Performing Arts

Bard’s varied play mix

Bard on the Beach’s production of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor is an adaptation set at a recreation centre in a Vancouver suburb, where the women’s soccer team has just won the local championship. (photo by Emily Cooper)

World Cup Fever hit Vancouver this summer and Bard on the Beach was not immune as it launched its 37th season with a soccer-inspired version of the Shakespearean comedy Merry Wives of Windsor, which runs in repertory on the Mainstage until mid-September with a dark and dystopian Macbeth.

Merry Wives has been dubbed Shakespeare-Lite and for good reason. It is more of a chaotic farce than a dramatic piece. And Bruce Horak and director Rebecca Northan have taken the chaos one step further in what can only be described as major surgery on the original, setting the play at a recreation centre in a modern-day Vancouver suburb, where the women’s soccer team has just won the local championship. Younger audience members will appreciate the references to influencers, followers, TikTok and Twitter that pervade the script along with some X-rated cheeky moments, while purists may be appalled.

Receptionist Miss Quickly (Stephanie Davis) keeps tight control over the comings and goings of the patrons from behind her centre-stage reception desk and sings up a storm. There’s a yoga class, an art class with a thong-wearing male model, steamy sauna scenes and locker room hijinks.

Washed-up soccer veteran Falstaff (Ashley Wright) has come to town to woo two wealthy suburban housewives – Mrs. Page (Jennifer Lines) and Mrs. Ford (Melissa Oei) – to improve his dismal financial fortunes. However, he sends them both the exact same love letter and the ladies, upon comparing notes and discovering his agenda, set out to extract their revenge on the portly rogue and to teach their husbands a lesson for not trusting their fidelity.

To that end, Craig Erickson is sublime as the cuckolded (or so he thinks) Mr. Ford – although methinks that he doth protest too much. Wright, in his velour tracksuit, plays his part with aplomb (this is his third time in the role at Bard) and you almost feel sorry for him as he suffers the indignity of being hidden in a laundry basket, followed by an unceremonious dumping into muddy False Creek. Lines and Oei are fantastic as the scheming housewives. The entire cast exudes tremendous energy.

Interwoven with the main event is the subplot of Mr. and Mrs. Pages’ efforts to find a husband for their daughter and captain of the women’s soccer team Ann (Rachel Angco). Ann likes Fenton (Cameron Grant), the men’s team captain, but her mother wants a doctor. In this case, chiropractor Dr. Caius (Raf Rogers) – cue the chiropractor jokes … are they really doctors? Meanwhile, Mr. Page (Munish Sharma) wants local influencer Slender (Sara Vickruck) to be his son-in-law. Thus begins the war of the suitors.

Set designer Amir Ofek, who is a member of the Jewish community, has gone to great lengths to provide a soccer environment on a simple set with pentagonal-shaped-tile floors and some furniture, along with the obligatory soccer net and scoreboard. Costumer Barbara Clayden gets the suburbia chic right and sound designer Steven Charles has put together a great play list.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. Director Steven Drover’s vision of a post-cataclysmic not-too-distant future, with a clash of power, corruption and politics, resonates in today’s world.

In this version, the pot-stirring witches are replaced by three eerie zombie-like, masked creatures with distorted electronic voices providing a futuristic veneer.

photo - Munish Sharma as the title character offers a toast in Macbeth — Munish Sharma as the title character offers a toast in Macbeth. (photo by Emily Cooper)

Munish Sharma is superb in the eponymous role as the conflicted warrior-to-be-king. The production opens with his successful return, armed with the spoils of his triumphs.

Tess Degenstein is an ambitious Lady Macbeth who manipulates her husband into killing King Duncan (Anthony Santiago) so that he can reign over Scotland. Macbeth agonizes over whether to carry out the plot, while his wife laments the fact that, as a woman, she cannot do the killing herself. Once the bloody deed is done, her “out damn spot” soliloquy portends her descent into madness and ultimate death.

Macbeth continues on his murderous path, arranging for the death of his friend Banquo (Sebastian Kroon) and the family of his rival, Macduff (Jacob Leonard). Haunted by Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth becomes paranoid and he, too, descends into madness culminating in a duel with Macduff.

Stephanie Davis provides the only levity in the production as the Porter with her “knock-knock” jokes, as she breaks the fourth wall to tease the audience. Her versatility comes through in her alternate role as a poignant Lady Macduff.

Ofek also designed this set – a bunker that was inspired, as he states in the program notes, by “images of tiled, medicinal-like slaughterhouses, abandoned indoor swimming pools and public shower rooms to create a spotless, underground tiled maze as cleanliness-obsessed Lady Macbeth’s domain.” Juxtapose this with the elevated mezzanine of the set, which exudes a dark, toxic outside-world vibe.

Alaia Hamer’s costumes reflect this juxtaposition, with the below-ground Macbeth household clad in simple white garb (the antithesis of the Macbeths’ aspirations) and the struggling others dressed in camouflage. Mary Jane Coomber’s spooky music provides a powerful soundscape. The fight scenes are fast-paced and energetic – kudos to fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis for his choreography.

