It’s fair to say that being in your 72nd session justifies the title Vancouver summer institution. “Theatre Under the Stars” (TUTS) continues a long tradition of outdoor theatre in Stanley park dating from 1934 (with some hiatuses over the years due to fires or wash outs).
A night at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl is more than just watching a show. It’s arriving through the genteel flower garden of the Stanley Park Pavilion to be greeted by the friendliest of volunteers dishing out directions and refreshments. It’s the settling into your surprisingly comfortable seat (I am told, upgraded from previous years), and soothed by cool summer breezes and the gentle twilight twittering of birds come home to roost. It’s the festival-like bustle of an expectant, good natured crowd. And then there’s the show….
“42nd Street” was a hoot! Razzmatazz, glitz and glamour galore and plenty of toe tapping show tunes, including crowd pleasing classics like, “We’re in the Money”.
We’re transported back to 1930s Broadway, and the staging of a new musical “Pretty Lady”. We follow the trials and tribulations of the cast and crew as they deal with funding insecurities, venue cancellations, the hobbling of the leading lady and preposterous schedule demands. In essence though, it is a story about camaraderie and of youthful exuberance melting battle-weary disillusionment.
As a play about a play, there are plenty of opportunities for meta-moments, such as us, the audience, assuming the role of “Pretty Lady” punters and the real orchestra/conductor being assimilated into the play, as their 1930s alter-egos. This results in the music director/conductor (Christopher King) scampering up and down from the orchestra pit as he alternates between his real and character guises. All of which make for some engaging and comical moments.
While all of the cast gave stellar performances, special commendation should go to Andrew Cownden as the jaded director “Julian Marsh” and Janet Gigliotti as high-maintenance, grande dame “Dorothy Brock”. I also particularly enjoyed Blake Sartin’s charismatic Billy Lawlor, with a debonair grin to rival that of any 1950s toothpaste commercial.
One slight tarnish to this otherwise luminous show, is that I found it hard to engage with the emotional context of the storyline. Intimate scenes with the potential to shine a light on key character relations seemed to fall flat. I don’t know whether this is a product of the outdoor environment (the expansive surrounds, the background noise or the diluted stage lighting) or whether the lack of character development is embodied in the original script but I found that I wasn’t invested in the characters or their relationships with one another. There were some exceptions however, in Dorothy’s (Janet Gigliotti) soulful, nostalgic numbers, and Julian’s (Andrew Cownden) Freudian blunder – inadvertently admitting how important Peggy was to him, which was genuinely touching.
All in all though, the vivacious tap dancing, plucky chorus numbers, memorable show tunes, and beautiful surroundings of “42nd Street” will brighten your spirits and have you sashaying all the way home.
One footnote: In this outdoor setting, bugs can be a pest. Bring repellent. Although I didn’t appear to get bitten, I did notice some irritated program flicking as dusk descended.
Get your tickets here!
– MG