Message about Vietnam war more meaningful than ever

Miss Saigon
By Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Richard Maltby Jr.
Performed by Elena Juatco, Stephen Patterson and company
Directed by David Connolly
Drayton Entertainment Production
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
July 19 – August 4, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

Miss Saigon’s timeless message about the inhumanity of war is being presented thoughtfully and spectacularly by Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend. Based on Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly written in the early 1900’s, Miss Saigon, as the 1970’s update, is even more meaningful today with the United States currently at war in Iraq.
Like Madame Butterfly, the entire story is told in song, with a cast of amazing voices bringing the epic story to life. There are also some similarities to Les Miserables, which is written by the same creative team – it’s a doomed love story, set against a backdrop of war. This is the best dramatic musical to grace Huron Country Playhouse’s stage since Man of La Mancha in 2004.
Chris is a young American GI who falls in love with Kim, a Vietnamese prostitute. They marry in an Eastern ceremony, and then he is forced to leave as Saigon falls. When he can’t find Kim, he assumes that she is dead. Back home, he marries an American, Ellen. Then he learns that he has fathered a child with Kim. Ellen and Chris travel to Bangkok to meet Kim and little Tam, in heart-wrenching circumstances. Obviously, there are no easy answers in this situation created by the horrors of war.
Stephen Patterson is excellent as Chris. He conveys all the emotion of the role with his clear voice. Patterson appeared briefly in The World Goes Round, a musical revue in Playhouse II two years ago. He was a highlight in that show, but left early to move on to a Broadway touring show. Similarly, Stephanie Roth is excellent as Ellen, the American wife. Although her part is not big, her energy and raw emotion in Now That I’ve Seen Her is unforgettable. She was also memorable in The World Goes Round when she brought the house down with her rendition of Maybe This Time from Cabaret.
Lee Siegel plays John, Chris’ friend who informs him that he has a son in Asia. Siegel sings about the forgotten children of Vietnamese mothers and American soldier-fathers, known as ‘bui doi’ or dust of life. His powerful voice, together with the film showing the orphans left no one in the audience with dry eyes. Siegel’s voice will be familiar as Old Deuteronomy, the beautiful tenor in Cats earlier this season.
Elena Juatco plays the challenging role of Kim, the innocent and naïve girl forced into prostitution. Juatco does justice to the many emotional songs and the large, demanding part.
Franc-Anton Harcourt provides the comic relief as the Engineer, a euphemism for pimp. Harcourt has had extensive experience with this part, and plays it well, switching from being a smarmy wheeler-dealer to pandering to the Viet Cong.
Special mention goes to little Jonah Gonzalez-Martinez who plays Kim’s son Tam. He remains stoic and completely in the role in all his scenes.
The American dream number is a delight – all the symbols of the USA are on stage – Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, right through to Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.
Credit goes to Director/Choreographer David Connolly and music director Charles Cozens for putting this amazing epic together. Jean Claude Olivier’s set and Jeff Johnston Collins’ lighting are flawless. It’s also good to see local talent – Michelle Vanderheyden, formerly of Forest, is costume designer. From the rich Asian silks to the sequinned strippers, and the American Dream extravaganza, Vanderheyden’s work is incredible.
This production of Miss Saigon is an emotionally draining show that leaves the audience exhausted, yet moved and enriched. How fortunate we are to have top quality entertainment in our neighbourhood.
It was a fitting tribute to Ed Mirvish that Miss Saigon opened at HCP the week that Mr. Mirvish passed away. The flamboyant owner of Honest Ed’s store on Bloor Street in Toronto was instrumental in bringing theatre to Toronto and Ontario, making King Street Canada’s theatre district. After refurbishing the Royal Alexandra Theatre Mr. Mirvish built the Princess of Wales Theatre, just to bring Miss Saigon to Canada. The Princess of Wales stage was big enough to land a helicopter and Miss Saigon was a hit! Ed Mirvish would have been pleased with this production of Miss Saigon, even without the helicopter. He will be missed.

Miss Saigon continues with eight shows a week until August 4 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at (519) 238-6000 or Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463.