In the smaller Douglas Campbell Theatre, Bard is presenting Antigone and Goblin: Oedipus, adaptations of two plays written by Sophocles more than 2,000 years ago.

In Antigone, a masked Greek chorus sets the scene for the poignant story of a dysfunctional royal family and a sister’s fight to ensure that her dead brother has a proper burial – a struggle between moral courage and allegiance to the state. Yoshie Bancroft plays the eponymous lead and is simply stunning. Jennifer Lines as matriarch Jocasta, Kate Besworth (who adapted the play) as younger sister Ismene, Paul Moniz de Sá as King Creon (the uncle) and Cameron Grant as Haimon (the cousin and dead brother Polynices) find the right balance for each of their characters. The visuals are a feast for the eyes, from the stark white pillars and sand-coloured floor mosaic of the set to the draping earth-toned costumes, all suffused with John Webber’s evocative lighting. Greek tragedies are rarely performed in Vancouver so seize this opportunity to see this excellent production.

In contrast, Goblin: Oedipus is for audiences of 18 and older, as it is a treatise on patricide, incest, self-harm and suicide presented by three goblin-like characters (Moog, Wug and Kragva, playing multiple roles) who, at the beginning of the play, enlist 12 audience members to play the half-masked Greek chorus to tell the story of Oedipus and his descent into hell. There is slapstick, mayhem and bedlam in this interactive version of absurdist theatre and it all ends with the audience being invited to the stage for a dance party. Warning: coarse and suggestive language, not suitable for all.

For tickets to any of these productions, go to bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

All right in what goes wrong

Zander Eke, Ben Elliott, Scott Bellis, Genevieve Fleming and Andrew McNee in The Play That Goes Wrong, playing at Arts Club’s Granville Island Stage until Aug. 16. (photo from Moonrider Productions)

Collapsing sets, misplaced props, missed cues, forgotten lines, unconscious actors, on-stage pyrotechnics, botched entrances and exits, and crew members popping in and out of the wings to deal with technical issues – what else could possibly go wrong? Apparently quite a lot in the British farce The Play That Goes Wrong, now at the Arts Club Granville Island Stage until Aug. 16. This is the Three Stooges meets Monty Python, on steroids. Nonstop laughter is what audiences will receive for the price of their tickets.

Written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer, the play had its debut in a London pub in 2012 and quickly moved to the West End, then on to Broadway and elsewhere, winning awards and megafans along the way.

In a nutshell, in this play within a play, an amateur drama group, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, is presenting a production of The Murder at Haversham Manor, a 1920s mystery set in a manor house. In a clichéd opening, as the curtain rises, a body is found in the study lying on the chaise lounge, and Inspector Carter arrives to investigate. The usual suspects are rounded up (the butler, family members, lovers) and, eventually, after two hours of slapstick physical comedy, with everything breaking and/or falling down, the perpetrator is unmasked.

Community member Josh Epstein helms this rollercoaster of a comedy with a wealth of veteran actors in the cast, including Scott Bellis (Perkins, the Butler), Andrew McNee (Thomas) and Ben Elliott (Charles, the corpse). This is a technically demanding production requiring tight timing and choreography in the chaos of the disintegrating set, and kudos must be given to the entire team, both on and behind the stage.

The JI interviewed Epstein after opening night.

JI: How did it come about that you were selected to direct the show?

JE: I think my background across a few different worlds landed me here. Producing for independent film requires a specific kind of precision and technical focus, and mixing that with my experience in big technical theatre and high-speed comedies seemed to be the right recipe. This show is a massive, multi-layered machine, and you need to understand how all those moving parts, the mechanics, the timing and the heart, work together.

JI: What is it like to direct such a physical production?

JE: Directing this much physicality is like choreographing a high-stakes dance where the floor might actually fall out from under you. We protect the actors through “stunt-grade” preparation, everything from secret padding in the costumes to reinforced gussets and custom-built furniture that takes the hit so the actor doesn’t have to. As for the energy, we keep it fresh by reminding ourselves that we aren’t playing a comedy; we are playing a high-stakes murder mystery. The exhaustion is real, but the medicine is the audience. When you hear that level of laughter, it fuels the engine for the next round.

JI: What are the technical requirements needed to ensure safety on the set?

JE: The safety requirements are immense because the set is effectively the antagonist of the play. It has to look like it’s failing dangerously while being under complete, rigorous control behind the scenes. We have built-in redundancies for every major collapse, fail-safes on every moving part, and a crew that is as finely tuned as the cast. It’s all about creating the illusion of a misstep while being mathematically certain of where every foot and hand is going to land.

JI: You are working with some seasoned veterans, all of whom have themselves directed. What is it like to direct directors?

JE: Honestly, it’s a gift. Directing directors means you’re working with people who understand the big picture and the architecture of a scene. They aren’t just thinking about their own lines; they’re thinking about the rhythm of the entire stage. There is a shorthand and a level of trust that allows us to skip the basics and get straight to the nuanced, complicated work. They know exactly how to hold the tension that making this show work requires.

