REVIEW: Boatload of blarney, great music in new Newfoundland musical
With the astounding success of Come From Away – a musical about Newfoundlanders who took care of stranded travelers after 9-11 – it was just a question of time before another Newfoundland musical should heave into sight.
The new work, with its sights set on Broadway (say the producers), has settled in for a four night run at the Westbury Theatre until Sept. 28.
No Change in the Weather is unabashedly based on the financial and personal problems of Newfoundlanders, and is the most ambitious theatre project to come out of The Rock. It lacks the universal accessibility of Come From Away, with its cathartic reminder of the capacity for human kindness, but comes with impeccable credentials including a financial angel (Walter Schroeder), who has spent much of his life building the show; there’s also a faithful commitment to the songs and sights of Newfoundland (courtesy of music producer and one of the founders of Great Big Sea, Bob Hallett) and a cast of solid Newfoundland performers.
The result is a strange fusion of (current) Newfoundland history, a plea for financial help, a traditional wake, some quite fascinating and well drawn down-home folks – plus a whole boatload of wonderful music. A local lad who lost his job in the Alberta oilfields puts into words the longing of the men who “Went down the road…
“You don’t want to go but you can’t live for free.”
An ex-fisherman sings sadly, “There’s a broken heart for every empty net.”
A gay university student returns home from faraway B.C. Before the evening is over a ghost will appear.
It’s a foggy, wet night for the good folks of God’s Back Pocket, Nfld. We are attending the funeral of the town’s beloved if somewhat cantankerous matriarch Mary Margaret. The old lady’s spirit lies uneasily in her home-made coffin while “the unnatural fog moves against the blowin’ of the wind…” and the banshee howls beyond the walls. During the night friends and family gather to share their sorrow, songs, stories and music. The affair gives the participants the opportunity to air some of the problems their rocky island (and often their own family relationships) have faced. The cast of nine gives us an interesting group of locals. Two estranged brothers meet after years apart and try to reach across the gulf while reconnecting with the girl they both loved. A “come from away,” who turns out to be a “Yankee millionaire,” attempts to romance a local girl.
“How can you possibly love me?” he pleads.
“I works hard at it,” she pragmatically replies.
As the rest of the country probably doesn’t know, Newfoundland is in tough times brought about by traditional poor governance, bad development deals, failed energy projects and the collapse of the fisheries. This might lead to conversations over the kitchen table – but is it the stuff of a musical? Amazingly this appealing evening somehow manages to make it work. It does get a bit preachy, particularly in the second half where for a few moments they forget music and plot and just deliver a straight lecture to the audience – but they navigate through the financial Sargasso by humanizing the process with a number of East Coast secret weapons. Newfoundlanders are an entertaining lot, no matter where the conversation may lead. They also possess a unique sense of humour which illuminates most everything. Much of the vitriol is aimed at their inept leaders rather than the rest of the country.
And, as is the Newfoundland way, when groups gather, out come the fiddles and guitars and songs old and new pour forth. The show might be called a “Jukebox Musical” in that it was generated out of the music (which was chosen first) – and it certainly gives a solid base to the show. The music is of many times and many genres with the expected jigs and reels and includes folk songs, pub ditties, comic turns, memory songs and a series of fervent and deeply moving paeans to “this marvelous terrible place.” At the back, a huge screen in the shape of a sails show magnificent vistas of sea and rock. It’s all delivered by a talented cast and driving band that obviously loves the material. There’s not a bad voice on the stage but you may come away remembering the warmth and splendid delivery of Kelly Ann Evans, particularly in the solo, Sonny’s Dream. Collectively the group gives the whole evening the feel of an intimate family ceilidh to which we are all invited.
In No Change in the Weather, a family tries to overcome their personal grievances and turbulent relationships to find a new kinship. Newfoundland has long been a bubbling gumbo of musical and storytelling talent – and many of those attributes are on display in this charming combination of blarney, memorable music and heart.
Photos by Ritche Perez
