Paul Ciufo nominated for Governor General’s Literary Award

Congratulations to Grand Bend’s Paul Ciufo, who was nominated Tuesday for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, according to the Canadian Press.

Winners will be announced November 18 in Montreal.

The Drawer Boy - A Funny and Endearing Visit to the Farm

The Drawer Boy
By Michael Healey
Directed by Gina Wilkinson
Performed by Oliver Dennis, Brendan Gall, John Jarvis
Grand Theatre Production
Grand Theatre, London
October 21 to November 8, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

The Drawer Boy, which just opened at London’s Grand Theatre, is a challenging production. There’s comedy, but behind the laughs is a heart-warming love story, with an unusual twist to it. To bring all these elements together takes a talented cast. Thankfully, the Grand has provided three solid performers.
The Drawer Boy is based on an actual event. In the seventies, a Toronto theatre company sent a group of young actors to stay with farmers in Huron County to create a play about the farm life. The Farm Show was born and was a celebrated piece of theatre to educate urbanites about rural life.
Many years later, The Blyth Festival commissioned Michael Healy to write a play about the experiences of the young actors who visited Huron County. Healy created Miles (perhaps based on Miles Potter who was one of the actors) who stays with two farmers, Morgan and Angus, in The Drawer Boy.
Brendan Gall is excellent as young Miles. He is nervous and uncomfortable when he arrives at the farm, but eager to capture events and information for the show that is being prepared. Gall shows us Miles’ discomfort, and then we see his confidence build and grow.
John Jarvis plays Morgan, the farmer who pulls Miles’ leg, but yet doesn’t seem to enjoy the humour – at least, not as much as the audience does. Jarvis does well to show that Morgan can enjoy some fun, but is also tired with the never-ending work on the farm, and frustrated by the low commodity prices. Morgan teases Miles with dead=pan seriousness.
Oliver Dennis cleverly handles the difficult role of Angus. Angus has suffered a head injury in World War II, and has memory loss. Dennis is brilliant in showing Angus’ disability. Like Miles, Angus goes through a transformation, adding to the challenge that Dennis handles so well.
The comedy in The Drawer Boy comes from putting a city boy to work on a farm. For those of us who are just a generation or two away from the land, we know that when city folks visit the rural areas, there will always be ways to poke fun at them. The audience roars when Miles believes that they will have to get up early to rotate crops the next morning. Morgan tells him that they will be digging up all the wheat in one field and replanting in another. Morgan also convinces Miles that the dairy cows are tense and nervous, knowing that they will be butchered if they don’t give enough milk.
The Drawer Boy breaks some of the rules of theatre, and does it so well that enhances the production. Morgan tells Angus a story on stage with no action going on – sometimes a lengthy story can create a lull in a production, but in this case the audience is spellbound. Then later, that story is repeated – again, this risks boring the audience. But we are fascinated, especially by the revelation in the end..
Credit goes to director Gina Wilkinson for putting together the humour, the touching story, and the unusual ending.
The set is a typical farm kitchen. While the fridge is old, the harvest gold stove must have been new in 1972. Attention to detail is evident.
The sound and lighting are excellent in this production. We hear a very realistic sounding tractor start up just offstage. Dogs bark in the distance, crickets chirp at night and the rooster crows in the morning. Later a vehicle starts and headlights beam across the set.
The Grand’s Artistic Director Susan Ferley points out that this was the most performed play in North American in 2003-04, and is still very popular in the United States. Congratulations to playwright Michael Healey for ingeniously blending comedy, tragedy and a surprise disclosure into one fascinating story.
The Drawer Boy continues at the Grand Theatre in London until November 8. Tickets are available at the Grand box office at 672-8800 or 1-800-265-1593.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Sissy pirates, frightened cops and a silly major general

The Pirates of Penzance
Written by W. S. Gilbert
Composed by Arthur Sullivan
Directed by Susan Ferley
Grand Theatre High School Project
Grand Theatre, London
September 23 to October 4, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