JI: What was your vision for the show?

JE: My vision was to lean into the earnestness of the Cornley drama society. I didn’t want a parody of a bad play; I wanted a production of a high-budget, ambitious, amateur company that has done everything in its power to be professional, only to have the world conspire against them. The set is beautiful, the costumes are classy and the intentions are pure. The comedy isn’t that they are incompetent – it’s that they are desperate to succeed in the face of total disaster.

JI: Some critics think the show is too over the top. Your thoughts on that?

JE: I think over the top is exactly where the joy lives in a piece like this. It is a celebration of the resilience of theatre. There is something deeply human and universal about watching people refuse to give up when everything is going wrong. It’s supposed to be an assault on the senses. If we aren’t pushing the boundaries of the ridiculous, we aren’t doing justice to the spirit of the show.

JI: Why should people come and see the play?

JE: Because it is pure, unadulterated joy. In a world that often feels quite heavy, there is something incredibly healing about sitting in a room with hundreds of strangers and laughing until your ribs ache. You’re seeing world-class performers do something incredibly difficult to make it look effortless and disastrous at the same time. It’s a night where you can just leave it all at the door and watch a group of people try, and hilariously fail, to solve a murder.

For tickets, go to artsclub.com or call the box office at 604-687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Nuns & mermaids at TUTS

Theatre Under the Stars opened July 7 with Sister Act, starring Kat Reynolds, which alternates nights with Disney’s The Little Mermaid, starring Madison Simms, until Aug. 22 at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl. (photo by Emily Cooper)

This summer, Theatre Under the Stars features Sister Act, based on the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, and Disney’s The Little Mermaid, based on the classic animated film, alternating nights at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl until Aug. 22. On first glance, the two shows couldn’t be more different, but they both have themes of redemption, empowerment and belonging – and both are energetic, upbeat productions with great music.

Sister Act follows disco singer Deloris Van Cartier, who goes into hiding in a convent after witnessing a murder. There, she uses her singing ability and chutzpah to help the church’s struggling choir and, in doing so, the choir helps her find her place in life. In Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel, a young mermaid, gives her voice to a sea witch for a chance to live on land. When the witch betrays her, Ariel finds out what real love and friendship are, and where she fits in the world.

Responsible for every element the TUTS audience sees and hears from stage is production manager Richard Berg.

“At the top level, I create, implement and oversee the overall production budget and production schedule,” he told the Independent. “I also supervise all of the various production departments, from costumes and scenery, to lighting and sound. As I say that, it sounds – even to me – like an enormous job; however, I have the great fortune to work alongside a team of amazingly talented creative and technical staff who truly make my job better and easier than I could ever hope for.”

Berg is co-founder of URP Event Production, which began as a theatre company he formed with his mother, Ev Berg, in 1995.

“While we started the company in order to produce our own musical theatre productions, it quickly expanded to provide production services to all sorts of arts and entertainment projects, from theatre, to music festivals, to special events,” he explained.

Berg has been in the pages of the JI before, for TUTS, as well as for a City Opera Vancouver show. He has worked with Burnaby Lyric Opera and many others. He divides his time between North Vancouver and San Francisco.

“San Francisco is a recent addition to my life that began in 2022, when my wife was offered a seasonal position on the stage management team at San Francisco Opera,” he said. “All of my own work remains in Canada, but I spend as much of my non-working time as I can down there with her as visitor in another great West Coast city.”

For Berg, whose father is Jewish, Judaism is important but has always existed on the periphery.

“I was raised in a very secular household that still somehow always had a mezuzah at the front door,” he shared. “Monthly dinners at my paternal grandmother’s were never religious but they were nonetheless filled with food and traditions passed down through a family that was proudly Jewish. Those foods and traditions are what stay with me today, whether in the form of yahrzeit candles lit for my grandparents or in my being the keeper of my grandma’s chopped liver recipe – that my sister will eat faster than I make it.

“In the last decade,” he added, “I have taken on the sound design and production management for the Vancouver Talmud Torah School’s annual musical. This project has been both artistically fulfilling and a lovely reminder of the culture that had somewhat receded from my life since my grandmother’s death.”

As for what keeps TUTS a fulfilling experience, Berg pointed to “the constant variety” it offers.

“Each season we mount two new shows led by two new directors and teams of designers. Each year there are new visions and new ideas of how to use the space here at Malkin Bowl,” he explained. “The production department is responsible for helping those visions become reality, and to do that we draw upon our collective skillsets and experience, while gaining some new skills and experience along the way.”

While this year’s shows may share themes, they “share very few production elements,” he said.

“The look and feel of 1970s Philadelphia shares very little with the look and feel of a sub-aquatic Disney fairy tale. Part of the challenge that the production department took on was to help the design teams completely immerse the audience in one of those worlds while hiding the entire infrastructure of a completely different world just a few feet away – and to reverse that magic the following night. You can attend two nights in a row and get two completely different experiences, which is always the magic of TUTS.”

