt feeling humbled at the prospect of a festival devoted to his works.
It's true what they say that "All good things come to those who wait" as those who have waited for just such a festival are being rewarded with some exceptional theatre for their summertime pleasure.
There were two world premieres this season, the first opening the second season back in June. Screwball Comedy was a hit out of the gate, although I wrote at the time I didn't really think it was his best work. Following a presentation of an older Foster play, Old Love in July, the second world premiere opened last week and it is vintage Norm Foster. Like a rose wine with a fresh bouquet...
Okay maybe that's a bit much but hey, I was in a good mood after the performance this week. And with good reason.
Lunenburg is set, of course, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and offers up a tale of love both old and new, betrayal, mystery and of course, plenty of comedy. It involves two American visitors, Natalie and Iris, with Yankee drawl in full flight, coming to visit the Maritime home of Iris's late husband.
Iris is in mourning, of course, at the loss of her husband of four years but nothing could prepare her for what she discovers upon her arrival. Thanks to talkative next-door neighbour Charlie Butler, Iris discovers she has been "the other woman" in a relationship that saw her late husband sharing his bed and life with not one but two wives.
The fact he would spend half the month with Iris and the other half of the month outside the country in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia never seemed to bother her; she just assumed he had business dealings outside the country every month. Oh he had business all right...but let's not let get too far ahead of the story here...
You see, Iris's dear, departed husband was in fact leading a double life. The news courtesy of neighbour Charlie leaves Iris thunderstruck.
While all that is going on, things start 'going on' between Iris' friend Natalie and neighbour Charlie. A recurring gag sees them in a passionate embrace just as poor old Iris happens on the scene trying to deal with her situation. Darned if you can't fall in love while trying to help your best friend through an emotional crisis.
There are but three roles in this play, and all three characters are created for the first time by the exceptional cast assembled by director Vanstone. Melanie Janzen, returning after a great debut last season in Here Along the Flight Path, plays supportive friend Natalie Whitaker. The dumbstruck wife is played by Shaw Festival alumnus Catherine McGregor, while another Shaw stalwart Peter Krantz appears as the neighbour Charlie Butler.
Janzen is the madcap sidekick everyone loves to watch. Following in the footsteps of such great television second bananas as Valerie Harper and Vivian Vance, Janzen has impeccable comic timing and knows just when to stop before going too far. In every respect she is a joy to watch.
As the wife Iris, Catherine McGregor is both funny and sad, dealing with such tremendous loss and with shock at the revelations awaiting her arrival. Although the central character in the play, McGregor wisely allows the two budding lovers to steal the spotlight more than once and run with it. She needs the support, sure, but isn't insecure enough to remain on her own during the day while the two 'lovebirds' go sight-seeing together.
The real pleasure in this production is seeing Shaw veteran Peter Krantz create the role of Charlie. He has an innocent streak in him, but deep down inside all he really wants is another chance to "charm the ass off" a woman. He darn near succeeds in that regard early on, but we are left hanging until the end to see if the charm wears off or not.
I have lamented in the past Krantz interpretations of characters at Shaw, but here he seems much more at ease in the role. He spoke with my esteemed colleague John Law recently and explained it was a new experience for him to create a new role rather than offer up his interpretation of a role many before him have already made their mark on.
He hits the perfect balance here, so Peter has nothing to worry about. He is both charming and a little devilish at the same time as Charlie. No wonder Natalie is swept off her feet!
Lunenburg is far and away the strongest play of the season and a great way to end the season, too. It sets the scene for an even better Foster Festival next year, when once again there will be two world premieres.
You still have time to catch Lunenburg. It plays through this weekend as well as Wednesday through Friday of next week at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. For tickets and information, go to www.fosterfestival.com or call the box office at 905-688-0722.
The Foster Festival is now firmly entrenched in our summertime entertainment schedules. If you have yet to determine if it should be included in yours, this production is the strongest argument in the affirmative yet.
Have a great weekend!
August 11th, 2017.
Norm as you probably know is arguably Canada's most successful playwright ever, having produced oh, about 150 plays or so since the whole thing started with The Melville Boys back in 1984. But until last year there was not a festival devoted to his creative genius.
That all changed when Emily Oriold, Executive Director and Patricia Vanstone, Artistic Director, decided the brand-spanking new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines would be the perfect venue for the new venture. They approached Norm Foster and he agreed, no doubt feeling humbled at the prospect of a festival devoted to his works.
It's true what they say that "All good things come to those who wait" as those who have waited for just such a festival are being rewarded with some exceptional theatre for their summertime pleasure.
There were two world premieres this season, the first opening the second season back in June. Screwball Comedy was a hit out of the gate, although I wrote at the time I didn't really think it was his best work. Following a presentation of an older Foster play, Old Love in July, the second world premiere opened last week and it is vintage Norm Foster. Like a rose wine with a fresh bouquet...
Okay maybe that's a bit much but hey, I was in a good mood after the performance this week. And with good reason.
Lunenburg is set, of course, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and offers up a tale of love both old and new, betrayal, mystery and of course, plenty of comedy. It involves two American visitors, Natalie and Iris, with Yankee drawl in full flight, coming to visit the Maritime home of Iris's late husband.
Iris is in mourning, of course, at the loss of her husband of four years but nothing could prepare her for what she discovers upon her arrival. Thanks to talkative next-door neighbour Charlie Butler, Iris discovers she has been "the other woman" in a relationship that saw her late husband sharing his bed and life with not one but two wives.
The fact he would spend half the month with Iris and the other half of the month outside the country in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia never seemed to bother her; she just assumed he had business dealings outside the country every month. Oh he had business all right...but let's not let get too far ahead of the story here...
You see, Iris's dear, departed husband was in fact leading a double life. The news courtesy of neighbour Charlie leaves Iris thunderstruck.
While all that is going on, things start 'going on' between Iris' friend Natalie and neighbour Charlie. A recurring gag sees them in a passionate embrace just as poor old Iris happens on the scene trying to deal with her situation. Darned if you can't fall in love while trying to help your best friend through an emotional crisis.
