Fortune Falls: a stunning production with a lost soul

As patrons walk in the Maclab Theatre to see Fortune Falls, Catalyst Theatre’s latest musical meditation, a thick veil of man-made fog hangs in the air.

It’s a subtle hint that clarity will not come easily – either for the protagonist or the audience.

Suddenly, without warning the lights are killed. In the dark, the sound of huge metal gates clang shut, exploding like a hand grenade. A few audience screams penetrate the darkness and quickly the lights are flipped on.

The five-member cast strides on stage singing in ghostly echoes and moving with the sharp physicality of puppets manipulated by an invisible puppeteer.

Without a doubt the first elements one notices are Laura Krewski’s stunning choreography, Kerem çetinel’s striking lighting design and eccentric props, Matthew Skopyk’s score and sound design, and Megan Koshka’s whiz-bang costumes.

Within the first five minutes, the blue-collar folks recall the glory days of their town, Fortune Falls, whose heartbeat is synchronized to the pulse of Mercey Chocolate Factory.

Initially, the delectable confection’s success brings great prosperity to the town. However, Mercey’s modern-day CEO owes his allegiance to profit over people, and shuts the confectionary plant putting hundreds out of work.

From his youngest days as a child, Everett Liddleman dreamt of working at the factory. It is a place to park his hopes, fantasies and roots.

Every week for two years he applies for a job at Mercey’s. One unbelievable day, he receives a letter of acceptance.

Convinced the factory is reopening, Everett cycles to the factory. On his ride up a hill, a white stag crosses his path.

But unlike the Patronus white stag in the Harry Potter series that saves the young magician’s life, this stag is a warning of ominous things to come.

After receiving admittance past Mercey’s great copper doors, Everett learns he is hired as the lone security guard to patrol the shadowy site.

The irony is that although Everett wants to be part of the factory’s great hum of activity, its people are now mere phantoms and the machines are shuttered, rusting discards.

His dream of a thriving future is destroyed and his mind starts to teeter as long-gone spirits and life-size animals pop in and out.

At this point the musical allegory gets fuzzy as Everett undergoes a personal journey that breaks him before he can be rebuilt whole once more.

Writer-director Jonathan Christenson (Vigilante, Nevermore, Hunchback), with assistance from co-writer Beth Graham, has developed a musical production with all the hallmarks of Catalyst’s signature works – powerful visual images, stylized physical movement, a high-energy, percussive score and a well-researched script.

And the five-person cast led by Daniel Fong as Everett, are dynamic artists who shift seamlessly through a dozen characters with ease.

Fong captures the innocence and idealism of every young person searching for their place in the world. As Everett’s mother, Jamie Tognazzini is utterly charming coming across as both loving yet utterly lost.

Shannon Blanchet is a sassy dynamo and cradles the audience in the palm of her hand as clickety-clack, stiletto-walking personal assistant Evelyn Frost while Graham Mothersill is every inch the impresario styled patriarchal founder Emerson Mercey.

Braydon Dowler-Coltman truly shines as the flamboyant Franklin, the factory’s modern day CEO, an embodiment of corporate greed. You just love to hate Franklin as he screams at Everett, “Mercey doesn’t owe you a job and it sure doesn’t owe you a dream.”

The factory closure is an issue that connects us in every way, whether it’s about chocolates, automobiles or textiles. And with the plummeting oil prices, it particularly strikes at the heart of Alberta.

But despite all the amazing elements, the musical suffers from a lack of soul, the main ingredient that makes us care about Everett and his situation. Fortune Falls is very showy and perhaps it’s the flash that creates emotional distance.

However, despite the darkness pervading the script, it ends on a hopeful note reminding us tomorrow is another day.

Fortune Falls continues playing at the Maclab Theatre until Sunday, Feb. 5.