The TUTS season officially opened July 7 with Sister Act, after a couple of previews of each show. For tickets, go to tuts.ca.

Musical to warm heart

In Newfoundland, if you’re not from the island, you’ve “come from away.” On Sept. 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks in New York, the United States shut down its airspace. As a result, 38 planes – carrying 7,000 passengers – were diverted to Gander, Nfld., population 9,000 or so. The local community quickly mobilized to provide their unique maritime hospitality to the unexpected guests from around the globe, welcoming them to their home, “the Rock,” for five days.

This is the premise for the aptly named musical written by Jewish-Canadian husband-and-wife songwriting team David Hein and Irene Sankoff, that took Broadway by storm in 2017. Now, this made-in-Canada opus comes to the Arts Club’s Stanley Stage, in partnership with Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre.

photo - Andrew Wheeler, left, and Vance Avery in Come From Away, which is at the Stanley until Aug. 16 — Andrew Wheeler, left, and Vance Avery in Come From Away, which is at the Stanley until Aug. 16. *(photo from Moonrider Productions)*

The essence of the show is quite simple, with 12 actors playing 20 characters on a minimalist set, courtesy of designer Lorenzo Savioni. It consists of 12 mismatched chairs – a metaphor for the eclectic mix of strangers that descended upon the island. The chairs are constantly being reconfigured, morphing from an airplane interior to a bus to a Tim Hortons to a school gymnasium to a pub. These transitions provide the background for the dozens of vignettes that make up the heartwarming story.

The actors move smoothly between their various roles with most costume changes done right on stage. While this is truly an ensemble production, every one of these performers has stand-out moments.

It all starts with veteran actor Andrew Wheeler as avuncular Mayor Claude, who introduces the audience to Gander, its inhabitants and their idiosyncrasies. Jacelyn Gauthier is outstanding as American Airlines pilot Beverley (America’s first civilian female captain) – and, boy, can she sing. Vance Avery and Kamyar Pazandeh play the two Kevins, a gay couple navigating their rocky relationship. Pazandeh also plays Ali, a Paris-trained Muslim chef, who endures the suspicions of his fellow passengers.

Then there is Englishman Nick (Garett Ross) and Texan divorcee Diane (Janet Gigliotti), who find love amid the chaos; take-charge Beulah (Stephanie Wolfe), the quintessential organizer, who bonds with Hannah (Lisa Michelle), a worried mother awaiting the news of her New York City firefighting son; SPCA worker Bonnie (Catriona Murphy), who goes out of her way to care for all the stranded pets; local cub reporter Janice (Daphne Charrois), who gets to break the news to the world; and Bob (Tenaj Williams), who worries about the cost of it all.

Finally, Charlie Gallant plays Oz, the quirky constable, but his real strength comes in his portrayal of the Orthodox rabbi who must cope with both the challenge of keeping kashrut in Gander and taking care of the spiritual needs of a Holocaust survivor’s relative, who is looking to make meaning out of the events of the day. Gallant does an admirable job as the rabbi and delivers a poignant rendition of Oseh Shalom during the multi-faith prayer scene. Community member Josh Epstein is the Hebrew/Jewish consultant for the production.

As their island sojourn comes to a close, the passengers are treated to an East Coast kitchen party replete with Celtic-infused, foot-stomping songs and the chance to become an honorary islander, which is a three-step process that culminates in the kissing of a cod fish (you will have to see the show to find out about the first two steps).

Savioni’s back wall of seven rotating panels/doors frames the actors’ entrances and exits and features Sophie Tang’s impressive lighting design, which often resembles airport runway lights. Ken Cormier’s seven-piece band and Gianna Vacirca’s energetic choreography complete the effect. Kudos to director Ashlie Corcoran for bringing this production to Vancouver.

These salt-of-the-earth islanders give a master class in what it means to be Canadian. It makes you feel proud to be one.

For tickets to the show, which runs to Aug. 16, go to artsclub.com or call 604-687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

***

Come From Away’s rabbi

As are many of the vignettes in the musical Come From Away, the rabbi’s story is based on that of British Rabbi Leivi Sudak. Prior to the High Holidays, he was on his way to New York to pray at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave, when his plane was part of the redirected fleet. Under his direction, the islanders scavenged the grounded planes to find kosher meals to feed the 30 or so Jewish passengers among the stranded. A kosher kitchen was set up in one of the schools housing the group and efforts were made for Shabbat to be observed and for the passengers to reach their destinations before Rosh Hashanah.

– TK

Multiple Tony n’ Tina roles

Marc Gelmon as the priest in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Gelmon has played several roles in the production, which will be at Legion #179, on Commercial Drive, May 22-23. (photo from Marc Gelmon)

The priest is drunk and sleeping it off at our table. The bride is slow dancing with her former boyfriend and the caterer is highly recommending that I eat my bun by dipping it in the chicken sauce. The nun keeps chatting me up and, by now, I’m thinking she has a crush on me.