Gilbert & Sullivan were masters of the comic operetta in 1870’s England. So popular were their shows, that American producers were stealing their works and putting them on stage in the United States without giving Gilbert & Sullivan any credit or paying any royalties. Thus, the writing team decided to create a show about pirates and open it in America, to send a not-so-subtle message about the piracy of their creative material.
Gilbert & Sullivan would be proud of the version now on stage nearly 130 years later at the Grand Theatre in London. In the famous song “I am the very model of a Modern Major General”, the lyrics are indeed modernized for this production. The Major General talks about text messaging and Facebook, suggesting Google Earth be used to track down weapons in Iraq. In acknowledging the internet, the modern Major General is ironically saluting the greatest of all vehicles for piracy.
But more important than any moral message is the comedy. This is the Grand’s High School Project, where a large cast and crew are brought to the professional stage straight from area secondary schools. The young people on stage have the advantage of working with a professional director, choreographer and music director, while those behind the scenes work with professional set, costume and lighting designers.
The fun begins right away, when the large family (23 to be precise) of young girls decide to “paddle” their toes in the ocean. They are all dressed beautifully in delicate creamy white gowns. But when they lift their long skits to take off their shoes, each girl is wearing different brightly coloured striped and printed stockings.
In contrast to the young ladies’ pale ivory gowns, the pirates appear dressed in vibrant colours. When the pirates and the girls mix and mingle, the effect of the costumes is stunning.
Once again, Director Susan Ferley has assembled an amazing cast of high school students and worked wonders with their talent. The young female voices together have beautiful harmony. Soloist Alexandra Smither as Mabel has an amazing voice and also demonstrates excellent comedic ability with very expressive eyes. Also possessing strong and beautiful voices are Evita Trembley as Ruth, Shauna Yarnel as Edith and Amelia Galizia as Kate.
A. J. MacDonald handles the tongue-tripping Major General’s song in astonishing fashion, and Jordan Campbell demonstrates solid acting and singing skills as Frederic. Micah Richardson is outstanding as the Pirate King, and Oscar Morena is excellent as Samuel.
The police, led by Nicholas Borg as the Sergeant, add to the hilarity. The assortment of sizes as they arrive on stage starts the laughter, and their ballet keeps the audience in stitches. Credit goes to choreographer Amy Wright for creating all the comical movement.
The use of puns and misunderstandings to create comedy has withstood the test of time. Across the audience, adults were chortling, while beside me, a 12 year old was giggling with delight. At the same time, the young actors’ friends were filling the theatre with cheers – the teenagers in the audience thoroughly enjoyed seeing the silliness on stage. Like an old Wayne & Schuster sketch, Gilbert & Sullivan are still funny.
This production is good Gilbert & Sullivan – it is not just good for being high school kids, it’s good theatre.
The Pirates of Penzance continues at the Grand Theatre in London until October 4. Tickets are available at the Grand box office at 672-8800 or 1-800-265-1593.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Romeo and Juliet at Stratford: More Tragedy than Romance

Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Performed by Gareth Potter and Nikki M. James
Directed by Des McAnuff
Stratford Shakespeare Festival Production
Festival Theatre, Stratford
To November 8, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