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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Bring your Mom on a Girls’ Night Out

Mom’s The Word
By Linda A. Carson, Jill Daum, Alison Kelly, Robin Nichol, Barbara Pollard & Deborah Williams.
Performed by Alex Dallas, Louise Gauthier, Sharon Heldt, Ginette Mohr & Birgitte Solem.
Directed by Robin Nichol
Drayton Entertainment Production
Playhouse II, Grand Bend
July 10 to August 18, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

When six Vancouver women got together with their toddlers and babies in 1993 to write a show about motherhood, they didn’t pull any punches. The women, formerly glamorous professional actors, had become, by their own admission, exhausted, pathetic amateur mothers. So they put together a string of real-life vignettes about the trials of being a mother. And somehow it evolved into a five-character play, based on their anecdotes. (No explanation is given as to why the author named Barbara didn’t become a character in the play.)
Mom’s the Word has been staged across Canada and around the world, and has now spawned Mom’s the Word 2: Unhinged – an update on the group as they deal with teenagers. The original version is now being staged at Playhouse II at Huron Country Playhouse near Grand Bend. The cast of five women, all newcomers to Drayton Entertainment, are being directed by one of the authors, Robin Nichol. So we assume that they are presenting the vignettes in a fashion true to their characters’ namesakes (the original authors’) intentions.
Alex Dallas as Deborah is delightful with her slightly British accent and delivery of humour. And yes, she’s the one who has to chase her toddler when he runs from the poolside change room. Louise Gauthier plays Linda, who writes notes to her “dear partner” and stresses about keeping communication open with her husband. Sharon Heldt has the challenge of playing the character Robin, while the real Robin (Robin Nichol) directs the show. She has some great lines among her anecdotes: “When I pass another stroller, we give each other the high sign, like two Harley riders passing on the open road,” she says. Ginette Mohr is Jill, the character that moves away from comedy when she relates the story of her baby being born prematurely. Her poignant portrayal of a new mother’s worry is very well done, and this touching story provides a moving change to the performance. Birgitte Solem as Allison has some very comedic lines, such as when she asks “How am I supposed to resume my sex life, when I’m wearing a nursing bra?”
The challenges of caring for active, smart toddlers are related in various ways in the vignettes. Deborah tells us that she finds it much easier to be a good mom in public. Another character says that she starts out each day as Mary Poppins, but ends up as Cruella DeVille.
They also talk about the feelings of guilt they have, with one mom saying that the family’s favourite thing to do is to spend time all together. But her favourite thing to do is spend some time all by myself. But of course, they aren’t’ feeling too guilty to take advantage of the situation. As Jill says, “Some mornings when I’m really desperate for more sleep, I lie to my husband about how many times I got up with the baby.”
This show offers realistic slices of life, easily recognizable by anyone who has given birth and raised a baby into a toddler. For the most part, the anecdotes are laugh-out-loud funny, but in a few places, I felt things went a little too far. The squirt-gun breasts and a bit of the male-bashing made me uncomfortable – but that’s alright. Everyone else was laughing uproariously, so maybe I was alone. One doesn’t go to live theatre just to be comfortable. So go see it, and decide for yourself.

Mom’s The Word continues with eight shows a week until August 18 at Playhouse II, next to Huron Country Playhouse, near Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at (519) 238-6000 or Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463.

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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Tap Dancing through the Roaring Twenties

My One and Only
Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
Book by Peter Stone and Timothy. S. Mayer
Performed by Cynthia Dale, Laird McIntosh and Company
Directed and Choreographed by Michael Lichtefeld
Avon Theatre - Stratford Festival
May 12 to October 28, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