There are but three roles in this play, and all three characters are created for the first time by the exceptional cast assembled by director Vanstone. Melanie Janzen, returning after a great debut last season in Here Along the Flight Path, plays supportive friend Natalie Whitaker. The dumbstruck wife is played by Shaw Festival alumnus Catherine McGregor, while another Shaw stalwart Peter Krantz appears as the neighbour Charlie Butler.
Janzen is the madcap sidekick everyone loves to watch. Following in the footsteps of such great television second bananas as Valerie Harper and Vivian Vance, Janzen has impeccable comic timing and knows just when to stop before going too far. In every respect she is a joy to watch.
As the wife Iris, Catherine McGregor is both funny and sad, dealing with such tremendous loss and with shock at the revelations awaiting her arrival. Although the central character in the play, McGregor wisely allows the two budding lovers to steal the spotlight more than once and run with it. She needs the support, sure, but isn't insecure enough to remain on her own during the day while the two 'lovebirds' go sight-seeing together.
The real pleasure in this production is seeing Shaw veteran Peter Krantz create the role of Charlie. He has an innocent streak in him, but deep down inside all he really wants is another chance to "charm the ass off" a woman. He darn near succeeds in that regard early on, but we are left hanging until the end to see if the charm wears off or not.
I have lamented in the past Krantz interpretations of characters at Shaw, but here he seems much more at ease in the role. He spoke with my esteemed colleague John Law recently and explained it was a new experience for him to create a new role rather than offer up his interpretation of a role many before him have already made their mark on.
He hits the perfect balance here, so Peter has nothing to worry about. He is both charming and a little devilish at the same time as Charlie. No wonder Natalie is swept off her feet!
Lunenburg is far and away the strongest play of the season and a great way to end the season, too. It sets the scene for an even better Foster Festival next year, when once again there will be two world premieres.
You still have time to catch Lunenburg. It plays through this weekend as well as Wednesday through Friday of next week at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. For tickets and information, go to www.fosterfestival.com or call the box office at 905-688-0722.
The Foster Festival is now firmly entrenched in our summertime entertainment schedules. If you have yet to determine if it should be included in yours, this production is the strongest argument in the affirmative yet.
Have a great weekend!
August 11th, 2017.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Irish star Mary Black coming to Midland, Ontario this coming Monday night
I can't say I have written much in this space about Midland, Ontario, although I do have a connection to the city. Back in the 60s I remember going to visit relatives who lived in Midland at the time; I can't remember just where in the city they were, but I still vividly remember a rainy day we all gathered at the house for a family affair and my aunt fell going down the steps when leaving and broke her hip. She ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance that day, which I will never forget.
Okay, not the greatest memory to have of Midland, I admit, and as such I am probably due for a return visit if for no other reason than to come and go without the aid of an ambulance in either direction. But it won't be this weekend as plans have already been made, unfortunately.
But if you still have time on your hands and feel the urge to hit the open road for a trip up north, Midland is as good a place as any to visit this weekend, or any other weekend for that matter. Besides, celebrating all we have to enjoy in Ontario during the country's 150th anniversary celebrations is not such a bad idea, is it?
This Monday evening, being the holiday Monday or Simcoe Day if you want to be more formal about it, Irish singing star Mary Black makes her only Canadian appearance on her final North American tour. The concert will be at the Midland Cultural Centre beginning at 8 pm.
Mary Black has tried to retire from touring before, but the offers to continue performing keep coming in, so what's an established working musical legend to do? Keep going, at least for a little while longer. The tour coincides with the 30th anniversary re-issue of the album By The Time It Gets Dark in 1987.
Black herself says it is hard to believe it has been 30 years since that album was first released, especially since it always was one of her favourites. To celebrate the anniversary Black and her producers took the old 24-track tapes to be "baked", a process to preserve them, which allowed the team to then do a complete remix and remaster of the original album.
The original release of that album along with her first solo album, the largely pop-oriented Without the Fanfare resulted in Black being named Best Female Artist in the Irish Rock Music Awards Poll for two consecutive years in 1987 and '88.
It was a scant two years later her groundbreaking album No Frontiers took the international music scene by storm, establishing Black as a major concert draw in North America as well as elsewhere in the world. The recording climbed to the Top 20 of the New Adult Contemporary chart in the United States and also became a top seller back home in Ireland. In all Black has recorded and released 11 studio albums, the last being back in 2012.
Prior to releasing her self-titled debut album in 1982, which made it to the Top Five on the Irish album charts and won the Irish Independent Arts Award for Music, Black spent many years performing with her brother and sister in nightclubs in and around Dublin. She also spent time performing with a folk group named General Humbert.
So Mary Black is by no means an overnight sensation. She has long since established herself as a top-calibre international artist equally at home singing traditional Irish folk tunes as well as more contemporary blues, rock, jazz and even country music. And she will bring all of that and more to Midland's Cultural Centre this coming Monday evening.
Opening for Mary Black this Monday will be rising young artist Roisin O, one of Irelands more promising young up and coming artists.
The doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8; for tickets go to www.midlandculturalcentre.com or call 1-705-527-4420.
Have a great holiday weekend!
August 3rd, 2017.
Okay, not the greatest memory to have of Midland, I admit, and as such I am probably due for a return visit if for no other reason than to come and go without the aid of an ambulance in either direction. But it won't be this weekend as plans have already been made, unfortunately.
But if you still have time on your hands and feel the urge to hit the open road for a trip up north, Midland is as good a place as any to visit this weekend, or any other weekend for that matter. Besides, celebrating all we have to enjoy in Ontario during the country's 150th anniversary celebrations is not such a bad idea, is it?
This Monday evening, being the holiday Monday or Simcoe Day if you want to be more formal about it, Irish singing star Mary Black makes her only Canadian appearance on her final North American tour. The concert will be at the Midland Cultural Centre beginning at 8 pm.
Mary Black has tried to retire from touring before, but the offers to continue performing keep coming in, so what's an established working musical legend to do? Keep going, at least for a little while longer. The tour coincides with the 30th anniversary re-issue of the album By The Time It Gets Dark in 1987.
