While attending the last Toronto staging of the musical Hair at CanStage in Toronto this past spring, I ran into Jackie Richardson, who I’m honoured to have seen perform many times in R & B groups and more recently in musicals like Cookin’ at the Cookery, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Crowns. My jaw nearly hit the ground when Jackie introduced me to her friend, singer / songwriter / actress whose performances I’d been moved by many times in the past, the one and only Salome Bey.
Seeing these two graciously humble patrons helped me to realize just what I found this production of Hair lacked. Don’t get me wrong. It was strong production, with lots of energy from this young, experienced troupe. The difference for me is this. These multiple award winning, aging black diva’s grew up through segregation, conflicting politics throughout the entertainment business, the ever present prejudice. They were from the States and moved to Canada. They lived the strife they often sang about. They had that connection. Meanwhile, Hair’s young cast have never lived through the era they were portraying … that relatively innocent “Good Morning Starshine”, “Let the Sunshine In” era and somehow, I felt it. Music is so much more than the words.
Our conversation moved on to the then recent announcement that Lord of the Rings was going to close ( as it did the beginning of Sept). Both Jackie and Salome spoke of having gone to see several presentations of different styles of entertainment about town, all of which they found stunning and entertaining but when they read reviews, all of them were so negative and condescending , they wondered if they’d actually seen the same productions. They both felt critics were part of the demise of the previous boom in the entertainment business in Toronto. Where, previously, shows like Phantom of the Opera, Lion King and Mama Mia could run for several years ( as hopes had been for Lord of the Rings), critic’s negative summations, often written and sent in before a show is even over due to deadlines, can cause poor ticket sales and the early closing of some magnificent productions. To be fair, SARS and 9/11 didn’t help the theatre business either, nor did the rising Canadian dollar. The large shows like Lion King and Mama Mia counted on bus loads from the US to keep them afloat as the cost of the production of these shows is astronomical. Critics seem to relish the negative spin these days, which leaves the public with little to go on. As ticket prices rise to cover the production costs, fewer people are willing to ‘take a chance’ on something new. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.
I hear there was a bit of irony at the recent Who concert, in Ottawa. Picture this. The Who, who have been recognized for years as the loudest band in the world apparently came on stage and had to pause, take out their ear monitors and attempt to quiet the crowd before the show started. How things have changed.
I’ve been watching for the past year as 25 yrs young Brock Zeman, every Tuesday night took to the stage of O’Reilly’s to present his self penned tunes. I’ve been really interested as I watch the maturing of this young artist. Early on, he seemed to need Keith Glass there to provide the “gusto” but with Keith being away promoting Prairie Oyster’s new cd lately, Brock and various incarnations of his back up band have risen to a level of confidence and stage presence that encourages his growth as a performer. He’s spending more time on the road, paying his dues to get his work heard by more people and earning a living. Though it’s always nice to hear Keith and Brock together as they do play off each other very well, recently listening to just Brock and Peter Newsom on bass or Brock and Joel Williams on guitar, each with pleasing performances shows just how much Brock has matured. We’ll continue to watch this gifted songwriter find his place in the Canadian music realm.
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