If You Only See One Show This Year, See Aleck Bell!

From Left To Right...  Allan Gillespie, James King,
Stephan Cullen, Danielle Leger, Jordan Probst, Tricia Black,
 Shawn Hurford, Jacqueline Martin, and Emily  Nimetz

    For those of you who are regular readers, let me start by saying THANK YOU!  To my regular readers it may seem like I LOVE everything, but honestly that is not the case.  I am in fact an insane perfectionist, who is highly critical of myself and others (just ask my poor husband what it's like to live with me).  I only include things on my blog that I really like, because I am a terrible liar, and ridiculously honest.  When I see an ugly baby, the kind thing to do is to tell that poor mother that her baby is cute.  I will NEVER do that!  I am not so cruel to tell that mother that her baby is ugly, instead I try to find something positive to say about the baby.  I have been known to tell a mother that her baby has "lots of beautiful hair", "adorable outfit", "he seems like such a happy baby", but at no point will I lie to her, even if she asks "Isn't he beautiful?" (it has happened, trust me.  I have had to pull out some of my most creative work for them).  It's a curse to not be able to effectively lie.      

    If on my blog I recommend something, you can know that it is something that I truly do like / love.  To me it would be too embarrassing to recommend something and have it turn out to be a dud, I would never do that.  If on my blog I recommend something, I want you to know that I am putting my name behind it.  If I tell you that I LOVE something, I truly do LOVE it, and want you to try it.  It would be very rare for me to blog about something that I did not like, unless I had a real bee in my bonnet, it just seems like a waste of my time to waste my words on anything that is not positive.  Now that all of that has been said...

    Last night Christopher and I went to The Stirling Festival Theatre to see Aleck Bell.  Aleck Bell is based on the life of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, among other things.  The musical was all set to mainly Canadian rock hits that spanned a few decades.  This was a musical that Christopher and I had really been looking forward to seeing.  The day before had been our 19 th wedding anniversary, and Christopher had to work that night. We celebrated it last night.

    It was a treat for us to be childless.  We walked holding hands in the lobby, like a couple of teens.  As we entered the theatre it barely filled.  What a complete and utter crime!  I wanted to cry.  This was opening night.  The IANA Theatre is a Canadian company that helps support young Canadian talent.  They are something of an enigma, because they write their own musicals, in today's Canada, this is rare.  IANA was founded by Tim Porter, a young local man, who is in my humble opinion a genius!  Here is what my fear is, if we don't use it, we will lose it.  If we do not support this amazing company, we contribute to it's down fall.  By coming to see IANA productions, you are not committing an act of charity, you are in fact giving yourself an extraordinary experience. I have personally seen all of this year's productions, Stalkyard Hurts, Godspell, and now Aleck Bell.  Tim only employs actors with superior talent.  If I could say that this team excels in one area in particular, it would be their vocal talents.  I dare you to see any professional production in the city, and pay hundred of dollars, then come and see an IANA production for less than a quarter of the cost.  I can guarantee that they are easily equal in talent.

Tim Porter and Joel MacMeekin
a.k.a. The Dream Team

    Aleck Bell was written and directed by the talented team of Tim Porter and Joel MacMeekin.  They have written a fascinating look at the life of Alexander Graham Bell.  I personally knew that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but I had no idea that he was born in Scotland, lived in Boston, taught the deaf, and in particular knew Helen Keller.  He's a Canadian hero, we all take credit for his nationality, but who among us knows anything other than that he invented the telephone?

    The musical features such classics as Weighty Ghost, Ain't Seen Nothin Yet, I Believe, When you're Gone, Fare They Well Love, Fire Up Ahead, Fast Train, Good Mother, If You Could Read My Mind, You Don't Know What It's Like, Comlainte de la Butte, Perfect, For the Nights I Can't Remember, American Psycho, Hallelujah, 1234, Life, If Today Was Your Last Day, Lies, All I Really Want, Avalanche, Where Have All the Good People Gone, and Wake Up.  I really dislike "If You Could Read My Mind", perhaps hate would be a more accurate description of how I feel about this song, especially in it's original form by Gordon Lightfoot (I really hate Gordon Lightfoot, well not the man, I don't know him, just his music).  Having said that, I LOVED the way Steven Cullen, and Jacqueline Martin sang it as a duet.  Steven Cullen played the main character of Aleck Bell, and really in my opinion stole the show.  He had such a likable face, and such a gorgeous voice.  Jacqueline and Steven had excellent chemistry, you could really believe that they loved each other.  Although for me Steven Cullen stole the show, Jordon Probst, was hot on his heels, this is a young actor to watch for sure.

