Jersey Boys joins ranks of top-notch musicals at Stage West

Jersey Boys

Stage West Calgary

Photos courtesy of Stage West Calgary - John Watson Photography 

Stage West Calgary is in an enviable position as a theatre - they can present original, new productions that become so popular that they spawn sequels - especially their musical revues. 

They also present traditional, intimate versions of well-known plays that can perform just as well.

Then there are their impressive Broadway recreations on that same intimate stage- Spamalot, Dreamgirls, Chicago, and The Producers - most often rising above and beyond the best efforts in any of their other categories.

The recently opened Jersey Boys, a hit Broadway production (and eventually a movie) on the rise, struggles and successes of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons rubs shoulders with those aforementioned accomplishments - right alongside some of my favourites seen there.

Photo John Watson Photography, courtesy Stage West Calgary

It doesn’t hurt that this jukebox musical has been such a massive success, and with good reason - the stories and music are interesting, the actors are sharp, and the director has fit all those parts together to keep things as brisk as intended. There are not a whole lot of lulls to slow things down, aside from the opening bits - fairly typical of any story as exposition slowly unfolds the direction of the narrative…

I’ll have far more to say in my official Calgary Herald review, but for now, let’s touch on some highlights:

Casting - Director Liz Gilroy has assembled yet another boffo cast to bring these characters to life, and in many cases even a few more characters along the way for some of the actors. While I had not yet seen any big touring production of this show, I had seen THE Jersey Boy himself live, and I can say without hesitation that Evan Taylor Benyacar (in his Stage West debut) handles the Frankie Valli vocals effortlessly. This is crucial for the audience to buy into the illusion, and I’d say the enthusiastic response when I attended supported that buy-in.

Direction - Liz Gilroy continues to expand her catalogue of hit productions at Stage West with Jersey Boys - alongside Legally Blonde and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat to mention just a couple.

Choreography - Phil Nero has recreated the ’60’s in every aspect of the dancing in this outing - pure authenticity.

Costumes - like the choreography, reminiscent of the era, and relevant to maintain the sincerity of the story.    

It's a big cast to give shout-outs to, but Matt Alfano (Gyp De Carlo), Niko Anastasakis (Joe Pesci), Daniel Greenberg (Nick Devito, Norm Waxman), Jonathan Gysbers (Bob Gaudio) Douglas Walker (Bob Crewe) Josh Wiles (Tommy Devito) and Tristan Hernandez (Nick Massi) are at the heart of the story as either Four Seasons members or closely related key players.

John Watson Photography, courtesy Stage West Calgary

As I say, I’ll expand on all of this in my official Calgary Herald review, but for now I have to say, Stage West keeps adding to their proud tradition of executing stellar Broadway productions, especially in the musical biography vein.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Jersey Boys runs at Stage West Calgary until Feb 3, 2019.  

(make sure you catch their special holiday offerings in the buffet, before the end of the year!)

Stage West Calgary: "Legally Blonde The Musical"

Legally Blonde The Musical

Stage West Calgary

runs until June 24th...

(all photos John Watson Photography, courtesy Stage West Calgary)

When it comes to adapting Broadway musicals, Stage West often meets or exceeds expectations. Given the intimacy of their stage, that’s not always easy to imagine.

With Legally Blonde The Musical, the dinner theatre adds another winner to their smash hit repertoire, along with the likes of The Producers, Young Frankenstein, and Spamalot.

Given the confines of a stage intended more for traditional 2-4 person romantic comedy fare or character dramas, it takes the perfect combination of set design, tight choreography, and a talented cast, all of which is featured prominently in this production. Familiar faces to Stage West both on the stage and off help ensure that all those facets blend seamlessly to make this show both barrels of fun, and entirely entertaining.

