VIVA PINOCCHIO!
The talent on the grassy Cambridge Battery stage for Shakespeare by the Sea’s Pinocchio: The Musical Adventure, at Point Pleasant Park, 7 p.m., through Sept. 2, is amazing.
Director Jesse MacLean, SBTS artistic director, has a powerhouse cast bringing this remount of the 2016 show back to roaring life.
It’s a classic mix of what makes SBTS family musical comedies so popular: rapid dialogue, some comical contemporary references, a fast-moving plot, a respect for character no matter how inane and some truly heart-felt music by composer and music director Garry Williams – music that is rooted in Italian song but also in the tradition of musical theatre. Pinocchio’s robust song about ”I’m me, I’m free” recalls Little Orphan Annie’s pipes and passion in The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.
The actors are strong enough vocally that MacLean can spread them out over a sprawling stage area of ramparts and grass in three different groups singing in harmony and unison for exquisite, uplifting theatrical moments.
Siya Ajay, a 16-year-old SBTS theatre student, as Pinocchio is a wonderful combination of full-on energy, innocence and petulant desire and her speaking and singing voice are very strong – strong enough to prevent Zach Colangelo from stealing the show as the villainous Fox, though Colagnelo’s high-octane performance is unforgettable. Similarly, Jade Douris, a quieter character as the enchantress Stella Blue, holds her own in voice and comedy.
Rachel Lloyd plays the comical fellow-con artist Cat to Fox who becomes enamoured of a beard that becomes her child (very convincing and funny); then she becomes a brilliant philosophical doctor who says, for instance, “We’re all just puppets in life’s capricious tales.”
The collection of characters includes Jimmy The Cricket, a spritely creature in greens portrayed by Genevieve Steele; a clam-shell-headed strong man who is also the evil Donkey Master (Chris George) with lots of evil laughs; Aryelle Morrison as his daughter Jenny, who turns out to have a fabulous R and B voice, and Shanoa Philips and Patrick Jeffrey as Pinocchio’s school mates. The scene in which they become donkeys is very well done as disheartening as it is
The design is full of colour and playfulness with a circus/carnival edge with costumes by Tea Stewart that are full of ribbons and pattern and wisely suggestive of animals.
Pinocchio: The Musical Adventure, a Shakespeare by the Sea Collective Creation and part of Shakespeare by the Sea’s 30th season, is joined by Romeo and Juliet, directed by Drew O’Hara; go to shakespearebythesea.ca.
LITTLE GIRL’S BIG ADVENTURE: A MAGICAL TALE IN ANTIGONIISH
Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre’s premiere of The Adventures of the Little Girl and the Wind by Kalale Dalton-Lutale is a magical tale, magically told.
In an age of digital special effects, director Andrea Boyd and her creative team conjure a magical world using light, sound, moving rocks and trees by set designer Vickie Marston and sumptuous, highly detailed costumes by Diego Cavedon Dias.
The hour-long play, not recommended for kids under five, is the story of Little Girl, whose mother has died (this is not dwelt upon) and who is afraid of monsters under the bed. One night as she clings to her beautiful night light, a glowing orb that changes colours, her worst fears come true.
The Big Shivers (a fierce Carolyn Curry in a mutated bear costume with hanging doll and toy bits) erupts out of Little Girl’s mound of stuffies threatening to steal her night light and extinguish all the world’s light and her as well.
Like the Darling children in Peter Pan or the little boy in Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed, Little Girl floats up out of her room to go on a hero’s journey as she searches for the wind to grant her wish to be brave.
Facing flood and a dangerous forest, she encounters numerous creatures from the hostile book collector, Rumplefuss, wearing a mound of books and crouched on a rock, to a lovely, gentle unicorn who lost her horn to poachers. Kate Hope Basile brings all these unique creatures to life, using different accents and force of character as well as manipulating two puppets for the three, bug-eyed Beetles.
Emma Vickers is wonderful at Little Girl, so natural and very much like a real child in her movements and expression. It’s easy to identify with her fear and her surprise. She sings a beautiful phrase of song with the narrator and wind (Natasha Thomas) to remember to breath in times of stress.
Kalale Dalton-Lutale writes a beautiful, smart script full of magic and sincerity and with a lot of good lines. Little Girl tells the unicorn she is feeling medium like “when your bath water goes warm.” She tells Rumplefuss the last book she read was Captain Underpants with a very long, comic title.
The use of a large sheet to convey water, sand coming out of a shoe and wind itself lends to the magic as does Ingrid Risk’s excellent lighting design and sound by Francis Cormier. Also on the creative team is stage manager Savannah Borden. (https://www.festivalantigonish.ca/adventures/)
- The Secret Codes: a Must-See Feast of Colour, Community and Creativity
- ANTIGONE: Spellbinding, Ancient Tale Brought to Life Around a Blazing Fire
Categories: Uncategorized
NS reviews 