PLAYBOT: La Boheme Rhapsody
You could argue that the decadent, hard-living, unprotected sex-having “bohemian” culture of the late 1970s led directly to the tragic circumstances depicted in the musical Rent – which is set 10 years later and loosely based on the Puccini opera La Boheme, which was written 100 years earlier.
In a further time twist, we return this week to a seedy pool hall in 1979 New York City for a production of the actual opera from which Rent was inspired – “where disco and drag queens, painters, punk rockers and poets converged.”
Mercury Opera’s La Boheme plays Feb. 27-March 9 at the notorious Chez Pierre Cabaret. This is the place where once was witnessed its colourful owner personally emceeing a mud-wrestling contest, “One, two, three, mud wrestle!” Pierre shouted in broken English at scantily-clad women in a kiddie pool filled with mud, whereupon they commenced to mud wrestle. Good times.
This is the latest show from Mercury Opera, which likes to mess with opera minds while producing authentic operas stacked with international talent. It’s not the first time they’ve staged a show at Chez Pierre. Last year on almost this exact date the company did La Traviata, another tragic romance from the 19th Century. The intimate atmosphere worked brilliantly. Imagine having an opera singer standing five feet away from you – while doing a death scene.
This time around, Chez Pierre serves as the setting for several East Village locations of the time, including the famous Pyramid Club. Within, the Edmonton opera company will present La Boheme pretty much as it was: A tragic romance from the 19th Century. In a cast of eight accompanied by a live chamber orchestra, the show stars Canadian tenor Adam Fisher as Rodolfo, and soprano Michaela Chiste as Mimi.
Fun fact: Giacomo Puccini and his partners actually borrowed the story from the 1840s, when young bohemians – then as now, as ever – were everywhere. Audience members are encouraged to dress the part.
Mesa
A young man is talked into driving his wife’s 93-year-old grandfather from Calgary to the title of the play, where a heaven of retirement tranquility awaits. The young guy wants to explore the West for the first time. The old guy has seen it all. What could possibly go wrong?
The pair starts to quarrel before they even cross the border. But this road tale by Calgary’s Doug Curtis is far more than just 90 minutes stuck in the car with couple of guys arguing. There are many bittersweet and poignant moments in a play that shows the depth of these two disparate characters, featuring fine performances from Julien Arnold and Richard Lee Hsi, with Cathy Derkach playing all the other quirky people they meet on their long journey. Where – you guessed it – they find themselves in the end.
Mesa plays until March 2 at the Varscona Theatre.
We Are Not Alone
You could argue that as many people believe in aliens as they do in God, and further posit that there may even be a greater statistical likelihood of the former than the latter. Whatever you believe, you are apt to be fascinated by St. Albert-born actor and playwright Damien Atkins’ new show We Are Not Alone, playing until March 3 at the Roxy on Gateway. He includes true tales of visiting UFO hotspots like Roswell, New Mexico, and the International UFO Congress, talking to people who claim to have seen – or been abducted by – aliens. You may be next.
Magic Monthly
This is kind of like “Fool Ron Pearson.” Fresh from a triumphant turn premiering his new play Minerva: Queen of the Handcuffs, the Edmonton magician returns to the breads and butters of his career – doing magic tricks! At the Grindstone Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 9 pm for Magic Monthly, he’ll be joined by special guest illusionists Mark Hawryluk, Kirt Bennett and Sheldon Casavant. Who’s fooling who?
Matilda: The Musical
Just when we need right now: A wholesome family musical with a strong female lead who stands up to authority. In this case, the precocious main character overcomes a gauntlet of thoroughly revolting adults, and eventually all the good people live happily ever after. That the kid has magic powers turns out to be a big help.
With music by the insanely-talented Australian artist Tim Minchin, and based on Roald Dahl’s best-selling novel, this show has won pretty much every award a musical can win, and plays until March 17 at the Citadel Theatre.
Lend Me a Tenor
You’ve heard of the Three Tenors, The Canadian Tenors and an act more frightening than the Nine Ring-Wraiths of Mordor Plus One: The Ten Tenors?
The current Mayfield Dinner Theatre show deals with a tenor missing in action. Playing until March 31, Lend Me a Tenor is a dependable Broadway farce, and old-fashioned door slammer, about a world-famous tenor who keels over on the very night of the big show. An attempt is made to fool the audience with a last-minute replacement, which has hilarious consequences – especially when the real tenor wakes up.