My One and Only is an extravaganza with all the glamour and glitter of a big Broadway production, and it’s sitting right on our doorstep at Stratford’s Avon Theatre. While the plot of this faux twenties musical may not be very deep, it’s done up in such a spectacular fashion that the shallow story is easily forgiven.
My One and Only is the pulling together of many of George and Ira Gershwin’s favourite songs and putting them into a new story, but one set in the Roaring Twenties. Producers knew that today’s audience doesn’t want to sit through the original, dated plots, so they had a new story written to make use of the great old tunes. The Broadway hit Crazy for You was put together in a similar fashion.
In My One and Only, Edythe Herbert, famous for swimming the English Channel, has joined The Ladies of the Aquacade, a water ballet/synchronized swimming entertainment troupe. She is being pursued by Captain Billy Buck Chandler, an aviator who hopes to beat Lindbergh in making the first trans-Atlantic flight. Edythe is trying to escape from an overbearing manager, while Billy is helped by Mickey, the female airplane mechanic.
The role of Edythe Herbert is ideal for Cynthia Dale. Dale, a perennial favourite of Stratford’s musical theatre audience, is the ultimate flapper – not only can she tap dance with the best, she can make the kewpie-doll faces to add laughs to the role. And the old Gershwin tunes suit Dale’s beautiful voice perfectly.
Her co-star Laird Mackintosh is wonderful as the tap-dancing aviator (yes, even the play itself makes fun of that combination). As Captain Billy Buck Chandler, Mackintosh goes through a transformation from a Texas hayseed to a polished gentleman, thanks to lessons from Mr. Magix, the smooth dancing Mark Cassius.
Kyle Blair, Julius Sermonia and Ray Hogg are delightful as The New Rhythm Boys. Their feet never stop tapping and their musical interludes add to the comedy. Together with the rest of the company, there is hardly a moment without tap-dancing feet on stage.
There is an amazing underwater ballet in black light with bubbles, where only the neon-trimmed bathing suits of The Ladies of the Aquacade are visible. While it’s similar in appearance to the Famous People Players, real people are swimming about the stage, rather than puppets, in this very interesting number.
In another scene, Dale and Mackintosh are tap dancing in the shallow water on the beach. Remember last year’s tap dance in the showers in South Pacific? That was so cute that they’ve repeated it this year, and it works just as well.
The costumes are fantastic – lots of colour and sparkle, with frequent changes.
The sets are also extravaganzas. Everything is oversized, from the big train the pulls into the station, to the air plane where we see both front & back, and even a giant camel. For the final curtain, we’re treated to an airplane with dancers tapping across the wingspan.
Even that repetitive (but necessary) announcement to turn off cell phones is glitzed up at the beginning of the show. The Ladies of the Aquacade come out in cute costumes and wait, tapping their toes, while audience members turn off phones and pagers. Just like the performance, the announcements are very cute and splashy.

My One and Only continues at the Avon Theatre, Stratford until October 28. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordfestival.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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Oklahoma! is the place to be

Oklahoma!
Music by Richard Rodgers, Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Performed by Blythe Wilson, Dan Chameroy, Nora McLellan Jonathan Ellul, Kyle Blair, Lindsay Thomas, David W. Keeley and company.
Director & Choreographer: Donna Feore
Stratford Festival
Festival Theatre
April 10 to November 4, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

Oklahoma!, this year’s musical at Stratford’s Festival Theatre, brings great energy to the stage. As Rogers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, Oklahoma! changed the way Broadway musicals were presented and set the benchmark for future productions. A groundbreaking show, Oklahoma! was the first musical to have the songs as integral parts of the plot.
The story of Oklahoma! is based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs. Riggs, a cattleman’s son, was born in Oklahoma in 1899. He tells the tales of the early pioneers in Oklahoma when it was still a territory. These settlers believed their lives would improve when Oklahoma was declared a state. The play relates the conflict between the cowboys and the farmers: the cowboys wanted their cattle to be able to roam free, while the farmers wanted to put up fences and work the land. The musical version includes the love story of Curly and Laurey. In addition, it touches on what might be considered a modern problem – stalking, as Jud Fry makes unwanted advances towards Laurey.
With Blythe Wilson as Laurey and Dan Chameroy as Curley, the singing is excellent. Wilson is in her 5th season at Stratford, and will be remembered for her voice as Nancy in last year’s Oliver! Chameroy has been at Stratford for 6 seasons, but last year appeared in High Society at the Shaw Festival.
Wilson also deserves credit for dancing the dream ballet herself. In many productions, a different dancer steps in for the dream sequence, but Wilson, in addition to her fantastic singing voice, shows she is a polished dancer as well.
Providing the comedy is Johnathan Ellul in his Stratford debut, playing Ali Hakim, the Persian Peddler. Ellul was at Victoria Playhouse last summer in Too Many Cooks, and before that, he was in Wang Dang Doodle and Annie at London’s Grand. (You will recognize him as the driver revving his engine in the car commercials on TV.) With his flair for humour, he will no doubt be showing up in more comedies in the future.
Nora McLellan plays a kinder, gentler Aunt Eller. McLellan was a favourite as Mama Rose in the Shaw Festival’s version of Gypsy a few years ago. Londoner Kyle Blair is back for his 7th season at Stratford and is excellent as Will Parker, the cowboy who can sing, dance and twirl a lariat. Lindsay Thomas is hilarious as Ado Annie, the girl who “cain’t say no.” David W. Keeley gives a very good interpretation of Jud Fry – scary but with a human element that evokes some sympathy. Stephanie Graham as Gertie has the most annoying laugh and handles her fight scene well.
The energetic cast does justice to the wonderful score – songs like “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”, “Surrey with the Fringe on Top”, “People will Say We’re in Love”, and of course the theme “Oklahoma” has everyone leaving the theatre singing. “The Farmer and the Cowman” gives the cast a chance to show off some fun choreography – everything from acrobatics to square dance.
The lighting is excellent. From the darkened theatre, the light panels representing the sky slowly go from a dark blue-purple right through to orange and yellow as the sun comes up on a “beautiful morning’”.
Donna Feore as both director and choreographer has given this good cast an opportunity to show their true triple threat talent. With great singing and amazing dance, this production of Oklahoma! shows why the old musical continues to be popular.

