Performing Arts – Page 38

Love’s potential centre stage

Matt Montgomery as Tony and Jennifer Gillis as Maria have a great chemistry and energy on stage. (photo by Tim Matheson)

Love conquers all. Then again, sometimes, it just isn’t enough. Theatre Under the Stars explores the power – and limits – of love in its two productions this year: Beauty and the Beast and West Side Story.

Love’s transformative power plays front and centre in Beauty and the Beast. The story begins at a prince’s castle, where he refuses to help a beggar. It turns out the woman is a sorceress and she puts a curse on the household, turning him into a beast and all the house staff into objects. It’s a slow-acting spell though, so everyone is in a state of transition, which will be complete when the last petal of a rose falls – unless the prince-cum-beast can fall in love and be loved in return.

Meanwhile, Belle lives in a village with her inventor father – the townspeople think he’s crazy and she’s odd, as she rarely has her nose out of a book. But she is beautiful, as her name suggests, and the most-sought-after man in the village, the handsome, muscle-bound and narcissistic hunter Gaston, is smitten. He is determined to have Belle for his wife.

photo in Jewish Independent - Victor Hunter as Lumière, left, and Steven Greenfield as Cogsworth are a superb comedy team — Victor Hunter as Lumière, left, and Steven Greenfield as Cogsworth are a superb comedy team. *(photo by Tim Matheson)*

In the TUTS production, Jaime Piercy as Belle is the strongest singer by far, though the overall best actor in the show is, hands down – combining acting, singing and dancing – Victor Hunter as Lumière, the slender and bendy maître d’ who is transforming into a candelabra; his comedy partner, Steven Greenfield as Cogsworth, the butler becoming a clock, also stands out.

Dane Szohner as Gaston is hilarious and his singing is energetic and enthusiastic, if not always on key, and Sheryl Anne Wheaton as Mrs. Potts – the cook becoming a teapot – is delightful, her rendition of the title song perfect. Jewish community member Bodhi Cutler does a fine job as Mrs. Potts’ young son, who spends most of the night wheeled around in a tea trolley with only his face seen in the body of the teacup into which his character is transforming. Fellow Jewish community member Julian Lokash shows his dancing skills in a few numbers, including as an unidentifiable household object in “Be Our Guest,” which is wonderfully performed by numerous cast members – and the orchestra, which was great throughout, led by musical director Wendy Bross Stuart, another Jewish community member involved in the production.

While some of the household items are hard to discern – including one talented cart-wheeling rug (?) – and the angry wolves that beset people in the forest look more like black cats, in general, the costumes by Chris Sinosich are spot on, as per the Disney movie on which the musical is based. As Belle comes to dinner in one of the final scenes, adorned in her signature gold ball gown, one young audience member couldn’t contain her excitement, happily exclaiming, “She’s wearing the Belle gown!”

By that point in the opening night show, the Beast, played by Peter Monaghan, had settled into his role. In the first half, with only limited lines, it was hard to tell what Monaghan was trying to do with his character, his grunts and hunched-over movements not scary or funny. In the second half, however, he found his feet and his attempts to woo Belle – with the very amusing help of Lumière and Cogsworth – were well done.

Most of the princesses in the audience – several girls dressed up for the show – enjoyed the over-the-top acting, as did the adults, but there were a couple of frightening moments. At the beginning, Gaston is hunting and a gunshot goes off, which put at least one little girl into tears momentarily. And there was a lot of quiet in the audience much later, when Belle’s father is almost hauled off to an insane asylum by a jilted Gaston. To stop that from happening, Belle shows the crowd the Beast through a magic mirror to prove that her father really had seen a “monster” and isn’t crazy. This sets the mob, led by Gaston – who is now also jealous because he realizes that Belle loves the Beast – to the castle and the ultimate fight between the two men, which leads to a dire end for Gaston and near-death for the Beast. There were audible gasps when the Beast becomes human again, as do all his servants.

There is no such happy ending in West Side Story, of course. On opening night, the Romeo and Juliet-inspired tale of gang rivalries turned deadly was intensely and movingly acted. The reality – as much as can exist in a musical – was increased by having some Spanish-speaking actors who get to reel off several lines in Spanish and, with some exceptions (such as Jewish community member Kat Palmer as Consuelo), having non-white actors playing the Puerto Rican Sharks and their entourage, while the Jets and their friends, as well as the police, are played by seemingly white actors. Normally, color doesn’t matter in casting, but the whole point of this musical is that fear and racism can be fatal, and the visual clues are helpful in sending this message home.

While the acting in this production is top-notch, the only performer who is a triple threat – singing, dancing and acting very well – is Daniel James White as Riff, the leader of the Jets. The Sharks’ leader, Bernardo, played by Alen Dominguez, doesn’t get much chance to sing, but handles himself well in the other two departments.

The doomed romantic duo, former Jets leader Tony (Matt Montgomery) and Bernando’s sister Maria (Jennifer Gillis), have a great chemistry and energy on stage, and they really do seem head over heels in love – and then completely lost and distraught when the rumble between the gangs goes lethally wrong. Montgomery has a lovely tenor voice but some of his notes/words are lost, while Gillis has some beautiful moments – Maria is a hard, high part to sing, and Gillis makes a valiant effort.

On the acting front, Alexandra Lainfiesta, who plays Bernando’s girlfriend and Maria’s confidante, is fabulous and almost steals the show. She plays a range of emotions convincingly, from the genuine joy and mischievousness she has in the song “America” to the defiance and anger she has in the upsetting and disturbing “The Taunting.” (Parental advisory: in this pivotal scene, the Jets’ sexual assault of Anita is more than implied.)

As much as there is heartbreak and horror in West Side Story, there is humor and hope. While cheesily done, this production has a young actress representing hope and her role at the end will choke people up a bit, as will the solo reprise by Daren Dyhengco of the song “Somewhere” for the appropriately subdued finale.

