Rain on the Parade is a theatre nerd’s delight.
To call this play self-referential is an understatement. Think The Producers, 17th century drama and theatre of the absurd.
This new musical, whose Villains’ Theatre workshop production wraps up its short run today, 2 p.m., at Neptune’s studio theatre, is about a troupe of actors devastated by the death of their audience in a fire the previous season. Do they attempt to remount the same potentially-cursed play?
That is the launch-pad for Evan Brown’s satirical musical into theatre about theatre with an unreliable narrator, scads of hilarious, theatrical references (especially for fellow thespians) and souls broken by grief, love or severe narcissism.
The actors, dressed in Oliver Dorais-Fleming’s pastiche of 17th century/apocalyptic style clothing, speak in a loose form of 17th century theatrical language as they tromp around the Chronus Theatre trying to make up their minds and singing songs from outrageous romps to heart-felt ballads with lyrics by Brown and Garry Williams set to Williams’ excellent score.
The theatrical board is a giant head (Garrett Barker) on the screen as a booming, intolerant voice of God type who is trying to force accountant Miss Bliss (Moneesha ‘Misha’ Bakshi) into saving the theatre for financial reasons. The late director — a raving, roaring Pasha Ebrahimi — appears as ghost on a screen.
Dan Bray stars as the talky Ellsworth, the everyman who thinks more of himself than his friends do; Laura Caswell is a diva-esque mother to Sam Vigneault as Edison Go and Katherine Norris as Verily Go, the most straightforward and natural character, while Jacob Hemphill is the late director’s messed-up son Primose. Hemphill ramps it up for a great finale before intermission.
Brown’s writing is fast and witty and dark; the nonsensical lines are wonderful; for example, Ellsworth describes his friend Zimon (the silent stagehand well played by Colleen MacIsaac) as having the “temperament of a reasonably raked pile of leaves.”
Bray is a standout as the wizened, sinister, subterranean thespian Gorman Roach who applauds his own “Brechtian-ish” style of theatre in a great, half-spoken, half-sung song; his costume alone makes him as toady as Golum. Laura Caswell makes use of her top-notch musical theatre skills to belt out a strong, R and B song of grief which is a fantastic piece of showmanship and way over the top which suits a play about plays.
The singing in Rain on the Parade is uneven as is the acting but, in a way, that suits a meta-play; it’s like a bold and courageous community theatre, full of passion, has seized the stage lights to make their voices heard. They deeply believe in themselves and the art as wacky as the plot is.
Evan Brown also directs using the full studio stage with its catwalks and a set design of two staircases on either side of the stage; instead of stage left one actor exits “stage bereft.”
This large production includes a four-piece band of Aiden Bradshaw on keys, Cat McCluskey on bass, Rhys Parks on guitar and August Van Meekeren on percussion with musical direction by Carolyn Curry. The creative teams includes videographer Zach Faye, projection designer Christian Hansen, lighting designer and technical director Sean Burke, scenic designer Howard Beye, movement director Rebecca Wolfe and sound designer Ryan Rafuse.
Rain on the Parade runs at two hours and has a 15-minute intermission; the first half could be cut to hold the audience’s attention more and get it to the speedy, entertaining second act with its descent into madness and the supernatural.
In case you can make it today tickets are https://sales.neptunetheatre.com/Online/default.asp
Rain on the Parade was co-produced by the Villains Theatre’s Dan Bray, artistic director, and Colleen MacIsaac, artistic producer, and received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia.
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