Rose Theatre Brampton Backstage: 2010

A Quick Note From Honeymoon Suite...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Adi Braun reviewed in WholeNote Magazine

Thursday, November 11, 2010

No. 3 - Costin's Theatre Excursions - Sleuth

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Be afraid, be very afraid!

As Halloween approached, I thought of the people’s fascination with crime, death and suspense and crime and other ghoulish things and it brought to mind the comedy-thriller Sleuth by Anthony Schaffer that was presented by Theatre Collingwood this summer and how much I enjoy that play and why I am a still a fan of comedy thrillers and mystery plays. To the other end of the spectrum one will find Shear Madness, another play I saw this past summer at Stage West Theatre Restaurant, a mystery comedy that started life as a serious psychodrama and became an interactive comedy whodunit. The show evolved, in the presence of an audience, into a raucous comedy that let the audience into the act.

Both succeed because, at one point or another in our lives, we have all had a fascination with puzzles, games and riddles and may have even been addicted to playing and pretending. Of course, we also wanted very badly to win, and at times even win at any cost.

Well, in this delightful puzzle of a comedy-thriller, these strong desires and addictions that are deeply buried in all of us, explode to the surface in a surprising, fascinating, entertaining and really suspenseful manner.

There is a common notion that a comedy-thriller is usually set in a stately country manor where, first, a murder takes place and then it's followed by the prerequisite plot twists, cover-ups, likely and unlikely suspects, maybe even more murders and more plausible or implausible plot twists. Well… that is exactly what happens in Sleuth, but with quite a few original and really unexpected twists! It is also important to add that the reason this genre still lives on and entertains is because it keeps the audiences laughing throughout.

We see then that good comedy-thrillers have an almost interactive characteristic about them that is fun, highly amusing and unpredictable, wherein, for example, a moment of terror is immediately relieved by a moment of true hilarity. What attracts some patrons to the genre could be the pleasure of being constantly surprised, while others are drawn by the challenge of deducing what will happen next. Most, however, seek the smug satisfaction of being able to say to their “unsuspecting” companion sitting next to them: "Ha! I told you this would happen!”

It is a given that characters in whodunits are never what they seem and that their secrets and veiled identities envelop the plot with the obligatory shroud of mystery and help pepper it with red herrings. Sleuth still feels like a fresh comedy-thriller not only because the lead characters are two very clever men, but maybe because in the audience, even the sharpest “sleuth” or the most cynical of patrons may find it full of surprises.
Research shows that there are two categories of game players: those who just love to play and those who need to win at all costs. Well, there is no need to guess which category we are most fascinated with, is there? If you are one of those players who are always used to winning and can’t even fathom defeat, well then, be on your guard, watch and learn a lesson, and … be afraid, be very afraid!

No.2 - Costin's Theatre Excursions -Evita

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Hi, I'm Costin Manu, the Programming Manager for the Rose Theatre Brampton. As I mentioned last week, I will be contributing an entry here each Monday discussing all things “show-business”. My goal is to offer a glimpse into what I have been seeing and doing in this “business” and tell you what I was impressed with and talk about things of note in live performance that might also be interesting to you, our patrons.

Last Saturday, I finally managed to see the much-lauded production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical “Evita” at the Stratford Festival of Canada, a production so successful for them that it was extended by popular demand with five additional performances through November 6. The story of Eva Duarte, who rises from poverty in rural Argentina to become first the mistress and then the wildly popular wife of President Juan Perón, first started as a rock opera concept album released in 1976 that led to productions in London's West End in 1978, and on Broadway a year later. Blending the personal with the political, this landmark of the modern musical theatre paints a dazzling portrait of a woman who helped shape history. Exuberant Latin, rock and jazz rhythms pulse through the score of a show that took the world by storm, winning Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for best musical.

Colm Wilkinson of the Les Miz fame played Che on the original studio recording and Mandy Patinkin was the first Che on Broadway. In the Stratford production it was Josh Young and we witnessed a star in the making in a man who has had so many musical theatre credits at an early age and will go far. I was looking forward to seeing many of my friends and colleagues on stage in the show and especially Chilina Kennedy, who I first saw when she was a student at Sheridan College and then as Anne in the musical Anne Of Green Gables at the Charlottetown Festival. Alas, she was indisposed and I saw her understudy Lindsay Croxhall, who did a terrific job in the show and that gave an idea for one of my upcoming Odeum articles regarding understudies.

An amazing performance in front of a sold-out audience is what I witnessed and the quality was top notch as noted by many international theatre critics who review Stratford. Musicals are the type of entertainment we also continue to bring to the Rose in the near future, so please look for the announcement of our 2011 Summer Theatre Season to see what I mean. See you again soon at the theatre!

Spamalot uses 40 wireless microphones, consumes over 2500 AAA batteries per month, runs over 1 mile of cable and uses custom built lasers to aim the speakers in each house.
Among the props is a cow that weighs 45 pounds which requires two stagehands to catapult it over the castle.
Spamalot uses approximately 40 coconuts per month, supplied by the Coconut King in Florida.
The Show Portal weighs 2800 pounds.
The heaviest piece of scenery, The Camelot Hanger, weighs in at 6000 pounds.
The “Feet of God” is the heaviest piece manually flown in, weighing 1700 pounds.
The set utilizes 35 line sets, 30 chain motors, and over 13,000 pounds of stage weight.
The Grail Lift that elevates the Lady of the Lake weighs over 4000 pounds and uses 2600 pounds of hydraulic pressure.
The show hires 50 local crew members to load the show in and out, and 25 local crew members to run the show.
It takes over 80 people on stage and off to run each performance.
The Electrics Department uses 6 tanks of liquid carbon dioxide per week to create the low-ground fog effect and uses 8 fire extinguishers per week for the Feet of God “blast off” effect.
6 pounds of confetti are used at each performance.
The orchestra uses a Spama-horn, an instrument specially developed for and used only in Spamalot.
There are over 100 wigs (including facial hair) in the show, all hand-tied and made of human hair, yak hair, and synthetics supplied from New York, California, and London.
The mud make-up is a formula specially designed for Spamalot.
The poorest peasants’ costumes in the show are actually made of raw silk.
3 feet of “blood” has to be ironed prior to each performance.
There are over 100 undergarments in the show, including 30 pairs of men’s fishnets and 56 cod pieces.
The Lady of the Lake’s costumes are all comprised of hand-strung glass beads.
The costumes are not only made of a wide variety of fabrics, but many are made of molded ABS plastics, and even nuts and bolts. You are as likely to see a costumer with power tools as you are a sewing machine.