Among the highlights of this production, directed almost perfectly by Sarah Rodgers – the only scene that drags is the one in which Tony and Maria declare their intention to marry – is the choreography by Jewish community member Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg. Off-kilter movements, unique body angles, more use of the hands and shoulders than usual, judicious use of slow-motion (in the scene where Tony and Maria first meet) and other Friedenbergesque touches inject life into the musical, which is heavily dance-based.

Beauty and the Beast and West Side Story run until Aug. 20 on alternate evenings at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl. For tickets, visit tuts.ca or call 1-877-840-0457.

Star-crossed & honky-tonk

Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season with Romeo and Juliet. (photo by David Blue)

William Shakespeare wrote a beautiful but tragic love story in 1595 and called it Romeo and Juliet. Its theme of forbidden love resonates with modern-day audiences as much as it did with the Elizabethan crowd – and countless crowds in between. Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season under the red and white tents at Vanier Park on the BMO Mainstage last month with renowned Canadian director Kim Collier’s innovative twist on the timeless tale.

Two prominent families of Verona, the Montagues and the Capulets, have been feuding for years. Their children, Romeo and Juliet, meet one night at a masked ball and become infatuated with each other. Then follows a secret wedding, a banishment, a miscommunication and two suicides – such woe.

Collier sets the story in its proper period but with some modern gadgets – Bose headphones on the friar, Moosehead caps and beer cans for Mercutio and Benvolio, Romeo’s friends. Collier also has the cast break down the fourth wall to move into and interact with the audience – an interesting approach if used sparingly.

The success or failure of any Romeo and Juliet production depends on the actors in the eponymous roles. Collier imported her two leads from Ontario. Hailey Gillis portrays the 13-year-old Juliet in an endearing and playful manner and Andrew Chown, as the slightly older Romeo, has moments of brilliance. There is clearly chemistry between the innocent young lovers and their scenes together are lovely.

photo in Jewish Independent - Ben Elliott, left, and Andrew McNee shine in Romeo and Juliet — Ben Elliott, left, and Andrew McNee shine in Romeo and Juliet. *(photo by David Blue)*

The supporting players, mostly Bard veterans, give depth to the story, one driven by supposedly intelligent adults, whose actions lead to the ultimate tragedy. Jennifer Lines plays the nurse – usually portrayed as older and subdued – as young, sexy and vibrant, more a friend and confidante than anything else. Scott Bellis is a kind and caring Friar Laurence, and Andrew McNee as Mercutio and Ben Elliott as Benvolio steal the scene every time they appear together.

Although McNee’s forte is comedy, he shows the versatility of his thespian skills in Mercutio’s death scene, as he chokes out, “A plague on both your houses.” Killed by the sword of Tybalt – played by Jewish community member Anton Lipovetsky – Tybalt is subsequently killed in a sword fight with Romeo, who is banishéd from Verona by Prince Escalus (Victor Kolhai). Interestingly, it is not the sword that does Tybalt in.

Romeo’s parents are played by David Marr and Amber Lewis and Juliet’s by Ashley Wright and Dawn Petten. These are smaller roles but with some touching moments, particularly at the end, when the parents finally understand what the feud has done to their respective families.

This production is very much about the visuals. Pam Johnson’s set design is simple but powerful: two grey metal bunker-like walls that are separated and joined as needed – perhaps a metaphor for the rifts and couplings of the feuding families – to create a ballroom, balcony, bedroom, tomb and other places, all against the spectacular backdrop of the North Shore mountains. Gerald King’s lighting provides the proper mood. Nancy Bryant’s costumes are a mix of the historical and the contemporary. Bringing it all together is Brian Linds’ sound design, which runs the gamut, from soft romantic lilts to heavy metal clunk.

While the play gets off to a slow start, the second act picks up, culminating in the final scene that had most of the opening night audience on their feet. One hopes that, over the next three months, the shaky bits will be ironed out. Overall, it is certainly worth a trek to the beach to partake of the tale of the star-crossed lovers.

Rockin’ Merry Wives

Playing in repertory on the BMO Mainstage with Romeo and Juliet is The Merry Wives of Windsor. This country and western musical farce played to soldout audiences on the smaller Douglas Campbell Stage in 2012. Moving it to the big stage has only added to its pizzazz. When you walk out of a theatre on opening night thinking you have to tell everyone to come see the show, you know you have just been treated to something special.

The play is set in Windsor, Ont., circa 1968, at the Garter Pub, a honky-tonk bar that is home to some eccentric characters. It is open mic night and mesdames Page and Ford (Katey Wright and Amber Lewis) start the evening off with a rocking version of “These Boots are Made for Walking.” Portly Sir John Falstaff (Ashley Wright), an expat, penniless, full-of-himself Brit and frequent bar patron, decides to seduce the married housewives for financial gain. To that end, he writes each of them an identical letter. The women learn of Falstaff’s deceit and set a scheme in motion to humiliate him to avenge their honor. Then, the fun begins.

Round 1: a secret tryst, the arrival of a jealous husband (Scott Bellis as Mr. Ford) and Falstaff’s quick exit in a laundry basket, culminating in his unceremonious plunge into the river.

Round 2: Falstaff in drag, a golf club-wielding Mr. Ford and a hasty exit stage right.

Round 3: The final knock-out round of humiliation takes place at night near an abandoned curling club amid prancing fairies – a bit far-fetched but, surprisingly, it works.

A sub-story revolves around young Anne Page (Hailey Gillis) and her three suitors, Slender (Ben Elliott, who does double duty as the musical director), Dr. Caius (Andrew Chown) and Fenton (Daniel Doheny). Which swain will win her hand?

