Conceived and Directed by Alex Mustakas
Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Robert Foster
Choreographed by Gino Berti and 8 others
Musical direction by Michael Lerner
Performed by 16 dancers
Vocals by Melissa O’Neil and Mark Cassius
Drayton Entertainment Production
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
August 10 to September 4, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

They not only think they can dance, They CAN Dance!

So, you’re sitting at home, watching So You Think You Can Dance or reruns of Dancing With The Stars on TV. Turn it off right now and go to Grand Bend to see the real thing!

Dance Legends just opened at Huron Country Playhouse, the newest in Drayton Entertainment’s line-up of Legends shows. Conceived and directed by artistic director Alex Mustakas, this show, like his previous Legends in the series, is going to be another huge hit.

And deservedly so. Never has there been such high energy on the Huron Country Playhouse stage. The 16 dancers give it their all, and the audience loves it. Opening night saw many moments of spontaneous applause and two long, standing ovations. The wow-factor is high!

The audience is offered an education, as well. Prior to the curtain rising, dance trivia and quotes from famous choreographers and dancers are flashed on a big screen. Then, when the show starts, the performers demonstrate the styles of choreographers and dancers as each is named over the stage.

 All manner of dance is included: There’s the tap dancing of the Nicholas Brothers and Canadians Blanche and Alan Lund’s Begin the Beguine. There are Fred Astaire numbers with every female he ever danced with…and other famous couples: Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdun or Marge and Gower Champion. If you’re not familiar with the famous dancers and choreographers, don’t worry; the big screen keeps you informed. The playbill is full of background information.

There are numbers from modern dance, ballet, ballroom, and the big time musicals like West Side Story, Carousel and Oklahoma! They salute famous dance movie musicals including Flashdance, Footloose, Dirty Dancing and Saturday Night Fever. The tap dancing throughout is amazing. But the biggest applause is for the Michael Jackson set – the dancing to Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough and Thriller is incredible.

Vocalists Melissa O’Neil and Mark Cassius are excellent, supplying the music to go with the dance. Melissa is a former Canadian Idol and recently played Gabriella in High School Musical. Mark is previously a member of the acappella group, The Nylons, and appeared in Sweet Charity. Melissa is outstanding in the Gene Kelly number, singing Good Morning. She also sings a passionate version of You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, and has great fun scat singing while duelling with a tap dancer. Mark gives excellent renditions of House of the Rising Sun and Mr. Bojangles. Together they do a beautiful interpretation of Michael Jackson’s I’ll Be There.

Costumes for this show are exceptional – lots of colour and great variety. The performers don’t have a minute to rest – they are either on stage dancing or back stage changing.

The music is well done, with the seven-person band on stage behind the dancers, allowing the sound to fill the theatre.

This high-energy, glitzy show has an amazing variety of dance, thanks to the team of choreographers. With nine impressive choreographers each taking part, there is exceptional diversity. The lively choreography and superior performance make for a much better entertainment than anything you can find on TV. As they sing in the show, “Who could ask for anything more?”

Dance Legends continues with eight shows a week until September 4 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at 519-238-6000, Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463, or check out www.draytonentertainment.com.

Written by Phillip King
Directed by Marcia Kash
Performed by Kevin Burnett, Alan K. Sapp, Stephanie McNamara, Darren Keay, Karen Sweet, Nicholas Rice, Ivan Sherry, Robin Ward, Karen Wood.
Originally a Drayton Entertainment Production
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
August 10 to August 28, 2009
Reviewed by Mary Alderson
(This is an updated version of a review originally published in July 2009, when this production opened at Huron Country Playhouse.)

A British Farce: ahead by Leaps and Bounds

There is great fun to be had at Victoria Playhouse’s production of See How They Run, a zany British farce. There’s more jumping than running in this comedy, which had the opening night audience in gales of laughter.

Director Marcia Kash, herself the author of a couple of great Canadian farces (Who’s Under Where and Too Many Cooks), knows how to organize a farce: lots of slamming doors, funny faces, and in this case, plenty of running and jumping around the stage.

