Bah! Humbug!
No more performances
Apparently the London of Charles Dickens looked something like 麻豆传媒映画today: if you were rich, you were very, very rich, and if you were poor, you were homeless. And so it's completely fitting that this SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs and 麻豆传媒映画Moving Theatre production (in association with the 麻豆传媒映画Playhouse Theatre Company) relocates the story of A Christmas Carol to the Downtown Eastside with references to Value Village, Woodward's and the much-missed Only Seafood Caf脙漏, to name a few. This is the show's second year, and it's well on its way to becoming an annual favourite.
It's also appropriate that adaptors Michael Boucher, Savannah Walling and Jay Brazeau (with contributions from the ensemble), weave Raven, as the narrator (Margo Kane), into the story; as the program acknowledges, the show takes place on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish People.
Brazeau is a great humbugging Scrooge, a Downtown Eastside pawnbroker, who barks, "Shuddup" at the children singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Music is a big part of this adaptation with three onstage musicians providing backup for everyone including Jim Byrnes, Tom Pickett, Sam Bob, Stephen Lytton, Mike Richter, Donna Soares and Walling. And there's a small, sweetly singing St. James Music Academy children's choir, too.
With lots of local commentary ("Who do you think I am? Jimmy Pattison?" snarls Scrooge), it's a made-in-麻豆传媒映画Christmas Carol right down to the biggest turkey coming from Save-On-Meats.
"Bah! Humbug!" turns up as "Bah! Humbird!" and "Bah! Humdung!" but the story remains the same: Scrooge is transformed overnight into a decent Christmas-keeping soul.
Directed by Max Reimer with musical direction by Neil Weisensel, Bah! Humbug! brings Christmas back to Woodward's-not as the magical Christmas windows we gazed at years ago but in SFU Woodward's Fei and Milton Wong Theatre as a heartwarming benefit for the DTES Community Arts and the DTES Heart of the City Festival. It's one sweet humbug. Don't miss it next year.
-Jo Ledingham
THE GOH BALLET NUTCRACKER
No more performances
You didn't have to know a pirouette from a pli脙漏 to enjoy the Goh Ballet Youth Company's production of The Nutcracker last week at the Centre in 麻豆传媒映画for Performing Arts. The Goh Ballet Academy, one of the country's best schools, established its Youth Company in 1979 to help young dancers make the transition from student dancer to professional by working with internationally renowned rehearsal masters and choreographers, and to give the students an opportunity to perform on a main stage with principal dancers from some of the best ballet companies in the world. This Nutcracker, for example, features Michele Wiles, until recently a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Cory Stearns, who became an ABT Principal Dancer in 2011. What a thrill for young local dancers to be part of a show with such outstanding artists.
This was a big production involving 200 dancers (on a rotating basis), fairytale sets, gorgeous lighting and 30 麻豆传媒映画Opera Orchestra musicians.
Opening night featured rising star Samara Rittinger as Clara and a sweeter, more delicate little dancer you couldn't imagine. Clara, you remember, receives the nutcracker from magician Drosselmeyer (Damien Carriere) at an elegant Christmas party hosted by her parents. After the nutcracker-in the form of a wooden soldier-is broken and subsequently repaired, Clara takes it to bed with her. The nutcracker is magically transformed into a handsome prince and off they go into fantasyland where they meet, for example, dancing snowflakes, sugarplums, Cossacks, Arabs, Chinese and waltzing flowers.
Dancers ranged in age from tiny little ones dressed as mice to young adults on the cusp of auditioning for major ballet companies.
Full of heart and Christmas cheer, the Goh Ballet Nutcracker is on its way to becoming a 麻豆传媒映画tradition. Auditions are already scheduled in May 2012 for next Christmas.