Ashley Wright, reprising his role as Falstaff, owns the stage. Katey Wright, Lewis and Bellis – also reprising their roles from 2012 – are even better this time around. In particular, Bellis’ beatnik portrayal (a disguise to trick Falstaff) and that of the cuckolded husband are priceless.

photo in Jewish Independent - Ashley Wright and Jennifer Lines in The Merry Wives of Windsor — Ashley Wright and Jennifer Lines in The Merry Wives of Windsor. *(photo by David Blue)*

Other notable performances include David Marr as Justice Swallow bopping around on his scooter, Anton Lipovetsky as the hippie host of the bar, Dawn Petten as buck-toothed Simple, Jennifer Lines as Mistress Quickly – who takes her housekeeper character over the top with her flaming red hair, nails, lipstick and bawdy wiggle – and Andrew McNee as Pastor Evans, who has to quickly learn to fence to stave off the challenge of the foppish Dr. Caius.

It is a credit to the talent of this company that they can move from the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to the light-hearted Merry Wives with such ease. Each of the cast is a quadruple threat – they sing, dance, play an instrument and, boy, do they emote. This is an ensemble that really works well together and their chemistry is palpable.

Pam Johnson’s set is legion hall kitsch complete with moose heads, dartboards and the obligatory photograph of Queen Elizabeth. The sub-set – white picket fence, pink flamingos and garden chairs – is pure sixties nostalgia. The costumes are fab (kudos to designer Drew Facey) – very Mad Men, with pedal pushers, crop tops, saddle oxfords, crinolines, bouffant hairdos, zoot suits, and some Canadiana touches, a Hudson’s Bay blanket and a curling sweater. Elliott’s sound design and Valerie Easton’s fancy choreography ties it all together. Director Johnna Wright notes that Merry Wives was Shakespeare’s “love letter” to the Elizabethan middle-class, his only comedy that takes place on “home turf” and his only play written almost entirely in prose. What a gift.

While purists will shake their heads at the thought of this Shakespearean musical, their toes will be tapping to the likes of “Baby, Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” “Your Cheating Heart” and “Ramblin’ Man.” The whistling and foot stomping of the opening night crowd seems to indicate that this will be the hit of the season. It is a lot of fun. Don’t miss it.

Bard runs until Sept. 24, and reviews of its other two productions – Othello and Pericles – will appear in a future issue of the Independent. For more information and tickets, visit bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Moving musical

Karen Kelm, left, and Judith Chertkow-Levy in Like a Fly in Amber, which premièred at the Toronto Fringe Festival. (photo by Victor Dezso)

After seeing Like a Fly in Amber, a musical at the Toronto Fringe Festival, I dreamt of my mother, regretting that I hadn’t spent more time with her, wishing that I had asked and listened to more about her as a person beyond her being my mother.

Karen Kelm, a Vancouver singer and musician, wrote the script and music of Like a Fly in Amber. She also takes on the role of Iris, the 62-year-old daughter of 89-year-old Grace, played by Judith Chertkow-Levy, in this two-person, 80-minute show directed by Susanne de Pencier.

The play revolves around Iris’ writing of a eulogy for her mother while sitting in the attic of the house in which she grew up. She struggles to evoke memories of the person her mother was and to put her personhood into words. The resulting tribute is beautiful.

In the interest of full disclosure, Judy is my sister, the youngest of four daughters of David and Rachelle Chertkow. She was born and raised in Vancouver, then studied opera in Toronto and in London, England. She now lives in San Diego, where she is a cantorial soloist.

Like a Fly in Amber is poignant and moving, evoking memories for all of us who have experienced a parent’s gradual decline. Karen has found the words to describe universal feelings that exist within the daughter-mother relationship. I saw audience members nodding in recognition and chuckling at some of the comments of both mother and daughter. Many families, for example, have a “brother Greg” who can do no wrong, whom we love and resent at the same time.

The music is lovely, melodic with memorable lyrics. I especially like the title song, which expresses the feelings of an old woman who is losing her power, both physical and mental. “On the Wings of an Eagle” moved me to tears as I thought of our mother in her chair in the den and on her hospital bed, expressing her sorrow that she would not see another spring. And I have been humming “Ain’t it Great to be Senile” – funny, in a bittersweet way. I wish you could hear “Pills, Pills, Pills,” a Music Man-type, rapid-fire dialogue between the characters, focused on “keeping regular” – really funny, also in a bittersweet, isn’t-life-a-bitch kind of way.

I loved seeing, as Judy put it, a play about two old broads, written for and acted by two old broads. It was so great to see Judy and Karen perform together, as I recalled their performance in a Fiddler on the Roof production in Vancouver nearly 40 years ago. I closed my eyes and remembered them both young, then opened my eyes to see the beautiful older women they are now.

Both Judy and Karen have wonderful voices and performed their roles with heart and soul. I couldn’t look at Judy, for fear I would break her up, especially when she used expressions of our mother’s or referred to stories I remember. I did laugh out loud when her character, Grace, recounts how she was so angry at a driver who cut her off in traffic that she stuck her tongue out at him.

If you missed the play in Toronto and are unable to see it in the Hamilton Fringe (until July 24), you can hear the music if you visit cdbaby.com.

Dancers explore our humanity

Naomi Brand’s En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project. (photo by Chris Randle)

New works and the pushing of boundaries. Just what audiences expect from the Dancing on the Edge contemporary dance festival, and just what the three participating Jewish community members have created.

This year’s Dancing on the Edge (DOTE), which takes place July 7-16, includes work by Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Amber Funk Barton and Naomi Brand.

Friedenberg’s I can’t remember the word for I can’t remember is an excerpt from a work-in-progress – a new solo she is creating with director John Murphy.

Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg has worked with actor John Murphy to create I can’t remember the word for I can’t remember. (photo by Wendy D Photography)

“I will be performing but a lot of what we’ve been making has come out of our conversations about memory and the displacement of our memories in the digital world,” she explained. “The piece explores how our minds, our selves escape us and the panic that brings.”

Friedenberg and Murphy met years ago, when she was choreographing a Fringe show in which he was performing.

“He is one of the funniest performers I know and a very smart playwright and director,” said Friedenberg. “I wanted to do research into narrative structure and comic writing, as well as explore being ‘myself’ onstage. Once John and I started researching, we both got excited about turning the research into a piece. Marc Stewart will create an original score for the work as well.”

