PLAYBOT: Singin’ in the Freezin’ Rain
The appearance of the dependable musical warhorse Singin’ in the Rain at Festival Place Dec. 15-30 is disturbing for a couple of reasons.
They’ve been running Stanley Kubrick’s ultra-violent masterpiece A Clockwork Orange on TV lately, and there’s an edgy scene during which the title song Singin’ in the Rain plays. The music is now as tainted as Stuck in the Middle was by Quentin Tarrantino’s torture scene in Reservoir Dogs. A lot of people can’t even hear these songs anymore without thinking of the sickening movie scenes they were attached to. Seriously, music publishers ought to vet these deals more carefully to consider not just the artists – who get paid a lot for these things – but the song’s reputation. Do you think the songwriters (Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown) would be comfortable with their most famous work used as the soundtrack to a rape scene?
The other thing is that it’s about singin’ in the goddamned RAIN. Is it supposed to rain in December in Edmonton and turn the entire world into a skating rink? So now we’re all worried about climate change.
Whew. That’s lot of baggage for a harmless little musical considered the epitome of playful, family-friendly escapism. So never mind all that other stuff for two hours of your evening.
Oh! Christmas Tree
Here’s another one by Edmonton’s own Conni Massing – well on her way to becoming another Stewart Lemoine, so prolific is her output. Massing has just pulled off a two-fer – as her elephant drama Matara at Workshop West drew its final curtain over the weekend, and her new Christmas comedy Oh! Christmas Tree starts previews tonight.
Playing until Dec. 23 at the Roxy on Gateway in a Blunt Entertainment and Theatre of the New Heart co-production, the story revolves around a newly-married couple who argue over whether to get a Christmas Tree. She (Lora Brovold) is into Christmas. He (Collin Doyle) is not. Let the tinsel fly!
The Best Little Newfoundland Christmas Pageant…Ever!
This annual Christmas confection deals with some “bad” kids who turn out to be poor, frustrated and misunderstood, as they cause havoc in a small-town Newfoundland theatre pageant before finding love and acceptance – and everybody learns about the true meaning of Christmas in the end.
The show plays Dec. 12-23 at the TransAlta Arts Barns’ Backstage Theatre.
SOLO 70
This is not just some esoteric title for another esoteric creative dance show produced by the venerable Brian Webb Dance Company, now known as “BWDC.” The number 70 happens to be the age of renowned Montreal dancer Paul-André Fortier – who performs all by himself (with live musical accompaniment), literally the title of the show Dec. 14-15 at the Allard Hall Theatre Lab at MacEwan University. This will be Fortier’s last performance before he retires from the stage.
MELT, a prefix of prayer
There are so few professional dance productions in Edmonton – so why are there two scheduled on the same nights this weekend? Are they daft?
Maybe it’s two different audiences. At Spazio Performativo (10816 95 Street) Dec. 14-15, Mile Zero Dance presents the Edmonton premiere of a new work by choreographer and acclaimed dancer James Viveiros (right). This one is solo, too, said to be inspired by the idea of “melting the boundaries that divide us.” Hence the title.
The Great Gatsby
Now this is getting eerie: This is at least the fourth Edmonton production this season set in the 1920s – and another work that depicts the time as not a happy place. Is it because it’s been 100 years, give or take, and we’ll soon be entering another Roaring ‘20s? Rhetorical question.
The Walterdale Theatre is mounting yet another ambitious project in this stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous tragic novel. Dealing with spoiled Long Island playboys and debutantes who pay the price for their greed and indolence, The Great Gastby has been made into numerous films, TV shows and stage plays. Something here just seems to connect with people.
For the show at the Walterdale until Dec. 15, the theatre released a disclaimer that says a lot about the times – old and new: “The Great Gatsby is a piece of literary fiction that deals with mature themes including but not limited to racism, sexual promiscuity, violence, abuse (mental, emotional and physical), drugs use, alcohol abuse, and gambling.”
So be warned!
A Christmas Carol
All good things must come to an end – and who made up that rule?
The fact remains that this year will be the last production of the Charles Dickens Christmas story adapted by Tom Wood, husband of the Citadel’s former artistic director Bob Baker. Wood played the lead when it premiered in 2000, and for a number of years thereafter. Other Scrooges include Glenn Nelson, John Wright, James MacDonald, and the current Scrooge Julien Arnold. Lions of Edmonton theatre all!
A Christmas Carol plays until Dec. 23 in the Maclab Theatre.
They’re coming up with a new treatment of A Christmas Carol for next year, but it is a closely guarded secret.
Canada 151
Apparently some hosers forgot about the Canadian sesquicentennial party and decided, “Oh, well, f*** it! Let’s celebrate Canada one year late!”
Any excuse for yet another jukebox musical, eh?
This one, on stage at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre until Jan. 27, is an oh-what-a-feeling oh-what-a-rush doozy of epic proportions. Music by Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Anne Murray, the Guess Who, Alanis Morissette, the Tragically Hip and many more is presented in a fantasy musical celebration that hits all the bases of the Canadian musical canon in a breathless two-and-a-half hour show. A great band, as always, does a fine job replicating all the different artists in their eras of history.
