Review of Grebel's Anne of Green Gables, found in Imprint. Review by Amy Zhou
http://uwimprint.ca/article/3015-charming-as-always
Creative set pieces and strong performances make Anne of Green Gables: The Musical a hit
With fiery red hair and a quick quip, Anne of Green Gables leapt out of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved tale and onto the stage, singing and dancing last weekend at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Kitchener.
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical is the adaptation of Montgomery’s classic of the same name, detailing the antics of a spirited red-haired orphan who comes to the small Maritime town of Avonlea mistakenly and stays after charming its citizens.
This was the first time I’ve seen the show, but I’ve forever loved the series and the Kevin Sullivan movies from the ‘80s and was frankly unsure if and how well it was going to translate onto stage.
My fears were unfounded: Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, though perhaps not professional, was heartwarming, laugh-inducing, and tear-jerking in all the right moments.
Laura Janzen was fabulous as titular Anne (“with an ‘e’”) Shirley. Her entire body became hyperbole and channeled the spirit of Anne well: Janzen’s entire spine arched melancholically when Anne learned she was to be returned to the orphanage, and her wide, sweeping, graceful arms accentuated Anne’s imaginative tirades. Janzen had a bright, full voice that was always on-key and deeply suited the youthful, lively Anne.
Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, the old-maid-and-bachelor siblings who adopt Anne, were portrayed by Kate Beggs and Laurence Marshall (respectively). Beggs as Marilla accurately portrayed the sometimes severe, yet kind-hearted conservative woman, with a firm voice and calm movements. Marshall nicely took on aspects of debilitating shyness and weakness of body through the guise of Matthew, though it was sometimes inconsistent in his tone of voice and the way he held himself; throughout the musical, signs of youth shone through.
Opposite Anne was Gilbert Blythe — played by Nathan Henderson — another bright young student, and hopelessly in love with Anne. Their competitive chemistry crackled through “I’ll Show Him” and Henderson’s emotive, unrequited declarations of love were amusingly relatable in his earnestness.
Niamh Kinsella was Diana Barry, Anne’s “bosom friend” and a “kindred spirit.” Kinsella played the most adorable drunk I have ever seen, and the sweet lilt of her voice, which complemented Janzen’s in “Kindred Spirits,” evoked the perfect image of angelic naivety.
Besides the actors, what impressed me the most was the musical’s ingenuity in dealing with a bare minimum number of props and scenery and capitalizing on whatever space was available. The generic background pieces were two tables stacked on top of each other, but as each scene progressed, the tables were transformed into a second floor, an actual table, and risers, and the stage crew worked silently, magically, to add some select pieces to differentiate setting.
What impressed me less was the less-than-professional technical aspects of the musical. Though most worked well, the microphones attached to the actors were consistently overpowered by the pit band playing in the next room and it made the actors difficult to hear — a major problem in any theatrical performance, but especially important in a musical.
The choreography also appeared simple at first glance, but it matched the youthful atmosphere of the musical. The choreography for “The Picnic” — a number that featured three-legged and spoon-egg races — required lots of planning; the entire company was on the floor, with action happening all around. A highlight was the spoon-egg race, when adults held up two logs as fences and slowly turned track as the children “scrambled” toward the finish (when, in reality, they just jogged in the same spot). What sounds tricky was in fact deceptively easy. The scene evoked images of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride, with layers of planning and so many ways to go wrong. Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, though, didn’t go wrong — far from it.
Creative set pieces and strong performances make Anne of Green Gables: The Musical a hit
With fiery red hair and a quick quip, Anne of Green Gables leapt out of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved tale and onto the stage, singing and dancing last weekend at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Kitchener.
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical is the adaptation of Montgomery’s classic of the same name, detailing the antics of a spirited red-haired orphan who comes to the small Maritime town of Avonlea mistakenly and stays after charming its citizens.
This was the first time I’ve seen the show, but I’ve forever loved the series and the Kevin Sullivan movies from the ‘80s and was frankly unsure if and how well it was going to translate onto stage.
My fears were unfounded: Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, though perhaps not professional, was heartwarming, laugh-inducing, and tear-jerking in all the right moments.
Laura Janzen was fabulous as titular Anne (“with an ‘e’”) Shirley. Her entire body became hyperbole and channeled the spirit of Anne well: Janzen’s entire spine arched melancholically when Anne learned she was to be returned to the orphanage, and her wide, sweeping, graceful arms accentuated Anne’s imaginative tirades. Janzen had a bright, full voice that was always on-key and deeply suited the youthful, lively Anne.
Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, the old-maid-and-bachelor siblings who adopt Anne, were portrayed by Kate Beggs and Laurence Marshall (respectively). Beggs as Marilla accurately portrayed the sometimes severe, yet kind-hearted conservative woman, with a firm voice and calm movements. Marshall nicely took on aspects of debilitating shyness and weakness of body through the guise of Matthew, though it was sometimes inconsistent in his tone of voice and the way he held himself; throughout the musical, signs of youth shone through.
Opposite Anne was Gilbert Blythe — played by Nathan Henderson — another bright young student, and hopelessly in love with Anne. Their competitive chemistry crackled through “I’ll Show Him” and Henderson’s emotive, unrequited declarations of love were amusingly relatable in his earnestness.
Niamh Kinsella was Diana Barry, Anne’s “bosom friend” and a “kindred spirit.” Kinsella played the most adorable drunk I have ever seen, and the sweet lilt of her voice, which complemented Janzen’s in “Kindred Spirits,” evoked the perfect image of angelic naivety.
Besides the actors, what impressed me the most was the musical’s ingenuity in dealing with a bare minimum number of props and scenery and capitalizing on whatever space was available. The generic background pieces were two tables stacked on top of each other, but as each scene progressed, the tables were transformed into a second floor, an actual table, and risers, and the stage crew worked silently, magically, to add some select pieces to differentiate setting.
What impressed me less was the less-than-professional technical aspects of the musical. Though most worked well, the microphones attached to the actors were consistently overpowered by the pit band playing in the next room and it made the actors difficult to hear — a major problem in any theatrical performance, but especially important in a musical.
The choreography also appeared simple at first glance, but it matched the youthful atmosphere of the musical. The choreography for “The Picnic” — a number that featured three-legged and spoon-egg races — required lots of planning; the entire company was on the floor, with action happening all around. A highlight was the spoon-egg race, when adults held up two logs as fences and slowly turned track as the children “scrambled” toward the finish (when, in reality, they just jogged in the same spot). What sounds tricky was in fact deceptively easy. The scene evoked images of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride, with layers of planning and so many ways to go wrong. Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, though, didn’t go wrong — far from it.