I may be gay and I may love theatre but I've never really gone to many cabarets. Partly because I never think I'll enjoy them, and partly because the ones I think I will, are always in New York on days I'm not there. (Like Jonathan Groff and Lea Michelle's cabaret show this past weekend)
But a new upstart called Soup Can Theatre in Toronto has put together a wonderful little evening in the intimate Bread & Circus (where My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding made it's Fringe debut before moving to its current larger remount) brilliantly called Love Is A Poverty You Can Sell.
While the evening still has its rough young edges, it's a fun showcase for some young local actors to sing some Kurt Weill (or songs in the same vein) and tell some German stories. In fact, with the amusing "Geh-mahn" hosts Ryan Anning (who could step right into Alan Cumming's spot in Cabaret) and Scott Dermody (who has absolutely perfect comic timing (seriously, someone to watch out for!)), at it's best, the evening is like a step back in time to those cool Cabaret bars from... well... Cabaret. For a few moments, I thought I'd leave the cabaret and step right out into 1930's Berlin and not 2009 Toronto.
And the show was at it's best with its strongest singers. To be honest, I thought the boys edged out the girls in singing prowess, with Arthur Wright in particular stealing the show. I also particularly enjoyed Jonathan Tam and Hayley Preziosi's performances, while Mark Gough nicely started and finished the show with "The Balled of Mack the Knife". While I wasn't a fan of The Threepenny Opera, I find of all people, Kurt Weill music seems to work even better when out of context (even though usually I prefer a storyline to my shows, again, why I'm usually apprehensive about cabaret's).
Back in June on my trip to New York, I also caught a concert show of the songs by a young writing team of Kyle Ewalk and Michael I. Walker. To be honest, I have no idea who these guys are but the cast featured some young Broadway faves including Matt Doyle (Gossip Girl, Spring Awakening, Bye Bye Birdie), Adam Kantor (Rent), Jackie Burns (Hair), and Stephanie Umoh (Ragtime).
It was a nice intro to Ewalt and Walker's catchy and funny tunes and the New York cast proved why many are on Broadway. The power and perfection of so many of the voices made it a great night. In addition to the singers above, I particularly want to note Guy Olivieri and would love to see him in a show in the future.
Check out some videos from the night at the bottom of the post.
Back in June, I also checked out a Toronto Pride Week Benefit put on by the Toronto cast of Bare, let by their young director Brian Waters. They basically did a Broadway backwards sort of thing, with both the cast and crew taking part. Nichola Lawrence (who played Sister Chantelle), musical director Chris Tsujiuchi and assistant director Ryan Blair were particular standouts. Leads Wade Muir and Graham Parkhurst (Peter and Jason) did a great rendition of "What Is This Feeling?" from Wicked.
Spring Awakening reunited: Lea Michelle & Jonathan Groff (and soon to be co-stars on Glee) sings "Word of Your Body (Spring Awakening) and "Walking in Space (Hair) at last night's True Colors Cabaret (11/29/09). Not a great recording but a peak at their performance nonetheless:
Man, I can't wait 'til Groff appears on Glee with Michelle!
Sleeping Beauty - The National Ballet of Canada - Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts - Toronto, ON - *** (Out of 5) Produced, originally staged and with additional choreography by Rudolf Nureyev after Marius Petipa, Staged by Karen Kain, Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Ran from Nov. 13-22 2009
The Four Temperaments & Watch Her & Glass Pieces - The National Ballet of Canada - Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts - Toronto, ON - **** (Out of 5) The Four Temperaments - *** Choreographed by George Balanchine, Staged by Joysanne Sidimus, Music by Paul Hindemith Watch Her - ****1/2 Choreographed by Aszure Barton, Music by Lera Auerbach Glass Pieces - ***** Choreography by Jerome Robbins, Staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Music by Philip Glass Ran from Nov. 25-29 2009
After having discovered my love of the ballet after giving it a try because of So You Think You Can Dance, I've been slowly figuring out exactly what kind of ballet I love and don't. Because much to most people's misunderstanding, ballet is not just tutu's and stuff like that, but instead can be a visceral emotionally exciting art form (like the new Aszure Barton short Watch Her (above) or the Jerome Robbins classic Glass Pieces (below))
Or they can be big crowd pleasing costumed extravagant showpieces like Sleeping Beauty.