Oklahoma! continues at the Festival Theatre, Stratford until November 4. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordfestival.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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Perfect Wedding= Perfect British Farce

Perfect Wedding
By Robin Hawdon
Performed by Paul Brown, Colin Doyle, Joanna Douglas, Amber Montrose, Monica Nowak, Perrie Olthuis, Ari Weinberg.
Directed by Michael Lamport
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
July 3 – 21, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

Perfect Wedding, currently on stage at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia is the perfect British farce – there are doors being slammed, lies being told and characters posing as other people. Thanks to fast-paced timing by Director Michael Lamport, this is the best farce on Petrolia’s stage since Confessions of a Dirty Blonde, when Lamport played the Robin Williams-like bellhop. Lamport’s experience in comedy has served him well in his direction of this hilarious farce.
On his wedding day, Bill, the groom-to-be, wakes up in the bridal suite to find a woman he doesn’t know naked in bed beside him. With his bride on the way, wanting to use the hotel room to dress in her wedding gown, Bill hides the stranger in the bathroom, hoping she’ll pose at the best man’s girlfriend, or maybe the chambermaid. These ideas might have worked, except that she really is the best man’s girlfriend, and the real chambermaid shows up. The problems are obvious – add to this, Tom, the best man who becomes increasingly high-strung, Rachel, the bride, on the verge of becoming bridezilla, and Daphne, the bride’s mother, who completes to the comedy.
In this production, the best man really is the best man. Ari Weinberg plays Tom brilliantly, with hilarious facial expressions, an endearing British accent, and a gentle humour giving way to near-insanity. This is Weinberg’s debut on the VPP stage, and with an obvious penchant for comedy, he’ll no doubt be seen more in the future.
Another newcomer, Monica Nowak is excellent as Julie the chambermaid. Like Weinberg, her over-the-top facial expressions, along with the vocal changes, make the audience roar with laughter.
Colin Doyle is good as the frustrated groom trying to remember what happened after his bachelor party, and Perrie Olthuis as the bride handles the role well – just snippy enough to be believable as a stressed-out bride, but pleasant enough to warrant sympathy. Joanna Douglas as Judy, the naked female in the bed, is very good as the other woman, also showing comedic talent with her facial expressions. .
Amber Montrose plays the role of Daphne, the bride’s mother. While she boasts quite a list of credits in the program, she hasn’t been seen on local stages before. I will say that it seems to be strange casting, but Artistic Director Robert More assures me that Montrose is right for the role. You’ll have to the see the show and decide for yourself if Montrose is really right. The program lists Paul Brown as an understudy, and unfortunately, he apparently didn’t grace the stage on opening night. Brown is a master of the farce, and was hilarious in previous VPP productions Confessions of a Dirty Blonde and Too Many Cooks, as well as many British farces at Huron Country Playhouse.
If you enjoy farces, you’ll like this one. Go see it, and maybe you’ll be fortunate enough to catch Paul Brown on stage.

