ELOPE debuts private-eye musical tomorrow

City of Angels is rarely produced among regional theatre companies, yet among musical connoisseurs such as Barbara Mah it has achieved a quasi cult status.

“It’s been on my bucket list since I saw the original in 1989. The big draw for me is the music. It’s so complex, fun and interesting to do. It’s a beautiful jazz-infused score and I’ve got some amazing talent,” says Mah.

In her first directing challenge for ELOPE Musical Theatre, she is at the helm of City of Angels due to debut May 5 to May 14 at Campus St. Jean Auditorium.

There is no doubt that lyricist David Zippel and composer Cy Coleman’s sensuous ballads such as I’m Nothing Without You and Lost and Found are classic love songs.

But fans are just as fond of the quirky lines in Larry Gelbart’s (M.A.S.H.) potboiler book of a cynical antihero private eye that takes exception to his creator calling the shots.

Set in the hard-boiled Los Angeles-Hollywood of the 1940s detective noir era, it’s a nod to the great detective heroes such as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlow and Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade.

The show is actually two shows in one. In the “real” world Stine, a hack wannabe screenwriter, clacks on a typewriter while trying to sell his script to a cigar-chomping producer named Buddy Fidler.

In the “reel” world, his characters, most noticeably Stone, a hard-boiled alter ego gumshoe is enmeshed in a mystery that involves a beautiful, materialistic woman, a dying man in an iron lung and a missing stepdaughter.

The roles of Stine and Stone are critical. When St. Albert actor Trevor Worden walked into the audition hall, Mah saw the embodiment of Stone.

“Please let him be able to sing,” Mah prayed quietly as she observed his straightforward demeanor.

For his part, Worden was ending a 15-year hiatus from theatre. He completed four successful touring shows with Jubilations Theatre in 2001.

“I wanted to get back in. I didn’t want to have regrets. It’s one of those things in life I love. It makes me more of who I am,” Worden said.

At the audition, his nerves were getting the better of him. However, his belt song, Luck Be a Lady Tonight, was indeed a lucky break.

In the musical, Worden’s big song challenge is With Every Breath I Take, a duet sung with Monica Roberts.

“What I sing and what Monica sings are two different songs pushed into one. We have different melodies, different timing and it makes it difficult to sing. We both had trouble getting the emotion, but it’s turned into one of the most beautiful in the show.”

Former St. Albert triple threat Veronica Masik is part of the Angel City 4, a tight four-woman chorus that carries the action.

“Everyone talks about how Sondheim is hard to sing, but jazz is infinitely harder,” she said.

Each chorus member sings different chords and lines. The melody, at times discordant, emerges from the weaving of four parts.

“The rhythms are hard. The notes are hard, and it’s been quite a beast to tackle. Rhythmically speaking, the music is different from anything I’ve sung before. But everyone has risen to the occasion.”

Mah agrees.

“It’s fantastic music with fabulous singers and actors and the audience will be entertained.”