As for other future projects, Friedenberg said she had recently returned from a residency in Italy where she was collaborating with Italian dance-theatre-performance artist Silvia Gribaudi. “We will be premièring our duet next year at the Scotiabank Dance Centre – it’s a co-production with the Dance Centre and Chutzpah!”

In addition to DOTE, Friedenberg is also choreographing West Side Story for Theatre Under the Stars this summer.

“It’s my first time working for TUTS and the cast is fantastic!” she said. “The amazing Sarah Rodgers is directing – I also met her years ago on the same Fringe show where I met John. It’s a very edgy take on West Side and I am able to bring my contemporary vision to it.”

Barton is also bringing a new work to DOTE that she hopes will evolve into something larger – Village, a 15-minute group piece, performed by members of the response.’s apprenticeship program.

Dancers from response.’s apprenticeship program will perform Amber Funk Barton’s Village. (photo by Chris Barton)

About it, Barton said, “I am always interested in working with narrative and story and, lately, I seem to be inspired by small towns and their intimate interactions. When I travel, I find it fascinating that, as a human race, we all have a similar rhythm to our lives but the diversity of how we carry out this rhythm is what continues to make us interesting to one another. We all wake up. We all eat breakfast. We all go to work. We all struggle to define what our short lives on this planet mean. We all love and have our hearts broken. We all want to be loved. We struggle to attain happiness…. So, I’ve decided that I would like to make a dance that reflects these inspirations; I want to portray a group of people who live by the sea and survive a storm.

“My intention in creating Village for the festival this year,” she continued, “is that it is a starting point for a much more developed work with possibly a larger cast. But, to start, I am working with four dancers – Andrew Haydock, Antonio Somera Jr., Marcy Mills and Tessa Tamura – who have all gone through my company’s apprentice program. So, this is also a special endeavor, as it is giving these emerging dancers an opportunity to perform in the festival, as well as working with them as professional dancers. It’s really exciting to witness their growth. I’ve also decided not to perform in Village because I want to focus solely on the creation of it.”

Another focus of Barton’s has been working to make VAST, her first full-length solo, a reality. “I’ve been doing a lot of movement research and performing works-in-progress in support of it and I’m currently working towards a 2017 première,” she said.

“I’ve also held two more cycles of my company’s apprentice program. It’s hard to believe, but my company’s 10th anniversary is on the horizon, so I’m dreaming about what I would like to create to celebrate that. I’m also teaching regularly and am currently on staff as the head of contemporary at Avant Dance Company in Burnaby.”

And, if that weren’t enough, Barton recently did a residency with the company EDAM Dance.

“This spring,” she said, “with the support of EDAM, I was invited to create a 20-minute work for three dancers. I called the trio Scenes for Your Consideration and it was recently performed at EDAM’s Induction performance series.” The work featured Elya Grant, Somera Jr. and Haydock, she added, “and became a collection of scenes and interactions where the relationships between the dancers continued to shift. When I watch the work, I see them shift between friends, enemies, lovers, siblings – all the various roles that we encounter in our everyday lives.”

Brand’s work for DOTE is about a different form of shifting. Called En Route, it “explores different ways to traverse public spaces and negotiate our place in a crowd. The piece celebrates and exploits the fine line between practical and performative ways of getting from point A to point B.” To the program description, Brand added, “Directionality and determination to get somewhere are contrasted with meandering, circuitous pathways towards our goal.”

The piece will be performed in the inner courtyard of the Woodward’s Building, which, she said, “requires me to think more creatively about the three-dimensional experience of watching a living choreography. The Woodward’s space is also a space with its own complex choreography of people moving through it in myriad diverse ways towards their own destinations. We are excited to build upon the existing dance of that space.”

En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project, which she described as “an inclusive group of movers who experience and perceive the world differently.”

Brand launched All Bodies Dance Project in September 2014 with Mirae Rosner and Sarah Lapp.

“The three of us were/are interested in making a space in Vancouver to explore an inclusive dance practice that was open to movers of all abilities,” said Brand. “We have been really fortunate to partner with the Vancouver Parks Board and the Roundhouse to make this project possible.

“All Bodies Dance Project is accessible to anyone and welcomes difference as a creative strength,” she continued. “Our work poses questions about dance and how it is practised: Who has access to dance training? Who gets to make dances? What is the artistic potential of different types of people dancing together?

“By bringing together ‘standing dancers’ with dancers who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids, our practice seeks to challenge the ideas of normalized dancing bodies and make space for a new and innovative community of dance makers. We want to widen the spectrum of who dances and what dance can be.”

All Bodies Dance Project has created two full evening productions to date, See & Be Seen (2015) and TRACE (2016), and have done numerous community performances in local festivals and events, said Brand. “We are interested in continuing to create new and innovative pieces of choreography, allowing new audiences to see the choreographic possibilities of difference.”

In the fall, she said, there will be a new session of the group’s open classes at Trout Lake Community Centre and the Roundhouse, in addition to a new class it is launching for young dancers ages 8-12 at Mount Pleasant Community Centre and a new group at Sunset Community Centre (allbodiesdance.ca).

In addition, Brand continues “to make and perform contemporary dance across a wide spectrum of contexts, from my own solo work to work with professional dancers to dance with diverse populations. I have just completed a three-year residency at the Roundhouse, where I was working with an ensemble of 20 older adults called the Ageless Dancers.”

As well, when the JI contacted Brand by email for this interview, she was on Toronto Island where, she said, “I am working with a group of 24 dance makers from across Canada on a project called 8 DAYS. This is my fourth time at this intergenerational gathering that aims to connect choreographers, to share their practices and create dialogue about the form.”

For the full schedule and tickets for the DOTE festival, visit dancingontheedge.org.

