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Guys and Dolls – a fun production of a famous show!

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Gambling scene in Guys and Dolls, with Big Jule (Connor Foy) in the centre. Photo Nanc Price Photography.

“It’s the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York”, goes the oxymoronic Frank Loesser lyric from Guys and Dolls, building the context for a world of drifters and grifters and permanently-floating characters in a New York City neighbourhood, probably in the 1920s. I had never seen this musical before, or done any homework, so I appreciated the context!

In the current production by Foote in the Door Theatre, directed by Joyanne Rudiak at Théâtre Servus Credit Union, the action opens on a lively urban streetscape (Leland Stelck design) with various characters going about their business. We see a boxer and his trainer, some teenage fangirls chasing any possible celebrity, couples and friends, a police detective, drunk men and women, and a Salvation-Army-like uniformed mission parade, with musical instruments. As in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, the early scenes created a busy and interesting locality – but unlike the Washington Heights neighbourhood of Dominican-American families, the Broadway setting of Guys and Dolls isn’t about families at all.

We meet a group of gamblers (Aaron Schaan, Brad Corcoran, Madison Lalonde) and then we meet Nathan Detroit (Russ Farmer), the host of the aforementioned crap game. The presence of a trenchcoated detective (Erwin Veugelers) makes it very clear to the audience that gambling is illegal. Nathan’s longtime fiancée Miss Adelaide (Ruth Wong-Miller) is the star dancer in a nightclub nearby. But he explains to his associates that he doesn’t want to get married, while she sings her frustration with waiting for him and waiting to have a married life with children in the suburbs. “Adelaide’s Lament” is a hilarious song, of the genre where I kept trying to guess the next ridiculous rhyme. I was reminded of some lines in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (also a Loesser/Swerling/Burrows creation), where Wong-Miller’s office-worker character Rosemary dreams of moving to New Rochelle (a Connecticut bedroom town).

Ruth Wong-Miller (Miss Adelaide) and Russ Farmer (Nathan Detroit) in Guys and Dolls. Photo Nanc Price Photography.

A delightful contrast to this cast of ne’er-do-wells and nightlife is the presence of a mission outpost. They’re clearly a Salvation Army tribute, with red uniforms, pseudo military ranks, and a marching band (made up of Brian Ault on trombone, Eilidh Tew on clarinet, one saxophonist I didn’t recognize, and several enthusiastic percussionists). Sergeant Sarah (Kit Kroeker) seems to be in charge, but also an upperclass misfit in the rough Broadway area. Kroeker’s voice is well suited to the mix of hymn-singing, trained solo belt, and duets in her role – a pleasing contrast with Wong-Miller’s character’s nasal dialect and less forceful voice. (I’ve heard Wong-Miller sing in enough other shows that I know it was the character, not the singer!) There were opportunities for jokes about well-meaning clueless missionaries, which landed just as well in 2025.

Sergeant Sarah (Kit Kroeker) and the Save a Soul Mission band, in Guys and Dolls. Photo Nanc Price Photography.

Like many traditional musicals, the story needs two couples with obstacles to romance, as well as a main plot objective (Nathan finding a new venue for his craps game). Nathan and Adelaide are one at-odds couple (see what I did there?) Sergeant Sarah is thrown together with high-stakes gambler Sky Masterson (Aidan Heaman), who tries to take her out on a bet, but then falls for her (of course!)

Some of the most fun scenes in this show are the large cast choreography filling up the big stage at Theatre Servus (Adam Kuss). I was sitting in the front row so I felt immersed (although never quite endangered) – sitting further back would probably let you appreciate the full scope of the action though! My favourite was the action at the plaza in Havana, where colourful salsa performers and restaurant customers danced joyfully and flirted and fought, while ASMs doubled as bar staff to crowd the plaza even more. Although the simulated dice-games in the sewer for “The Crapshooters’ Dance” were also great, with about 20 male-identifying characters incorporated in the action – Connor Foy and Aaron Schaan as featured dancers, and versatile ensemble members like Julia Stanski and Chelsea Makwae and Eilidh Tew just as captivating in trouser roles as in chorus-girl or “doll” roles.