Perfect Wedding continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until July 21. 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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

A Moving Story Brilliantly Bought to Life

To Kill a Mockingbird
Based upon the novel by Harper Lee, dramatized by Christopher Sergel
Performed by Peter Donaldson, Abigail Winter-Culliford et al.
Directed by Susan H. Schulman
Avon Theatre - Stratford Festival
April 30 to October 27, 2007

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

When Harper Lee wrote her only novel in 1960, she and her editor didn’t think it would amount to much. But To Kill a Mockingbird became a huge best seller, and if life imitates art, then it was likely very influential in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.
But Nelle Harper Lee simply wrote what she knew – the story of life in the 1930’s in the fictional town of Maycomb, which is much like her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. The tale is told by Scout, the 10-year-old tomboy, just like Lee herself. It covers the escapades and growth of Scout, her friend Dill, who is based on Lee’s real-life friend Truman Capote, and her brother Jem. The children are into usual childhood mischief, when they are suddenly forced to grow up quickly, learning about rape and injustice. Their father, lawyer Atticus Finch, is defending a young black man charged with raping a white girl. And although Atticus clearly presents Tom Robinson’s innocence, the jury finds him guilty, because that’s what must happen in that time of racial bigotry and hatred.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, currently on stage at Stratford’s Avon Theatre, Abigail Winter-Culliford plays the part of Scout exceptionally well. She captures both the innocence of the child and the insightful maturity at the same time, as Lee intended. She twitches and climbs trees and beats up boys, but then has a very adult-like conversation with her father, whom she calls Atticus, not Daddy or Papa. Winter-Culliford’s acting skills are well beyond her 10 years, and she particularly shines in the scene where she confronts the lynch mob.
Peter Donaldson is good as an understated Atticus Finch. He plays the role with quiet confidence, making Atticus a man very sure of himself and his values. Spencer Walker does well in the role of Dill – he could very well be a nerdy little Truman Capote, with his tiny bowtie, buttoned-up shirt and starched collar. Thomas Murray, as Jem, is also good.
The story is told by narrator Jean-Louise, the adult Scout, who has abandoned her nickname. Michelle Giroux walks quietly about the stage, stepping in to relate Scout’s story with a southern drawl, and looking somewhat like Harper Lee.
The neighbourhood is also well-cast: Patricia Collins as Miss Maudie is a gracious southern belle, in contrast to Joyce Campion’s Mrs. Dubose, a nasty old morphine addict. Barbara Barnes-Hopkins is excellent as Calpurnia, the Finches’ black servant who is charged with raising the children after their mother’s death.
The second act moves to the trial. Dayna Tekatch is outstanding as Mayella Ewall, the poor white trash who claims to have been raped, moving from a pitiful mess to intense anger. Dion Johnstone is excellent as Tom Robinson, the accused black man.
The set illustrates the dirty thirties – the homes are worn, dull and run-down, with Spanish moss barely swaying in the trees overhead. One gets the feeling of the heat of Deep South summer, the despair of the depression and the racial oppression, as the story unfolds. The feeling of oppression is further intensified when the black cast sing Negro Spirituals. The set includes a “bottle tree”, a tradition among the black townspeople at that time — the bottles were to capture evil spirits. In this case, however, evil prevailed – even though Miss Maudie points out that progress is slowly being made.
Director Susan Schulman deserves great credit for brilliantly bringing to life Harper Lee’s story, and remaining true to it. It’s a daunting task when most of the audience has read the book or seen the movie. Yet Harper Lee’s message about human rights comes through clearly in this gut-wrenching play, and the audience becomes completely enmeshed in the story. In the courtroom scene, the audience members are treated as if they were the jury. We become caught up in this compelling production, and wish we could change the outcome.