    If you went to see this show for nothing other than the music, you would have gotten your moneys worth.  When the cast sang Fare Thee Well Love, I actually wept, it was beautiful.  The rendition of Hallelujah (I really love this song to begin with.  Unlike Gordon Lightfoot, I really like Leonard Cohen) sent chills up my spine, and set all the hair on my arms an neck on end.  This is an insanely talented group of actors.  I laughed (thanks to the ever dependable Danielle Leger, Tricia Black and James King), I cried, I didn't want the show to end.  As usual I made an ass of myself.   After the show  I ran up to Tim Porter and told him that he was a genius and that I was proud of him (my husband stepped back a few feet and shook his head). I am proud of Tim Porter.  He has, with help, created an amazing piece of Canadiana.  He has created a piece that should tour the country to sold out shows!

    Christopher and I have done nothing but talk about Aleck Bell.  There was certainly no dead silence on that car ride home.  The word genius was thrown around a lot.  There are not enough nice words to describe our evening out.  We LOVE Aleck Bell.  Not only do we LOVE the musical, it has triggered our curiosity to learn more about this amazing man, Alexander Graham Bell.  If we could, we would attend every single show both in Stirling, and then chase them to Toronto's Papermill Theatre.

    Thank you Tim Porter, don't be discouraged.  You have created a fantastic play, we just have to get the word out, so that others can see what a genius you are.  I feel like I should be going door to door telling people the good word about Aleck Bell.  I feel like strong arming people and threatening to rough them up, if they don't go and see this amazing production. You need to go and see this show!  I think our sentiment was best summed up by a fellow patron that we overheard.  He told the person that he was sitting with "I would have gotten my money's worth, even if I'd left at intermission.  What a fantastic show!"  

    Aleck Bell will be playing for two more weeks at the Stirling Festival Theatre.  It then moves on to Toronto's Paper Mill Theatre.  It really is a pittance to spend on such high quality entertainment.  Your will get your money's worth from the singing alone.

stirlingfestivaltheatre.com

ianatheatre.com

Godspell

    I love theatre!!!!!  I have shared this before, but it bears repeating, it is a rare treat that I get to the big city and enjoy a Mirvish production.  The reason I only get to a Mirvish production is because the cost is prohibitive.  There are no inexpensive tickets for Mirvish.  I have all my life wished that I had the courage to do theatre.  It has been a secret desire of mine for many years, it's on my bucket list.  I get to live through my oldest daughter Grace.  Grace LOVES, acting and singing.  I look at my little girl, and am so proud of her, and marvel at her courage, and talent.

    We are very fortunate in Tweed to have a young man named Tim Porter.  Tim began his own theatre company a few years ago, producing original Canadian works of art ( yes I am using art correctly, I consider the theatre to be art.  Beautiful, well crafted art), to much critical acclaim.  He has partnered up with our local arts group, to bring his theatrical productions to Tweed, to the Marble Church in Actinolite to be exact.  There, we people who enjoy small town (actually we live in a village) living can also be treated to the things we love about the big city, namely excellent theatre.

    As I mentioned my Grace loves theatre.  She gained this love of theatre through an extremely talented teacher, Tim Porter.  We thought that it would be a treat for Grace to go and see one of Tim's plays.  We decided on Godspell.  She was really excited.  I had taken her last year to see "Little House on The Prairie", staring Melissa Gilbert as Ma at one of the Mirvish Theatres ( I felt a little sorry for Melissa Gilbert, because the rest of the cast had obviously been classically trained, and while she had a nice singing voice, she could not master their sound or quality).  Little House on The Prairie got Grace hooked on theatre.

    When I had taken my Mother as her Mother's Day gift to see Stalkyard Hurts, we dressed up, and went a half hour early.  We were apparently 20 minutes too early.  When the handful of people came, they were dressed extremely casually... we were overdressed.  It was the same when Tim invited me to closing night.  For Godspell we arrived 10 minutes early, and were delightfully shocked to discover there was barely a parking spot to be had, and barely a seat to be had.  We also discovered that this time we had really underdressed, who knew.

    I feel that at this point I should share that I have never read the bible, nor to be honest, do I desire to.  I've tried, but I just could not understand it.  I know bits and pieces about the stories in the bible, as I do have religious family members.  I went to see Godspell under the belief that the music would be amazing.  I was correct!