See How They Run is a true British farce, written by Phillip King in the 1940s to entertain British troops in World War II. It has all the necessary elements of the farce: a prim and proper local spinster who is sure that the Vicar’s wife is having an affair, with a myriad of other eccentric characters, and of course, the requisite mistaken identities. Indeed, the Vicar’s wife has a sketchy past – she was actress until she married the Vicar, and she was seen brazenly waving at a soldier. But her uncle is a Bishop and he’s coming to visit. Unfortunately the Vicar won’t be preaching this Sunday when the Bishop visits; a travelling clergyman will be taking the pulpit. Add to this a crazy maid, a Russian spy and a cop. What more could one want in a farce?

Karen Wood nearly steals the show as the Cockney maid, Ida. Her expression-filled eyes are enough to start the laughter rolling and then she delivers the hilarious lines. She has excellent comedic timing and knows how to make the lines work. Karen Sweet, as the up righteous, judgemental parishioner also keeps the audience in stitches when her character has a bit too much to drink. Ivan Sherry is good as the Vicar, showing his slapstick skills after he has a conk on the head, and Stephanie McNamara is delightful as the Vicar’s wife. Darren Keay is excellent as the former actor, now soldier, who drops in. Robin Ward as the Bishop, Nicholas Rice as the visiting reverend, Alan K. Sapp as the Russian and Kevin Burnett as the policeman round out the cast and contribute to the hilarity.

The set is excellent: designer Allan Wilbee made sure that there were enough doors to run through and slam, while still keeping it believable. The furnishings are authentic 1940s, and are located strategically to ensure there are places to hide and things to jump over – well, there are things to jump over some of the time – and other times the characters just jump!

For fans of the British farce, this show offers laugh-out-loud fun.

See How They Run continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until August 28. Call the box office at 1-800-717-7694 or 519-882-1221 for tickets, or visit www.thevpp.ca .

Written by Michel Tremblay
Translated by Linda Gaboriau
Directed by Chris Abraham
Performed by Lucy Peacock and Tom Rooney
Stratford Shakespeare Festival Production
Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford
August 11 to September 26, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

A Tribute to an Artist’s Mother

What is most impressive about For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, now playing at Stratford’s Tom Patterson Theatre, is the script. Michel Tremblay, if not Canada’s premier playwright, certainly Quebec’s, has written an intelligent, bittersweet story, capably translated by Linda Gaboriau.

Tremblay, disguised as “The Narrator” in this play, tells the audience that it’s not going to be a big impressive show – he stresses that this is not Shakespeare, not Beckett, not Chekhov, nor Tennessee Williams – we sit back and are lulled into thinking it will be an effortless evening. But then Tremblay gives us his mother, Nana, and we realize that we are going to be entertained, and we are going to learn more than if we were sitting through classical theatre.

For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again could be viewed as nothing more than Tremblay reminiscing about his mother. The narrator leads the audience to believe he is just going to tell us a few stories about his mom. He steps back into the scene as a 10-year-old boy facing his angry mother, who is upset that the police have come looking for him. She exaggerates his misdemeanour acting out the horrors that his minor mischief might have created.

Tremblay shares more memories when he is 13, and his mother has offered him her melodramatic novels from France to read. When the young boy questions the lack of reality in the romance novels, his mother goes to great extent to defend the books.

And thus the play moves along, with Tremblay simply relating amusing stories about his mother. And then suddenly the audience realizes that this is much more than just sharing memories through flashbacks. We are being given an amazing glimpse into the making of an artist. His mother, this housewife who is locked into her position by the patriarchal and religious Quebec of the 1950’s, is actually shaping one of Canada’s best and most prolific authors and playwrights. Her theatrical way of raising her son, her creative imagination in telling him the stories of their family, her wonderful sense of humour, and her passion for books and movies have made him who he is. Her pride and love of her son, although not always spoken, is present. But maybe it has taken retrospection for him to see it.