To Kill a Mockingbird continues at the Avon Theatre, Stratford until October 27. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordfestival.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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Baby Boomers will love We Will Rock You

We Will Rock You
Music by Queen, Book by Ben Elton
Performed by Toronto Cast
Directed by Ben Elton
Produced by David & Ed Mirvish & Kimsa Group
Canon Theatre, Toronto

Live! On Stage
Review by Mary Alderson

We Will Rock You, or as it’s more commonly known, the Queen musical, will thrill anyone who grew up in the seventies and eighties. To hear the late great Freddie Mercury’s songs performed by a talented cast with strong, solid voices backed by a band complete with the right guitar riffs, is an exciting adventure.
The plot is also good fun – but don’t go expecting serious drama. It’s a little over the top with corny jokes and cheesy laughs. Nevertheless, there’s an element of Orwell’s 1984, along with some Biblical allegory.
The story is set 300 years in the future. The world is run by a company called Globalsoft. (Is this so far-fetched? At work, if Windows isn’t operating and the computers are down, nothing gets done, and when we arrive home, the first thing we do is check in with Outlook – who’s running our lives now?) The plot also condemns commercialism – the planet is now known as the Mall. Only music created by Globalsoft is allowed, and there are just vague rumours about an era called rock ‘n’ roll. When a group of rebels (young Bohemians) go looking for musical instruments, they seek a bright star to lead them in their quest. By the way, they don’t find any instruments of mass destruction, but they do come across a museum piece called a video tape (or vy-day-oh-tap-ay, as they pronounce it.) Pop music is satirized delightfully, and there is much Canadian humour included – with jabs at Degrassi and Celine Dion, as well as mentions of others such as Bare Naked Ladies.
Erica Peck as Scaramouche leads the cast with her amazing voice and sassy attitude. Peck was only in the second year of the 3-year musical theatre program at Sheridan College, when she auditioned for We Will Rock You and surprised everyone by landing the lead role. Peck can belt the rock tunes louder and longer than anyone else, her powerful voice performing eight times a week and never missing a show. She gives her all to Somebody to Love and I Want To Break Free. Her energy and enthusiasm is evident even in matinee performances. She also delivers the lines with a perfect sarcasm.
Equally as powerful is Yvan Pedneault as Galileo Figaro. His slight Quebecois accent is engaging, and the audience roars when Scaramouche accuses him of trying to “play the French card.” Pedneault’s voice has the range of Freddie Mercury’s and handles the Queen classics well. But on some performances, an understudy or swing has to step in for him, considering the demand of the Queen songs, such as We Are The Champions.
Susie McNeil as Oz, Sterling Jarvis as Britney and Alana Bridgewater as the Killer Queen all belt out the Queen repertoire with strong voices, giving us favourites such as I Want It All or Crazy Little Thing Called Love. An excellent ensemble of singer-dancers playing various roles completes the cast.
Not only does We Will Rock You quiz your knowledge of Queen songs with 25 numbers in the show, there are also dozens of references to lyrics of various rock artists to keep you on your toes. Baby Boomers should rise to the test and enjoy the nostalgia trip.
A piece of advice – like a rock concert, you have to stay ‘til the very end to enjoy the encore. Some folks left early and missed out – the cast had saved the best for last! Which brings me to one of my pet peeves – annoying people who try to push past me to get out, when I am still applauding the actors on stage. Come on, are you really in that much of a hurry to get to the parking lot? (Same thing goes for hockey games when so-called fans abandon their team to be first out of the arena. I love it when the hometown team ties it up with only five seconds left on the clock!)
The music in We Will Rock You is the very best of Queen, and it would make Freddie Mercury proud. Sure, the plot is a little schmaltzy, but as one theatre-goer said, “It’s the best schmaltz ever.”

We Will Rock You continues at Toronto’s Canon Theatre. Tickets are available by calling 1-800-461-3333. There is a 30% discount (for example, the high end $94 seats are $65) for some performances, if you use the discount code summer07.

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 the Community Economic Development Officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation.

