by Howard Pechet, Timothy French
Nevin Grant, and Bob Foster
At Stage West, Mississauga
April 24-July 6, 2008

    The audience doesn’t get enough time to catch its breath at this dynamic, driving musical revue that explodes with some of the best songs ever created by Canadian stars from the 60s (and the Guess Who) to today’s fun-loving Barenaked Ladies and Celine Dion, the French Canadian songbird that loves to soar above Las Vegas. From The Crew Cuts, Bobby Curtola, The Stampeders, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell, and Ronnie Hawkins to Lighthouse, Corey Hart, Gino Vanelli, Glass Tiger, April Wine, Shania Twain, Alannis Morrisette, and Bryan Adams, it’s one hit after another delivered by an ensemble with energy to burn in a show that dares to anthologize over forty singers, with apologies to some other big names that couldn’t possibly be squeezed into this straightforward chronicle composed by a committee. Could anything be more Canadian than a committee—unless it was a Royal Commission of inquiry? No matter. This committee has done Canada proud. Despite a rather off-key opening of “Standing On The Corner” (The Four Lads) and some stiff backup choreography, this show reminds us just how much musical talent we have had and held onto, despite the lure Down South. 

   The 60s are a good starting point for the revue because it was a decade when Canada became hip with Expo and Trudeau, the P.M. who sniffed on roses, wore sandals, and slid down banisters just to show that a demagogue with a Jesuitical training could still have antic fun in the wide and wicked world. The 60s are a good starting point because Canadian singers had eighteen of the top hundred pop-chart hits. Paul Anka, Hank Snow, and Stompin’ Tom Conners gave a decidedly Canadian twist to pop, and though Anka left Ottawa for California, his heart never left his home country. If it did, Stompin’ Tom would have brought it back with his rousing celebration of the great national pastime that gets rollicking attention in “The Hockey Song.”

   The first half of the show is so good, we don’t want it to end. “We’ll Sing In The Sunshine,” “Fortune Teller,” Seasons In The Sun, “Sweet City Woman, “ “Rock Me Gently,” and “Sometimes When We Touch” show the range of lyrical feeling and melodic rhythm, and add to this Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me” and “Snowbird” (the latter in a wonderful rendition by Paula MacNeill), as well as Joni Mitchell, The Band, and Neil Young (Adam Stevenson mimics him to the very essence of shakiness).

   Sure, imitation is never quite the same thing as the original, but the ensemble does well, moving from style to style with the colourful help of wigs and costumes by Ronda Borneman and Christine Toye, and some entertaining choreography by director and co-creator Timothy French, who jests with Anka’s “Having My Baby” by dressing the number with heavily pregnant women. When they drop their padding and parody, these women score hugely in Part Two, especially in a soft rock medley sampling of Sarah McLachlan, Nellie Furtado, Jann Arden, Susan Aklukark, and K.D. Lang, and later in a hard rock “A” List of Amanda Marshall, Alanna Myles, Alannis Morrisette, and Avril Lavigne. Every female in the cast gets her opportunity to shine, and all five do, though particular mention should be made of Sheena Turcotte’s Avril Lavigne, Diana Planche’s Vonda Sheppard, and, strongest of all, Josee Boudreau’s Celine. On the male side, the standouts among the six are Andrew McGillivray’s Dan Hill and Aaron Walpole (he of the Third Place Canadian Idol fame) as Trooper and then as one of the clowning Barenaked Ladies.

   I have never seen a Stage West audience respond as heartily as at this show--not even to The British Invasion and California Dreaming, its predecessors. And It isn't a homogeneous audience. There's a range of ages and generations in the mix. There are damned good reasons to justify such enthusiasm, but you have to be at Stage West to really appreciate them. Be in good voice because you may want to sing along—if to no one but yourself—and make sure your feet are free to stomp and tap, and your hands to applaud. Mostly the hands—because there’s plenty of show-stopping quality to merit an ovation. 

photos:
pic 1: The eleven-member cast
pic 2: Hard Rock Ladies segment
pic 3: Josee Boudreau as Celine Dion

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