Aidan Heaman, Sky Masterson, then glows in his spotlight with the classic “Luck be a Lady Tonight!”

I won’t give away the rest of the plot – suffice it to say that there are no big surprises. It turns out that for a show I didn’t know, a lot of it was already familiar songs and tropes, so it was fun to recognize them as they came up. It was also satisfying for me to recognize faces and names as people I’d worked with before, at Walterdale, for ELOPE, and for Foote in the Door. At least two of them have supported Walterdale productions in backstage roles, and maybe 10 of them onstage, and one playwright, for example.

Guys and Dolls continues at Théâtre Servus Credit Union (La Cité Francophone) until November 30th, with tickets available here. As well as a snacks-and-drinks concession, they are also selling Peace by Chocolate chocolate bars in show-themed sleeves. The chocolate is so good that I might go back tonight just to buy more!

Amélie: whimsical and fun!

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Actor on her knees holding an old red metal box, surrounded by other actors.
Lauren Upshall-Ripley, as Amelie, holds a treasure box, surrounded by friends and neighbours. Photo Kara Little.

ELOPE, the long-running local musical-theatre company, is currently performing Amelie, the musical, at the University of Alberta Timms Centre. It is quirky, delightful, and unexpected – and very well done.

Amélie, the musical (music by Daniel Messé, lyrics by Messé and Nathan Tysen and a book by Craig Lucas, is based on the 2001 French movie of the same name. I still haven’t seen the movie, so I kept laughing with surprise as the narrative unfolded.

Lauren Upshall-Ripley is perfectly cast as Amélie, the title character, a young woman whose background as an isolated child equips her with playful daydreams and fantasies. And Danika Reinhart plays 6-year-old Young Amélie, illustrating with painful poignancy how the optimistic child’s resilience shines past her fearful and repressive parents (Erwin Veugelers and Rachel Frey). The duets between Upshall-Ripley and Reinhart were particularly strong, with vocal balance and warm connection between the younger self and older self. I was reminded of the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which also portrayed a likeable and resilient young woman in modern New York, with humour and without sentimentality.

Actor in red cardigan and simple white dress stands joyfully with outstretched arms.
Lauren Upshall-Ripley, as Amelie. Photo by Kara Little.

One quirk of the script was the way that many of the ensemble members in the 19-person cast took turns narrating the key points of Amélie’s life to the audience, with wry humour and a strong sense of community. The scenes illustrate a lively neighbourhood of Montmartre, centred around the Two Windmills Cafe, where Amélie works. Her co-workers Gina (Christy Climenhaga) and Georgette (Josephine Herbut), employer Suzanne (Judy McFerran Stelck), and other neighbours all have their own challenges and heartbreaks, but like the best workplace comedies, they’re all engaged in trying to help each other. Director Kristen Finlay has a resume full of productions where each member of a large cast has clear interesting intentions and also blends as an ensemble – 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for ELOPE, Penelopiad, Chess, The 39 Steps for Walterdale, and others.

The narrators give specific dates – of Amélie’s conception, of her mother’s death, of her move to Paris, of a day her life changed – this let me figure out how old she was at each point, but also turned out to be a clue that key events for Amélie were affected by Princess Diana’s visit to Paris and untimely death. Amélie watches television coverage of Diana’s funeral, alone in her apartment, and daydreams of being honoured like Diana. Connor Foy plays Elton John, singing “Goodbye, Amélie” at a white-lacquered grand piano and leading a sequined ensemble – the audience was screaming as the first act ended.

Amelie’s adventures involve various other neighbours and friends, but weaving through these stories we see hints of another quirky and creative outsider, Nino, played by Colin Stewart. “Who are you?” asks Nino, on the phone with Amelie. “I’m a mystery wrapped in an enigma trapped in a paradox disappearing into thin air. ” “Me too.” Will they meet up? Will it be worth it? Will it work out? We want it to.