Thank goodness for Stratford veterans Lucy Peacock and Peter Donaldson. Without them, Romeo and Juliet now playing on the Festival Theatre stage would be very short on substance. Lucy Peacock plays the Nurse who has raised Juliet and continues to care for her. Peter Donaldson is Friar Laurence who sets the tragic chain of events in motion.
The Montague and Capulet families are feuding. Young Romeo Montague is infatuated with Rosaline, and goes to a costume party, hoping to see her. But instead he is captivated by the beautiful Juliet Capulet. They fall in love, despite the fact that their families are embroiled in a gang-like revenge war. Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and is banished. Friar Laurence secretly marries the young couple and they spend the night together before Romeo leaves the country. Juliet’s family wants her to marry Paris. To avoid the arranged wedding, Juliet takes a potion that puts her into a deep sleep so everyone will think she’s dead. Then she’ll wake up and steal away with Romeo. But Romeo believes she is dead and he drinks poison. When Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo dead, she, too, kills herself.
The roles of Romeo and Juliet are very demanding in this tragic love story. While Gareth Potter is adequate as the lovelorn Romeo, Nikki M. James falls short with Juliet. She is both difficult to hear, and difficult to understand. Her inexperience with Shakespearean English is evident and the language is garbled. Without good communication, it is impossible to build the necessary chemistry between Romeo and Juliet.
Donaldson, with his superior interpretation of Shakespeare, keeps the plot moving and Peacock as the Nurse provides the comedy. She makes the Nurse’s babble coherent, and uses it to comedic advantage. The first act is full of humour, much of it on the naughty side. The jokes are crowd-pleasers and the play holds promise. Unfortunately, as the plot begins to unravel in the second act, so does the presentation.
But the costume decisions are a little off-putting. The story begins with modern dress. The young men appear wearing jeans and t-shirts. But when everyone goes to the costume ball, they appear in Elizabethan dress: the men in tights with exaggerated codpieces, presumably to add to the bawdy humour. They stay in Shakespearean costumes, even those who did not attend the costume ball, until the end of the story when they reappear in today’s clothing. While the Shakespearean costumes are beautiful and colourful, puzzling over the changes is a distraction.
The set, too, is distracting. If any Shakespearean play demands Stratford’s plain, thrust stage with the balcony in the centre, it’s Romeo and Juliet. Instead, a fake-looking cobblestone bridge spans the stage, which just doesn’t work for the famous balcony scene. It seems as if the Stratford stage is being turned into a regular proscenium stage, which defeats its purpose.
Megan Follows’ Juliet in 1992 left a lasting impression. At the end of her performance, the audience was drained, and many left the theatre wiping tears from their eyes. This production doesn’t allow us to feel that emotion.
Romeo and Juliet continues at the Festival Theatre, Stratford until November 8. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordshakespearefestival.ca.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Nostalgic Trip back to the Sixties

Memories of the Summer of Love
Created by Chris McHarge and Colin Stewart
Performed by Natalie Howard, Derek Marshall, Penny Skolski, and Paul Wilson
Directed by Chris McHarge, Musical direction by Colin Stewart
Lighthouse Festival Production
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
September 9 - 20, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