A coming-of-age story

Nolan Fahey plays the title character in Arts Club’s Billy Elliot. (photo by David Cooper)

There are no big surprises in Billy Elliot, no bizarre twists or jaw-dropping turns of events, no mistaken identities or star-crossed lovers. But what you do get is class struggle, a feel-good story and exceptional singing, dancing and acting all with high-octane energy from start to finish.

Given that the musical is based on the 2000 movie of the same name, most people will already know the story. But even if you haven’t seen the film, you’ll likely figure out beforehand that Billy Elliot traces a coming-of-age-dusting-off-the-dirt-of-this-town tale of a young boy wanting to be a dancer. He sees an audition in London as a way out of the coal-mining misery that has made up the lives of his father and brother.

Living in England’s County Durham, 11-year-old Billy stumbles across a ballet class when he’s supposed to be taking boxing lessons. The 50p his father gives him to learn jabs and upper cuts goes instead to Mrs. Wilkinson to teach him pliés and pirouettes.

Meanwhile, his father, brother and neighbors, part of the National Union of Mine Workers, are struggling to make ends meet as they head out on strike protesting the closure of the coal mines during Margaret Thatcher’s reign in the 1980s.

The contrast of the gruff, angry, mob-like miners, the police at the picket lines and the young girls and Billy in their dance outfits illustrates how far apart their worlds are. One of the best dance numbers brings these three groups together to sing “Solidarity,” with the ballet dancers flitting in between the rows of men as they stomp about the stage.

As Billy moves between these two worlds, he has to conceal his desire for dance, for fear of reprisals and embarrassment.

photo - Warren Kimmel, left, Nolan Fahey and Caitriona Murphy in Billy Elliot — Warren Kimmel, left, Nolan Fahey and Caitriona Murphy in Billy Elliot. *(photo by David Cooper)*

When Billy’s father – played by Jewish community member Warren Kimmel – finds out where his son has been spending his afternoons (and his money), he’s furious. Even though Billy’s teacher thinks her young student has a chance to get into the Royal Ballet School, Billy’s family has other plans.

In the end, Billy’s dad has to choose between earning money as a scab in order to send Billy to his audition, or support his brothers on the picket line.

Throughout the play, the scenes shift between the lighthearted dancing and the sombre mood in Billy’s home and on the picket line. With Kimmel front and centre as Billy’s father, his despondent singing is evocative of his performance of the policeman Javert in Les Misérables last year and, indeed, the storyline – and songs – of class struggle in Billy is reminiscent of the same in Les Mis.

On the dancing side, Billy has touches of the studio work and audition of Flashdance and the off-the-wall anger dancing of Footloose, while tap-dancing men in drag bring a bit of humor to the show.

All in all this play flies by. The level of performance of Nolan Fahey as Billy, Caitriona Murphy as the dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson and Kimmel as the dad, along with a strong cast that can shuffle and slide as well as they croon, makes this a standout production.

Billy Elliot – with music by Elton John and lyrics by Lee Hall – debuted in London’s West End in 2005, garnering critical acclaim, winning four Laurence Olivier Awards in London, followed by 10 Tony Awards in New York.

The work is not John’s first foray into musical theatre. In the 1990s, he and Tim Rice collaborated to produce the soundtrack for The Lion King, for which they won Academy and Tony awards, including best musical. Then, in 2000, they collaborated on Aida, which won them each a Grammy.

Billy Elliot runs at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until July 10. Tickets can be purchased from artsclub.com. Parents wanting to take their kids should note that the show includes a lot of swearing.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer and media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work can be seen at phase2coaching.com.

An aerobic experience

Daniel Brenner’s klezmer aerobics workout and performance was inspired by the Klezmorims. (photo from Daniel Brenner)

Rabbi Daniel Brenner – who grew up in the small Jewish community of Charlotte, N.C. – has come up with an aerobic workout set to klezmer music.

Brenner graduated from the Reconstruction Rabbinical College which, at the time, was led by Rabbi Art Green. He began performing in 1987 with the late comic legend Chris Farley at the Ark Improvisational Theatre, and has been doing theatre ever since.

In rabbinical school, Brenner created the one-man-show Faster, Rabbi, Drill! Drill!, which won an All Out Arts New York playwriting award (2000). He also wrote a series of Chassidic folktales/plays for Philadelphia’s Theatre Ariel and has had a play produced by New York’s Vital Theatre, in addition to producing a handful of Purim shpiels. Today, he performs regularly with the band Midnight Nosh, on guitar, and lives with his wife Lisa and their three children in Montclair, N.J.

“Growing up, my home was a place that other people came to experience Judaism,” Brenner told the Independent. “There were no other Jewish families on my street, so my home was a site where many non-Jewish people experienced Judaism for the first time.”

photo - A big part of Daniel Brenner’s inspiration came from the Klezmorim’s Streets of Gold — A big part of Daniel Brenner’s inspiration came from the Klezmorim’s Streets of Gold. *(photo from Daniel Brenner)*

Brenner’s love of music came early on, as he listened to a mix of Shlomo Carlebach and contemporary American folk. In the 1980s, Brenner’s parents went to a Klezmorim concert and came home with their record Streets of Gold.

“I was ecstatic listening to the music,” said Brenner. “I couldn’t believe that we had music that had so much soul. As a kid, I was enthralled with Michael Jackson – music you can dance to. But, when I heard the Klezmorim, I was like, this music is just as good for dance. I loved it.”

While working out and listening to klezmer, Brenner thought of how amazing it would be to lead a class using this music. Originally, he thought of pairing it with Zumba, but then decided that klezmer aerobics would be the best fit.

As he worked on the idea, he realized this could be more than just another class. “I really tried to think of what story it wants to tell,” he said. “That really helped me get to the place where it was a full narrative, and a full show about the relationship between someone in the 1980s and someone in the 1880s.

“I thought about it in terms of the two great shifts in human past civilization, recent history – the shift away from agricultural, industrial, rural to urban that happened in the 1880s, and then also the 1980s, the shift between the industrial era and the digital era. I wanted the story that I told to be about that shift.”