Welcome to Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding (TNT), an interactive, comical dinner theatre production starring, among others, Jewish community member Marc Gelmon. The night I attended in April, he was playing the caterer and emcee.

In one scene, he ran around the large, decorated hall wrapped in an Italian flag. In another, he joked about the 10 things you will never hear from an Italian husband. The almost 100 audience members laughed or groaned in appreciation.

Gelmon has played several different characters in TNT, first with Hoarse Raven Theatre Etc. from about 1995 to 2005 and, in the last year, with Hammer Up Productions. You never know, but he might be playing the priest when you arrive on May 22 or 23 at 6:30 p.m., upstairs at Legion #179 on Commercial Drive.

“For the show’s purpose and for my fun of pretend, I take each role seriously and immerse myself as much as I can into that world and character,” Gelmon told the Independent. “In doing so, I have had many audience members ask if I’m really a priest!”

In real life, Gelmon works in the health sector, including having been a mental health worker. He says that TNT does wonders for both his and his audience’s mental health.

“It’s just a great way to escape for a few hours amongst the mishigas [craziness] that goes on,” he said. “There’s always somewhere to look and someone saying or doing something ridiculous. The cast and production team are all really great people who want nothing more than to ensure the audience has a good time.”

photo - Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding — Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. *(photo from Marc Gelmon)*

Gelmon has had many adventures with TNT, including one time where the Vancouver Police showed up to break up a pretend altercation between Tina’s ex-boyfriend and the groom and groomsmen.

“I can recall when we’d have the final fight scene and, at that time, we ran outside the restaurant, and around to where there were these big windows, so audience members could see us outside against the windows in this fight. I’m aware of at least two times when the VPD happened to be in the vicinity and ran after us to stop the ‘fight.’ We also had an audience member decide to strip during the end of the show.”

Incidents like this are rare, though, Gelmon insisted.

“My experiences with both shows have been really wonderful. Michael Fera and Tanja Dixon-Warren were the first ones to bring Tony n’ Tina’s to Vancouver and they gave me the room to grow and develop as a performer, as well as becoming lifelong friends. I hold them in the highest esteem, as they have been a source of love and support for decades.

“Director and producer Jeff Laurin has taken this production and infused it with his love, care and devotion,” Gelmon continued. “Plus, our stage manager, Chellé Tanner, and the loving and funny cast have really made this second time around so good for my soul!”

Gelmon said he has been influenced by watching actors on SNL and SCTV. His favourite comics today include Gary Gulman, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman and Gianmarco Soresi.

“These are my favourite comics because they’re all really smart, make me laugh, especially Gary Gulman, and they all talk about their Jewish experiences, and I love that,” said Gelmon, whose big break was performing in the children’s play Puss in Boots at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in 1994, where he played a lord and the king’s assistant.

“I was absolutely terrified, as this was my first actual play and I had two parts in it,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I loved it. I loved the costumes, makeup, being on stage, and camaraderie. That gave me a bit of confidence that I was really lacking, when I saw an advert in the Georgia Straight for Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”

Gelmon also loves the stories of Yiddish theatre and how many people in the early days of music, theatre and TV were often Jewish.

“I always feel that I have a Jewish sensibility to life and that always adds to my performance, even when playing a Catholic priest!” he said.

Over the years, Gelmon has been part of a few different community events.

“I think I’m most proud of participating in the Hanukkah convoy, which I first heard about over Facebook a few years ago,” he said. “I am not someone who people know I’m Jewish unless I tell them, so this was a great feeling of pride to drive, alongside many other cars, with these big electric menorahs on the tops of our cars, driving through downtown.

“The first time I did this, the folks at Chabad let me keep the menorah on my car for the remainder of the holiday. At that time, I was working at an elementary school and the teachers loved it, and a couple asked me to come and talk about Hanukkah to their classes. Also, someone left a note on my car. At first, I was worried, but then I read it and smiled. Whoever wrote the note described being thankful for seeing other people’s traditions and it made them feel good to see the menorah on the roof of my car.”

TNT runs for close to four hours, so you might want to bring a cushion if you have a sensitive tush like mine. If you have mobility issues, you can sit on the legion’s stairlift all the way to the festivities. Dress up and put on your dancing shoes because you are going to a wedding!

For tickets, go to linktr.ee/Tntweddingshowvancouver.

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver storyteller and improviser.

Musical with heart and soul

Left to right: Josh Epstein, Lisa Horner, Steffanie Davis and Madeleine Suddaby in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Kimberly Akimbo, now at the Stanley until May 3. (photo by Moonrider Productions for Arts Club)

High school is a time of often-volatile highs and lows, joys and sorrows. Now, imagine you are 16 years old but look 72 because you have a disease that ages you faster than normal – a disease that limits your life expectancy to your teens. How do you cope with the stresses of having to pack a lifetime into a few short years while dealing with an über-dysfunctional family?

