The Drowsy Chaperone
Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar
Directed by Max Reimer
Musical Direction Lloyd Nicholson
Choreography Dayna Teckatch.
Vancouver Playhouse
Nov 22 to Dec 27, 2008
Vancouver , BC: I can't remember when last I laughed so hard that I was worried that my shaking would rattle the chairs next to me. It may have been when I first saw The Drowsy Chaperone in New York two years ago. Yeah, sad but true. The stuff that most people find funny doesn't usually get more than a smile from me but for some reason the outrageously-over-the- top Latin Lover, Adolpho, here played by Thom Allison, gets me going.
The Drowsy Chaperone is one of those so very Canadian sleeper hit stories. A light hearted spoof on musicals originally performed at the stag party for the wedding of Bob Martin and Janet van der Graaf, it grew like Topsy into a fringe show, then a mainstage production and finally opened on Broadway where it charmed audiences and won five of the thirteen Tony awards for which it was nominated. Adolpho (Thom Allison) and Chaperone (Gabrielle Jones) Photo David Cooper
Lift Bar and Grill 333 Menchion Mews Vancouver Ph: 604 689-5438or Reserve Online
Heading off to a play at PAL, the Performing Arts Lodge, I looked for a restaurant in the vicinity. I remembered that I had passed Lift on several occasions while strolling around Coal Harbour and wondered each time whether the food would be as good as the view. This was the perfect time to try it out.
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
Directed by Stephen Malloy
Little Mountain Studio (195 East 26th Ave)
Main Street Theatre Company
Nov 19 to 29, 2008 (not on Nov 24)
Vancouver, BC: Land-line, cell-phone, I-phone, Blackberry - whatever you use to communicate, call the Main Street Theatre Equity Co-op info line at 604-992-2313, and tell them you want to see Glengarry Glen Ross. Stephen Malloy's tightly directed production of Mamet's play about a bunch of unscrupulous fast-talking real estate salesmen is especially timely in view of events in the US. As I watched the slick tag-team of has-been Shelly Levene (Bill Dow) and current top-of -his game Richard Roma (Alex Ferguson) bamboozle the timid, elderly Lingk (Patrick Keating), I found myself saying a silent thank you to my wonderful, careful and considerate realtor-friend who helped me in my downsizing phase and didn't try to sell me the Burrard Bridge!
This was an apt play for the rather awkward playing space at Little Mountain Studios. The first act is set in a restaurant booth and the second in the office of the real estate company. Reconfiguring the seating at intermission, Malloy made the best possible use of what really is not an ideal space for a play.
The 21st Floor
Written and Staged by Michelle Lonsdale Smith
PAL Theatre
The Lyric Stage Project Ensemble
Nov 11 - 22, 2008
Anthony Ulc as Martin Best and Graem Beddoes as Kenny Gibson in Lyric Stage Project's The 21st Floor. Photo by Wendy D.
Vancouver, BC.
There are times when I wonder if I actually inhabit a parallel universe and it is an alternate me that is seeing and hearing the folks around me. Either that or I watched so many episodes of Dharma and Greg that I morphed from a Greg-ette into Dharma. You know, put all that "uptightness" into a bubble and just let it float away! So now I smile a lot, don't yell at theTV news or swear when I read the newspaper, and love my neighbours.
Before you think - "she's finally flipped out - must have been seeing too much theatre " - let me explain.
On Sunday I saw The 21st Floor, a new ensemble piece developed by the members of Lyric Stage Project. This was the "industry night" talk-back and the PAL Theatre was full. We were told that this is an evolving piece and invited to participate post-show by providing feed back on the concept and the theme.
In commenting on a creative work each of us inevitably brings our biases to the evaluation. I like to acknowledge mine up front - see the About page of Review From The House. But in the interest of fairness, in the same way that the creative artists make themselves and their work open to our critical judgement, I thought it might be appropriate to reprint a Rants, Raves and Reviews column from 2006. It was written in response to reader responses to my reviews of two plays, This is our Youth and Summer of my Amazing Luck. I have posted it in its entirety - The email address no longer functions so if you want to comment off line you can reach me at gillian@reviewfromthehouse.com
Here it is!
Has anybody ever seen a dramatic critic in the daytime? Of course not. They come out after dark, up to no good. (P G Wodehouse)
Villa del Lupo
869 Hamilton Street,
Vancouver Ph: 604-688-3058
I was recently invited to dinner at Villa del Lupo, an elegant Italian restaurant in a heritage building on Hamilton. Although I have dined there several times, it has to be more than ten years since my last visit. It retains the old-world European ambience with comfortably sized tables, spaced far enough apart to allow quiet conversation.