    Watching this show was like going back to school in September.  There was our teacher (Tim), and all the kids that I was friends with last year (Karine Berube, Michael Collin Jones, Danielle Leger.. the class clown).  I was sad that some of my friends were in a different class (Stalkyard Hurt's Justin Collette, and Tricia Black).  There were also some new kids that I didn't know that first day of school, (Emilee Nimetz, Jaqueline Martin, James King, Joel MacMeekin, Samantha Marchinonda, and Sara Wilkinson).  Turns out the new kids became my new friends by the end of the first day, but I still missed my old friends.  I guess what I'm saying is WHAT A TALENTED CAST!!!!!  I know very few bible stories, but I know that this cast is so talented.  I was impressed by the way Tim made full creative use of such a small stage.  I was extremely impressed by the crucifixion scene.  "Oh God, I'm Bleeding", brought me to tears.  James King did a beautiful job.  This talented cast could easily be in any Mirvish production based on their talent.  Their voices blew me away once again.  They were all just so very, very talented.  Michael Collin Jones was amazing AGAIN.  Danielle Leger  and Karine Berube had a smaller parts in this production, but they certainly made their presences known, wow.  The new kids (well new to me) were amazing.  It's obvious that Tim knows talent.

    I was delighted to discover the night that we saw Godspell it was to a nearly sold out crowd, and that the last two shows are completely sold out.  We need to show Iana our love.  We need to show them that we appreciate their hard work, and extreme talent so that Tweed continues to be blessed with high quality theatre.  Godspell was the last production for the Iana Theatre in Tweed this season.  It will be touring the shows throughout Ontario, and if you have the chance you should treat yourself to a show.

    August 22 - September 1, Iana Theatre will be performing their original "Aleck Bell" at the Stirling Festival Theatre stirlingfestivaltheatre.com.  I think when I am buying the tickets to Grace's production (more to come on that, don't you worry your pretty little heads about it) of "Munsch on Stage", I should try to pick up some tickets to see "Aleck Bell".

   For more information about the Iana Theatre visit their website ianatheatre.com

Our Near Miss Of Godspell

I took this picture at the Tweed Canada Day Parade

     I love theatre.  For me there is not too much better of a treat than to go to Toronto and see a Mirvish show.  It makes me feel like a grown up.  I get lost in the sets, the costumes, the luxury.  I love that we get dressed up.  I love being transported away from my everyday life ( it also does not hurt that an evening to the show usually includes a dinner at a nice restaurant). Oh who am I kidding I love everything about it, except the price.  The price is prohibitive for a single income family.  Last year for my birthday Christopher got us tickets to see Wicked.  I had wanted to see Wicked since it was first out.  We drove across the border into Buffalo, New York to the Shea Theatre.  It was beyond my imagination.  

    I was thrilled when a local man, Tim Porter brought theatre to our little rural village.  I attended my first IANA Theatre production, Stalkyard Hurts just recently (Tim was exceptionally generous and invited me to see the closing night production.  I brought Christopher and we had a really lovely evening.  The second time I saw the show it blew the first time out of the water).  I was blown away by their talent.  This theatre company is exceptionally talented.  Their voices easily equalled anything that I would see in Toronto, but the price to see the production was comparable to the cost of a ticket to a Cinneplex movie theatre.  After seeing Stalkyard Hurts, I was really excited to see Godspell in July.  My excitement grew when my colourful tickets arrived in the mail.  I had purchased tickets for Christopher and I and Grace (our young actress).

    I discovered last week that I had no sitter for Friday night, the night we had our tickets for.  We decided that either Christopher or I would not attend and let Grace bring a friend.  I was putting on a brave face and telling Christopher that he should take Grace (on the inside I was not as kind).  He insisted that I should take her (on the inside I was jumping up and down), I gave him a half hearted "Are you sure?".  It was not as we had planned, but it would work, well for me anyway.

    Christopher came home from work last night and informed me that he had to work tonight (the Friday we had our theatre tickets for).  I may not have handled it with as much class or dignity as I would have liked ( it may have resembled a temper tantrum, but I will neither confirm or deny this fact).  After a small amount of time, I resigned myself to missing this opportunity.  I did not happily resign myself, but I resigned myself.

