PREVIEW
Love … Or Something Like It
Sturgeon Valley Theatricals
Saturday, Nov. 17, at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
St. Mathews Anglican Church
125 Larose Dr.
Tickets: $15 at www.eventbrite.ca
Ten years ago, the only game in town was the high-energy musical influence of St. Albert Children’s Theatre.
Five years ago, a group of dedicated community thespians banded together to form St. Albert Dinner Theatre, a performing arts company that dedicates itself to comedy.
Exactly one week from now, Sturgeon Valley Theatricals is launching their inaugural musical revue. Titled Love … Or Something Like It, the two-act show debuts on Saturday, Nov. 17, at St. Mathews Anglican Church.
For 15 years or more, mutterings about starting a non-profit adult musical theatre company for adults made the rounds. Little was done about those dreams until now.
It appears the St. Albert musical theatre scene has reached a tipping point. Young adult singer-actors are eager to re-enter the spotlight and are willing to carve out the time to create their own signature shows.
The idea for Sturgeon Valley Theatricals began germinating after Meredith McLeod Gagnon, a Grade 6 French and drama teacher at Leo Nickerson Elementary, met Rebecca McCauley, a freelance marketing and public relations officer, at a yoga class.
“I had done a lot of musical theatre growing up and I saw a lot of people in my sphere not doing it any longer. We wanted to create something that people could get back into without the long rehearsal hours required in Edmonton’s community theatres,” said McLeod Gagnon.
Through word of mouth six local singers jumped on board. The founding cast includes: Andrea Gammon, Carol Roberts, Judy Wynne, Naythan Berteotti, Nick Cross, McLeod Gagnon and McCauley. Dierdre Brown accompanies on piano.
The church hall is set up café style with tables that create a light, easy mood.
“For some of our cast, it’s the first time back, and this makes it a little less informal instead of having a spotlight on that creates pressure. It feels like Blue Chair Café,” noted McLeod Gagnon.
The entire revue is woven around a four-part narrative of love with a range of Broadway tunes to film scores running from the golden era of musicals to modern times.
“It starts with what love is, what people look for in love, the disappointments of love and we wrap it up with positively. You’ll feel the love when you leave.”
The intro is the all-encompassing Seasons of Love from the Broadway musical Rent. An all-cast number, it is sung in four-part harmony.
“It’s a song that fits well at the beginning because it’s a song about love – not romantic love – but knowing it’s part of the human condition.”
McLeod Gagnon gives Gershwin's Someone To Watch Over Me a remake while Naythan Berteotti belts the popular Who I’d Be from Shrek.
And as a tribute to three-time Tony nominee Marin Mazzie, who died of ovarian cancer in September, Andrea Gammon performs a Ragtime hit, Back To Before. Gammon was a longtime admirer of Mazzie, who was lauded for unforgettable performances in Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate and Stephen Sondheim’s Passion.
The revue closes with the barn-burner From Now On, a Hugh Jackman hit popularized in The Greatest Showman, a musical depicting the life of P.T. Barnum.
Once Love … Or Something Like It wraps up, organizers will plan a new show for March 2019. Anyone interested can contact Sturgeon Valley Theatricals Facebook page or email [email protected].
