Avro Arrow - Neither Travesty nor Triumph

Tonight my Fringe experience began with The Flying Avro Arrow, billed as a musical comedy by Doug Warwick, directed by Annie MacMillan.

The show started with promise. Stephen Flett, as a portrait of past Prime Minister Diefenbaker, in conversation with what I can only assume are the spirits of history, not remembering him well. After throwing some entertaining barbs at the Liberal party, he is ultimately convinced to turn back the clock so that the story of the Arrow, and its demise, can be told in musical fashion.

Cue music, and cue a performance tying together international espionage, arms race politics, Star Trek, and William Shatner. Unfortunately, the structure does not hold together well, and feels more like a number of disjoint sketches on a theme than a coherent whole.

What story there is seems to touch on the surface of things, getting distracted by schtick, good schtick, but still schtick. The cast seemed a bit distracted as well, and felt to me as if they were going through the motions, not fully committed to the characters (and caricatures) they are performing. Despite being told by the opening number that the story would be "larger than life" I felt the performances needed to be bigger.

When poignancy did appear, it struck me as, unfortunately, out of place. A potentially wonderful monologue by David Abramowitz as Morris Lax could, in another context, be both engaging and moving. In this show, however, it lacked connection to the whole.

I do have to recognize solid performances by Mr. Flett, as well as by Danielle Capretti, a Nastasha in desperate need of a Boris (but who will take a Bill). Some of their punch lines lacked some punch, but, knowing them from other shows, I expect that to remedy itself over the run. I also enjoyed the performance of Leeman Kessler, who, despite not leaving much of an impression with his singing, nonetheless delivered some fine character work as President Eisenhower. When doing chorus work, as well, he seemed to be the most committed to the moment.

In a musical, the music must be commented on. Unfortunately, the show’s music, through promising in some places, was generally lackluster. Mr. Warwick shows his best potential when working with original material.  By contrast, a rework of If Ever I Would Leave You was one of the evening’s low points.

I hope for good things for this show. Despite its flaws, there are moments and through-lines that have great promise. With luck, it will return to the workshop and emerge stronger for it. There’s a show here that could soar, for now, though, we will have to be content with potential.

Joyful Jitters

Let's start at the beginning. It is 1979, and four rehersals before the opening of "The Care and Tending of Roses" by Robert Ross, whose previous play, "Murphy's Damond" made him a name to notice.
Assembled to act in this show are Tom, a young actor making his professional debut, Phil, insecure of himself and his lines, Jessica, returning to Toronto in the hopes of restarting a stalled New York career, and Patrick, highly regarded in the Toronto theatre scene but scared to take the leap into bigger (international) waters.
When it is confirmed that New York producer Bernie Feldman will be attending the opening performance with the thought of taking the show and its actors to Broadway, the stakes mount, the tensions rise, and hilarity ensues.

Director Ted Dykstra sets the piece squarely in the later 70's in which it was written, a setting beautifully executed by Set and Costume designer Patrick Clark, whose designs and clothes are clearly period, but never over-the-top. Leaving the play in its original time period serves it well. A lot is made in this play of how Canada does not create its own stars, and of how small the theatre scene is. I personally feel that these statements are far more arguable now than they were 30 years ago, and that some of this dialog would ring less true had the time period of the action been updated. Distancing the statements from the present, in fact, has the effect of allowing the truths they contain with respect to today's theatre scene ring even truer.

Another strong choice of Dykstra was to treat the entire theatre as his set. Yes, of course, the stage has a set on it, but in acts I and III it is the set of the play withen the play. The rest of the theatre is used very much as a theatre would be used, with the directors, crew, and others, entering through, and sitting in, the audience, just as they would if we, the audience, were not there. The fourth wall is temporarily erected for us in Act II, which takes place backstage in the dressing rooms on opening night.

So what about the promised hilarity? Not to worry, this production is full of laughs. Good, satisfying, lean-forward-in-your-seat laughs, too.

Actually, the laugher in this show reminded me of the water boiling in a soup pot. Stay with me; I'll explain: When you make a good soup, you first bring the water to a roaring boil. It takes some time to get there, but soon is it frothing with such furvour that it risks boiling over. At this point, you turn down the heat, cover, and let it simmer slowly until the cooking is complete. Much like the water in the pot, the laugher is slow to build, staring small at the start of the show, but by the end of act one, the two words "I see" are eliciting roars of hilarity. Acts II and III don't tend to match the uproarious nature of what has gone before, but continue a steady and satisfying simmer of laughs so that by the end of the show, you feel completely satisfied.

The cast does a fine job of portraying the slightly larger-than-life characters that populate the world of the play, and they do so without straying down the road of caricature. The stand-out performance for me is that of Mike Ross as Robert.  His reactions to the insanity around him in Act I are spot on, and his silences elicit more laughter than you might think possible. He is no less engaging during the mounting humour of the second act. There's a pun in there if you look for it.

See this show if you can, particularly if you are or have ever been involved in the theatre scene. It was a personal joy to see almost every conflict and misstep that has happened on the many productions that I've been invovled with over the years all gathered together in one place, distilled, and then presented at once.

The program notes indicate that someone once called Jitters "David French's love letter to Canadian theatre." Why not share the love?

Jitters runs until July 24 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto's Distillery district.
More information at http://www.soulpepper.ca

Amadeus at Scarborough Players - A Strong Opening Night

I am directly involved in this production as sound operator, and so have not had the opportunity to watch it with objective eyes. As a result, this post isn't so much of a review as an FYI about a show that I hope people will come to see.

The Scarborough Players production of Amadeus, by Peter Shaffer, opened last night at the Scarborough Village Theatre, and runs Thus-Sat until June 19th with a Sunday Matinee on Jun 13. Note that the closing performance is also a matinee.

I've been involved in a number of community theatre productions, and opening nights can sometimes be a bit of a mixed bag. This production, however, had one of the tightest opening night performances that I have ever seen, an needed asset in a play of this scope. It was an opening night that felt like an opening night. Congratulations to the production and artistic team, and of course the stage and crew that have put together this production that I am sure I will enjoy as much the 10th time as the first.

I hope that many others will come see this show as well.

Tickets can be purchased onilne at http://theatrescarborough.com by following the "buy now" button. The cost is $17