Actor in leather jacket and cross-body satchel sings joyfully.
Colin Stewart as Nino Quincampois, in Amelie. Photo by Kara Little.

In another vignette, Amélie returns some childhood treasures to a lonely man (Dustin Berube). Berube and Upshall-Ripley’s duet, “How to Tell Time”, was one of my favourite moments.

Musical direction was provided by Sally Hunt, with eight other musicians. David Son created choreography for the ensemble that was both exciting and well-executed, and also joined the ensemble himself in a few small roles, including (hilariously) an escaping Goldfish. Debo Gunning designed costumes that supported each character, from Amélie’s artless awkwardness in shirtwaist and Doc Martens, to the more sophisticated Parisian women of the cafe and sex shop, and Elton John fabulously excessive with feathery epaulettes to his sequined jacket. The facilities and technical capabilities of the Timms Centre Main Stage were effectively used by ELOPE’s technical team (set design credit to Leland Stelck). Finlay and Son’s blocking and movement of the large cast on the deep stage never felt crowded.

Amélie is playing at the Timms Centre until Saturday July 5th. Get your tickets here.

The Pirates of Penzance

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Shauna Rebus, Brendan Smith, and Russ Farmer in Pirates of Penzance. Photo by Nanc Price Photography.

If you’ve ever heard of Gilbert and Sullivan – if you have even a humming familiarity with any of their work – you’ll know that the Victorian-era duo wrote wildly-popular tongue-in-cheek light opera pieces, some of which continue to be frequently-performed and alluded to in popular culture. And if you asked someone to sing one song from Gilbert and Sullivan, they’d probably attempt the first lines of “I am the very model of a modern Major-General”, an oft-parodied patter song which is from Pirates of Penzance (1879).

I’ve seen Pirates of Penzance once before – at the Stratford Festival’s Avon Theatre, on a 1985 outing with my mother, who’d admitted the year before that she appreciated me taking her to see some Shakespeare plays but what she would like even better was Gilbert and Sullivan. In those days it wasn’t easy to access a plot synopsis or lyrics ahead of time, there were definitely no supertitles/captions, and seats at the front weren’t in my budget. So I missed lots of the clever rhymes and over-the-top dialogue/intentions.

Local company Foote in the Door opened their production of Pirates of Penzance last night at Théâtre Servus Credit Union (La Cité Francophone), directed by Ron Long. I sat in the first row so I wouldn’t miss anything – and they were using supertitles for all the songs, which made it even easier to follow the preposterous premises of the plot. Frederic, a nautically-minded boy who had been accidentally apprenticed to a pirate instead of a pilot (Brendan Smith), is coming of age and being released from his indentures. But he’s got an overdeveloped sense of duty, which keeps leading him into inconvenient obligations.

Frederic looks forward to the pleasures of civilian life. His old nursery maid, Ruth (Shauna Rebus), who followed him into piracy, now hopes to catch his affections as they leave the ship, but Frederick is hoping to meet younger prettier women. These two characters were among my favourites, but the company of twenty-one performers were all fun to watch and listen to. Andrew Kwan was a delightful Major-General Stanley, father to a chorus of eight daughters including Frederick’s choice Mabel (Ruth Wong-Miller). Some of the pirates doubled as police officers, led by their sergeant Aaron Schaan in unison nightstick choreography. And one of the daughters (Eilidh Tew) doubled flexibly as a pirate! Sisters Wong-Miller and Christina O’Dell had a lovely duet in the second act. There was some fighting with fencing foils, pistols, and other found weaponry (fight director Sarah Spicer). Russ Farmer is the Pirate King. He and his hapless band display an assortment of impressive facial hair, some of it real.

The company of pirates and daughters surround Andrew Kwan, the Modern Major-General, and his Sterling Award. Photo by Nanc Price Photography.

Pirates of Penzance is playing until November 24th, with tickets available through Showpass.