Miss Saigon

July 18 to August 4
Huron Country Playhouse
(519) 238-6000 for tickets

Story/photo by Casey Lessard

Lovers brought together by the Vietnam war bring a tragic turn to the Huron Country Playhouse’s next production, Miss Saigon. While most of the fare on display this summer has been upbeat entertainment, the tragic love story of Miss Saigon is a must-see, says director and choreographer David Connolly.
“The cast is extraordinary,” Connolly says. “I’ve been working here for 25 years and this cast is the most talented group you could hope to ever have. The lead female is former Canadian Idol finalist Elena Juatko and she’s everything that Kim should be: naïve and strong and smart. And Steve who’s playing her lover, the male lead has been on Broadway as Marius in Les Mis and did a national tour of Little Women, so he has this unbelievable résumé too. The rest of the résumés span every festival. I taught Frank Anton Howard (who plays the Engineer) at Sheridan College years ago. I reconnected with him to find out that he had played this role through out America and won an Ovation award for his Los Angeles portrayal of it. He’s for the first time back in Canada to play the part. The talent here in this theatre for these two and half weeks is collectively as good as it would be in any theatre in North America this summer.”
Based on the opera Madame Butterfly, Miss Saigon is the story of the foreigner going to a foreign land and falling in love. In this case, the love story involves an American soldier and Vietnamese girl during the Vietnam War.
“There are really interesting and dark and meaningful themes. It deals with these themes that are so close to home on top of this heart wrenching love story. It’s too thought-provoking for you to not leave having had some kind of catharsis.”
The play, considered an epic musical, deals with serious themes but should appeal to any audience that loves theatre and drama.
“We have actors that are fully committed to telling it in an authentic way. We have to honour the men who fought in that war. We have to honour the children who are orphaned by that war. All these themes are all the way through it. But at the heart of it is a love story. It doesn’t matter where that love story took place whether it’s Vietnam or the South Pacific or England. The fact is that these two people - desperate people in desperate times - fell in love and got ripped apart so everyone can identify with that. Everyone can identify with having a love that, for whatever reason, couldn’t be. Regardless of who you are, you get to identify with the fact that, ‘Oh yeah, I was in love once and it didn’t work out.’ These two lovers should have been together forever but weren’t and I think we’ve all been there.
“I’ve worked with lots of casts and for me this is the one I want to get up and rehearse every morning joyfully with. That’s a testament to the people that put this together and to the support we’re getting from sound, carpentry, lights, costumes. The women have 10 costume changes in the course of this musical, which is kind of unheard of. Everyone has pushed their boundaries to support this size of this show. Come see how they did it.”

Mom’s the Word

Until August 18
Huron Country Playhouse
(519) 238-6000 for tickets
(519) 614-3614 to win tickets

Click here to enter to win tickets!

Story/photo by Casey Lessard

Whether you’ve dropped a baby, faced a diaper-pail tidal wave, shot milk from your breast or left your child on the roof of a moving vehicle, you know being a mom is no day at the beach. If none of those things have happened to you, you should see Mom’s the Word to get a better sense of what it took to raise a kid like you.
An ensemble version of a one-woman show, the play blends monologues by five women (six in the original show) who are new mothers.
“We’d all been working in the theatre in Vancouver,” says director Robin Nichol, who was one of the six women who wrote the play, “and we’d all had babies around the same time and the bottom had dropped out of our careers. We met regularly. We talked a lot. We laughed a lot and whined a lot and laughed a lot but we never wrote anything down. Then finally at the last minute this festival that we were booked into was coming up so we kind of said, ‘You tell that story and you tell that one.’ It just came about in a kind of organic, West Coast kind of way.”
Assuming the show would appeal to new moms only, the group was shocked at the overwhelmingly positive response from a diverse audience. After a successful nine-month run in Vancouver, the play traveled the world and has been translated into a dozen languages over the past ten years.
“It is the easiest part I’ve ever had to play,” says actor Louise Gauthier, who as Linda, demands understanding from her partner. “My child is five so there wasn’t too much digging or research that needed to happen. Now I just have to wait for my husband to come and see the show to see what he thinks (laughs). I hope he doesn’t feel too bashed.”
“You’re trying to figure out how to best tell the story,” says Birgitte Solem, whose character’s son is born premature, “how to get people to laugh and how you make sure people understand what you’re talking about. Robin is so good with getting the best out of everybody.”
As Deborah, Alex Dallas has to bare all for the audience, and we’re not just talking about her emotions.
“The first time I did this show in Thunder Bay,” Dallas says, “they went, ‘By the way, you’re naked.’ I went, ‘Oh. OH!’ It was fine because we worked it out tastefully. Tastefully, Grand Bend. You don’t have to be scared. It’s so funny and it fits in with the concept of the show so well. Anything for comedy! At the bottom line, we’re all just naked human beings that put on clothes and try to deal with jobs and children and marriages and all these things. People love it because they really relate.
“I have a fourteen year old daughter who’s coming up soon and I’m going to persuade her to see it because I told her about the nudity and she said, ‘What? No, I don’t want to see that.’ I think I will persuade her.”
“A lot of people come up to us, namely mothers, and say they felt liberated or ‘I feel like I’m not alone, let me tell you the story about my day from hell,’” says Sharon Heldt, who portrays the role written by the play’s director Robin Nichol. “It’s all supposed to be cuddly and wonderful and it’s not always like that. We all know that. We all gave our parents trouble on the road.”
“I find that children are really brilliant,” says Ginette Mohr, who is not a mom herself. “They say the most amazing things. They have fantastic observations. I learned a lot from actually being with kids. I’m looking forward to that.”
“It’s a hard job,” says Dallas. “Moms out there will know. And we should all get credit for it, I think.”

