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Aug. 19, 2005
Gotta Sing! goes to Heaven
Summer musical theatre students put on a great show at the JCC.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Harry Winthrop's wife Michelle refuses to attend their high school
reunion so, taking the lead from such TV shows as Touched by
an Angel, he telephones Heaven to request the assistance of
an angel. However, the angels are on strike, so three angels-in-training
(aka "Charlie's Angels") are sent to help him. Thus begins
this year's Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! production: Heaven Help
Us!
Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! is a musical theatre summer program that
takes place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver
(JCC). Each year, there are two sessions, one in July and one in
August, each of which culminates in the performance by participants
of an original script by Gotta Sing! program director Perry Ehrlich.
The July shows of Heaven Help Us! were performed by 76 talented
and energetic children (age nine to 18) from throughout the Lower
Mainland and as far away as Duncan, Penticton, Comox and Colorado.
The children were prepared for their performances by Ehrlich and
the Gotta Sing! faculty, which includes Wendy Stuart (Big: the
Musical at Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS)), Valerie Easton (Miss
Saigon at the Stanley Theatre), Susan Lehmann, Jason Franco
and Isabelle Maheux (all Can-Can at TUTS), Chris McGregor
(co-artistic director of Carousel Theatre), music director Neil
Weisensel, choreographer Laura Krewski from Alberta and set construction
and costume designer Sydney Cavanagh. In the performances, Stuart
and Weisensel, on keyboards, are joined by Miles Bruce on percussion.
Heaven Help Us! features more than 30 songs from Broadway
and movie musicals (everything from The Wizard of Oz to The
Wiz, Hairspray and Spamalot). The July Gotta Sing!
group did a fantastic job of the musical, mastering the singing
and dancing with apparent ease and obvious ability.
Ehrlich's script will make you laugh, despite yourself – his
humor is cheesy but funny. For example, the angels on the picket
line hold signs reading such things as "Talk to the Wing"
and "Heaven Help Yourself." And the show's moral is a
good one: we should live with intelligence, compassion and courage.
The 79-member August Gotta Sing! troupe performs Heaven Help
Us! on Aug. 24, at 7:30 p.m., and Aug. 25, at 1 and 7:30 p.m.,
in the Norman Rothstein Theatre at the JCC. Tickets are $12. Call
604-257-5111.
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