They came from out of town
Guest productions prove the best new theatre trend |
| Time was when an out-of-town theatre production in Calgary meant some bus-and-truck tour of a Broadway musical parking its road-ragged ass at the Jubilee Auditorium. But last season saw an influx of quality small-scale shows from across Canada, imported by local companies, and the result – well, just look at the Betty Mitchell Award nominations: five for Job: The Hip-Hop Musical by Foqué Dans la Tête Productions of Montreal; four for Time After Time: The Chet Baker Musical by Toronto-based Crow’s Theatre, and three for Blood on the Moon by Ottawa’s Sleeping Dog Theatre and the National Arts Centre. These were top-notch productions that gave Calgary audiences a taste of Canadian theatre outside the city and reflected well on the companies that brought them in (Sage, One Yellow Rabbit and Vertigo, respectively). There will be more of the same this coming season, with OYR presenting Edmonton’s Sterling Award-winning Underneath the Lintel by Shadow Theatre and a reprise of Bigger Than Jesus by Montreal’s WYRD Productions; Ground Zero and Calgary Opera co-hosting the Tom Waits-William S. Burroughs musical The Black Rider, also from Edmonton, and Vertigo giving a proper run to the international fringe festival hit Tuesdays and Sundays (which had an aborted engagement last season). Complemented by the national and international fare at the High Performance Rodeo, these outside shows link Calgary to the larger theatre community, serve up some fresh talent for the jaded playgoer and remind us that, hey, our own theatre groups compare pretty well with the best that other cities have to offer. |
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