Tarragon
TheatreÕs artistic director, Richard Rose, continues to navigate through smooth waters with his 40th
anniversary celebratory cruise. TarragonÕs broad mandate, which over the years
has brought some of the best French Canadian writing to Toronto, while not
hesitating to take a run at the international repertoire from time to time, is
still a winning formula. This production of The Misanthrope adapted by Martin
Crimp is a good example of
combining the best of both worlds.
Crimp
is a British playwright who was heretofore known to me only by reputation so itÕs
a great pleasure finally to catch up to him. Although this Moliere adaptation
(here translated in word and deed to the present day entertainment industry of
London) does not capture some of the more provocative aspects of his writing,
it is bright, witty and intelligent - brimming over with all of the fawning opportunists,
talentless sycophants and vacuous poseurs who find such a natural home and
welcoming environment in the world of popular culture. Crimp has a friendly way
with the rhymed verse (I wouldnÕt call them metrical couplets exactly) that is
smart but unobtrusive. In fact, it actually took me several minutes in the
first act before I could hear the rhyme, it seemed that natural.
In
an earlier play, Attempts on Her Life, Crimp structurally deregulates the very idea of a play. Everything
about it in fact - the lack of characters, the obscure nature of the plot and
the lack of certainty about how many actors it takes to even stage the piece -
is a satire on dramatic construction. So for Crimp to have a go at adapting one
of the worldÕs greatest satirists probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
For those who have seen the Tarragon production let me just say that you will
have a wonderful opportunity to compare it to the original when the Stratford
Shakespeare Festival opens this summer with a production of The Misanthrope directed by Brian Bedford.
Rose
has assembled a fine cast that keeps the pace up and the barbs flying. Especially
strong are the women with Andrea Runge, Michelle Giroux and
Maria Ricossa providing much
of the zing. An added delight is the original contribution made by way of sound
design and musical arrangements by Mike Ross and Nicolle Bellamy. Operatic
treatments of YouÕre So Vain, Do
Ya Think IÕm Sexy and other
tunes, added a lovely sense of the pretentious during scene changes.
Zoranna
Kydd (artistic producer, Birdland
Theatre) and Arkady Spivak (artistic
producer,Talk is Free Theatre) are two up and coming producers to watch in
Toronto. Their impeccable sense of timing in the re-mount of their 2010 Dora
Award winning production of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical, Assassins (here directed by Adam Brazier) sets a high standard for political engagement that
couples with entertainment. Somewhat chillingly, I saw the show on the same day
that Jared L. Loughner added his name to this rogueÕs gallery of disturbed,
limelight seeking individuals who believed that violence against the body
politic was an acceptable way to file a grievance. With limited resources but
plenty of talent, this ensemble is simply the best thing going at present for
musical theatre in Toronto.
The
local reviews surrounding the Studio 180 and Acting Up Stage Company co-production
of Parade (book by Alfred Uhry
with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown) by and large take basically two
different positions. The first holds that the musical about the trial and
subsequent lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish supervisor in an Atlanta, Georgia,
pencil factory circa 1913 for the murder of a 13 year old child laborer, is a
project that has greatness within it that simply was not realized by this
Toronto production.
The
second position maintains that the problem is not with this production but
rather within the subject matter itself and the manner in which it is finally
realized as a musical by its creators. I lean firmly toward the latter but,
like any agnostic, leave the door open to be convinced otherwise at some future
time and place.
DonÕt
get me wrong, for lovers of musical theatre there are ample numbers of reasons
to like this show (which originally premiered on Broadway in 1998) with its
emphasis on social justice and juxtapositions of racism versus anti-Semitism.
It is certainly one of those shows that deserved to be supported and produced
but for various reasons (a litany of which I will not go into here) was (and
is) not successful. The Canadian premiere of Parade remains pertinent even if it is only for archival
reasons, giving one an opportunity to see a piece of work that will be rarely
produced in the future, but is still worth the effort when it is.
Correction:
In an earlier Aisle Say
article I incorrectly identified this production as part of the Canadian Stage
season. It is Studio 180Õs upcoming North American premiere of Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek that is part of Canadian
StageÕs Berkeley Street Project and will be presented April 4th
through 30th.