All the humour dissipates towards the end of the one-act show. He is only 21 and his mother is dying of cancer. Despite the sorrow, there is a wonderful surprise ending which cannot be revealed here, for fear of spoiling the production for future audiences.

Lucy Peacock is the melodramatic Nana, commanding the stage with her energy. At times, her anger is too strong and her tone too harsh as she yells at her son for his transgressions. I was looking for a moment of tenderness or a touch of warmth on which to build the mother-son connection that was obviously supposed to be there. Tom Rooney is the narrator, overshadowed by Nana’s power. Rooney is reserved, staying in the narrator role, and not becoming the young son. Again, I feel there could be more of a bond evident between the two characters. Still, Tremblay’s brilliant story shines through in their dialogue.

I was completely taken by the script when I saw it presented at London’s Grand Theatre in February 2007, and the way simple anecdotes are, in fact, brilliant revelations about family relationships and a parent’s influence.

For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again continues at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford until September 26. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordshakespearefestival.ca.

Book, Music & Lyrics by Meredith Willson
Directed by Uwe Meyer
Choreographed by Kiri-Lyn Muir
Musical direction by Christopher Mounteer
Performed by Curtis Sullivan, Sherry Garner, & cast.
Port Hope Festival Production
Capitol Theatre, Port Hope
August 5 to August 29, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson
Disclaimer: The reviewer’s son is part of this cast.

A Shipoopi Good Time

The Music Man captured the hearts of Broadway audiences when it first opened in 1957, winning five Tony awards. The heart-warming story, stirring songs, and lively dancing still captivate theatre-goers today. Currently on stage at the Port Hope Festival, this production of The Music Man capitalizes on the family-friendly story with an excellent, albeit small cast.

The Music Man is the story of Harold Hill, a swindler who rides the train into River City, Iowa. He’s a smooth-talking charmer who wins over the cold, stubborn Iowans, and sells them band instruments and uniforms, promising to put their boys into a big brass marching band. But he’s no band leader and can’t read a note of music – the plan is to take their money and leave town before he’s found out. He flatters the local piano teacher who also happens to be the librarian, so that she won’t figure out his scheme and catch him. However, he’s the one who is caught. When Marian the librarian tells him she knew of his deception and didn’t turn him in, he realizes he’s in love with her.

The Music Man is full of familiar tunes – Ya Got Trouble is the song where Harold convinces the townspeople that they need a boys’ band because otherwise the young people will get in trouble playing pool. A favourite is Seventy-Six Trombones where he describes his vision of the band. Marian the Librarian provides an opportunity for singing and dancing in the library, much to Marian’s dismay. The Wells Fargo Wagon announces the arrival of the band instruments, and the Shipoopi is another big dance number. Till There was You is the beautiful love song, that was actually covered by the Beatles in 1963.

Curtis Sullivan plays the fast-talking Harold Hill very well. He will be remembered as Billy Bigalow in Carousel at Huron Country Playhouse. Sherry Garner’s beautiful soprano voice is perfect for Marian, as she sings Good Night My Someone and My White Knight with ease.

Larry Herbert is a delightful Marcellus, the one-time crook, who is now behaving himself. His rendition of Shipoopi, both singing and dancing, is comical. Jody Osmond also provides humour as the player-piano player who gets tangled up in the paper scroll.

Thomas Alderson plays Tommy Djilas, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, with just enough attitude. Sarah Slywchuk is very good as Zaneeta, the ‘ye-gads’ girl, and together Tommy and Zaneeta do some lively dancing. Gail Hakula is entertaining as Marian’s Irish mother and Robert Allan makes a very nasty and lecherous Charlie Cowell, the anvil salesman. The quartet of school board members provides excellent harmony.

Despite the fact that this is a small cast of 16 with many of them playing two roles, they certainly have no difficulties filling the theatre with their voices, or filling the stage with their dance numbers. In other productions of The Music Man I’ve seen, the cast has had over 30 members, but these 16 are certainly able to fill the bill.