For a change this dinner was not a prelude to a theatre outing so it was great to be able to relax, eat leisurely and enjoy wine with our meal. The service was quietly efficient and obliging. The menu featured Nodino di Vitello, a veal chop, done Marsala style. I did not fancy gnawing on a bone in company and I was sure I would want to eat every last morsel of the dish, so two of us asked if we could substitute scallopini for the chop. No problem.
So following an Insalata Caprese with deliciously sweet tomatoes and fresh bocconcini, I got Vitello Scaloppini with porcini and marsala wine demi-glaze. And sure enough the veal was soft as butter, and if I had not been with company I would have sopped up every last drop of the gravy and probably licked the plate too.
Having recently learned a few culinary terms for Italian, Spanish and Indian dishes, I was delighted to be invited by my friends, Linda and Brian, to a Swiss night for racelette and fondue. Their plan was to ply us with food and wine and then have a quiz about all things Swiss. This is an occasion where my "just in time" approach to life let me down. I forgot my firm resolve, formed when Linda invited me, to cram a Wikipedia post full of Swiss trivia into my brain so I could stun my friends with my encyclopedic knowledge. In fact, until the moment Linda announced the contest I had forgotten there was to be one. So there I was, totally unprimed with facts, other than its location in Europe, the appearance of the Swiss flag, and the fact that I had actually spent two days in Zurich more than thirty years ago.
But first, the food. The dining area was divided into two locations, 6 people at each table. I got the raucous bunch, although after my wine glass somehow remained full no matter how hard I tried to empy it, I guess I was pretty raucous too. The picture shows the table set up for raclette ( which derives from racler, to scrape). We put slices of cheeese into little paddles and stuck them in the machine (centre of the table) to melt. Then we scraped it out onto small boiled potatoes and ate it with prosciutto, picked onions, tomatoes and gherkins.
Influence by Janet Munsil
Directed by Katrina Dunn
Performance Works
Touchstone Theatre
Nov 6th -15th, 2008
Daniel Arnold, Mike Stack (see below) and the cast of Influence Photos by Tim Matheson
Vancouver , BC:
One of the exciting aspects of seeing theatre in a versatile, performance space like Performance Works, is that as you enter the space you never quite know what layout to expect. For Touchstone Theatre's world premiere of Victoria playwright Janet Munsil's play, Influence, set designer David Roberts has re-created the room of the British Museum in which the collection of statues and metopes known as the Elgin marbles are displayed. The audience sits corridor style, on either side of a long rectangular space with doric pillars at either end. Displayed on marble stands are large realistic renditions by Heidi Wilkinson, of some of the original Greek sculptures, including the Selene horse head from the Parthenon.
Lighting by Jonathan Ryder enhanced the sense of 'being there". One of the joys of theatre is that anticipatory frisson that happens as the lights dim and the play starts. Whether I end up excited, challenged, disappointed or bored by the show that follows, it is that sense of hopeful expectation that keeps me going to live theatre. Here, as the house lights faded through a last single beam of light into darkness, I got a really visceral feeling of what the term "to set the stage" can encompass. From the original music and sound design (Owen Belton) to Sheila White's costumes, Katrina Dunn's production is impressive.
As I was working on my review of Influence, Janet Munsil's new play now on at Performance Works, I found myself thinking about another of my favorite courses at UBC; Professor Lee Johnson's course on Romantic Poetry which I took through distance education. Although as I worked my way through Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake to Keats, Shelley and Byron, works by each poet in turn became my favorite of the moment, but ultimately it was Keats that I really identified with.
I like the way Keats seemed to take responsibility for directing his own development as a poet and as a human being. I guess when you have been orphaned after your father dies falling off a horse and your mother dies of tuberculosis, and you see all manner of awful things as an apprentice apothecary, it's hard to think of an omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient being controlling your life.
Keats, Shelley and Byron died within a couple of years of each other - Shelley drowned, sailing in the Gulf of Spezia. He was around 30 years of age. Lord Byron went off to fight for the Greeks in their war against Turkey. He died just before he would have been 36. I suppose they were both responsible for their own early deaths.
Dockside Restaurant 1253 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver Phone number604-685-7070 or Reserve Online
The Dockside Restaurant in the Granville Island Hotel is really convenient if you are going to see a play at Performance Works, about 1 minute walk from the hotel entrance. We were going to see Influence, a new play by BC writer, Janet Munsil, that was opening at Performance Works, so dinner at Dockside was an excellent choice. Whenever I have been there before it has been quite busy so I made a reservation for 6 pm. We were shown to a window table with a beautiful view across False Creek. Vancouver is such a spectacular city.
Ph: 604-688-3058
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