Brenner started researching moves that would reflect, as closely as possible, the 1880 dance fashion. He discovered Steven Lee Weintraub, who teaches Jewish traditional dance, and engaged him in private lessons. Brenner videotaped these lessons and practised intensely to get a good handle on the movements and to effectively incorporate them into his repertoire.

“I told my beloved, I told her, keep in mind that I want to do this over the next decade, so she understands I’m definitely thinking long-term about what I want to do with the project,” he explained. “My goal really will be to work together with local klezmer bands in various places around the world to create an experience for people – to perform a show as a way to not only teach dance and tell the story, but as a way to connect people to the local klezmer scene who may not experience it otherwise.”

Brenner has created ’80s Klezmer Aerobics, a family-friendly, interactive dance-storytelling workout wherein “the 1880s meets the 1980s.” In the show, Brenner plays an aerobics instructor and leads an audience-participation workout, as he tells the story of a dancer, Levi, and his apprentice. The audience learns the traditional Old Badchen dances that Levi learns and creates when he runs off to Warsaw.

“I feel that the fun ’80s Klezmer Aerobics and the experience is going to be a draw for a lot of people,” he said. “Then, I also feel like giving people the opportunity to hear live klezmer music is a rare thing. In anyway I can, I want to help people dig the stuff I dug when I was a boy in N.C., putting that record on for the first time.”

In addition to the family-friendly version, Brenner has been considering splitting the experience into two parts – one as a matinée for the family and one in the evening, attracting a different crowd.

Since being performed last November, there have been a few shows in different venues so far. Brenner is working with some Canadian friends to create shows in Canada, having received a few inquiries about it from Jewish community centres.

“I’ve also heard from New York, Atlanta and North Carolina,” he said. “I hope to take it around the Jewish world.”

For more information, visit klezmeraerobics.com or check out Klezmer Aerobics’ Facebook page. There are also videos available on YouTube.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Comic book radio show

The Intergalactic Nemesis: Target Earth comes to York Theatre April 30 and May 1. (photo from Jason Neulander)

The story takes place in 1933. And, were it not the full-color cartoon panels being projected onto a large screen, you might feel as if you were also back in 1933 while watching the live performance of The Intergalactic Nemesis: Target Earth at York Theatre April 30 and May 1.

Target Earth is the first instalment of a trilogy that follows “Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid research assistant Timmy Mendez,” as they “team up with a mysterious librarian … named Ben Wilcott. Together, they travel from Romania to Scotland to the Alps to Tunis to the Robot Planet and finally to Imperial Zygon to defeat a terrible threat to the very future of humanity: an invading force of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon!”

The dozens of characters are voiced on stage by three actors. They are joined by a Foley artist, who creates all of the sound effects, and a pianist/organist who provides the music soundtrack. The full-color comic book is projected onto a movie screen. In Vancouver, the actors will be Rachel Landon, Brock England and Jeff Mills, with Kelly Matthews in charge of the sound effects and Harlan Hodges on piano and organ.

The series – comprised of Target Earth, Robot Planet and Twin Infinity – is produced and directed by Jason Neulander.

photo - Jason Neulander — Jason Neulander *(photo from Jason Neulander)*

Neulander grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Brown University in Providence, R.I., where he majored in theatre.

“Right out of school, I founded a company called Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin, Tex., where we developed and produced new plays. The Intergalactic Nemesis came out of that company, originally as a radio play,” he told the Independent.

“I ran Salvage from 1994 to 2008 and built the company up to a point where it’s now something of a local institution. They’re still going strong without me. In 2008, I decided to focus entirely on The Intergalactic Nemesis and got invited to bring the show to the Long Centre for the Performing Arts [in Austin]. The venue there was 2,400 seats and I felt like that was too big to house my little radio play. So, I came up with the idea of projecting comic book artwork to create a visual spectacle to fill the room. That version of the show premièred in 2010 and we’ve been on the road with it ever since.”

Based on an original idea by Ray Patrick Colgan, the touring show was adapted from the radio drama by Colgan, Neulander, Jessica Reisman, Julia Edwards and Lisa D’Amour. The comic-book artwork for Target Earth is by Tim Doyle with Paul Hanley and Lee Duhig; the sound effects were created by Buzz Moran; and Graham Reynolds was the composer. Others, of course, helped bring the whole production to fruition.

For his part, Neulander said his biggest inspiration for The Intergalactic Nemesis was his kids. “I wanted to make something that I could enjoy with them,” he said. “That’s actually worked out pretty well! Artistically, this show is all about pushing my own inner-kid buttons. I was 7 when Star Wars came out (the first one) and 12 when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out and I love that kind of storytelling.

“One of my favorite memories as a kid was watching the old Flash Gordon serials and the old Ray Harryhausen movies on TV with my dad on Saturday mornings. When I was a little older, I got really into golden-age sci-fi short fiction, like Bradbury and Asimov and those guys. When I was a young adult, I discovered golden-age Hollywood movies for myself – His Girl Friday hugely influenced our script. I kind of backed into both radio drama and comic books, so maybe those are actually a little less influential on the show than those other things.”

While there is no overt Jewish aspect to the story, Neulander said his sense of Jewish heritage played a role in its creation.

“This show is all about the heroes defeating the bad guys more through smarts than through violence,” he explained. “The main male character is a librarian, so I feel like there’s got to be some Talmud in there somewhere. But, more than that, I think my upbringing taught me that if you work hard, you can succeed against all odds. I’m not sure if that’s solely a Jewish thing, but it’s definitely what the story of this show is all about.”

And Target Earth won’t just take you to another time, but place.

“It’s so much fun!” said Neulander. “It’s like getting to watch an animated movie and seeing how they do it all at the same time. The visual images are just beautiful to look at and then you have three voice actors playing so many characters, often in the same scene, you have one person using all these unusual objects to make sounds you never thought they could make (my favorite is a trail from a box of mac and cheese), and the music just soars. You really do get taken to another world.”