This is the premise of the quirky Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo (best musical, 2023) now at the Stanley Theatre to May 3, presented by the Arts Club. This is not your traditional big-cast musical with toe-tapping songs you sing on the way out of the theatre. With a cast of only nine, Kimberly Akimbo is a layered and nuanced look at who and what we are as humans. Although it takes time to get into the story, the reward comes at the end.

Kimberly Levaco’s family has just moved to small-town New Jersey and she is starting in a new school. The curtain rises on Skater’s Planet, where four Breakfast Club-type misfits (with assorted gender identification and unrequited love issues) are planning ways to raise money to buy school choir costumes. Tuba-playing, nerdy Seth (Jason Sakaki) works behind the counter and is obsessed with anagrams. Enter new-kid-on-the-block Kimberly (Lisa Horner) and cue the teenage politics and romantic possibilities.

Kimberly’s blue-collar family is made up of alcoholic father Buddy (Jewish community member Josh Epstein); narcissist, hypochondriac mother Pattie (Steffanie Davis); and bombastic in-your-face Aunt Debra (Madeleine Suddaby), an ex-con on parole who devises a mail fraud scheme into which she ropes her niece and her niece’s chums.

Horner, who’s in her 50s, has the daunting task of playing Kimberly, an angst-ridden teen in an adult in body – though, when with her family, Kimberly is the only adult in the room. Horner does a terrific job in this role reversal, and she can sing too! At the end of the day, the characters, as flawed as they are – and they are flawed – are likeable, as they grapple with their trials and tribulations. The message: life is finite, so seize the day.

While the songs are not that memorable, Suddaby and Davis can really belt them out. Epstein pleases with two solos and demonstrates some nifty moves in the skating scenes, as do the rest of the cast – kudos to choreographer Shelley Stewart Hunt.

On the design end, the curtain opens on a stark set featuring steel girders and battered school lockers, yet transitions easily from the skating rink to the Levaco home to the school library to the colourful Sweet 16 party and ultimate road trip, the latter backed by large-scale projections. Jewish community member Itai Erdal’s lighting design runs the spectrum to complement each of the changes. To complete the 1990s atmosphere, costumer Stephanie Kong has the teens decked out in grunge and the adults in Value Village-type garb.

Epstein shared his feelings on the show in an email interview.

JI: What drew you to audition?

JE: It’s really an acting role that just happens to live inside a musical, which is my sweet spot. I’ve also loved David Lindsay-Abaire’s writing forever. He has this stream-of-consciousness, offbeat style that I’m really drawn to.

JI: How would you describe your role?

JE: I see him as a deeply loving dad who just doesn’t have the tools or capacity to show up the way he should. He’s overwhelmed, a bit lost in his own fear and vices, and trying to hold onto joy while knowing time isn’t on his side.

JI: What is the message for audiences?

JE: We’re all on a clock, whether we think about it or not, and this show gently forces you to face that. It’s about how beautiful life becomes when you really understand how limited and rare it is.

JI: As far as musicals go, and you have been in many, how would you rank this one in terms of the music, lyrics and choreography?

JE: It’s incredibly smart. Everything has to be precise for it to land and, when it does, it’s kind of genius. The writing, music and movement all support these beautifully strange, nuanced characters in a way you don’t see very often.

JI: What is the energy like with your fellow cast members?

JE: We genuinely love each other and it shows. We’re having a blast even when the material gets dark. There’s a real sense of trust and play, which you need for a show this zany and heartfelt.

JI: Why should people come and see the production?

JE: It’s one of those weird, wonderful shows that only works because it’s so specific and honest, it’ll surprise you, make you laugh, and hit you harder than you expect. Plus, it’s a Tony-winning piece that doesn’t feel like anything else out there, brought to life by an incredible local cast.

For tickets, go to artsclub.com or call 604-687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Bema presents Perseverance

Co-stars Evan Roberts, left, Jerry Callaghan, centre, and Carl Powell in rehearsal for Bema Productions’ presentation of Perseverance, April 22 to May 3. (photo by Becca Elliot)

photo - Jerry Callaghan and Andrea Eggenberger — Jerry Callaghan and Andrea Eggenberger *(photo by Becca Elliot)*

Bema Productions in Victoria presents Perseverance, by L.E. McCullough, from April 22 to May 3. The play is adapted from the 2019 memoir One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America, written by Melvin Goldman and his daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel. It brings to the stage a timely story of healing and renewal.

Few visitors to the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood during the 1960s and 1970s were aware that the cheerful proprietor, Melvin (né Mieczyslaw) Goldman, had spent his teens enduring the horrors of Auschwitz before arriving in postwar America as a penniless refugee intent on reclaiming his life and reshaping his family’s destiny. The play depicts Goldman’s irrepressible spirituality and unflagging love for humanity as he worked to replace darkness with light, one piece of handcrafted jewelry at a time.

photo - Angela Henry and Jerry Callaghan (photo by Becca Elliot) — Angela Henry and Jerry Callaghan *(photo by Becca Elliot)*

Bema Productions’ mounting of Perseverance stars Jerry Callaghan, Andrea Eggenberger, Carl Powell, Angela Henry and Evan Roberts. All performances take place in Bema’s Black Box Theatre at Congregation Emanu-El. For tickets ($25), go to ticketowl.io/bemaproductions.