Stranger Sings: The Parody Musical

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Carly Pettit, as Barb, and Lucas Paterson, as Demigorgon, in Stranger Sings! the Parody Musical. Photo by Emily Rutledge.

To appreciate a parody, I should be familiar with the source material, I thought. So as soon as I’d booked a ticket to watch the DarkStage production of Jonathan Hogue’s Stranger Sings!: The Parody Musical this weekend, I re-upped my Netflix subscription and watched the whole first season of Stranger Things and part of the second. (then the allure of getting caught up with The Resident and Heartstopper distracted me…)

I’m glad I watched it, continuously, so I was familiar with not only all the main characters but their plot arcs in the musical. However, I did not expect that a much longer list of movie and musical source material would also help! After a while, I started trying to make a list in my head of all the references I recognized, and some that I was pretty sure were callbacks to other material but I wasn’t sure what. A version of Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie. A tribute to E.T. and his human friend cycle-flying across the sky in E.T. Heathers. Little Women. Gypsy. Breakfast Club. Beetlejuice. Winona Rider’s filmography in detail.

The Netflix series (2016-present) starts out as a nostalgic look at 1980s culture in a small homogeneous town starting a group of small boys on a D&D quest. Like a slightly-updated Stand By Me. But then, as in the comic-books / Amazon Prime series Papergirls, things turn science-fictional and X-Files-y. To enjoy the TV story, I kept having to ignore distracting thoughts about the handwavey pseudoscience and loose ends in the plot.

One of the things I loved about Stranger Sings!, then, was the way that the script and actions call out many of those unlikely bits in the source material. Using a folded-paper analogy to explain multiverse theory and figure out how to access a portal to the Upside Down. But Stranger Sings! points out how ridiculous this is. And the happy ending of Will’s rescue in the TV series, completely ignoring that another kid, Barb Holland, is still missing and unexplained. The musical version leans into this – Barb (Carly Pettitt), the popular girl’s less stylish sidekick, calls them all out for ignoring her while she becomes powerful in the alternate-universe and the love interest of the resident Demigorgon there. Pettitt’s voice is up to the challenge, and her characterization and physicality are spot-on.

Director David Son is a choreographer with a strong dance background, and that showed in the variety of well-done ensemble movement numbers. There was even a bit of tap! (Jack Hunting, recently seen in Walterdale’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and here playing the inarticulate and telekinetic child Eleven).

The cast of ten portrayed at least twice that many characters, with costumes by Debo Gunning. The four little boys in the D&D group are Will, the one who goes missing early on, played as a puppet by Melenie Reid (who also plays his mother Joyce), and Renell Doneza, Jeremey Zimmerman, and Jason Wong. I was impressed by all of them. Jeremey, convincing as a nerdy awkward 12-year-old, had been an effective Tom Collins in ELOPE’s Rent last year.

Melenie Reid, puppeteer for Will, with Renell Doneza (Justin), Jason Wong (Lucas), Liz Janzen (Nancy), and Jack Hunting (Eleven). Photo by Emily Rutledge.

Other compelling main vocal roles are played by Liz Janzen (Nancy), Melenie Reid (Will’s mother Joyce), and Brian Christensen (Nancy’s two teenage love interests, bad-boy Steve and nerdy photographer Jonathan). Connor Foy (whom I last saw in Walterdale’s Austentatious) was consistently funny as Hopper, the sheriff with a tragic past he won’t let us forget, and Lucas Paterson was an expressively flamboyant Demigorgon.

The show is performed in the intimate black-box space of the Backstage Theatre at the Arts Barns. There is a four-piece live band in the wing, under the direction of Grace Huang, and the sound mixing was good enough that I didn’t miss any of the exceedingly clever lyrics.

The music, the lyrics, and the approach to a familiar story reminded me a lot of the Grindstone Theatre / Simon Abbott&Byron Martin body of work. I’ll watch for future work from this new company.

The run of Stranger Sings! continues to October 26th, and some shows are selling out. Tickets are available here.