For their final offering of the summer season, Victoria Playhouse presents a nostalgia trip, which, for the right age group, is a real crowd pleaser. The evening is one sixties song after another, with bits of trivia in between.
Act I starts off with some early sixties surfin’ music, and then moves to the British invasion. Derek Marshall’s talent is showcased early with “Don’t let the sun catch you cryin’”. Natalie Howard gives a good rendition of Petula Clark’s “Downtown”, then Marshall and Howard together do a couple of Sonny and Cher numbers. The act ends with protest song selections: “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Paved Paradise”, “Stop, hey, what’s that sound”, and The Youngbloods classic “Come on, people now, smile on your brother.”
The second act takes the audience to the home of the hippies, Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, and then on to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Penny Skolski shines as Janis Joplin with “Me and Bobby McGee”. She also does well with Jefferson Airplane’s “Want Somebody to Love”. The four vocalists perform together for songs such as The Byrds “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” (which, they tell us, was written by Bob Dylan), the Association’s “Never My Love” and “Along comes Mary”. In the introduction we learn that Mary is marijuana. The foursome also gives a very credible version of Mamas and Papas.
Derek Marshall and Paul Wilson have beautiful harmony for a Simon & Garfunkel set – “59th Street Bridge” and “Sound of Silence”. For the final number, Wilson does an audience favourite – “Bridge over Troubled Waters”.
The four-piece band does very well with the sixties hits, under the musical direction of bass player Colin Stewart.
But while the audience seemed to really enjoy this walk down memory lane, there were several things that could have been done to make a decent show into a great show. The tidbits of musical trivia, (Simon & Garfunkel started singing together in 6th grade, and Laura Nyro wrote hits for many stars of the day) were interesting, but could have been presented with a lot more showmanship. It seems like the cast just hurriedly rhymes off the information. Perhaps a narrator or emcee would have helped.
The authenticity of the costumes is very questionable – they need to do better when most of the audience remembers the time well. Also, with album covers appearing overhead on the big screen, we can see what the stars of the day wore – the costumes on stage looked like a few items were grabbed from someone’s old tickle trunk. While Natalie Howard dons wigs to be Cher or Michelle Phillips, the men on stage do not have long hair. If a man with a shaved head had gone to the Monterey Pop Festival, he would have been treated like an alien.
There is also a need for choreography – dancing around like they are floating on LSD gets tiresome, and I worry they could be injured when they bump into each other.
With cast members sipping from water bottles and casually strolling to the back of the stage, it is more like a concert – not a polished musical theatre piece.
This is not a Victoria Playhouse production – it was created at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Theatre. And it was not up to the standards set this summer at VPP with their musicals The Broadway Club, the second act of Discovering Elvis and the surprise delight Oil Rush.
So while the audience loves the old music, this show isn’t in the same category as Twist & Shout and Legends, both of which have been at Huron Country Playhouse in recent years. (Legends is currently showing at Drayton.) And if you really enjoy old music, consider seeing The Jersey Boys, currently running at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. This fantastic Broadway production is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Memories of the Summer of Love continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until September 20. Call the box office at 1-800-717-7694 or (519) 882-1221 for tickets.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Reliving Grand Bend’s good old days

Babes of the Bend recalls music and lifestyle of the early 20th century

Babes of the Bend: A Musical Comedy
Based on events in Grand Bend between 1915 and 1945
Grand Cove Caddyshack
Friday, October 3 – 7 p.m.
Saturday, October 4 – 7 p.m.
Sunday, October 5 – 2 p.m.
Tickets - $7.50 each, available to non-Cove residents starting September 1 at the Caddyshack Mon & Fri 1-3 p.m. or Call Jo Dabrowski at 519-238-5156