While Neulander is taking a creative break from the Intergalactic world – “I’m just wrapping up a script for a thriller, which will be my film directing debut” – the series’ shows keep touring. This summer, said Neulander, “we are taking Twin Infinity to the fringe festival in Edinburgh in what we think will be a very splashy U.K. première.”

But first, Target Earth and target Vancouver.

“We’ve been itching to get to Vancouver for a few years now,” said Neulander. “I think that your city really is one of the ideal places for this show. I just think audiences are going to eat it up! Can’t wait to get there!”

Shows are April 30, 4 and 7 p.m., and May 1, 2 p.m. Tickets start at $25 from tickets.thecultch.com or 604-251-1363.

Ballet BC dances Bill

Ballet BC dancer Gilbert Small is among those who will perform Program 3. (photo by Michael Slobodian)

Ballet BC finishes this season with Program 3, which features the remount of artistic director Emily Molnar’s 16+ a room and of Finnish-born choreographer Jorma Elo’s I and I am You – as well as the Canadian première of Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal’s Bill.

Already in Vancouver setting Eyal’s work for Ballet BC is Osnat Kelner, who has been choreographing since 2001. In addition to her own creations, Kelner is an assistant choreographer for Eyal and American-Israel choreographer Barak Marshall.

“I met both Sharon and Barak for the first time when I was dancing in the ensemble Batsheva in 2000 and they created pieces for the company,” Kelner told the Independent.

“I started setting Sharon’s pieces in 2005 after working with her again, this time as the rehearsal director of ensemble Batsheva, where she created another piece.

“I started working with Barak as his assistant in 2008. A year earlier, I met him in Israel, after his long absence. He discussed the option of coming to create a new piece, said he still remembered how great it was to work with me, and that he’d like me on his team.”

Eyal, who is based in Tel Aviv, is former resident choreographer of the Batsheva Dance Company. She currently is artistic director of L-E-V, a company she and Gai Behar formed. For Bill, she again collaborated with Behar and musician, drummer and DJ Ori Lichtik. In the work, notes Ballet BC, “Eyal combines dance, music and design into an instantly recognizable whole of raw, unexpected beauty created with equal parts ebb and flow. Premièred by Batsheva Dance Company, Bill showcases Eyal’s trademark shifts from large group to smaller ensemble, which, in turn, morph into breathtaking solos.”

“In order to set another choreographer’s pieces,” explained Kelner about her role in the production, “you firstly need their trust, you need a really good memory, the ability to see the big picture and the smallest details, and a way with people. It means you are responsible for passing information to dancers who have never worked with this choreographer before, and you try to stay as honest to that person’s vision as you understand it.”

Kelner also has her creative vision, which she focuses on more than one artistic endeavor.

“As a freelancer,” she said, “I do many different things. I choreograph, I stage other choreographers’ pieces, I work as rehearsal director for independent projects, I make costumes for dance and theatre, I sometimes perform myself and I’m the mother of a 19-month-old boy. I can’t imagine it any other way. I love being involved in many different projects, in different roles, and sometimes at the same time. I only grow and learn from it, as an artist and a person.”

Audiences at Program 3 will also see Molnar’s 16+ a room, set to music by Dirk Haubrich and inspired by the work of writers Jeanette Winterson and Emily Dickinson. According to the press material, it “displays Molnar’s unique choreographic language through a complex study of time, transition and stillness, where the space between is as important as the space occupied, where one is left with the feeling of both liberty and disappearance.”

Finally, Elo’s I and I am You, first performed by Ballet BC in 2013, features “Elo’s signature virtuosic vocabulary and lightning-fast musicality interspersed with moments of enormous intimacy and tenderness.”

Program 3 is at Queen Elizabeth Theatre May 12-14, 8 p.m. Tickets, which range from $30 to $90, can be purchased at 1-855-985-2787 or ticketmaster.ca.

Glimpse into The Valley

Daniel Doheny and Kerry Sandomirsky in The Valley, which tackles the subject of depression. (photo by Emily Cooper)

As The Valley opens, a young man addresses the audience with the words, “Encounters with the police No. 1.”

It’s a stark opening, as the character – Connor – stands in a spotlight on a circular stage, with the three other actors behind him in the shadows. The monologue represents both the beginning and end to the play. It establishes a sense of the past – about what brought the characters to their current situation – as well as the present, when they are revealing themselves in a healing circle. Each of the players eventually gets to speak directly to the audience in turn, and the drama of the performance unfolds between the monologues.

Essentially, the play is about the effect of depression in two different families – a police officer (Dan) and his wife (Janie), who has just given birth and has a history of depression; and a mother (Sharon) and son (Connor), who has an episode when he’s 18. Amazingly, all the action takes place within the circular stage – a relevant choice for the performance.

“The show is a very intimate show, though the Granville Island stage is not considered intimate,” set designer Amir Ofek explained. “We wanted it ‘in your face,’ not hiding behind a proscenium arch.”

When faced with the decision of whether to use a more literal interpretation of the play for the set design, Ofek said he wanted to avoid switching between the staging of homes of each family, the police station, the Skytrain and other locations in order to keep the intensity going.

“As a designer, I have to delve into the play to find a unique way of doing things,” he said, adding that he tried in the design to convey the protagonists’ characteristics of intensity and fragility by having part of the set jut out of the stage, as though it might fall on the audience any minute.

“There’s a sense of brutality in the play, as well,” Ofek said. “It’s reflected in the edginess of the material of the set.”

Intense, brutal and fragile are perfect words to describe the characters. When Connor quits university after wanting to go for so long, his mother Sharon is at a loss. She tries so hard to change his mind – pleading, cajoling, trying logic and guilt. She is helpless against an illness that has yet to even reveal itself. When an “incident at Joyce Station” takes place, her lament to the audience is heartwrenching: “What to expect at 18 years, three months – your child will break in two.”