It’s well worth the trip to the quaint and historic town of Port Hope. See Mary’s Musings at www.entertainthisthought.com for an account of our visit.

The Music Man continues with eight shows a week until August 29 at the Capital Theatre, Port Hope. Tickets are available at the Port Hope Festival box office at 905-885-1071 or 800-434-5092, or visit www.capitoltheatre.com.

Written by Maryjane Cruise
Directed by Adam Furfaro
Performed by Melodee Finlay and Brian McKay
Drayton Entertainment Production
Playhouse II, Grand Bend
August 5 to September 4, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

Cruise Ship Comedy

Separate Beds is a unique little comedy about life on a cruise ship, now playing at Playhouse II, the smaller venue at Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend. This play has the distinction of having act I and act II set in exactly the same time frame.

In act I we meet Ernie and Twink, a middle-aged couple whose four sons have sent them on a cruise. Ernie, a hardware store owner and handyman, would prefer to be at home taking his grandson to hockey practice. Twink is discouraged about the monotony of their marriage and wants to rekindle the flame with Ernie, who fails to share her concern.

In act II, we meet Blake and Beth. He’s a pretentious optometrist, trying to promote his new line of eyewear, while she’s a has-been actress, hoping to land a role in an upcoming George Clooney movie.

We hear from each of them their reactions regarding the other couple. Twink finds Beth glamourous, while Beth envies Twink’s family life. They prove the irony of the old adage “Distant fields look greener”.

The humour is created by the realistic dialogue. Ernie and Twink’s relationship is very recognizable to most married couples. We’ve all met boors like Blake, bragging about his business. They audience loves the familiar situations, laughing uproariously at the battle of the sexes. Credit goes to director Adam Furfaro for keeping the story real and not allowing the humour to become unbelievable.

There are many comedic moments: Twink is nervous on the cruise ship, so she wears a life jacket while reading in bed. The book she picks up is The Titanic.

Melodee Finlay is excellent as both the down-home Twink and the sophisticated Beth. Finlay deserves special mention for coming into rehearsals very late, after the actress originally slated for the role left suddenly for health reasons. Brian McKay, well-known to Huron Country Playhouse audiences for his role this year in Sweet Charity, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2008, plays both Ernie and Blake.

The real star is playwright Maryjane Cruise (and yes, that’s her real name!) for showing us the humour in our everyday dialogue.  Cruise is a St. Catharines area school teacher who is also a successful writer.

The set, constructed on a rotating stage, is good – we see the outside deck of a cruise ship, then it turns around and we see their bedroom. Twink & Ernie have been assigned separate beds, but in act II, Beth and Blake have a queen-sized bed.

Separate Beds continues with eight shows a week until September 4 at Playhouse II, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at 519-238-6000 or Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463.

By Mary Alderson

Actor Robert Creighton doesn’t have what you might consider the typical leading man look. But throughout his career, people have commented on his resemblance to James Cagney. So Creighton dreamed of playing Cagney onstage. His dream has come true and he is now, indeed, a leading man.

Robert sat down with me for a visit at ‘The Gator’ on the beach in the ’Bend, the day after his show opened. It was so interesting to hear about how a boy from Walkerton made the journey to create a new musical, with stops on Broadway along the way.

Born and raised in Walkerton, Robert has deep roots in southwestern Ontario. He left his home town when he was grade 11 to attend a theatre arts school, then went on to get a degree in vocal music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. From there he went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City to hone his acting skills, and took dancing lessons, perfecting his tap.

As a student he returned to Grand Bend in the summers, appearing in Gypsy and Annie Get Your Gun at Huron Country Playhouse. He also played the young Prince Chulalongkorn in The King & I at HCP in 1989, returning over the years in several other roles. More recently, he appeared in The War Show.

