by Sarah B. Hood

Big Month for Musical Openings

So far, this November seems like a banner month for music theatre fans, with a crowded slate of openings that's well balanced between local and imported work, new productions and revivals. For instance, Montreal's hip-hop humorists Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion are bringing Job: The Hip-Hop Saga to the Tarragon Extra Space, beginning November 18. It's a combination of their two extremely popular Fringe hits that riffed wittily on the Biblical tale of Job. On November 11, Tarragon Theatre brings back Karen Hines' romantic satire Hello. Hello, while Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People remounts Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang from November 8 on. Also...

Caffey's Cookin'

Florida performer/writer/director Marion J. Caffey is in town for CanStage to direct his acclaimed show Cookin' at the Cookery, based on the career of blues singer Alberta Hunter. Caffey's previous creations include Street Corner Symphony, a soul-flavoured pastiche of '60s and '70s hits like "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and "Midnight Train to Georgia", which ran on Broadway. Recently Caffey also assembled the vocal talents of Victor Trent Cook, Rodrick Dixon and Thomas Young for an extremely successful African American answer to the success of the Three Tenors called Three Mo' Tenors, which was taped for the PBS Great Performances Series. Cookin' at the Cookery opens on November 13 at the Bluma Appel Theatre with powerful local blues diva Jackie Richardson in the title role and musical direction by veteran piano man Joe Sealy.

Bloodsuckers With Lemon-Wedges?

On any given night the odds are better than even that musician and songwriter Kevin Quain will be playing somewhere in this town - most likely someplace with a liquor license. He's perhaps best known for his Sunday night gigs at the Cameron House with The Mad Bastards, but he and his accordion are also frequently to be found at The Rex, Rancho Relaxo and Graffiti's in Kensington Market with a variety of collaborators in the Tex-Mex and country idioms. However, Quain's also known for his collaborations with theatre and dance artists, so it's not surprising that he's adapted his most recent CD as an unorthodox retelling of Pagliacci set in a remote Mexican desert town. Under the direction of Ted Dykstra, Tequila Vampire Matinee opens at Theatre Passe Muraille on November 13.

Broadway's Producers

The hard-to-get Broadway ticket is soon to become just as coveted in Toronto when The Producers begins previews at the Canon Theatre on November 21 (with an official opening on December 11). In the Toronto cast of this multiple award-winning show, Se n Cullen plays the flamboyant Broadway impresario Max Bialystock, who conspires with retiring accountant Leo Bloom (Michael Therriault) to stage a musical that's bound to flop in the hopes of profiting by the losses. Funnyman Cullen made his first big career move performing live as a member of Toronto's Corky and the Juice Pigs, then moved into such television spots as NBC's Late Friday, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and his very own The Se n Cullen Show. Therriault is a Stratford Festival stalwart (Camelot, Fiddler On The Roof and many others). He's also performed in summer musicals around Ontario, like West Side Story at Huron Country Playhouse, She Loves Me at the Drayton Festival and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown at the Grand Theatre in London.
 

And Since Chicago Sold Out...

If you've caught any of that recent WNED program about classic Broadway, you may have seen Joel Grey, who originated the role of the Emcee in Cabaret, performing the signature tune with an "all-girl" band. If so, like me, you may have an itch to see the whole show again. Well, we're in luck! It may not star Joel Grey, but Lloyd Allison Entertainment is presenting a completely new production of the classic Kander and Ebb show in a very suitable, intimate location, the little New Yorker Theatre on Yonge Street. It promises a modest budget, a local cast and a good-sized live band. Cabaret runs from November 14 to December 6.

In The Wings

The Shaw Festival has announced that its musicals for next summer will be Pal Joey by Rodgers, Hart and O'Hara at the Royal George and the much lesser known Floyd Collins by Adam Guettel and Tina Landau at the Court House Theatre. (This rarity is inspired by the true story of a Kentucky man who was trapped in a narrow cave, to the burning interest of the media and the general public, in 1925.)

Also, Mirvish Productions has announced that Disney's The Lion King will close definitively on January 4, 2004. Meanwhile, Mamma Mia! continues at the Royal Alex until at least February 29. Now starring as Donna is Kim Huffman, a two-time Gemini Award winner for her appearances on TV's Traders.
 

Sarah B. Hood's new book Toronto: The Unknown City, cowritten with Howard Akler, is now available in bookstores around town.