Black herself says it is hard to believe it has been 30 years since that album was first released, especially since it always was one of her favourites. To celebrate the anniversary Black and her producers took the old 24-track tapes to be "baked", a process to preserve them, which allowed the team to then do a complete remix and remaster of the original album.
The original release of that album along with her first solo album, the largely pop-oriented Without the Fanfare resulted in Black being named Best Female Artist in the Irish Rock Music Awards Poll for two consecutive years in 1987 and '88.
It was a scant two years later her groundbreaking album No Frontiers took the international music scene by storm, establishing Black as a major concert draw in North America as well as elsewhere in the world. The recording climbed to the Top 20 of the New Adult Contemporary chart in the United States and also became a top seller back home in Ireland. In all Black has recorded and released 11 studio albums, the last being back in 2012.
Prior to releasing her self-titled debut album in 1982, which made it to the Top Five on the Irish album charts and won the Irish Independent Arts Award for Music, Black spent many years performing with her brother and sister in nightclubs in and around Dublin. She also spent time performing with a folk group named General Humbert.
So Mary Black is by no means an overnight sensation. She has long since established herself as a top-calibre international artist equally at home singing traditional Irish folk tunes as well as more contemporary blues, rock, jazz and even country music. And she will bring all of that and more to Midland's Cultural Centre this coming Monday evening.
Opening for Mary Black this Monday will be rising young artist Roisin O, one of Irelands more promising young up and coming artists.
The doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8; for tickets go to www.midlandculturalcentre.com or call 1-705-527-4420.
Have a great holiday weekend!
August 3rd, 2017.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Second Foster Festival production of the second season a winner
Last evening my far better half and I walked downtown to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre for the second production of year two for The Foster Festival, Norm Foster's Old Love. Bookended by a couple of world premieres this season, the middle production did not disappoint.
Old Love is what you might call an "oldie but goodie" in the Foster canon, and an easy choice for almost any summer theatre company as it usually employs just two actors portraying a number of roles. That being said, if you go with the two-actor option you had best be sure you have a formidable duo making up the cast or else the whole thing could fall flat.
Director Patricia Vanstone chose this riskier route rather than employ several actors to fill the roles, and without question it was a wise decision. The theatrical high-wire act for this production utilizes the considerable talents of real-life husband-and-wife team of Booth Savage and Janet-Laine Green.
Savage and Green are comfortable enough with each other after all these years they can easily and fluidly move from role to role without much effort at all. With few props to add to the characterizations, they bring many nuances to their various roles that add important definition to each part so as not to confuse the audience.
The simple yet effective set by Peter Hartwell and sympathetic lighting by David Tkach combine to further provide the fluid movement from character to character on stage. Together the whole makes for a satisfying evening of quality theatre.
The story revolves around Bud, a hard-working newbie at a company owned by Molly's husband Frank. At least he was a newbie 25 years ago when he first set eyes on Molly at the company Christmas party. The impression Molly made on Bud was obviously significant because he thought of her off and on for many years thereafter, even during his lengthy marriage to master-promoter Kitty.
Fast-forward those 25 years and we find now-divorced Molly grieving at the graveside for ex-husband Frank, when who should also appear but Bud. She didn't remember him, but oh did he remember her. So much so he made a special effort to be there that day for the funeral and in his own clumsy way, try to put the move on Molly while Frank was barely cold in the box underground.
Therein lies the plot for Old Love. Bud tries so very hard to get Molly to take a chance on love again after all these years and Molly not wanting any part of it, at least for now. The witty repartee between the two is classic Norm Foster, combining the perfect balance of seriousness and frivolity according to the situation.
As mentioned earlier, it takes a special couple to pull off the multiple roles and with but a few verbal mis-steps by Green last evening, the chemistry between the two worked flawlessly. They appear at times acerbic, sentimental, funny and even brutally honest with each other as the scene allows.
Old Love wraps up its run at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre tomorrow evening, so there is still time to snag some tickets if you have not already done so. Go online to www.fosterfestival.com or call the box office at 905-688-0722.
Next week, the final production of the season opens, and it is the second world premiere for the season, Lunenburg, running from August 2nd to the 18th. It should be a great way to end an already successful season for The Foster Festival.
Have a great weekend!
July 27th, 2017.
Old Love is what you might call an "oldie but goodie" in the Foster canon, and an easy choice for almost any summer theatre company as it usually employs just two actors portraying a number of roles. That being said, if you go with the two-actor option you had best be sure you have a formidable duo making up the cast or else the whole thing could fall flat.
Director Patricia Vanstone chose this riskier route rather than employ several actors to fill the roles, and without question it was a wise decision. The theatrical high-wire act for this production utilizes the considerable talents of real-life husband-and-wife team of Booth Savage and Janet-Laine Green.
Savage and Green are comfortable enough with each other after all these years they can easily and fluidly move from role to role without much effort at all. With few props to add to the characterizations, they bring many nuances to their various roles that add important definition to each part so as not to confuse the audience.
The simple yet effective set by Peter Hartwell and sympathetic lighting by David Tkach combine to further provide the fluid movement from character to character on stage. Together the whole makes for a satisfying evening of quality theatre.
The story revolves around Bud, a hard-working newbie at a company owned by Molly's husband Frank. At least he was a newbie 25 years ago when he first set eyes on Molly at the company Christmas party. The impression Molly made on Bud was obviously significant because he thought of her off and on for many years thereafter, even during his lengthy marriage to master-promoter Kitty.
Fast-forward those 25 years and we find now-divorced Molly grieving at the graveside for ex-husband Frank, when who should also appear but Bud. She didn't remember him, but oh did he remember her. So much so he made a special effort to be there that day for the funeral and in his own clumsy way, try to put the move on Molly while Frank was barely cold in the box underground.
Therein lies the plot for Old Love. Bud tries so very hard to get Molly to take a chance on love again after all these years and Molly not wanting any part of it, at least for now. The witty repartee between the two is classic Norm Foster, combining the perfect balance of seriousness and frivolity according to the situation.
As mentioned earlier, it takes a special couple to pull off the multiple roles and with but a few verbal mis-steps by Green last evening, the chemistry between the two worked flawlessly. They appear at times acerbic, sentimental, funny and even brutally honest with each other as the scene allows.