Photos and story by Casey Lessard

Photo textures courtesy www.flickr.com/photos/ghostbones

Grand Bend has its share of babes, and if you ask the folks at Grand Cove, a lot of them live in the retirement community at the town’s north end. Babes of the Bend is the Cove’s latest musical theatre production written and directed by resident Doreen Newell.
“I’ve always been interested in light theatre and after doing the Fred and Ginger show last year, I thought it would be nice to do something that reflected the community this time,” Newell says. “It brings in the beach and the main street. It has a little bit of historical background, but it’s so farfetched now that there is no history left in it except that it is set in Grand Bend.”
Even still, Newell consulted local historian Dorothy Graff, who grew up in Exeter, where her father owned the canning plant.
“A whole pile of us used to come over to Grand Bend to the dance hall,” Graff says. “It was 5 or 10 cents a dance. Eric McIlroy had the dance hall when I was there. The thing that I remember the most was when I’d walk up the stairs it had a big sign that said ‘Gentiles Only.’
“The air force was based at Centralia and Clinton and that’s how I met my husband Jack, who was at Centralia graduating as a pilot. I was 15 and he was 20. He told me to come back when I grew up and I did. I went into nursing training at St. Joe’s in London.
We kept in contact with one another and when I graduated we got married.”
Graff’s local knowledge helped guide Newell’s sense for what was happening here in the time during and between the two world wars; Newell also brought her experience growing up in England’s Channel Islands.
“Although it was a sort of sad time in England and we were getting the Blitz and the bombs and that around us, we still had the Americans and the soldiers around us, coming in and dancing with the local girls at the salons,” Newell says. “I can remember how the Londoners used to come up to where I lived and they were always singing. They sang a lot of the songs that we have in the play. I’ve tried to get the real feel of Grand Bend, but not promote the sadness of war, and show there was a happy side to the war era.”
One of the challenges to recreating the era was finding music true to the time.
“You can’t buy any sheet music from that era to any large extent,” Newell says, “so we’ve had to rely very much on memory and old discs that we’ve got and that sort of thing, and Sylvia the music director has been absolutely fantastic. You can go to her and sing her a song and she’ll work with you and be able to get it on the keyboard.”
“It is a lot of work,” Sylvia Rees says, noting she does this type of recreation work through manual dictation, “but when you know what the end product is going to be, that spurs you on to do it.”
The music will be familiar to most audience members, even though some of it is more than 100 years old.
“It’s a very wide spectrum of music because it goes from the early part of the century up and past World War II,” Rees says. “We have the Victorian Era, which would have been called top music at the time; Betty Boop music from the early 1920s; Irving Berlin ballads; well-known dance numbers; music from the early through Duke Ellington jazz, and some patriotic stuff for WW2 and then big band music.”
Newell did take some liberties in recreating a local fixture, abolitionist Strawberry Desjardine.
“When the air force was here, half of Grand Bend was dry and the other half was wet,” says Graff, “so there used to be a lot of bootlegging on one side and Strawberry Desjardine was a very religious lady who used to go around and bang on the doors and talk about not drinking. Doreen’s got her yelling and hollering. I don’t know that Strawberry ever did that.”
Not that Graff had to worry about facing Strawberry’s wrath herself, she notes.
“We really didn’t drink much, but we had a lot of fun. There was always a gang that came every year and we had a grand time. You can’t help wanting to relive that.”
“The reason it’s good for Grand Cove is they can identify with the people and identify with the music,” Newell says. “They sing along. They can come and laugh at their neighbours; whatever they want to do. To sing and be together like that keeps you well. It keeps you happy.”
Getting good representation from the Grand Cove community was critical to making this play work, Newell says.
“It had to be a creation where whoever came forward in the community could get in it. You can’t say when people come, ‘Oh come on. You’re 71. You can’t go in it. Or you’re 80 and you can’t go in it.’”
As a result, the average age of the cast members is 69, including eight men and many women.
“A lot of people have been interested because we’ve used music from the era that they know. It was good music at that time. And let’s be honest, old ladies love to dress up.”
And Newell expects audiences will love it, too.
“People are going to come out, and they are going to laugh. They are going to have a really good evening out for $7.50.”

Solid Cast Keeps Old Hit Fresh

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Glebart
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Steve Ross, Keith Savage & Company
Directed by Rona Waddington
Drayton Entertainment Production
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
August 13 to 31, 2008

Live! On Stage!
By Mary Alderson

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum is the fourth and final show of the season at Huron Country Playhouse and with it, Drayton Entertainment has another hit. Staging four musicals in a row has been a departure from the norm for the Grand Bend theatre, but it has certainly been successful. Each production – My Fair Lady, Sorry I’m Canadian, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – has been exceptionally good, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum continues that streak.
The zany farce first opened on Broadway in 1962, and some of the gags are showing their age. However, this excellent cast is able to pull off the humour every time, just because these are very funny people. They bring together all the elements of farce – running in and out of slamming doors, posing as other people, mistaken identities, and just plain silliness. Add to the farce some great singing and dancing and you have a good evening of entertainment.
This was one of Steven Sondheim’s earliest efforts in music and lyrics, and while the songs don’t have the rich storytelling of later Sonheim, they provide plenty of laughs, and the tunes are catchy. The opening number “Comedy Tonight” sets the tone for the show.
Huron Country Playhouse favourite Keith Savage just has to walk on the stage and the audience starts to howl. Savage plays Hysterium, a rather hysterical slave. Another audience pleaser is 80-year-old Kenneth Wickes playing Erronius, who is travelling the world searching for his children who were stolen in infancy by pirates. Wickes only needs to hobble onto the stage and look at the audience to get a laugh.
After several years at Stratford, Londoner Kyle Blair is back at Huron Country Playhouse. With his clear tenor voice and boyish good looks, he is the perfect Hero. The object of his affection is Philia played by Elena Juatco who was last year’s Miss Saigon.
The three Protean who double up in various roles are all very adept at physical comedy. The courtesans from the house of ill repute are amazing dancers and the audience is treated to a sample of their talents. The lovely young ladies are there for those “who have no interest in pirates”.
Each cast member has an impressive biography and extensive experience. The result is a great team with perfect comedic timing, expressive faces and slapstick ability.
Credit goes to director Rona Waddington for selecting this strong cast and giving the show a fresh feel. Choreographer Gino Berti and Music Director Charles T. Couzens also deserve credit for keeping the production lively.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is just plain fun – as the song says “weighty decisions will just have to wait” and there is indeed “something for everyone”.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum continues with eight shows a week until August 31 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at (519) 238-6000, Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463, or check out www.draytonentertainment.com