Make The Last Resort your first stop

Playhouse presentation of Norm Foster/Leslie Arden collaboration will make you laugh, shout and cheer

The Last Resort
Until July 14
Huron Country Playhouse
(519) 238-6000 for tickets

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

For a guaranteed good night out, book yourself a spot at the Last Resort, playing now at the Huron Country Playhouse. The play is masterfully written by Canadian playwright Norm Foster, and fun music by Canadian composer Leslie Arden.
A group of apparent strangers are staying the night in Saskatchewan’s Last Resort, a hotel in the middle of nowhere that will serve as the perfect hideout for mob informant Nick Galeazzo (Brett McCaig). On the run with FBI agent Angela Miller (Shelley Simester), Nick is paranoid that every other guest in the hotel is out to kill him. Everyone is a suspect, and eventually the murderous mayhem begins. Inspector Closely (Robert Latimer) is the Scottish RCMP attaché who has to sort out the situation.
“It’s so much fun from lights up to lights out,” says Stuart Dowling, who portrays Freda Heitz, the husky female hotelier. “Once you get that reaction and that rapport with an audience it’s just so much fun. Then they start laughing and the laughter builds and builds and then you have to wait for people to be quiet because we have a play to get going.”
“The play is almost making fun of itself,” says McCaig. “Even though everyone is crazy and huge and wacky, it still comes honestly. Even though I’m flailing and twisting myself and contorting myself, you’re still in the moment and you’re being there in an honest way as opposed to just flailing around for no reason.”
The actors are very much in the moment and are impeccable with their comic timing. All of a sudden, a song will emerge out of nowhere, or the cast will begin ballet dancing (one of the funniest scenes, by far, featuring John Devorski as poet Trent Balfour). And to think, the cast has only two weeks to prepare for opening night.
“It is insane,” says Cara Leslie, who has the dual role of Jessica and Julia Youngstead, who are staying at the hotel to hear the reading of their late father’s will. One of them will inherit $32 million; the other, a bracelet. “It really works out to about 10 days if you really look at it like that. I think we have done about seven shows already this week.”
The quick turnaround is one of the reasons Drayton Entertainment takes advantage of actors who have already done the play for their other venues.
“It’s good to come into rehearsal knowing all of your lines and all of your lyrics,” Leslie says, “and it serves you and it just makes things move a lot faster.”
“It’s wonderful to come back to a character that you’ve played before and loved playing,” says Sheldon Davis, referring to “Psycho” Sid Barzini, a carpet salesman who comes to the hotel with his wife Liz (Susan Johnston Collins) for their 24th anniversary. “You get back up to speed. Most of us have done this production before so (director Marc Richard) was able to layer in a few more things. Sid’s really the only guy in The Last Resort who has no agenda. He’s the guy who is just there because his wife has brought him in there and he just wants to have a good time.”
An audience that attends the Huron Country Playhouse looking for a good time will find it. The Last Resort is billed as a Hilarious Musical Whodunit, and when it comes to creating a fun night out, they all “dun it.” This is a really fun play with spot-on performances by a talented ensemble cast. Well deserving of an opening night standing ovation.

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