Ontari-o-i-o

To take advantage of the Pan Am, but not officially affiliated with it, Harbourfront is also showcasing a free month of activities in the Ontario Celebration Zone. So on Monday, I stopped by for a free concert. Between The Cowboy Junkies and Hollerado, I opted for the latter. The Junkies do write great tunes but the large outdoor setting probably won't do their quiet music justice.

I was surprised to see that 3 of the 5 Hollerado members were from my one of my favourite local band Stella Ella Ola. This promised to be a great show. Hollerado has been getting some buzz and playing some larger venues but this could be their best managed show. Even the lead singer commented on the crystal-clear sound mix. Combined with a giant display behind them with live camera footage from numerous angles, it was like watching a "big-time" concert. Their young fans ate up all the catchy, upbeat songs including Americanama, Juliette, So It Goes. They invited bronze medallist Adam van Koeverden on stage to jam out on Rocking In The Free World. Despite approaching the curfew, their fans convinced them to come back for a short encore including an energetic cover of Dammit (Blink-182).

Pandemonium

As part of the Pan Am games in Toronto, there is also Panamania comprising of 35 days of mostly free arts event including numerous concerts. On Saturday, I went to my first at Nathan Phillip Square. The organizers have set up 2 stages to make setting up performers be more efficient.

As I arrived, Wyclef Jean ("If you don't know me, just google") took to the West Stage. He named himself the modern Sammy Davis Jr. (i.e., a "triple threat"). He certainly did everything from singing, rapping, playing the guitar (rather suggestively with his tongue at one point), and banging on the bongos. He even did a handstand walk at the end of his set. With Fugees tunes, his own collaborations (for example, Hips Don't Lie), and a number of reggae-fied covers (Knocking on Heaven's Door), the crowd ate up the party vibe and gladly danced to his exhortations.

They were a little more subdued for Serena Ryder at the North Stage. But I think it was due to some odd sound tech decisions. I don't usually complain about a concert being too quiet but there it was. So when it was just her and a guitar, it was fine. When the full band was playing, everything sounded weak and muddy. Nevertheless, there were plenty who enjoyed Ryder's set comprising of old favourites (Stompa, What I Wouldn't Do) and some brand new songs from an upcoming album (Fire Escape, Ice Age).

En Garde

On Friday, I went to an early evening show at the Fringe Festival entitled SwordPlay: A Play of Swords by a local sketch/improv troupe. This parody of the fantasy genre, mostly movies and video games, went over well for the large, enthusiastic crowd. The show's homages were quite apparent; the most influential being The Princess Bride. A grand-father tried to entertain his sick grand-daughter with an old classic. But in this case, instead of a beloved book, it was a video game from the 80s. Other nods included an extended chase scene with a masked pursuer, and a marriage overseen by an unintelligible clergy.

There were also winks to the musketeers with 3 buddy-knights, and various video game conventions. Every now and then, the music would shift to cheery 8-bit sounds and the performers would hold up cardboard cut-outs containing pixelated drawings to remind us that we were actually "watching" a game. The other big source of reference was Game of Thrones. There were over-the-top bloody but humorous fights, poisoning, and fatal banquets. But mostly in the character of Princess Pimpernel, who revealed herself to be more than a "Save Me Mario" damsel but rather some combination of Daenarys Targaryen and Arya Stark.

The performers were fun to watch and inventive in their use (and re-use) of props. And the play was short enough that the pastiches didn't grow tiresome. It could make a great kids play but the references may be too old to appeal to anyone under 30.

Boot To The Head

In my time here in Toronto, I rarely attend any of the big theatres showing the more popular Broadway productions. They always seemed a bit overpriced. But on Saturday, I went for the first time to the Royal Alexandra Theatre for Kinky Boots. An out-of-town visitor wanted the big-city experience.

These old theatres always feel smaller than expected since we are used to the larger scale of modern architecture. The Royal Alex was a paean to the WASP nature of old Toronto. Ornate decorations, busts of dead white men, and red velvet everywhere. It was both luxurious and a bit silly, but I can see how it could appeal to a certain nostalgia.

Our front row seat on the 1st balcony gave us a great view of the action. The musical opened with the brick facade of Price and Son, a shoe factory in Northampton. The wall would peel away to reveal the  cast of characters. First though, there was a flashback to the childhood of the two main characters: Charlie Price with his dad, and Simon with his gruff boxer father. Mr. Price regaled his son with the wonders of a well-made shoe in The Most Beautiful Thing In The World, while a young Simon was secretly indulging his love of women's shoes.

In the present day, Charlie (Graham Scott Fleming) came back from London after his father's death to find the factory on the verge of bankruptcy. Nobody wants to buy well-made, but pricey and rather stodgy, shoes. Simon has grown into the diva drag queen Lola (Alan Mingo Jr). She and her coterie of sassy sisters would dazzle "men, women, and those who haven't yet decided" in any setting: be it a dimly lit club or a retirement home. A chance encounter made Charlie realized that perhaps he could save Price and Son by filling an empty niche: towering high-heel women's shoes and boots, but made strong enough to support the weight of a man. Along the way, there are bigots to smack down, controlling girlfriends to confront, skeptical workers to persuade, culminating in a big show in Milan.

The songs written by Cyndi Lauper were rather forgettable. They covered all the bases: heartfelt solos, rousing ensemble, and given the characters, lots of upbeat "you better work" showtunes. The plot, taken from the 2005 movie, was equally paint-by-numbers. There was some inventive choreography on act 1 closer Everybody Say Yeah with the cast members dancing on the moving factory conveyor belts. Although the band O.K. Go did perfect that years ago in their video Here It Goes Again. Kinky Boots is a confection, sweet and fun, but you won't remember it after you leave the theatre.