All that said, I must hold back something here for the sake of my upcoming (official) Calgary Herald review. So let’s touch on highlights to whet your ticket-buying appetite:

-The play is based on the hit film starring Reese Witherspoon as  Elle Woods, a student that gets a curve ball at the exact moment she is expecting a marriage proposal. That sets off the “fish out of water” storyline as she loses her man, endeavours to win him back by getting accepted into Harvard Law School, and along the way discovers she’s not as cardboard a character as she has been written. Elle even finds her real true love along the way. It’s all predictable, but the characters and songs poke great fun at the conceptions (and/or) misconceptions of the privileged class, elevating all well over any shortcomings.

-Returning director Liz Gilroy and choreographer Phil Nero hit the jackpot with a cast that can light up a stage with some demanding song and dance routines - even rigorously skipping rope and not missing a note (hello Britney Spears???). Once again, the cast play way above their weight class with respect to a storyline visible start to finish right from the first scene.

-Musical director Konrad Pluta and his crack band are back ensconced away in the music room adjacent to the stage after a bit of time off for the recent non-musical, and a few productions where they shared the space with the performers. Repeatedly, a highlight of any evening in this space.

-Bracken Burns as Elle Woods. Simply stated, that says it all. Burns embodies the character and lifts the lines beyond the obvious. By the end of the first act, she packs more punch than Mike Tyson at the start of his unbeaten streak in the boxing ring. 

-Daniel Greenburg plays Emmett Forrest, an associate at Harvard and the friendly face that ultimately ends up even friendlier for Elle. Show after show at Stage West, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more reliable actor, and here he finds no exception to that run of successes. 

-Every cast member brings their A-game to the table for this outing, but a couple in particular stand out. Patrick R. Brown transitioned directly from his role as Dr Watson in the show that just ended a run here, and he commands every inch of the stage as the inevitable villain in these proceedings. Daphne Moens literally steals the show with her powerhouse performances as Paulette, the salon owner hard done by circumstances  - until her “delivery man” comes along.

Tons of laughs, outstanding musical numbers, and a cast that you’ll root for right to the very end - Legally Blonde The Musical showcases creative talents doing what they all do best…

I'll link to my Calgary Herald review when that goes live....

5 out of 5 stars. 

Stage West Calgary's Young Frankenstein - Blog Review

Young Frankenstein cast - courtesy Stage West Calgary

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Stage West Calgary
 

So many elements from the film version of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein peek out in the stage version that for anyone familiar enough with the source material, there is great anticipation for their own favourite movie moments.

The puns, the sight gags, the quirky cast of characters are certainly in both versions, along with iconic comedic moments from the movie version that have remained iconic decades after the hit movie appeared in theatres.  

So, why was I not taken as much with the stage version as I was with the original production?

It sure wasn’t due to a lack of talent. The cast and crew of Stage West Calgary’s The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein are often outstanding. 

It wasn’t even due to the limitations of a wide variety of settings that appear and disappear behind the longest motorized curtain I’ve ever seen - that worked fine also.

I think the Broadway musical itself just feels overall like a stretch. Which can still be funny enough, but the timing of the humour is impeded to some degree by musical numbers that showcase the talents of the actors, but really just most often come as fillers to accommodate the scene changes. 

Young Frankenstein cast - courtesy Stage West Calgary

When this play surrenders to the absurdity of the source material, and allows the actors to horse around with the great lines from the movie version, it picks up steam and gets a great reaction from the audience. The Broadway-ization (that’s a thing, I think??) of the piece itself allows for nice dance numbers and lively choruses that might have humour in them somewhere, but slow the pace of the laughs too much to allow the tongue in cheek dialogue to resonate.

Again, that could be my own failure to let the movie version go, and just follow along...

I have to leave something here for my official Calgary Herald review (link here when that goes live!), but  just a few quick notes:

-GREAT, talented cast! Kevin Dennis as Frederick Frankenstein gets to live in the character made famous by Gene Wilder, and to his credit, you don’t often think about that once you’ve met his version of the character. 