– Courtesy Bema Productions

An urgent play to see

Synthia Yusuf stars in Kat Sandler’s Wildwoman, which runs March 26 to April 4 at Gateway Theatre, a co-production with Alberta Theatre Projects. (photo by David Cooper)

“Wildwoman is a story that celebrates women who refuse to be silenced and reminds us that theatre can be funny, wild, fearless and alive. With such an amazing cast and design team, we are thrilled to bring this sumptuous theatrical production to life on our stage,” said Barbara Tomasic, executive artistic director of Gateway Theatre, where Toronto Jewish community member Kat Sandler’s play can be seen March 26 to April 4. (Sandler also wrote Yaga, which Crave is making into a series.)

Wildwoman reimagines 16th-century French history, specifically the story that helped shape the legend of Beauty and the Beast. It centres on Catherine de Medici, the new wife of King Henry II of France, who is played at Gateway by Synthia Yusuf. Eager to be on the king’s council, Catherine quickly learns that her political aspirations matter far less than her ability to produce an heir. Surrounded by scheming courtiers, a powerful royal mistress and a male-dominant court obsessed with legacy and control, Catherine feels trapped inside this patriarchal world. That is, until she meets Pete, a wildman kept in the dungeon as one of the king’s caged oddities, who awakens her wild side.

“When I first read this play, it was like my body was filled with bees; I felt inspired, furious and delighted,” said Jamie King, director of the local co-production with Alberta Theatre Projects. “The play looks at power, at fertility, at legacy, all unflinching and full of humour. It’s inspiring to find new plays that are able to speak about both our human history and contemporary issues with such insight and still make it feel alive and fun. This is an urgent play that needs to be seen.”

Tickets start at $37, with a pay-what-you-will option. Go to gatewaytheatre.com or call 604-270-1812.

– Courtesy Gateway Theatre

Dialing up the perfect thriller

Tyrell Crews and Emily Dallas in Dial M For Murder, mounted by Theatre Calgary in 2025. Crews and Dallas reprise their roles in the Arts Club Theatre Company and Theatre Calgary co-production now playing at the Stanley until March 8. (photo by Trudie Lee for Theatre Calgary)

What do a latch key, a handbag, a compromising letter, two blackmail notes and an unexpected telephone call have in common? They are the primary clues in what is supposed to be the perfect murder – you know, the one you get away with. This is the premise for the Arts Club Theatre Company and Theatre Calgary co-production of Dial M for Murder, now playing at the Stanley.

Frederick Knott’s 1952 play was adapted for cinema early on, with the 1954 thriller starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland directed by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. About six ago, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher updated the story to add a contemporary and surprising twist. While the 1950s London setting has been preserved, giving it that quintessential British vibe, the cheating wife’s lover is now a woman – definitely a taboo to audiences of that era. Hatcher has also injected comedic moments and witty bon mots into the script, in contrast to the more noirish original.

This is not a murder mystery where the sleuthing detective ultimately exposes the culprit. In this iteration, we know from the beginning what the plan is, how it is to be executed and by whom – the only question is whether the perpetrator will get away with it.

It all starts when Tony Wendice (Tyrell Crews) discovers that his heiress wife, Margot (Emily Dallas), is having an affair with murder mystery writer Maxine Hadley (Olivia Hutt). Since he married Margot for her money, not love, he has no qualms about doing away with her to inherit her fortune. However, he does not want to do the dirty deed himself, so he blackmails a distant acquaintance from his past, Lesgate (Stafford Perry), to carry out the hit. Unfortunately, the plan backfires. Enter Chief Inspector Hubbard (Shekhar Paleja) of Scotland Yard, who, with Maxine’s assistance, attempts to recreate the murder scene to ferret out the mastermind behind the plot. But will they succeed?

Tony is front and centre of the narrative. At the beginning, he is in full control of the situation, callously planning the murder with painstaking attention to the details. He takes the art of manipulation to new heights. As his plan starts to unravel, we see the layers of his confidence peel away.

Crews commands the role of Tony and Perry ably portrays Lesgate’s nervousness and angst in confronting Margot with the news that he is about to kill her. Dallas, who portrays Margot in a rather subdued fashion initially, is sublime in her portrayal of the hunted housewife, taking the audience on a melodramatic roller-coaster ride of emotions. Flamboyant Hutt infuses the character of Maxine with intelligence, charm and sleek sophistication, and comes across as the smartest person in the room.

It is a testament to the abilities of these actors that such a small cast can pull off the highs and lows of this psychological thriller. They are assisted in this feat by a talented design team, including Jewish community members Itai Erdal, whose pinpoint lighting directs the audience’s attention to significant clues during scene breaks, and Anton Lipovetsky, whose sound design increases the suspense.

