On Stage Ottawa: Should you see it?

Spring Awakening: The Musical’s talented cast seeks to remind us of the bitch of living.

With Wendla’s opening lament of not feeling that her mother has properly taught her the things she needs to know about life, Spring Awakening: The Musical is the story of a group of young teenagers struggling with the transition from adolescence into adulthood in a repressive 19th century society.

Spring Awakening: The Musical is Orpheus Musical Theatre’s leap towards serving a younger, hipper audience. Making use of the new, state of the art Centrepointe Theatre Studio as their stage, the idea is to present a different branch of musical theatre compared to the large scale mass appeal musicals Orpheus is known for. Indeed, when I first saw that Orpheus had announced Spring Awakening for this season, I’d thought, “Bold move. Certainly not your typical Orpheus fare.”

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Making Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival.

By Allan Mackey Leave a Comment

photo by: Drew Hosick (myprescottnow.com)

Much Ado About Nothing sees wild-haired Leonato open his home to Don Pedro and comrades Claudio and Benedict following their return from war. Claudio and Leonato’s daughter, Hero, go googly-eyed for each other instantly while Benedict and Hero’s cousin, Beatrice, reignite their fiery antagonism equally instantly. While Don John, his comrades, and Hero work to trick Benedict and Beatrice to falling for one another, the villainous, dressed-in-black, Don John (brother of Don Pedro) schemes to ruin Hero’s reputation and undo her pending nuptials to Claudio for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. DJ’s ploy works and after a public shaming by her betrothed, Hero melodramatically drops dead on the spot. In actuality she simply faints but Camp Leonato decides to let everybody think she has died while they work to prove that Claudio made much ado about nothing.

It’s your basic romcom, essentially. As such it requires you to buy into that same premise that Romeo & Juliet and 95% of non-modern fairy tales ask of you. That true love is hella powerful and you need to take it as a given that these folk may as well already have a long established relationship for as invested as they are in one another after what in reality is such a short time.
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A tame offering of Julius Caesar at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

By Allan Mackey Leave a Comment

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar tells of the events leading to and following the assassination of Rome’s would be emperor. It begins with Caesar’s victory over his rival Pompei, showing how adored he is by the masses, and it ends in all out war between his betrayers and friends to decide who will succeed him.

Julius Caesar is something of an odd play. It’s sort of like staccato storytelling with an abrupt narrative that leaves scenes feeling detached from each other rather than having a natural dramatic flow. Perhaps it’s because we’re thrust so far into what could be the middle (or end) of a story that the title implies should be about Julius Caesar when it’s the other characters (Brutus/Marc Antony/et al) who drive the story forward. And because he is such an notable and renowned character, it’s hard to deny him as the focal point of the few scenes he’s in before dying two thirds through act one. On the other hand, when you consider the dialogue and the key speeches, Julius Caesar is a brilliant piece of writing. Mark Antony’s speech at the end of act one is one of the most powerful pieces of writing I can think of.
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Comic mayhem and dizzying hijinks flood the canals of Venice in Odyssey Theatre’s The Servant of Two Masters

By Allan Mackey Leave a Comment

Staged, in director Andy Massingham’s new adaptation, in 1950s Venice, The Servant of Two Masters is a commedia masterpiece with the melodramatic overtones of an Italian telenovela. For those who aren’t familiar, commedia dell’arte, is a highly physical, highly stylized genre of comedic theatre characterized in part by masks, stock character types (devious servants, lustful maids, young lovers, miserly old merchants) and twistedly intricate yet simple to follow plots. It is a wonderful form of classic theatre, highly accessible for even the most theatre averse to just let go and laugh.

Truffaldino is servant to Frederigo. Truffaldino is hungry. After a chance meeting, Truffaldino figures he can double his money and meals by taking on a second master and secretly double dealing. Only the real Frederigo is dead and the person that everybody thinks is Freddie, is actually his twin sister Beatrice, dressed in the guise of her brother to collect cash money owed to him by the miserly Pantalone and also to track down her lover Florindo who, as fate would have it, is Truffaldino’s second master. Oh, and Pantolone’s daughter Clarice, in love with the overzealous Silvio, was promised to Frederigo, and so Beatrice has to play along with the engagement to keep her ruse going, much to Clarice and Silvio’s anguish. It’s an uproarious love story full of crazy hijinks, duplicity, briefly broken hearts, romance, and genuine “aw” moments.