Powerhouse vocalists Adrienne Merrell (Elizabeth), Amanda Struthmann (Inga) and Jayne Lewis (Frau Blucher - NEIGH!! NEIGH!!) are flawless, some deep talent among those three…

Gregory Pember’s Igor is perhaps the closest to the film version, and that gentleman can ring a bell when he gets started on both his character and the songs in the repertoire.

-Direction and choreography (J. Sean Elliott and Phil Nero respectively) is brisk and bright - there are a whole whack of characters and numbers to work through, and that all moves along just swell under their guidance. 

-Adam Stevenson as The Monster is a visual miracle, standing atop lift shoes that are almost as tall as Tom Cruise. And he dances in those suckers! Egads!

More to follow in more detail for my Herald review, but if you love comedy, and have even a sliver of a fond memory from the movie version, you’ll definitely want to see what Brooks has done with the stage version.

Young Frankenstein cast - courtesy Stage West Calgary 

Stage West Calgary’s The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein runs to June 26

3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Early Bird (Blog) Review: Stage West Calgary's Production of "Monty Python's Spamalot"

Stage West Calgary presents:

"Monty Python's Spamalot"

The "Early Bird, Before My Official Calgary Herald Review Runs" Reflections On Stage West Calgary's "Spamalot"

(5 out of 5 stars, because it would just be over the top to give it 7...)

"Non-stop Killer Bunny"

"Such a hilarious show!"

"Laughed till I cried"

"Hilarious and great performances"

"Completely on point!"  

"When word gets out about @StageWestCgy's #Spamalot you'll need to buy your tickets from scalpers!"

Those are just a few of the Tweets after the media night showing of the latest production over at Stage West Calgary, "Monty Python's Spamalot". Having done official and unofficial reviews for this facility since about 2009, I can't ever recall a show generating so much enthusiasm after a performance. And this from primarily grizzled, jaded media people!!

Well, that last comment in quotation marks probably says it best, and not just because that was my own Tweet. This is about as perfect a performance you will see, with a cast that glimmers brighter than King Arthur's chainmail leggings. 

I understand that the director is typically tasked to cast, and in this case, J. Sean Elliott has outdone himself. This production is every bit as good (I think even better) as the version I caught in the Grail Theatre, which you can read about in the preview feature and interview that ran yesterday, with Elliott and choreographer Phil Nero. 

Nero as well has outdone himself with this effort, which speaks volumes given his past work at Stage West (Fiddler On The Roof, and the award-winning Chicago). Musical Director Konrad Pluta even gets some stage time here in this, when he isn't ensuring the exemplary sonic efforts of his house band.  

Katie Beetham, Kieran Martin Murphy
Photos courtesy Stage West Calgary, John Watson

I had better start leaving descriptions and kudos and keen reviewer-ly observations out so that I have something left for my official Calgary Herald review.

Let's just say that the cast is perhaps the best yet, which I know, I say for just about every show here, but this one really is! This time Stage West has set the bar so high that it's like Excalibur has been placed on a rooftop tower above the facility, if you can understand that what I wanted to do there was make a witty comparison between the legendary sword, and a raised bar. 

Perhaps I need to work a bit more on that for the next review...

As reluctant as I am to single out individual actors, the leads (Kieran Martin Murphy as King Arthur, and Katie Beetham as The Lady Of The Lake) are at the top of their games in this outing. But everyone else has brought their own best game as well.

I'll have a link here when the Herald review runs, but for now, it is YOU that had better run, gallop or  sprint over to Stage West Calgary, for this exceptional production of "Monty Python's Spamalot"!

Stage West Calgary Presents Monty Python's "Spamalot"

If you're in the Calgary area, you can look forward to..well, you can always look on the bright side of life, for one thing...

"Spamalot" is here until June, and I chatted with the director and choreographer ahead of Media Night.

Read the feature in my Calgary Herald space online, and there is a link therein to the YouTube channel podcast interview with those fine gentlemen... 

Phil Nero & J. Sean Elliott

Enjoy!

Later