Old Love wraps up its run at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre tomorrow evening, so there is still time to snag some tickets if you have not already done so. Go online to www.fosterfestival.com or call the box office at 905-688-0722.
Next week, the final production of the season opens, and it is the second world premiere for the season, Lunenburg, running from August 2nd to the 18th. It should be a great way to end an already successful season for The Foster Festival.
Have a great weekend!
July 27th, 2017.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
A Tale of Two Music Festivals - Part 2
Last week I wrote about the start of the two music festivals in Ontario I have had the pleasure of attending over the years, and given the fact I have enjoyed both on the weekend, I thought a recap and update of each festival might be in order this week.
On Friday evening I attended the Opening Gala for Music Niagara at the acoustically lovely St. Mark's Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the concert title A Musical Kaleidoscope proved to be quite accurate.
The performance opened with a wonderfully creative reading of Vivaldi's ever-popular Four Seasons, although the lead instrument was not the violin in this case but rather the harp. It brought an interesting bit of colour and renewed interest in this very familiar work, making it sound fresh all over again. The harpist, Floraleda, commanded attention throughout the performance for her fine playing.
The world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Barbara Croall's Bimaawadaaso was next, and the piece was certainly intriguing. Subtitled "They travel along in a group", the piece was scored for violin, the Anishinaabe cedar flute known as the pipigwan, the Syrian national instrument known as the bozoq, voice and string quartet. The work featured two young Syrian performers who in fact were Syrian refugees who came to Canada just last year, Esmaeel Sharafadin and Rahaf Alakbani; they also performed a traditional Syrian folk song together prior to intermission.
The second half of the program was truly a stunner with a spirited performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in D minor, with the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra accompanying young violin soloist Emma Meinrenken. Emma, all of 18 years of age, was a commanding stage presence in her own right, taking control of the youthful Mendelssohn concerto from the start. A student of Artistic Director Atis Bankas, she is a graduate of the Music Niagara Performance Academy.
There is still lots of music left before the Music Niagara season wraps up August 13th with the Closing Gala at St. Mark's Church. This weekend for example, Scotch Mary perform Friday evening at 6, part of the Market in The Village event, and on Saturday there is a wine and music event scheduled for Hare Wine Co. on Highway 55 starting at 11:30 in the morning. The rest of the weekend will feature the Swiss Piano Trio Saturday evening at 7:30 at St. Mark's and Jeffrey Arthur and the Trio late Saturday evening at The Epicurean. On Sunday, Two Row Dancers & Singers perform in Simcoe Park at 12 noon and a concert entitled Get Ready to Tuba (!) happens Sunday afternoon at 3 at St. Mark's.
For full concert season details and more information on tickets, go to www.musicniagara.org or call 905-468-2172.
Meantime up in Elora, the 38th season of the Elora Festival kicked off Friday night with an Opening Gala at the Gambrel Barn recreating the popular Last Night of the Proms from England with conductor Bramwell Tovey leading The Elora Singers, Elora Festival Orchestra and The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Since I was up at Music Niagara's Opening Gala I was not able to make it up to Elora for Friday evening, but we did make it on Sunday afternoon.
One thing about the Elora Festival, they don't waste any time or space when it comes to scheduling concerts over the two-week festival. We attended the first concert of the day on Sunday at St. John's Church in the heart of town where Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin performed a 70-minute concert of mostly French and English songs, with some Spanish thrown in for good measure.
Gauvin is a spectacular vocalist and appears to be a very nice person, too. She strikes me as the type of person you would love to invite over for a family dinner and have her regale you with stories of her varied musical career. If there was a fault in the performance it was that it was simply too short.
But with scheduling being what it was, the space was needed for the next performance, the Britten Saint Nicholas Cantata scheduled for the same space at 4 pm. Indeed, we were barely out of the church before musicians started coming in to prepare for the 4 pm performance. In the evening young Canadian cellist Cameron Crozman performed at the Wellington County Museum Exhibit Hall.
Still to come, Emily D'Angelo will be heard in recital this evening at St. John's Church; tomorrow afternoon the Elora Festival Kids Camp is in full swing at 4 and a concert of Bach Magnificats is scheduled for the evening in the Gambrel Barn featuring The Elora Singers and the Trinity College Choir. Saturday Mary-Lou Falls and Peter Tiefenbach pair up for Primadonna Choralis at St. John's Church at 1 pm; the Penderecki Quartet team up with the Dave Young Trio in the same space at 3:30 pm, and Canadian musical icon Gordon Lightfoot takes to the Gambrel Barn stage at 8 pm Saturday night.
On Sunday there are three concerts scheduled, the first of which we will be attending at 2 pm at Knox Church, featuring the Bach Brandenburg Concerto Nos. 1 & 5 and the Cantata No. 140. Performers include The Elora Singers, the Elora Festival Orchestra and Artistic Director Noel Edison conducting. At 4 pm the Trinity College Choir from England performs in the Gambrel Barn featuring works by Part, Byrd, Tallis and many others, and in the evening the Wellington County Museum Exhibit Hall will be hosting the Bach Goldberg Variations scored for String Trio, featuring the Berard-Janzen Trio at 7 pm.
More performances will follow before the Elora Festival wraps up on July 30th with something called a Hymn Tasting at 4 pm at St. John's Church.
For more information on the balance of the schedule or to order tickets, go to www.elorafestival.ca or call 1-519-846-0331.
Both festivals offer up a wealth of great musical entertainment to appeal to many musical tastes, and I can't think of a better way to spend a summer afternoon or evening in either town enjoying some great music-making.
Have a great weekend!
July 20th, 2017.
On Friday evening I attended the Opening Gala for Music Niagara at the acoustically lovely St. Mark's Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the concert title A Musical Kaleidoscope proved to be quite accurate.
The performance opened with a wonderfully creative reading of Vivaldi's ever-popular Four Seasons, although the lead instrument was not the violin in this case but rather the harp. It brought an interesting bit of colour and renewed interest in this very familiar work, making it sound fresh all over again. The harpist, Floraleda, commanded attention throughout the performance for her fine playing.