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Frankly, dear Corie, being Barefoot in the Park is a crazy thing to do

By Caitlin Oleson Leave a Comment

Barefoot in the Park, Ottawa Little Theatre

Barefoot in the Park is often hailed as an American classic. It’s been made into a hit movie and its playwright, Neil Simon, has more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer. Given this solid pedigree, I expected a lot of heart, humor, and humanity from this production. I didn’t necessarily get what I’d hoped for.

Barefoot in the Park follows newly-weds Corie and Paul as they settle into their first home together. Free-spirited Corie sees a lot of potential in the cozy sixth-floor apartment while rising star lawyer Paul is less sure of the broken skylight, cramped quarters, unorthodox electrical wiring, and lack of bathtub. Therein the central conflict: Corie whines of having “nothing in common” when Paul refuses to let loose and “enjoy life”. Only her idea of enjoying life is setting her unsuspecting mother up on a blind date with a slightly-strange lothario upstairs neighbor. One woman’s adventure is another’s nightmare!

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Silly, slapstick fun in A Company of Fools’ Pericles, Prince of Tyre

By Jasmine Stamos Leave a Comment

A Company of Fools’ production of The Amazing Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre breathes new life into a Shakespearean classic – and perhaps even a couple ill-fated characters along the way.

Directed and adapted by Catriona Leger, the play follows the antics of young Prince Pericles of Tyre. Pericles performs feats expected of a man of his status: solving riddles revealing incestuous monarchs, jousting to win the love of a princess, and embarking on fearsome voyages at sea.

But it’s with the show’s innovation that its entertainment value skyrockets. With additions including Corn Pops as sustenance for a country in midst of famine and jabs at OC Transpo, A Company of Fools’ gives Shakespeare a modern edge. The many clever stylistic modifications more than warrant the subtle title change.

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Civility turns to childishness in God of Carnage

By Jasmine Stamos Leave a Comment

“How many parents, when they’re defending their children, become infantile themselves?” In Ottawa Little Theatre’s God of Carnage, two couples devolve into fits of childishness trying to solve a simple matter of a playground fight.

In this play by Yasmina Reza, two pairs of parents meet to discuss a fight between their sons involving an insult, a stick and a couple of knocked-out incisors. But soon Annette, Alan, Veronica and Michael lose all civility as they start to fight amongst themselves. Arguing about things as varied and as insignificant as the use of the word “armed” versus “furnished” and how best to dry puked-on high literature, the play soon becomes not about the fate of the children, but the childishness of the adults.Read the full review.

God of Carnage shows the absolute worst of humanity

By Caitlin Oleson Leave a Comment

Is your life full of anger, violence, hatred, and general bleakness, covered by a glossy façade of upper middle-class values? Is your marriage hanging on by a thread because you don’t dare address your concerns in an open dialogue with your partner? Do you believe the only solution to your problems is screaming or heavy drinking? Would you like to see this horrible outlook on the world represented theatrically? If you answered yes to any of these questions, have I got a play for you!

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Orpheus Musical theatre presents a visually stunning masterpiece with The Who’s Tommy.

By Allan Mackey Leave a Comment

The Who's Tommy, Orpheus Musical Theatre

Adapted from The Who’s 1969 double album rock opera, Tommy, The Who’s Tommy is the story of Tommy Walker, a young boy who is left deaf, dumb, and blind, after witnessing a horrible tragedy in his home. As a teen, Walker becomes a sensation for being a wiz at pinball — the only thing able to break through his nearly catatonic state.

Important note: I had no foreknowledge of The Who’s Tommy, or the album (Tommy) from which it was adapted. This to the point of being surprised, doing some background research afterwards and learning that The Who’s Tommy wasn’t biographical. Yes, my knowledge of classic rock from the 60s/70s has huge holes in it, but that’s another discussion for another time. I felt it worthwhile to make this point for anybody who is like me and may be questioning “should I see this if I don’t know anything about The Who or Tommy?”

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