Summer lovin’ in la belle province

Between Michael Jackson’s funeral coverage and the beach, most people decided to stay away from the theatre this summer.
However, this summer was not a theatre season to miss. A national tour made its way to Montreal, while two festivals made triumphant returns and Shakespeare avoided mosquitoes in our local parks.
So even if you were glued to CNN coverage or were lounging in the tropics the whole summer, fear not. Here are the top six theatre moments you may have missed this summer.
1) June marked the first time in over five years that a large touring musical made its way to Montreal; not including Mamma Mia and Hairspray. Chicago brought its “Razzle Dazzle” to Places des Arts for a much overdue week-long engagement. The show was vibrant with Bob Fosse choreography, flashy costumes and musical numbers that even the most Broadway illiterate person could recognize. “All that Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango” and “When you’re good to Mama” were all sung with gusto and received loud cheers from audiences. Montrealers were also proud to have one of their own onstage. Velma Kelly was played by Montreal native Terra C. MacLeod. Having studied and performed with Les Grand Ballets Canadiens, MacLoed’s dancing style was acrobatic, and varied from high kicks to spread eagles. She did this all, while still singing on pitch.
2)The Montreal Fringe festival this year included its usual amount of atrociously bad shows, but it also had some surprisingly brilliant ones. Among the brightest was a contemporary dance show called Dancing in My Unbirthday Suit. Upon arrival at the show, everyone is handed a loot bag full of goodies (candy, balloons, lollipops and small toys) to go along with the party theme. The show opens when a large wrapped present suddenly sprouts up with legs and arms and begins running around the stage. A dancing girl eventually pops out, and the party begins. The party is silly, full of frilly dresses and dance skits. But the best is saved for last when, at the end of the show, the girls stick their faces in cake. Performers Allison Elizabeth Burns, Joannie Pharand and Vanessa Kneale also choreographed their own dances, no doubt an extremely talented troupe.
3) This summer’s production of Shakespeare in the Park was the comedy As You Like It. The park setting fits the story perfectly: Rosalind, a duke’s daughter, must hide in a nearby forest dressed as a man to conceal her identity because she has been banished from court. Soon after, she meets Orlando, her love at a glance, but cannot express her love for him when she is dressed as a man. Repercussion Theatre decided to forgo having separate English and French shows this year and therefore combined the two for this bilingual production. The French translation was not only distracting, it also made little sense when characters would change languages mid – speech. Many audience members decided to leave the show after intermission, either because they realized that As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s worst plays, or because they could not stand to be bitten by another mosquito. Hopefully next year, one of Shakespeare’s tragedies will get a chance in the spotlight.
4) The biggest name to headline at this year’s Just for Laughs festival was Whoopi Goldberg, who spoke about being a bad influence on her grandchildren and her difficulty getting across the Canadian border (it took her 16 hours). However, knowing that the show is filmed and aired on the CBC and the comedy network reduces the pleasure of paying to see it live. Although, sometimes the best bits never make it to air. In last summer’s gala, Kathy Griffin told the audience after intermission that her opening monologue wouldn’t make it on air because she swore too much and what she said was too libellous for the CBC. This year, Goldberg was surrounded by great comedians, including the under-appreciated Judy Gold. On how her Jewish mother explains to others that she’s a lesbian: “When Henry was born, [my mother] didn’t know how to explain it to her friends, so this is what she used to explain to people; ‘Eh, Judith’s roommate, eh, had a baby, and then Judith adopted him.’ Yeah mom, we were splitting the rent, so I thought I’d pay for half the kid. What the hell is that?”
5) Slow Dance with a Hot Pick-up made a splash when it wowed audiences at the McCord Museum throughout August. Part of The Next Wave of New Musicals festival, the show was performed with a cast of Montreal actors that marked the Canadian premier of the musical. It focuses on eight contestants vying for a chance to win a truck by keeping their hand on it; to win, they must be the last one to let go. The contestants all have their own story arch, from the deadbeat dad to the bible thumping Christian. The most interesting of the bunch is Marie, a woman who discovers she has cancer and wants to win the truck to go visit her estranged grandkids. Jane Hackett as Marie was the standout performance of the summer; from her tearful soliloquy to her snappy one-liners, she is a talent to be reckoned with. The most surprising part was that this small production’s content was just as good, if not better, than some performed at the Centaur theatre.
6) The Next Wave festival came to a close with A Happening, a theatre event celebrating both English and French theatre in Montreal. The event included a reunion of the 1991 Montreal cast of Les Miserables, as well as performances from other successful Quebec musicals such as Jeanne la Pucelle. However, the main point of the evening was the discussion of Montreal theatre, moderated by Stephen Pietrantoni. As the founder of The Next Wave and director of Centre for Education and Theatre in Montreal, Pietrantoni is dedicated to developing theatre in Montreal. He said he hopes that the Centre can produce more shows so that more actors can stay local. So far, he is off to a good start with Slow Dance having added dates to accommodate overwhelming ticket demand.