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

History can be fun and entertaining

Oil Rush
Book and Lyrics by Robert More
Music and Lyrics by Jacqueline Sadler
Performed by Sheldon Davis, Cathy Elliott, R.J. Peters & Company
Directed by Robert More
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
August 12 to 30, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

Those of us who grew up in Lambton County take our oil heritage for granted. So, there are oil wells around Petrolia and Oil Springs – so what? Well, enough of that attitude. Robert More and Jacqueline Sadler have brought oil heritage to life on stage at Victoria Playhouse in Petrolia and made it fascinating and funny in their new musical Oil Rush.
More has created an interesting mix of fact and fiction in this lively musical which celebrates 2008 – the 150th anniversary of the world’s first commercial oil well. That’s right – the first oil well in the world – a year ahead of Pennsylvania, and long before Texas, Alberta or the Persian Gulf. It’s a part of Canadian history in which all Canadians, not just those from Lambton County should take pride.
More and Sadler have captured that feeling of pride, using a mix of historical characters and some who are fictional representatives of “everyman”. The story opens in 2008 with two teenagers (Joseph O’Toole and Trisha Smith) visiting the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs. Their search for the past takes us back to 1858, as the early prospectors arrive in Oil Springs to search for this new find called oil.
“Good Bless the Whale” is a clever tune, reminding us that before oil was supplied commercially, whale oil was an important source of light. But this new discovery, oil, could be refined as kerosene, for household lighting. “Possibilities” is a rousing anthem outlining all that can be done with this exciting new product, oil.
Act one takes place in Oil Springs as the village comes alive in the oil rush. Family man Norman C. Dodds arrives to try his luck at finding oil, bringing along his wife Beth. The couple are delightful – him with his idiomatic speech patterns and her with a charming French Canadian accent. Sheldon Davis is excellent as Norman. He’ll be remembered as the newspaper editor in Soup Du Jour at VPP and the klutzy golfer in The Foursome at Playhouse II in Grand Bend. Cathy Elliott plays Beth very well – furious at Norman for endangering himself in an oil well explosion, at the same time elated that he has survived intact. We enjoy watching Norman and Beth raise their family, through oil booms and busts, until their eldest son goes off to Borneo as a foreign driller. This is a factual part of the story – Petrolia’s “Hard Oilers” travelled to all parts of the world teaching others how to drill for black gold.
The history is told by R. J. Peters playing the role of a newspaper reporter from the Toronto Globe. The young reporter is sent out to write about the oil rush, and Peters does an excellent job as narrator.
In Act II, the action moves to Petrolia as it grows from a population of 200 to 2,000 in nine months, during the oil rush. With the boom comes bar room brawls and a lady of the night who earns her living keeping the prospectors happy.
The trio of Shawn Henry, Craig Maguire and Scott Pietrangelo provide harmony in many of the musical numbers, and comedy as they finish each other’s sentences playing Homer, Harry, and Hector. All three have beautiful voices. Shawn Henry also doubles as the real-life figure J. H. Fairbank, Lambton County’s first oil baron. It’s interesting to note that J. H. Fairbank’s 16-year-old great-great grandson, Charlie Fairbank, has a role as a teen boy in this production, and shows very promising talent. Another talented local teenager, Sabrina Redick, also appears.
Heather Lea Brown skilfully plays several female roles, including that of Edna Fairbank. Her disdain for the backwoods of Petrolia shows through when she sings, “The house could never be a home”.
Greg Campbell handles multiple roles well, making each character unique. He has a charming Irish lilt as Hugh Nixon Shaw and then shows his comedic skills as Shaky, the alcoholic who fractures the oil wells with nitro-glycerine.
Robert More has tied together a great deal of information in an interesting story line. A slideshow of old postcards provides a good view of the reality that was the oil rush. Crude derricks springing up, streets filled with mud and oil, and then the lavish Fairbank mansion.
The lighting for Oil Rush is possibly the best designed at VPP. Each explosion and fire is bathed in orange and red. Kerry Gage’s choreography is well suited to the show – from the influence of square dances and Irish jigs, through to energetic numbers to lift everyone’s spirits.
Oil Rush received an immediate standing ovation on opening night, and probably the loudest applause ever heard in VPP. Congratulations to Robert More and Jacqueline Sadler for putting together a show that educates, entertains and instils pride. This musical will not only make residents of Lambton County take interest in their oil heritage, but should arouse the curiosity of all Canadians. .
Oil Rush continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until August 30. Call the box office at 1-800-717-7694 or (519) 882-1221 for tickets.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