The world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Barbara Croall's Bimaawadaaso was next, and the piece was certainly intriguing. Subtitled "They travel along in a group", the piece was scored for violin, the Anishinaabe cedar flute known as the pipigwan, the Syrian national instrument known as the bozoq, voice and string quartet. The work featured two young Syrian performers who in fact were Syrian refugees who came to Canada just last year, Esmaeel Sharafadin and Rahaf Alakbani; they also performed a traditional Syrian folk song together prior to intermission.
The second half of the program was truly a stunner with a spirited performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in D minor, with the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra accompanying young violin soloist Emma Meinrenken. Emma, all of 18 years of age, was a commanding stage presence in her own right, taking control of the youthful Mendelssohn concerto from the start. A student of Artistic Director Atis Bankas, she is a graduate of the Music Niagara Performance Academy.
There is still lots of music left before the Music Niagara season wraps up August 13th with the Closing Gala at St. Mark's Church. This weekend for example, Scotch Mary perform Friday evening at 6, part of the Market in The Village event, and on Saturday there is a wine and music event scheduled for Hare Wine Co. on Highway 55 starting at 11:30 in the morning. The rest of the weekend will feature the Swiss Piano Trio Saturday evening at 7:30 at St. Mark's and Jeffrey Arthur and the Trio late Saturday evening at The Epicurean. On Sunday, Two Row Dancers & Singers perform in Simcoe Park at 12 noon and a concert entitled Get Ready to Tuba (!) happens Sunday afternoon at 3 at St. Mark's.
For full concert season details and more information on tickets, go to www.musicniagara.org or call 905-468-2172.
Meantime up in Elora, the 38th season of the Elora Festival kicked off Friday night with an Opening Gala at the Gambrel Barn recreating the popular Last Night of the Proms from England with conductor Bramwell Tovey leading The Elora Singers, Elora Festival Orchestra and The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Since I was up at Music Niagara's Opening Gala I was not able to make it up to Elora for Friday evening, but we did make it on Sunday afternoon.
One thing about the Elora Festival, they don't waste any time or space when it comes to scheduling concerts over the two-week festival. We attended the first concert of the day on Sunday at St. John's Church in the heart of town where Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin performed a 70-minute concert of mostly French and English songs, with some Spanish thrown in for good measure.
Gauvin is a spectacular vocalist and appears to be a very nice person, too. She strikes me as the type of person you would love to invite over for a family dinner and have her regale you with stories of her varied musical career. If there was a fault in the performance it was that it was simply too short.
But with scheduling being what it was, the space was needed for the next performance, the Britten Saint Nicholas Cantata scheduled for the same space at 4 pm. Indeed, we were barely out of the church before musicians started coming in to prepare for the 4 pm performance. In the evening young Canadian cellist Cameron Crozman performed at the Wellington County Museum Exhibit Hall.
Still to come, Emily D'Angelo will be heard in recital this evening at St. John's Church; tomorrow afternoon the Elora Festival Kids Camp is in full swing at 4 and a concert of Bach Magnificats is scheduled for the evening in the Gambrel Barn featuring The Elora Singers and the Trinity College Choir. Saturday Mary-Lou Falls and Peter Tiefenbach pair up for Primadonna Choralis at St. John's Church at 1 pm; the Penderecki Quartet team up with the Dave Young Trio in the same space at 3:30 pm, and Canadian musical icon Gordon Lightfoot takes to the Gambrel Barn stage at 8 pm Saturday night.
On Sunday there are three concerts scheduled, the first of which we will be attending at 2 pm at Knox Church, featuring the Bach Brandenburg Concerto Nos. 1 & 5 and the Cantata No. 140. Performers include The Elora Singers, the Elora Festival Orchestra and Artistic Director Noel Edison conducting. At 4 pm the Trinity College Choir from England performs in the Gambrel Barn featuring works by Part, Byrd, Tallis and many others, and in the evening the Wellington County Museum Exhibit Hall will be hosting the Bach Goldberg Variations scored for String Trio, featuring the Berard-Janzen Trio at 7 pm.
More performances will follow before the Elora Festival wraps up on July 30th with something called a Hymn Tasting at 4 pm at St. John's Church.
For more information on the balance of the schedule or to order tickets, go to www.elorafestival.ca or call 1-519-846-0331.
Both festivals offer up a wealth of great musical entertainment to appeal to many musical tastes, and I can't think of a better way to spend a summer afternoon or evening in either town enjoying some great music-making.
Have a great weekend!
July 20th, 2017.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
A tale of two Ontario music festivals
It's July and for many that means the summer music festival season is in full swing in Ontario. We are lucky in these parts to have so many great music festivals to choose from, most less than a day's drive away for a quick summertime getaway.
Whether you choose Parry Sound, Ottawa, Hamilton or Stratford, for example, you are guaranteed some great classical and jazz music for several weeks at a stretch. I have had the pleasure of visiting several of the summer music festivals in the province over the years, but two of my favourites are not far away and both start their music-making this very weekend.
Right in our own backyards, Music Niagara has quietly build a solid reputation as the go-to music destination in Niagara during July and August. Based almost entirely in the old town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Music Niagara hosts a five-week festival ranging from classical to choral, jazz to even some country from now to August 13th.
The Opening Gala concert tomorrow evening at St. Mark's Anglican Church is billed as a Musical Kaleidoscope, starting with an opening reception at 6:30 and the concert at 7:30 pm. Among the artists performing tomorrow evening will be Music Niagara Performance Academy graduate violinist Emma Meinrenken and the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra performing the ever-popular Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D Minor. Also on the programme is the world premiere of Music Niagara's Composer-in-Residence Barbara Croall's new work for violin, pipigwan, bozoq, voice and string quartet, entitled "Bimaawadaaso".
The two unusual-sounding and perhaps unheard-of instruments in that performance are of course the pipigwan, an Anishinaabe cedar flute, and the bozoq, a Syrian national instrument. Canadian newcomers Esmaeel Sharafadin is featured on the bozoq and Rahaf Alakbani is the featured vocalist.