    I received a very exciting email from Tim Porter this morning saying that I could switch my tickets... YEAH!!!  I will get to see Godspell after all.  I am so excited!  The play is almost all singing, and may of the cast members from Stalkyard Hurts will be in this production also.  The cast of Stalkyard Hurts was amazingly talented, so I know that I am in for a treat!

    I am going to share a youtube clip of the rehearsals to tease you.  

ianatheatre.com

The IANA Theatre Company

Tim Porter standing in front of the Marble Church Arts Centre

    The first time that I ever met Tim Porter was in the late fall of 2010.  He was teaching a children's theatre program in Tweed.  I walked in to the Marble Church and saw this young guy with this curly hair and this open and trust worthy face.  Tim Porter helped my Grace to unlock her inner extrovert that was a prisoner of the outer introvert.  When my Gracie started that program she was too shy to even speak.  By her second set of classes she was singing a solo part.  It's amazing.  Now my Gracie has sung all by herself for her school talent show to an audience of hundreds of people, and has been asked to sing O' Canada for Tweed's Canada Day celebrations.  She has come so far, and that credit in large part goes to Tim Porter ( and to Grace for doing something she loved even if it was scary).  

    When Tim did not come back to teach the drama class in Tweed, Grace and I were devastated.  I just kept thinking if he could get her to do that in such a short length of time, what else could he teach her.  I became like a stalker of poor Tim Porter.  I would email him asking if he was going to be teaching anywhere in our area.  I'm sure that although he gives me a friendly kind smile he's really afraid of me.  "Oh God, it's that crazy woman who is going to ask if I could teach her kid.  Quick someone hide me!"

I knew in my heart that he wanted bigger and better things.  Don't get me wrong, I wanted Tim to do bigger and better things, I just wanted him to do great things all the while teaching my shy little child.

    When I had finally extinguished that torch that I had held up high in the hopes that Tim would quit his IANA theatre gig and come home and teach, I decided it was time to support him.  Tim founded the IANA Theatre Company in 2007 as a way to create and promote original Canadian musical theatre.  I love musical theatre.  I don't get to Toronto to see the plays the way I would like to.  I am the mother of four kids, I don't have the time or the money to go to Toronto more than every few years to see a play.  Now I was beginning to get excited, what if I didn't have to go to Toronto to see a play, what if it didn't have to cost a week's worth of my husband's wages?

    For Mother's Day I bought a ticket for my mother, and a ticket for myself to go and see Stalkyard Hurts.  Stalkyard Hurts is a musical about a highly successful band from the early 1990's.  It is about their rise and their fall, and reunion 15 years later.  The play is done in a mockumentary style.  Sounded like fun.  

    Fast forward to Thursday, May 24.  Mom and I had already discussed outfits.  We were very excited to see the play.  The play started at 8:00 p.m.  I told Mom I would pick her up at 7:15.  I did not want to have to fight for a parking spot, or get bad seats.  I picked Mom up at 7:15 and off we went.  There was only one other car in the parking lot, strange.  We decided to wait in the car and chat.  Better early than late.  I was beginning to wonder if I had screwed up the dates.  I checked my ticket again, no the date was right, strange.  Another car pulled up beside us five or ten minutes later.  They went in.  It's uncomfortable to be the first ones there, so now we weren't.  Mom and I decided to go in, I did want to get a good seat, and it was o.k. because we weren't the first one's there.  We walked to the doors, only to discover that the people who had come in after us were helping to take tickets at the door... we were the first ones there.  The doors opened at 7:30 and we found good seats after saying hello to Tim (and asking if I could take his picture for this blog, now he really thinks I'm a stalker).

    It turns out that we had no need to worry about good seats because there were maybe twenty people in the theatre.  8:00 the play started.  I had high expectations.  At first I did not know what to think really.  I didn't think I liked it.  How could I have told Tim that I was writing a blog about his play, the play that he had helped to write?  I could feel the waves of panic taking over as I raced through what I could say that was positive.  As my mind was racing, someone behind us was laughing just a little too loud, and just a little too much.  What could I say that was positive?  As the play progressed my panic diminished ever so slightly.  I stopped hearing that too loud laugh.  I became enraptured with this extremely talented group of performers.  The girl who played Carmen (Danielle Leger) sounded like the love child of Meatloaf and Melissa Etheridge.  Man that girl has some rock and roll pipes.  She would not be the least bit out of place fronting a rock band.  Then there was Louis (played by Michael Colin Jones).  His voice was soft yet strong it would not have at all sounded out of place singing opera.  He had such a beautiful voice that was full of control.  Byron the boy who developed an English accent at age 5 (played by and co-written by Justin Collette), I could not take my eyes off of him.  I found myself straining to see him in every act.  He had this easy lovely voice and when he sang I did not want him to stop.  Then there was Maggie (Karine Berube) here was a girl who was beautiful enough that she could easily be on movies or on t.v. with a voice that was just as beautiful.  The last of the main performers was Tori (Tricia Black).  She had the most amazing comic timing.  I expected her to be the funny one, and then she sang.  I kept waiting to see angel's wings bulging under her costumes.  She had this glorious voice.  This talented cast could easily be in any Mivish Production.