Between acting gigs in New York, Robert didn’t do the usual waiter jobs. He worked as a legal assistant in Law Firm. “It was a great job, I loved it and learned so much,” he says.

Robert has had an amazing career so far – After several off-Broadway and New York theatre productions, he was cast in Fame, The Musical and The Lion King National Tours. From there he went on Broadway in shows such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Damn Yankees with Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski. He was also in The Little Mermaid, starting in the chorus, and then taking on the role of Chef Louis. He was playing Timon in The Lion King on Broadway when he got the chance to mount his own production.

When he heard the comments about his resemblance to James Cagney, Robert started thinking about creating a musical based on the life of Cagney. Robert has perfected Cagney’s look and talk, but it’s his dance that really looks Cagney-esque. A check on You Tube of old Cagney footage shows how Robert has the style. In the show there’s a scene of Bob Hope and Cagney dancing together in The Seven Little Foys. Robert is excellent in replicating Cagney’s technique. Check out the original here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28

Cagney danced with slightly stiff legs, but astounding footwork, which Robert has completely captured.

Cagney! was about 20 years in the making, Robert says. He started writing it as a one-man show, but then enlisted the help of playwright Peter Colley, meeting the Canadian in California. Christopher McGovern worked with Robert on the music and lyrics, and has come to Grand Bend as musical director.

After much work, Cagney! debuted at West Palm Beach, Florida last year. “I was two months into The Lion King on Broadway, but I had to leave that,” Robert explains, “This was my baby, I had to do Cagney!”

The Florida production gained attention, and was nominated for seven Carbonell awards (given to honour theatre in Florida). Cagney! won the Carbonell for Best New Work.

Robert brought the production home this year, making its Canadian debut in Drayton, and then moving to Grand Bend.

Robert talks about how he wanted to put detail in Cagney’s character, but he couldn’t fit every aspect into the show. He deferred to his collaborators’ expertise when paring down the script. He says Cagney was an observer of life and he wanted to capture Cagney’s key elements such as sticking up for the little guy.

For the most part, Cagney! is historically accurate. In a few instances, Robert took some poetic licence, like having Jack Warner present the lifetime achievement award. In reality, there were several presenters, but Robert wanted to have the two characters back in the same scene. He also imagined how the memorable grapefruit scene came about, knowing of Cagney’s improv abilities.

Robert is friendly, personable and brimming with energy and enthusiasm. He certainly has the charm and talent of a leading man. His career is on the right track and moving forward. We look forward to seeing Cagney! on Toronto and New York stages soon.

See my review of Cagney! at www.entertainthisthought.com

Conceived by Robert Creighton
Written by Peter Colley
Music & Lyrics by Robert Creighton & Christopher McGovern
Directed by Bill Castellino
Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse
Musical direction by Christopher McGovern
Performed by Robert Creighton, Darrin Baker, Joel Newsome, Brian Ogilvie, Risa Waldman, Amy Wallis
Drayton Entertainment Production
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
July 28 to August 7, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

The Tough Guy Who Danced

I only knew one thing about James Cagney: he said, “You dirty rat!” Well, I learned a lot in an evening at Cagney!, a new musical. James Cagney never uttered that line in a movie, and he was much more than the tough guy who appeared on the silver screen.

Cagney! opened this week at Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend, the brainchild of Robert Creighton who plays the lead role. It’s the fascinating true story of the actor James Cagney, who created a legacy as a tough guy in movies starting in 1930.

The show opens in 1978, with Cagney receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild, presented to him by his old nemesis Jack Warner of Warner Bros. Throughout the show, we learn of their love-hate relationship. They didn’t like each other, but they needed each other to make money.

Act I opens with Cagney as a red-headed, quick tempered Irish-New Yorker, who at the same time, is very kind-hearted and looking out for the underdog. As a labourer, he was fired for speaking out about the way fellow workers were treated. He had been an amateur boxer, but his influential mother forbade him to go professional. After being told how light on his feet he was, Cagney decides to try dancing. He becomes a singer/dancer/comedian on the Vaudeville circuit. There he meets his wife, “Willie”, to whom he was married for more than 60 years.