Performances continue almost daily throughout the Festival with performances by artists as diverse as The Thorold Reed Band, clarinet virtuoso James Campbell, the Gould String Quartet, contrabassist Joel Quarrington and pianist Andre Laplante, among others.
On Sunday, August 6th a special Confederation Celebration to mark our country's Sesquicentennial will feature music from the Founding Fathers along with Canada's own Healey Willan. Performers are Jonathan Crow and Philip Chiu.
The Closing Gala on August 13th also features an all-Canadian celebration with a concert entitled All Canadian Flavours featuring crowd favourites Quartetto Gelato. The opening act will feature Quartetto Gelato accordionist Alexander Sebastian with the Gould String Quartet presenting the world premiere of a work by Canadian composer Dmitriy Varelas and his father Anatolyi Varelas entitled Taste of Freedom from String Quartet and Accordion. The new world celebrates the 225th anniversary of the first Parliament of Upper Canada and first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, who helped to abolish slavery in Canada in 1793.
There is plenty more to enjoy as Artistic Director Atis Bankas pulls out all the stops to make Music Niagara's 19th season an extra-special affair to mark our country's 150th anniversary as a nation. The quality of the music-making is top-notch and the programmes are as varied as you could possibly wish for.
Sound intriguing? Find out more by going online to www.musicniagara.org or by phone at 905-468-2172.
Meantime a short drive away will take you to another lovely small Ontario town with a big musical profile for many years, Elora just north-west of Guelph. The Elora Festival has been around exactly twice as long as Music Niagara at 38 years and all of those years have been programmed by Artistic Director Noel Edison.
I fell in love with Elora many years ago when I visited to attend a performance at the old Elora Mill Inn as part of the Guelph Spring Festival back in 1985. The Guelph Spring Festival is now history, unfortunately but the town made quite an impression on me that has lasted all these years.
When my wife and I began attending Elora Festival events about a dozen years or so ago, the love affair with the town was rekindled yet again and grown so much we can't bear to not visit the town at least once each season if not more.
This year to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary since Confederaton, Noel has programmed a spectacular multimedia show by Hugh Brewster entitled With Glowing Hearts which will feature a host of special guest artists. The performance will be on Saturday, July 29th at 7 pm in the Gambrel Barn.
But there is much to enjoy sooner than that as the Festival gets underway tomorrow night with the Opening Night Gala, Night of the Proms featuring The Elora Singers and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir joining forces with full orchestra for an unforgettable night of British classics like Rule Britannia and Elgar's First Pomp & Circumstance March. Bramwell Tovey of the Vancouver Symphony conducts the performance tomorrow night in the Gambrel Barn.
Other Festival highlights include a sold-out performance by Canada's most-acclaimed Bach interpreter since Glenn Gould, Angela Hewitt on July 15th at 1 pm at St. John's Church. I first met Angela when she won the International Bach Competition back in the 80s and I have followed her career ever since.
It was a nice bit of serendipity when, during the United States Presidential Election coverage last November I Tweeted I chose to listen to her grand recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Books One & Two instead. To my surprise she "Liked" my Tweet! How's that for social media?!
Also featured this season is Canadian singer Susan Aglukark on July 15th in the Gambrel Barn at 7 pm; soprano Karina Gauvin at St. John's Church at 2 pm on July 16th, and the Trinity College Choir in Concert at the Gambrel Barn at 4 pm on July 23rd. A real highlight for many will be a performance by Canada's iconic singer Gordon Lightfoot on July 22nd at the Gambrel Barn at 8 pm.
The Elora Festival runs only two weeks encompassing three weekends, but they always pack a lot of entertainment into the calendar. There is literally something for everyone this year to celebrate the country's Sesquicentennial. And the fact the town itself is supremely liveable and walkable is an added bonus.
For more on the Elora Festival this year, go online to www.elorafestival.ca or call 1-519-846-0331.
Have a great weekend and we'll see you at a Festival this month!
July 13th, 2017.
Whether you choose Parry Sound, Ottawa, Hamilton or Stratford, for example, you are guaranteed some great classical and jazz music for several weeks at a stretch. I have had the pleasure of visiting several of the summer music festivals in the province over the years, but two of my favourites are not far away and both start their music-making this very weekend.
Right in our own backyards, Music Niagara has quietly build a solid reputation as the go-to music destination in Niagara during July and August. Based almost entirely in the old town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Music Niagara hosts a five-week festival ranging from classical to choral, jazz to even some country from now to August 13th.
The Opening Gala concert tomorrow evening at St. Mark's Anglican Church is billed as a Musical Kaleidoscope, starting with an opening reception at 6:30 and the concert at 7:30 pm. Among the artists performing tomorrow evening will be Music Niagara Performance Academy graduate violinist Emma Meinrenken and the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra performing the ever-popular Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D Minor. Also on the programme is the world premiere of Music Niagara's Composer-in-Residence Barbara Croall's new work for violin, pipigwan, bozoq, voice and string quartet, entitled "Bimaawadaaso".
The two unusual-sounding and perhaps unheard-of instruments in that performance are of course the pipigwan, an Anishinaabe cedar flute, and the bozoq, a Syrian national instrument. Canadian newcomers Esmaeel Sharafadin is featured on the bozoq and Rahaf Alakbani is the featured vocalist.
Performances continue almost daily throughout the Festival with performances by artists as diverse as The Thorold Reed Band, clarinet virtuoso James Campbell, the Gould String Quartet, contrabassist Joel Quarrington and pianist Andre Laplante, among others.
On Sunday, August 6th a special Confederation Celebration to mark our country's Sesquicentennial will feature music from the Founding Fathers along with Canada's own Healey Willan. Performers are Jonathan Crow and Philip Chiu.
The Closing Gala on August 13th also features an all-Canadian celebration with a concert entitled All Canadian Flavours featuring crowd favourites Quartetto Gelato. The opening act will feature Quartetto Gelato accordionist Alexander Sebastian with the Gould String Quartet presenting the world premiere of a work by Canadian composer Dmitriy Varelas and his father Anatolyi Varelas entitled Taste of Freedom from String Quartet and Accordion. The new world celebrates the 225th anniversary of the first Parliament of Upper Canada and first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, who helped to abolish slavery in Canada in 1793.