Then there is set designer Anton deGroot’s revolving turntable stage. All the action takes place in the Wendices’ sparsely furnished drawing room, which slowly and imperceptibly moves back and forth, providing the audience with different perspectives of the action and emphasizing the fluidity of the story. Even the walls and windows move, providing additional layers to the puzzle.

Jolane Houle’s costumes capture the essence of the stylish 1950s, elegant frocks for the ladies and tailored suits for the gents, all with colour palettes ranging from brown to blue to green that change with Erdal’s lighting. The ladies are perfectly coiffed and made-up à la that glamorous era. Jillian Keily directs her crew well.

This dialogue-dense production requires the audience to pay attention and focus on the various subtle clues that are dropped to determine if indeed Tony gets away with his deception and betrayal. It’s a cat and mouse game at its finest.

Dial M for Murder runs to March 8. For tickets, go to artsclub.com or call 604 687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Broadway’s Jewish storylines

David Benkof, the Broadway Maven, spoke on Jan. 11 as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025-26 Voices of Jewish Music series. (photo from David Benkof)

David Benkof, the Broadway Maven, visited Victoria recently, to give a talk titled Spotlight on Jewish Broadway, on Jan. 11. He began with a clip from the musical Spamalot, which, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, asserts that a potential show may have the finest sets, the loveliest costumes and the best shoes, yet it “won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.”

“The joke is that Jews wrote Broadway, Jews perform Broadway, Jews produce Broadway – and that’s true. It’s historically true, it’s statistically true, and it’s been said so many times that it barely counts as an insight anymore,” Benkof said.

Although seemingly innumerable Jews – Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Barbra Streisand, to name a mere few – may be associated with Broadway, Benkof encouraged the audience to consider the meaning of “Jewish Broadway” as something beyond the names of those who created and performed in well-known shows. Rather, he asked those attending in person and on Zoom to think in terms of Jewish-related themes: assimilation, reinvention, insecurity, exile, visibility and ambivalence.

“I want to go a step further,” he said, “and argue that Broadway isn’t primarily Jewish because of the people involved, but because of the very sensibility of the art form. Broadway is Jewish because its plots, themes and character arcs reflect the Jewish experience in North America.”

With clips from Hairspray, Hello, Dolly, A Chorus Line and Chicago, Benkof demonstrated that, while characters and plots were not overtly Jewish, or Jewish at all, there are invariably elements – such as restlessness, striving and defensiveness – that make them feel deeply Jewish.

“It grows out of histories of conditional welcome, where excellence becomes a survival strategy and visibility is both opportunity and danger,” said Benkof. “Broadway characters don’t assume that the room loves them. They hustle to make the room need them. That’s why Broadway feels Jewish even when Jews are nowhere in sight.”

Hairspray, for example, makes no claim that the characters are Jewish. It is method, not identity, according to Benkof, that makes it Jewish. The lead character does not want to tear down the system; she seeks to join it, he pointed out.

“The belief that assimilation is both a strategy and an ethical good is deeply Jewish in a North American context,” Benkof said.

“The combination of idealism, anxiety, and faith that the system can be nudged towards justice if you appeal to its conscience is not universal,” he argued. “It’s a Jewish sensibility operating inside a story that never needs to say the word Jewish out loud, which makes Hairspray slightly subversive, like quite a bit of postwar Jewish art.”

By the end of his Victoria lecture, audience members were able to find Jewish themes in musicals that, on the surface, seem far removed from the Jewish experience: The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, even The Book of Mormon (think reinvention).

In the example of The Sound of Music, audience members found that its themes of escape, persecution and fear were elements that could be perceived as related to the Jewish experience.

Congratulating the audience, Benkof said, “We could have said, Richard Rodgers was Jewish and, therefore, The Sound of Music is Jewish. That is true and boring. What we have been able to do here today is think about how you won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jewishness, as opposed to just Jews.”

Benkof also discussed a Canadian connection to Jewish Broadway, Come from Away, a musical about the care of thousands of travelers, who, after Sept. 11, 2001, had their flights diverted to Gander, Nfld.

In 2024, Benkof made a trip to Gander to see a performance of the show, written by Canadians David Hein and Irene Sankoff.

“I got to go and meet some of the people who had done it,” he said. “They welcomed people into their home and their community, and that, I think, is a very Jewish theme.”

Benkof’s website, broadwaymaven.com, offers five to 15 classes every month. In January, for example, the online educational community had classes on the musicals of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, on Pal Joey, and a 50th anniversary roundtable on Pacific Overtures by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman. Upcoming events include classes on Sweeney Todd, Evita, Kiss Me, Kate and Cats, among others. Benkof also posts weekly about Broadway on Substack: substack.com/@thebroadwaymaven.

Benkof’s talk was the third lecture in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025-26 Voices of Jewish Music series, part of the Vancouver Island shul’s annual Building Bridges program. The next in the series will be from Naomi Cohn Zentner, an ethno-musicologist at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, on Feb. 8. Her talk – Music and War: An Optimistic View – will examine how Israeli musicians have responded to recent historic events and explore music’s role in processing grief, inspiring resilience and connecting community in times of crisis. Visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.