Soon, he is the hottest act on Broadway, and Jack Warner calls him to be in films. Under contract with Warner Bros., he stars in movie after movie as the tough guy. The movies need bad guys: “If it weren’t for Goliath, David would just be some punk throwing rocks.” And indeed he says, “You dirty yellow-bellied rat”.

Cagney longs for the nice guy roles, and a chance to show his skills as a singer and hoofer. But Warner has him type cast as the villain. Finally he gets the chance. In 1942, Cagney plays George Cohen in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy, proving himself by winning a best actor Oscar.

Robert Creighton is excellent in the lead role that he created for himself. Creighton, who grew up in Walkerton, Ontario, has been on stage at Huron Country Playhouse many times, starting as a student. He has an impressive resume, recently appearing on Broadway as Timon in The Lion King. He sings and dances his way through Cagney, making it look very easy. He demonstrates amazing energy in his tap dance numbers. For more about Robert Creighton, see my interview with him at  www.entertainthisthought.com under Mary’s Musings.

The rest of the cast plays multiple roles to round out the story. Darrin Baker is excellent, playing a nasty Jack Warner. Baker returns to Canada for this production with a remarkable list of Broadway credits. Brian Ogilvie plays brother Bill Cagney, who takes to the stage with Jimmy. Ogilvie is an incredible tap dancer who shines in the Yankee Doodle Dandy numbers. Joel Newsome plays Bob Hope, Cagney’s friend. Together Newsome and Creighton have a great scene from the failed movie “The Seven Little Foys”. Ogilvie and Newsome are New York actors, making their Canadian debut. Risa Waldman plays Warner’s secretary Jane and Cagney’s mother, while Amy Wallis is charming as Cagney’s wife Willie. Both women demonstrate excellent singing and dancing in their various roles.

Credit goes to choreographer Joshua Bergasse for the high-speed, energetic dance numbers. The scenes where the writers are working at typewriters and tapping their toes to create the sound are very well done.

The story of Jimmy Cagney is fascinating in itself, but this musical production adds to the interest with good songs, excellent dance, and humourous one-liners scattered throughout. Those who are fans of Vaudeville style entertainment and old black and white movies will enjoy this show. And those who think James Cagney was just a dirty rat must see it.

Cagney! continues with eight shows a week until August 7 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at 519-238-6000, Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463, or check out www.draytonentertainment.com

Written by Betsy Howe
Conceived, with Music & Lyrics by Mary Murfitt
Directed by Robert More
Performed by Cathy Elliott, Gabi Epstein, Keely Hutton, Lizzie Kurtz, Heather Lea-Brown, Ann O’Kane.
Victoria Playhouse Petrolia production with Drayton Entertainment
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
July 20 to August 7, 2010
(Also August 11 to 28 at Drayton Festival Theatre, Drayton)
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

Cowgirls are a Classic

A couple of weeks ago, when Country Legends opened at Huron Country Playhouse, I said I didn’t like country music, but was forced to admit I loved the show. Now, I have the same reaction to Cowgirls, which just opened at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia. I still don’t like country music, but I really enjoyed this show about country music in a Kansas country music bar.

Three very talented young women, recently graduated from Coghill University after studying classical music, have taken their trio on the road. Rita, Mary Lou and Lee are snobby and very pretentious about their classical training. But they find themselves booked to entertain at a country & western bar. Instead of hiring the Coghill Trio, the owner, Jo, thought she was hiring the Cowgirl Trio.

Jo is desperately trying to save the bar from foreclosure, so she’s planned a big re-opening. Her two servers, Mo and Mickey, would like to perform on stage and feel they could do a better job than the uppity classical musicians. The three classical musicians decide to make an attempt at singing country, and the laughs ensue.