In the other household, Dan struggles to be supportive of his wife when she is having depressive episodes, but he has his own demons to bear from being a police officer.

“Every holiday you’ve ever looked forward to – they’re all on our s–t list,” he says, referring to the increase in crime and misdemeanors around holiday time. “Hookers, jumpers, pushers, junkies, racers, strippers – hundreds of things you don’t want to hear about.”

Ironically, it was through his work that Dan met his wife, helping get her clean and off the street. Their struggle is particularly disquieting to watch as it’s so clear how much they love each other, but seem to be always living on the edge of a breakdown.

When Dan arrests Connor in the “incident at Joyce Station,” there’s a struggle that sends Connor to the hospital and results in months of being housebound in his depression, unable or unwilling to listen to his mother, who is constantly on him to do something.

Eventually, Dan and Janie get an invitation to a healing circle to help Connor deal with the aftermath of the incident. But, like his refusal to pay attention to his wife’s bouts of depression, Dan refuses to hear anything about a healing circle. Janie goes on her own and is able to connect with Connor because she shares his ailment and understands what he’s going through. Through Janie, Sharon finds out something that allows her to let go of her own anger.

This play is not easy to watch but it’s an important one to see, if only to get a bit more understanding of how people suffer with despair and hopelessness – sometimes for months or years at a time. It’s estimated that 10% of adults in Canada will experience a serious depressive episode in their lifetimes.

The Valley stars Daniel Doheny as Connor, Kerry Sandomirsky as Sharon, Pippa Mackie as Janie and Robert Salvador as Dan. It’s directed by Mindy Parfitt, with lighting by Itai Erdal, and runs at the Arts Club (artsclub.com) Granville Island stage until May 7.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer and media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work can be seen at phase2coaching.com.

Jungle comes to the city

Luc Roderique as Shere Khan and Camille Legg as Mowgli in Carousel Theatre for Young People’s The Jungle Book. (photo by Tim Matheson)

This month, Carousel Theatre for Young People presents The Jungle Book, the musical adaptation of the classic story by Rudyard Kipling. For the production at Waterfront Theatre, which opens April 17, local Jewish community member Anton Lipovetsky takes on the role of sound designer and additional music.

The Studio 58 alumnus is no stranger to the Vancouver performing arts scene. Lipovetsky has worked as an actor for many local companies since graduating from the Studio 58 acting training program in 2011. “Now I spend about half my year working as an actor,” he said, noting that he’ll be joining the cast of Bard on the Beach again this summer, “and, roughly, the other half creating music and musical directing for local theatrical productions.”

He approaches each project in a different way.

“I try to be as prepared as possible for theatre gigs, but, especially if I’m in a designing role or leadership role like musical director, I have to make more decisions, and make them earlier, and those decisions will affect more people. I suppose there’s more pressure at the beginning. But then, unlike performing, as rehearsals get underway, I’ll become more and more hands-off, showing trust to the performers, creative team and crew,” he said.

Lipovetsky does not remember one exact moment when he realized he possessed a talent for composing and sound design. Rather, he noted that he has been playing the guitar and writing music his entire life, and music naturally worked its way into his career.

“I’ve been singing and writing songs for as long as I can remember,” he said. “I fell in love with theatre in high school (I had great teachers). Then, through my training at Studio 58, I learned how multi-disciplined a theatre artist can be. I’m always looking for new ways to challenge myself as a creator.”

Regarding his latest endeavor, The Jungle Book, Lipovetsky said there are inherent nuances when working on an adaptation, but there is always room for further expression.

“There’s always a degree of pressure when dealing with any story as beloved as The Jungle Book, but I think [director] Kayla Dunbar’s innovative concept will allow audiences to approach the show from a new angle.… The adaptation, written by Tracey Power, comes with some great tunes by Tracey and her collaborator Steve Charles, and encouragement to create jungle soundscapes and rhythms. I will be working with the fabulous percussionist Todd Biffard to devise a score played through traditional Indian instruments, like the tabla and dhol.”

Given that Carousel Theatre is geared towards youth – on, behind and in front of the stage – it is expected that much of the audience will be made up of children. Parents should note, however, that the theatre company recommends that viewers be 6 years old at least, as “[t]here are some intense moments and strong themes, with characters in the play dealing with topics that include hatred, prejudice, killing and death.”

Aware of who the audience will be, Lipovetsky said, “The most important value for me in this process is making sure the sound/music is clear for the youth and economical (not too long!). I do think the sound/music is going to elicit a big range of emotions from the youth … we will definitely mine the comedy, but we’ll search for dramatic depth, as well. Keeping the stakes high is important to a discerning young audience.”

The Jungle Book is, above all, a story of finding empathy and acceptance in the face of prejudice and intolerance.

“I think everybody feels like an outsider at some point in their childhood,” said Lipovetsky. “Jewish children may feel that especially because of how small the Jewish population is; they may feel underrepresented. Mowgli is treated like family by Baloo and the wolves, even though he is so different from them. Because of this kindness, Mowgli learns integrity, ultimately connecting with his roots and becoming a hero. I hope children root for him! And I also hope they want to be like Baloo in their own lives … compassionate and helpful to others.”

Lipovetsky believes that the story of The Jungle Book serves to emphasize that it is often through unlikely connections with those who may be different to us that we are able to become better ourselves.

With respect to how theatre can transmit values and offer guidance for how to approach life, Lipovetsky said, “What I have found is that art helps me to better understand others and better understand myself. I think understanding is more powerful than tolerance.”

The Carousel Theatre for Young People production opens April 17, just two days after Disney’s The Jungle Book remake hits movie theatres. Lipovetsky called it “the spring of The Jungle Book” and believes the movie will help the play’s success.

For tickets to The Jungle Book, which runs Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m., until May 1, visit carouseltheatre.ca.

Brittni Jacobson is a freelance writer living in Toronto.