Except, I think I prefer the weirder modern stuff and the big showy "classics" tend to bore me a little. While I loved Cinderella and The Italian Straw Hat because they injected a lot of humour into ballet, Sleeping Beauty is exactly what you picture from classic ballet (by Nureyev no less), with big costumes, big set pieces and lots of tutus.
And what lovely sets and costumes, and what lovely dancing! Luckily, I went on the night when Principal stars (and engaged in real life (talk about living the fantasy life!) couple) Heather Ogden and Guillaume Côté (above) played said Sleeping Beauty and the handsome prince who's kiss awakens her. Talk about lovely and exquisite chemistry and beautiful dancing! In addition, two of my other favorite dancers had featured roles.
Rebekah Rimsay (who I adore in everything I've seen her in) played the Evil Queen. The bitch is BACK! Rimsay, a gorgeous dancer, is particularly great at throwing herself into character roles, and she manages to always make memorable appearances. She's delightfully evil here and turns another great comedic turn in Sleeping Beauty. Rimsay is particularly great at using both her body and face to carry through her character and manages to make her dancing and acting really funny which really sells her characters.
Robert Stephen (now promoted to Second Soloist. FINALLY. And if you've read any of my other reviews, you know I think he's a total star in the making) got a small bit part playing a cat in the cat dance and again, like Rimsay, is a great dancer, but also really gets into character and made the cat dance a weirdly wonderful moment.
Still, my problem with Sleeping Beauty is that when you come to think about it, there isn't much to the story (Evil Queen curses Princess, she sleeps, Prince saves her with a kiss, time to celebrate!) so the ballet is extended with lots of extended sequences and to be honest, the whole 1st act is really just an excuse to showcase different dancers as "fairies" and what not. There are a lot of solos and duets with a company looking on (the third act "celebration" is similar but with some more interesting duos) and I just wasn't that mesmerized about this old-style "traditional" tutu choreography after while, despite some amazing dancing. There wasn't the emotional impact needed to grab me despite the beautiful production in front of me (though the on-point spins Ogden had to do with each of her suitors was absolutely amazing! above).
It was a similar reaction to The Four Temperaments, the first of the latest shorts program. Despite being from ballet god Balanchine, I found it a very cool technical exercise with some superb dancing. But that still wasn't enough to grab me fully. It was a piece I respected and appreciated more than I loved (though I will say that Keiichi Kirano is awesome in the piece).
What I felt missing from the 1st piece, was all there in the 2nd. As soon as Watch Her (a new piece by Canadian Aszure Barton) started, I knew this was something special. With Kevin D. Bowles pealing himself from a grey wall and falling into an opening, to a reveal of a company of female dancers in a cold stark Russian looking space, and men in suits moving in unison, I was captivated and holding my breathe.
I'm still not sure what the whole piece meant, a dance piece that evoked some kind of surrealist Russian literature setting with evocations of Chekhov with men constantly evoked by the women around them, but does that matter? I felt my brain and heart going on overdrive and I sustained an airless gasp throughout the entire piece.
The choreography "is gestural and eccentric" and modern on a barren cold looking set, but the piece is full of soul and yearning pain as the men seemed to "watch" the women that fascinate them.
There are great moments with Noah Long (also deservingly promoted this year to Second Soloist), Robert Stephen, Sonia Rodriguez (above) and Bridgett Zehr amongst the company. In fact, while Zehr has been quickly promoted to become the youngest Principal currently at the National Ballet of Canada, I have often found her to be technically brilliant, but a little soulless (apparently I'm the only one since Karen Kain (amongst many others) seems to be her champion), but this was the first time I really felt like Zehr was truly showing the emotional range required by the piece. (There were also some other great dancers that I noted but I couldn't figure out who exactly they were, I think one was Alexandra Holden but I'm not sure).
And from an exciting new debut, to a well loved classic, the National Ballet of Canada presented Glass Pieces again (I first saw it two seasons ago) as the final selection in the mixed . It's probably my favorite ballet piece with Jerome Robbins choreography set to Phillip Glass music. Love or hate Glass, his music is perfect for modern ballet interpretation. The piece is split into 3 parts, with the opening "subway" sequence (Rubric) as probably my favorite. But the other two (Facades, Funeral from Akhnaten) are equally amazing and seeing it again confirms how brilliant the choreography, the music, the set and costumes are all put together so perfectly.