In telling this interesting little tale, director Robert More has assembled an excellent cast of six very talented women. Not only can they all sing and act, they play musical instruments as well. Keely Hutton is excellent as the pregnant Rita, playing the piano, singing classical and making the shift to country. She really shines when she confesses to loving honky-tonk and pounds out a tune. Ann O’Kane gives a good performance as Lee, the lesbian-hippie-cellist. Lizzie Kurtz as Mary-Lou cleverly takes the audience on a journey as she transforms from tightly wound to literally letting her hair down. At the same time her violin transforms into a fiddle.

Cathy Elliott with her powerful voice makes a perfect Jo, the bar owner. Heather Lea-Brown is excellent as the tough girl Mickey, and Gabi Epstein provides the comedy as the offbeat Mo.

It’s a cleverly written show, with warm and witty dialogue. The link between classical and country music is also demonstrated – for example, did you know that the tune of Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” is derived from Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”?

This bright cast gives life to a cute and clever little musical, making it Petrolia’s hit of the season. The opening night audience loved it.

Cowgirls continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until August 7. Call the box office at 1-800-717-7694 or 519-882-1221 for tickets, or visit www.thevpp.ca. If you can’t catch it in Petrolia before August 7th, it is moving to Drayton August 11th to 28th.

Conceived by David Rogers
Directed by David Hogan
Musical direction by Mark Payne
Choreographed by Tia Colborne
Performed by Christy Adamson, Brian Belleth, June Crowley, Susan Gilmour, Marcus Nance, Cory O’Brien, Rebecca Poff & David Rogers
Starbright Summer Festival
Imperial Theatre, Sarnia
July 23 to August 22, 2010
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

Hooray for Hollywood in Sarnia

Just like Broadway Baritones last week, we are amazed by the talent at Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre in Hollywood Sings – The Great Movie Music. This musical revue of various movies – some musicals, some with great scores – has eight of the best of Canadian musical theatre in the cast.

Christy Adamson, Brian Belleth, June Crowley, Susan Gilmour, Marcus Nance, Cory O’Brien, Rebecca Poff and David Rogers all have very impressive credentials and their talent shows throughout the evening as they present one big Hollywood number after another.

The show opens with cast members saying famous and familiar lines from movies. David Rogers garners the most laughs with his Katharine Hepburn imitation from On Golden Pond, “The loons!”

Act II opens with Marcus Nance as Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. The stage filled with nuns singing “I will follow you”, and then somehow, those same nuns sing “How do you solve a problem like Maria”, leaving cast members wondering what movie they’re in. June Crowley follows with “Confidence” from The Sound of Music.

Susan Gilmour sings a superb “Maybe This Time”, the song written especially for Liza Minnelli in the movie version of Cabaret.

Rebecca Poff has the amazing show-stopper number “Blues in the Night”, which she belts with great passion and for which she receives loud and long applause.

In same cases, one singer introduces another, giving a little teaser song by the same artist. Often, I was wishing I could hear more the teaser. For example, Rebecca Poff sang a few lines of “You are the wind beneath my wings”, but turned it over to Christy Adamson to sing a Bette Midler tune from The Rose.

Like the opening night of Broadway Baritones, the opening of Hollywood Sings was also marred by audio difficulties. Mics weren’t turned on until after the singer had sung a few bars. In one instance, the mic wasn’t turned off and we heard backstage chatter. The big clown number at the end of Act I was spoiled by several dysfunctional mics.

The finale is a glorious compilation of all the big numbers from Disney musicals – favourites from Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and more. For those of us who have all those great videotapes sitting on a shelf, it was wonderful to hear the songs. After receiving a standing ovation on opening night, the cast presented an encore: “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca.

Hollywood Sings and three other shows will be in repertoire on stage at Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre until August 22. It is well worth the visit, to see these eight singers on one stage.

Starbright Summer Festival continues at the Imperial Theatre, Sarnia until August 22. For tickets, call the Imperial Theatre box office at 1-877-344-7469 or 519-344-7469 or see www.starbright.ca