There is plenty more to enjoy as Artistic Director Atis Bankas pulls out all the stops to make Music Niagara's 19th season an extra-special affair to mark our country's 150th anniversary as a nation. The quality of the music-making is top-notch and the programmes are as varied as you could possibly wish for.
Sound intriguing? Find out more by going online to www.musicniagara.org or by phone at 905-468-2172.
Meantime a short drive away will take you to another lovely small Ontario town with a big musical profile for many years, Elora just north-west of Guelph. The Elora Festival has been around exactly twice as long as Music Niagara at 38 years and all of those years have been programmed by Artistic Director Noel Edison.
I fell in love with Elora many years ago when I visited to attend a performance at the old Elora Mill Inn as part of the Guelph Spring Festival back in 1985. The Guelph Spring Festival is now history, unfortunately but the town made quite an impression on me that has lasted all these years.
When my wife and I began attending Elora Festival events about a dozen years or so ago, the love affair with the town was rekindled yet again and grown so much we can't bear to not visit the town at least once each season if not more.
This year to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary since Confederaton, Noel has programmed a spectacular multimedia show by Hugh Brewster entitled With Glowing Hearts which will feature a host of special guest artists. The performance will be on Saturday, July 29th at 7 pm in the Gambrel Barn.
But there is much to enjoy sooner than that as the Festival gets underway tomorrow night with the Opening Night Gala, Night of the Proms featuring The Elora Singers and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir joining forces with full orchestra for an unforgettable night of British classics like Rule Britannia and Elgar's First Pomp & Circumstance March. Bramwell Tovey of the Vancouver Symphony conducts the performance tomorrow night in the Gambrel Barn.
Other Festival highlights include a sold-out performance by Canada's most-acclaimed Bach interpreter since Glenn Gould, Angela Hewitt on July 15th at 1 pm at St. John's Church. I first met Angela when she won the International Bach Competition back in the 80s and I have followed her career ever since.
It was a nice bit of serendipity when, during the United States Presidential Election coverage last November I Tweeted I chose to listen to her grand recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Books One & Two instead. To my surprise she "Liked" my Tweet! How's that for social media?!
Also featured this season is Canadian singer Susan Aglukark on July 15th in the Gambrel Barn at 7 pm; soprano Karina Gauvin at St. John's Church at 2 pm on July 16th, and the Trinity College Choir in Concert at the Gambrel Barn at 4 pm on July 23rd. A real highlight for many will be a performance by Canada's iconic singer Gordon Lightfoot on July 22nd at the Gambrel Barn at 8 pm.
The Elora Festival runs only two weeks encompassing three weekends, but they always pack a lot of entertainment into the calendar. There is literally something for everyone this year to celebrate the country's Sesquicentennial. And the fact the town itself is supremely liveable and walkable is an added bonus.
For more on the Elora Festival this year, go online to www.elorafestival.ca or call 1-519-846-0331.
Have a great weekend and we'll see you at a Festival this month!
July 13th, 2017.
Friday, July 7, 2017
First show of the season at The Foster Festival closes tonight
Tonight is your last chance to catch the opening show of the second season of The Foster Festival in downtown St. Catharines, and if you have not already done so, you really should go. My far better half and I did just that on Wednesday night, so I thought I would offer up a few thoughts on the production before it closes.
As you no doubt know by now, The Foster Festival celebrates Canada's greatest living playwright, Norm Foster, who rarely goes through a summer without several of his plays in production somewhere in Canada on the summer theatre circuit. But until last season there was not an entire festival dedicated to his theatrical genius.
Festival co-founders Patricia Vanstone and Emily Oriold changed all that when they announced in June of 2015 they were starting The Foster Festival, set to launch last season at the brand new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines. It was a gamble of course, hoping locals would come downtown on a summer afternoon or evening for a performance of a funny play and maybe spend a few bucks while down there on dinner before or after the show.
Last year got off to a bit of a slow start, I think, as people had to warm to the notion of not going to Niagara-on-the-Lake for their summer theatre fix, but at least the novelty of the brand spanking new theatre space would work in their favour during the first season.
This year, expectations are raised after the successful first year and the novelty of the new space has now worn off. So, are we in a better position than we were this time last year?
The answer is an unequivocal vote in the affirmative.
Hey, we may not have Shaw, but we have Foster. And if I had a choice for who I would want to see at an after-theatre party, I think Foster would be way more fun.
Norm Foster has a way of taking everyday situations and making them funnier. He knows human nature better than most and translates that into plays in which we often see ourselves and in so doing, allows us to discover that in fact, we as Canadians can be a pretty funny lot.
Having said all that, the first of two World Premieres this season is vintage Norm Foster sure, but left this reporter a little disappointed at the end. Oh sure, Screwball Comedy is funny all right, but I don't think it's his best work, really.
Not taking anything away from the production, which is magnificent, but this comedy doesn't hold a mirror up to us quite as much as past successes do, and as such I found the comedy quotient not quite as high as we are accustomed to.
Screwball Comedy is set in 1938, an era when jobs were hard to come by for many and even more so for women, especially in the male-dominated world of journalism. Back then the so-called 'ink-stained wretches' were almost always hard-nosed, hard-drinking males and adding a woman to the mix would simply cramp their style.
That is exactly what Foster set out to do by introducing Mary Hayes to us: she is the grand-daughter of legendary newspaperman Charlie Hayes, we're told, so her journalistic background is solid even if her work experience is sparse. Hayes applies for a job at the local newspaper and comes face-to-face with crusty newspaperman Bosco, who after initial reticence decides to give Mary a chance.
Bosco decides to pit young Mary up against the paper's star reporter, the aforementioned hard-nosed newspaper reporter Jeff Kincaid. They would both cover an important society event involving the female owner of the paper and may the best story teller win.
From there we are introduced to a host of characters as both Mary and Jeff uncover more details about the society wedding that is planned, and they discover a lot about themselves, too. For one thing, they discover Kincaid may not be quite as hard-nosed as he makes himself out to be.