A Funny Thing happening at Playhouse

By Casey Lessard

Drayton Entertainment heads back to Roman times for its next musical comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, running August 13 to 30 at the Huron Country Playhouse.
“It’s high, high comedy with songs,” says director Rona Waddington. “The story is about a Roman slave who makes a deal with his master that if he can win for his master the heart of the woman that his master loves, then he’ll gain his freedom.”
Stratford veteran Steve Ross is the slave, while former Canadian Idol star Elena Juatco is the love interest. Theatre legend Doug Chamberlain is the slave master.
“It’s a very enjoyable play,” Waddington says. “It’s funny, upbeat and high-spirited.What’s interesting about this play, is that it’s very dependent on the audience, which plays much more of a role in the show.”
Sometimes, too big of a role.
“We had an audience member come in the other day, and I guess they knew the whole show somehow. They literally sang along with every song from the audience. That was a bit of a surprise for the cast. It was unusual. It was kind of funny, but it’s got to be unsettling for the audience around them.”
If you want to sing along or just enjoy it, tickets are available by calling 519-238-6000.

You’ll love I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Until August 30
Playhouse II
Tickets: 519-238-6000

By Casey Lessard

Anyone looking for a good summer comedy that resonates will want to see I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, playing now at the Huron Country Playhouse II.
“There’s a little gem in every scene,” says Kristin Galer, who plays one of the two women in the musical review. “When the audience is laughing, it’s the best feeling in the world.”
“My favourite scene is the two old people at the end,” says Mark Weatherley. “It’s very sweet and touching, and it’s nice that they cover what it’s like to be single when you’re old, too.
“It’s interesting in the sense that you can be yourself and the audience becomes part of the scene,” says Michael Lomenda. “Often that doesn’t happen in big theatre. This show is great at involving people.”
The story lines, about dating, marriage, having children, and losing a partner, are universally recognizable. Still they’re fresh and funny.
“I’m married now, but I certainly went through my rough dating years and all the things anybody who’s ever been single in their life – which is everybody - has gone through.”
“Stud and Babe is the one I connect with because I’m just a geek at heart,” says Lomenda. “On the other hand, when I sing Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You?, finding the weight of it is difficult, so you have to project as an actor, but it’s a good stretch. I hits home even though I haven’t been there yet.”
For Mairi Babb, who starred in this spring’s My Fair Lady, it’s been a nice transition performing in the smaller Playhouse II.
“I love being able to work without microphones. It’s very liberating and I love interacting with the audience.”

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