    The play that I didn't think that I liked became that play that I was lost in.  I found myself tearing up at the end, looking around sheepishly to see if anyone had caught me.  When it was over I wanted more.  I wish that they could have just stood there and sung to me for a few more hours.  The music was amazing.  The song "Love" which had perhaps 6 words to it was by and far my most favourite.  I wish that they had a cast album.  What an amazingly talented cast!  What an amazing Mother's Day gift to me!

    As we were leaving I asked the cast if I could get their picture.  A genuinely nice group of people.  You would not expect people who are that talented to be that nice and humble.  They stopped what they were doing so that they could gather for a picture.  As we were leaving my Mom told me "I would definitely see that again!  When's the next one?"  To her I smugly replied, "I already have my tickets."

Karine Berube, Justin Collette, Michael Colin Jones, Tricia Black, and Danielle Leger
The amazing cast 

    Many of the same cast members will be back for the July production of Godspell (the musical about the Gospel of Mark set in modern times, almost entirely done in song).  You owe it to yourself to come and see this amazing group of performers and their amazingly talented director.  Godspell runs July 5 - July 14.  Tickets are only $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for students and seniors.  

    It is a crime that theatre was not sold out. It is a crime that there were so few people there.  We need to use it or risk loosing it.  We are so blessed to be offered high quality entertainment at a very reasonable price.  Try driving to Belleville to the Cinneplex Theatre for $20.00.  You'll pay $20.00 for the gas alone.  We need to support this theatre company.  If they thrive, our community will thrive.  It will bring in tourism which will help our restaurants, our stores, our motels it helps Tweed.

For more information about the IANA Theatre Company visit their website

ianatheatre.com

PRIDE In My Daughter!

  Pride.  Unapologetic, so big that it actually physically hurts ... PRIDE.  This is how I felt about my oldest daughter last night.  My little girl who "was" so shy she could not make herself speak to anyone other than immediate family, sang a solo at her school talent show last night.  Not only did she sing a solo, she did an amazing job.
    For Grace this was such a monumental event.  I have always wished that I could take Grace's intense shyness for her.  Since her birth Grace has been shy.  Not just talk to strangers shy, but painfully shy.  People don't understand shy.  I remember the ever so helpful advice of idiots who knew nothing about shyness telling me I just needed to push her out of shyness.  I should force her to participate in uncomfortable circumstances ( I really wanted to push them) of .  To me this wreaked of child abuse.  I had to let her find her own comfort and go from there.  I have pushed her, but tiny baby pushes, and let her find her comfort, each time expanding her level of comfort.  Like the little train that could.  The worst part for Gracie is that she was an extrovert trapped in an introverts body.  I would watch her pained expression as she watched other kids do the things that she longed to do.
    Two years ago our local arts group (The Marble Church Art Centre / Tweed and Area Arts Council) offered a children's theatre program.  This theatre camp was run by a young professional named Tim Porter.  Tim's gentle manner allowed Grace to thrive.  When she began the program she was too shy to even talk to Tim in anything but a whisper.  By the end of the the camp, she was singing a solo.  The theatre camp allowed her to face her fears and come out uninjured.  After that she never looked back.
    So last night my little girl who until recently would not ask you for a fire extinguisher if she was on fire, got up on a big stage and sang for over 250 people.  My little girl who was so much braver than I could ever be (all my life I have longed to sing in public, but never had the courage).  Grace got up there and made it look so easy.  There was a moment when she stood there, and I thought that she was going to cry, and then she began to sing.  With every breath she became more confident.  She sang like a professional ( I say this not as a proud mother, but in an honest way).

    I stood there blinded by tears, barely suppressing sobs.  I had just watched my little caterpillar, not just escape from but explode from her cocoon.  The world belongs to her.  Nothing can stand in her way.  Pride, I feel such overwhelming pride and love for her.