PLAYBOT: High expectations for Carole King musical
How a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn became one of the greatest songwriters of all time is the rich subject of a new musical that opens in Edmonton tonight.
From a Broadway hit in 2014 to the Jubilee Auditorium until Nov. 11, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical follows the inspiring story of its titular subject through her precocious childhood to college, where she met her future husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin – and well beyond. They got married when Carole was just 17; she was already pregnant with their first daughter, Louise.
Between changing diapers and day jobs, the couple wrote songs and proved to be rather good at it – scoring a No. 1 hit for the Shirelles with Will You Love Me Tomorrow in 1960. Long story short: They quit their day jobs and became legends. They were very happy until the drama came – a key element of any great musical. King’s been married four times.
She was in right place in the nick of time. These were the waning days of “Tin Pan Alley,” basically a music factory district in New York City where professional songwriters wrote many of the hits for the stars of the day – much like they still do for country stars in Nashville even in modern times. King wrote dozens of hits – for the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Drifters, the Monkees and the Byrds, to name just five, plus (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin, and so many more. Not to mention her own groundbreaking 1971 album Tapestry, which cultural critics finger as the signpost to the End of the ‘60s, ushering in a whole new paradigm of soft rock hegemony that defined the Baby Boom for the rest of their lives. Thanks a bunch, Carole.
Anyway, it’s a great story, no matter how you slice it. For music alone, never mind drama, Beautiful would beat Andrew Lloyd Webber by a country mile – and yes, Carole King has written country hits, too.
Canada 151
Apparently some hosers forgot about last year’s Canadian sesquicentennial party and decided, “Oh, well, f*** it! Let’s celebrate Canada one year late!”
Any excuse for yet another jukebox musical, eh?
This one, on stage at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre Nov. 6-Jan. 27, is a doozy. Music by Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Anne Murray, the Guess Who, Alanis Morissette, the Tragically Hip and many more will presented in a fantasy whatever-you-call-150-plus-one musical celebration. Expect a great band in this dinner theatre, as always.
Wait, they did this for real. Does anyone remember “Big Sky”? Celine and Bryan were both on the bill in an exhaustive outdoor rock festival featuring exclusively Canadian acts in some field in Central Alberta in 1995. Why, you ask? It was the 128th anniversary since Confederation, and also the 325th anniversary of the Hudson’s Bay Company – but do we need a reason to celebrate Canadian music? Short answer: Yes … no … maybe.
Viscosity
We live and die by oil prices – but what of the people who actually work in the oil industry? It’s a dirty job and someone has to do it. Where are their voices?
Cue a new play by Yes Theatre called Viscosity, named for a property of oil, and built on real interviews with real Alberta oil workers from every age and culture. The results may surprise you.
Taking place November 7-17 at the Backstage Theatre in the ATB Financial Arts Barns, this is less a traditional play than a “performance installation” where audience members may come and go as they please. Weird. May one interact with the actors? As with haunted houses: No touching, please.
Almost, Maine
Here’s an ambitious project from the Theatre at Concordia University Edmonton – sort of “Love, Acadian Style” romantic vignettes where nine different couples tell their stories during “one magical winter night.” That makes 18 student performers – and a lot of drama.
The first production of the season from the Concordia theatre program plays until Nov. 11 at the Al and Trish Huehn Theatre.
Redpatch
This is one of two plays in Edmonton this week that deals with the First World War. Coincidence, you say? Remembrance Day is coming up, lest we forget.
At the Citadel Theatre until Nov. 11, Redpatch takes place between 1914-1918, when more than 4,000 First Nations soldiers fought for Canada in World War I. Set in Canada and the battlefields of France, the fantastical story focuses on the adventures of one extremely motivated soldier from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation on Vancouver Island, and features an all-Indigenous cast.
The Comedy Company
Members of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry unit attended a recent performance of Neil Grahn’s WWI play at the Varscona Theatre – in full dress regalia. Talk about a tough crowd.
One hundred years ago, their brethren may have been been ordered to see The Comedy Company. True story: Certain wise-cracking members of the Princess Patricia Division were commanded to use their powers of jocularity to form a comedy troupe to “boost morale” – and became very popular with the troops.
Interspersed with realistic and sobering depictions of deadly battle are the side-splitting rehearsals for skits and musical numbers the soldiers performed for their comrades – some in drag. The all-male cast does a fabulous job drawing out vivid characters in a story that balances hilarity with the horrors of war.
This world premiere runs until Nov. 11.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Doesn’t the movie usually come after the stage play? Not all the time. Now a musical where once no musical existed, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is based on the 1988 comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine as a couple of con artists who get out-conned by their victim. Swell film – and fans should expect a swell musical from Edmonton’s Foote in the Door productions. The show plays a short run until Nov. 10 at La Cite Francophone.
