Reviews 2006
Reviews 2006
✭✭✭✭✩
by Eric Woolfe, directed by David Nairn
Theatre Orangeville, Opera House, Orangeville
December 1-23, 2006
’Twas the Life Before Santa
As Gregory Maguire did for the Wicked Witch of the West, so Eric Woolfe does for Santa Claus. Maguire’s 1995 novel, since turned into the hit musical “Wicked”, tells the story of Elphaba, the Witch of the West, from her birth until after Dorothy’s departure from Oz. Woolfe’s play, now receiving its world premiere at Theatre Orangeville, charts the life of little Nicky from when he’s sent to an orphanage until he finds his true love, sets up home at the North Pole and begins the traditions portrayed in Clement Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823). Woolfe’s play has the potential to become a popular seasonal entertainment. It has a clever story line, vivid characters and, when it finally gets going, it is exciting and funny. The main problem is that the show seems to take forever to get going, indeed, almost the entire first act.
By the end the question seemed to be why the second act was so good and the first frequently bordered on tedium. The most obvious answer is that by Act 2 all the exposition is over and Woolfe can focus on the action. The second answer is that in Act 2 Woolfe makes far less use of a narrator than in Act 1. While the narrator himself is a problem so is the narrator’s voice. The play begins with Knecht Ruprecht (played by Mike Nadajewski) entering dressed in Victorian garb but speaking in the colourful slang of American gangsters in 1930s and ‘40s pulp novels and Hollywood films. Immediately we are disoriented concerning the play’s time and place. Woolfe may have intended this effect but for a play meant for parents and children it starts the play off on the wrong foot. Much as I, too, am a fan of Hollywood gangster lingo, it has now become so archaic that few adults in the audience and none of the children are likely to know precisely what Ruprecht is talking about--rather a liability in a narrator. Since Act 2 shows that Woolfe doesn’t really need a narrator, it would be a help if he managed to do without one in Act 1.
After Ruprecht’s introduction, when Nicky and the girl Lucy are handed over to orphanage of St. John the Dwarf, we are treated to a long scene of the orphans singing Christmas carols. While it is nice for the community to incorporate the Theatre Orangeville Youth Singers directed by Joy Bell and Joan Borden into the production, the interlude means the show comes to a halt just when it should be building momentum. Before we have a chance to applaud the fine singers, Woolfe has the presiding nun Sister Pomeranski enter and berate the young people for their poor singing. This completely spoils the mood and it takes time for the show to recover. Woolfe obviously enjoys the figure of a misanthropic nun, but he dwells too long on a character unimportant in the overall story. Only when we move ten years ahead to see what has happened to Nicky and Lucy does it seem the action is finally under way.
Lucy has been adopted by a kindly old toymaker, Pop Hoffman, who has magical book, the Arthuricon, that holds the secrets of how to make all toys ever made or to be made. Nicky, meanwhile has taken up a life of crime and is now the world’s greatest cat burglar, Crimson Nick. Nick plans to steal Hofmann’s latest creation and the Arthuricon. In flashbacks we learn that at the orphanage Nick became acquainted with the Julenisser, the elves that live in the walls of buildings and steal anything that lies unattended. Nick learns their magic although the dying Julenisser queen thinks that her folk should give things to people rather than take them. Back in the present, the evil Ice Queen, who lives in a castle at the North Pole, has just learned of the Arthuricon and also plans to steal it and kidnap Hoffman in hopes that at least one of his toys can shake her out of her misery.
Eventually, Nick, Lucy and Ruprecht set out on a quest to the North Pole rescue Hoffman and the book. Along the way they meet such creatures as the Ice Queen’s minions, the squawking Gargravens, a set of argumentative conjoined trolls, a Dogman and the Bodach that guards chimneys. This highly entertaining quest takes up all of Act 2. If only Woolfe could tighten up Act 1, we could meet Act 2 with high hopes instead of apprehension.
The cast is uniformly strong and cleverly deployed in multiple roles. Darren Keay makes a dashing Crimson Nick, a suave 1940s-style criminal mastermind and poles apart from the repellant Dr. Kraus he plays at the start of the action. Douglas Chamberlain plays two endearing, elderly characters but manages to make them quite distinct. His Pop Hoffman is kindly and filled with enthusiasm. His Julebukk, the King of the Elves has a majesty tinged with melancholy. Mike Nadajewski is good as Knecht Ruprecht despite the accent and is very funny as one half of the conjoined trolls even though he confusingly uses the same accent. He is best as the strange Dogman the travellers encounter in the Mistletoe Forest through his hilariously accurate mimicry of our canine friends’ habits and ways of paying attention.
Among the women Janet Porter is an engaging Lucy, a plucky old-fashioned girl and such an extreme contrast with the child-hating Sister Pomeranki you’d never guess the same actor played both roles. Burgandy Code sharply differentiates her five roles lending grace to the dying elf queen Rikkenisser, making the evil Ice Queen into a comical cross between the young Judi Dench and Cruella De Vil. She uses an entirely different voice as the Bodach, a puppet creation so effective one wishes there were more of them in the show.
Among the young people Cameron Kennedy is quite remarkable as Rupie (the young Knecht Ruprecht). He speaks the convoluted 1940s gangster slang with understanding and has real presence as an actor. Aidan O’Brien and Hannah Manzi are well matched as the Young Nicky and Young Lucy, among other roles, and Elisabeth DuBois and Carleigh Knudson lend fine support in many small parts.
Steve Lucas’s clever, whimsical set allows for rapid changes of scene among such varied settings as the orphanage, the Mistletoe Forest, Ice Queen’s castle at the North Pole and the World In-Between where the Julenisser live. Vandy Simpson and Nancy Turner’s costumes are like storybook illustrations come to life especially for the more fantastic beings and Simon Day’s lighting enhances the mood of every scene. David Nairn’s pacing seems slow in Act 1 but reaches an exciting clip in Act 2. In one of the most memorable scenes, Nick holding Lucy and Rupie lays a finger aside of his nose and the cast’s miming plus Day’s tumbling lighting effects create an unexpected sensation of the three suddenly shooting upwards in the air.
On the whole, “’Twas” is an imaginative and enjoyable show. It has so much going for it as it is that I hope Woolfe will undertake revisions to tighten the action, make the language more accessible and thus realize the story’s full potential. Then “’Twas” may soon become a regular holiday treat.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Poster for ’Twas.
2006-12-27
’Twas