In the end, one of them will win and either get the job or get to keep his job. I won't give away the ending here, but suffice it to say both players in this exercise get some good lines and have a lot of fun bringing the story home, as it were.
The cast assembled by director Vanstone could not be better. Cosette Derome as Mary is winsome, a little bit sexy (this is 1938, after all) and street smart. Her adversary cum love interest Jeff Kincaid is played by Darren Keay, who returns from a successful run last season at the Festival. Kincaid is full of himself, sure, but has a vulnerability young Mary mines for all its worth.
The rest of the cast, all two of them, play the remainder of the seven characters. If nothing else, that tells you something about the quality of the cast assembled here. Kevin Hare displays exceptional comic timing as Bosco, Reginald, Peter and Chauncey, and Eliza-Jane Scott gets lots of mileage out of her comic turns as Jones, Delores and Gloria. From four actors we have nine finely defined and very funny characters.
Peter Hartwell's set is an evocative art deco marvel of economy and the lighting of Chris Malkowski is just right.
Based on the quality of the first season, my wife and I decided to become season subscribers this year and we are very happy to be so. This is exactly the quality of theatre we need to bring people downtown in the summertime. Not just theatre-goers per se, but those who have never experienced live theatre on this level before.
The Shaw Festival has nothing to worry about here: they will still be a destination in Niagara for quality theatre as they have been for years. But The Foster Festival is the new upstart in town, into a second season and doing just fine, thank you very much.
Last performance of Screwball Comedy is tonight at 8 pm at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. If you have plans, change them. If you don't have plans, you owe it to yourself to go. It will be time well spent laughing with like-minded souls.
Call the box office for tickets or go online to www.fosterfestival.com.
Have a great weekend!
July 7th, 2017.
As you no doubt know by now, The Foster Festival celebrates Canada's greatest living playwright, Norm Foster, who rarely goes through a summer without several of his plays in production somewhere in Canada on the summer theatre circuit. But until last season there was not an entire festival dedicated to his theatrical genius.
Festival co-founders Patricia Vanstone and Emily Oriold changed all that when they announced in June of 2015 they were starting The Foster Festival, set to launch last season at the brand new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines. It was a gamble of course, hoping locals would come downtown on a summer afternoon or evening for a performance of a funny play and maybe spend a few bucks while down there on dinner before or after the show.
Last year got off to a bit of a slow start, I think, as people had to warm to the notion of not going to Niagara-on-the-Lake for their summer theatre fix, but at least the novelty of the brand spanking new theatre space would work in their favour during the first season.
This year, expectations are raised after the successful first year and the novelty of the new space has now worn off. So, are we in a better position than we were this time last year?
The answer is an unequivocal vote in the affirmative.
Hey, we may not have Shaw, but we have Foster. And if I had a choice for who I would want to see at an after-theatre party, I think Foster would be way more fun.
Norm Foster has a way of taking everyday situations and making them funnier. He knows human nature better than most and translates that into plays in which we often see ourselves and in so doing, allows us to discover that in fact, we as Canadians can be a pretty funny lot.
Having said all that, the first of two World Premieres this season is vintage Norm Foster sure, but left this reporter a little disappointed at the end. Oh sure, Screwball Comedy is funny all right, but I don't think it's his best work, really.
Not taking anything away from the production, which is magnificent, but this comedy doesn't hold a mirror up to us quite as much as past successes do, and as such I found the comedy quotient not quite as high as we are accustomed to.
Screwball Comedy is set in 1938, an era when jobs were hard to come by for many and even more so for women, especially in the male-dominated world of journalism. Back then the so-called 'ink-stained wretches' were almost always hard-nosed, hard-drinking males and adding a woman to the mix would simply cramp their style.
That is exactly what Foster set out to do by introducing Mary Hayes to us: she is the grand-daughter of legendary newspaperman Charlie Hayes, we're told, so her journalistic background is solid even if her work experience is sparse. Hayes applies for a job at the local newspaper and comes face-to-face with crusty newspaperman Bosco, who after initial reticence decides to give Mary a chance.
Bosco decides to pit young Mary up against the paper's star reporter, the aforementioned hard-nosed newspaper reporter Jeff Kincaid. They would both cover an important society event involving the female owner of the paper and may the best story teller win.
From there we are introduced to a host of characters as both Mary and Jeff uncover more details about the society wedding that is planned, and they discover a lot about themselves, too. For one thing, they discover Kincaid may not be quite as hard-nosed as he makes himself out to be.
In the end, one of them will win and either get the job or get to keep his job. I won't give away the ending here, but suffice it to say both players in this exercise get some good lines and have a lot of fun bringing the story home, as it were.
The cast assembled by director Vanstone could not be better. Cosette Derome as Mary is winsome, a little bit sexy (this is 1938, after all) and street smart. Her adversary cum love interest Jeff Kincaid is played by Darren Keay, who returns from a successful run last season at the Festival. Kincaid is full of himself, sure, but has a vulnerability young Mary mines for all its worth.
The rest of the cast, all two of them, play the remainder of the seven characters. If nothing else, that tells you something about the quality of the cast assembled here. Kevin Hare displays exceptional comic timing as Bosco, Reginald, Peter and Chauncey, and Eliza-Jane Scott gets lots of mileage out of her comic turns as Jones, Delores and Gloria. From four actors we have nine finely defined and very funny characters.
Peter Hartwell's set is an evocative art deco marvel of economy and the lighting of Chris Malkowski is just right.
Based on the quality of the first season, my wife and I decided to become season subscribers this year and we are very happy to be so. This is exactly the quality of theatre we need to bring people downtown in the summertime. Not just theatre-goers per se, but those who have never experienced live theatre on this level before.
The Shaw Festival has nothing to worry about here: they will still be a destination in Niagara for quality theatre as they have been for years. But The Foster Festival is the new upstart in town, into a second season and doing just fine, thank you very much.
Last performance of Screwball Comedy is tonight at 8 pm at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. If you have plans, change them. If you don't have plans, you owe it to yourself to go. It will be time well spent laughing with like-minded souls.
Call the box office for tickets or go online to www.fosterfestival.com.
Have a great weekend!
July 7th, 2017.
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