The company this time around didn't seem as perfect with the opening sequence yet (with so many newbies in the company) but the choreography is so amazing that it didn't matter. And the 6 dancers that are separated from the masses were all wonderful. It was especially nice to see newly promoted (and dancers I've kept an eye on over the last few seasons) Brett van Sickle, Noah Long and Tina Pereira in the group of 6.
This year, there seemed to be more (than usual) new dancers to the Corps de Ballet but McGee Maddox, who was featured in The Four Temperaments, seemed to stand out for me, and not just because he seems like one of the tallest dancers there and looks more like a star football player (although his young Hollywood face doesn't hurt either). So before you go on accusing me of being all swoonworthy and such (although that I am too!), I thought his size (not the usual skinny ballet dancer) might hinder him and he would be lumbering through the numbers, but instead he was elegant and really smooth and surprisingly soft on his feat. He also had the same playful dance swagger that Robert Stephen's and most of the principal and first soloists have, one where you can tell dance just comes from within him. Anyways, enough gushing. There were actually a few other new dancers that seemed quite awesome as well, unfortunately, I haven't matched them with names yet as easily as it was to spot McGee Maddox (that's his real name? For real?)
So You Think You Can Dance - Top 12 Results Night - The Cut From 12 to 10 - Ep. 618
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Adam Shankman
Top 12 Group Dance Style: Hip-Hop
Song: "What's A Girl Gotta Do?" - Basement Jaxx Feat. Paloma Faith
Choreographed by: Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo
I didn't quite like that performance but it was better than the Tyce stuff (never one to miss a dig!) so I kind of guessed it was a lesser NappyTabs routine. Not the worst dance routine but not up to usual NappyTabs level.
So You Think You Can Dance - Top 12 Performance Night - Ep. 617
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Adam Shankman
So thanks to Canoe, I won tickets to see the SYTYCD Canada S2 Tour!!! WOOHOO!!! Vincent here I come!!!
So maybe it was because I'm in a good mood thanks to winning free tickets, but I thought the dancers were awesome tonight. I didn't love some of the choreography as much as the judges did, and I thought the first half was better than the second, but it was generally a great night where the Top 3 couples really did an A-MAZING job.
Oh yah, and the couples had to do TWO dances this week. And it's the final week before the cut to the Top 10, where new pairings will be made, and where the remaining dancers will get to do the tour. So it's an important cut!
Ellenore Scott &
Ryan Di Lello Dance #1
Style: Lindy Hop
Choreographed by: Carla Heiney
Song: "I've Got To Be a Rug Cutter" - Boilermaker Jazz Band
Grade: A
Before I get to the dance, who was Carla Heiney's assistant? Hello!
Anyways, back to the Lindy Hop, which hasn't been around for 3 seasons. Ryan needs to be bouncy, but being such a muscle bound tall dude, this might not go well.
Ah, but hot Ryan doesn't let me down and bounces away with Ellenore in a fun looking routine that had all the makings of a disaster. Instead, Ryan and Ellenore shuffle and bounce and lift their way around the stage proving that they are definitely two of the top contenders here.
Here's the video of Ellenore and Ryan's Lindy Hop:
The Good Wife (Season 2) CBS/Global 10pm ****1/2 (Low: 4)
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays
Fridays
Saturdays
Tapeworthy Shows On Hiatus
Grade system
***** - 5 Stars TAPEWORTHY AND WILL watch it LIVE for fear the recording will mess up. Do not attempt to call or try to make plans during this time.
**** - 4 Stars Tapeworthy and I will TRY to watch it LIVE
*** - 3 Stars Tapeworthy, will watch it live if I'm around but if not, will catch it later in the week.
** - 2 Stars Might tape it to watch later as long as I have space and no conflicting shows that have higher priority.
* - 1 Star Won't tape it but if I need something to watch while I fold my laundry (and I'm done all my tapes), I will watch it (ie. Reba).
0 - 0 Stars Will NOT turn on the TV for fear of coming across this show. (ie. According to Jim).
Grades only reflect current new airings. Does not necessarily apply to previous seasons. Grades are subject to change at any moment. Apologies to TV Gal for half borrowing her system.
