reviews of "Music Of Lightfoot" musical

[crashman]

from Campbell Webster - Charleottetown P.E.I. :
Campbell just sent this to me:

>>> LIGHTFOOT REVIEW
>>>
>>> You know that awful feeling where you find yourself at a movie, play,
>>> speech etc. and you can't figure out the what the fuddle-duddle is
>>> going on? Secretely you're thinking, "Am I the only stupid person in
>>> this room?" or "Should I be taking more Ginko Bilboa?"
>>>
>>> I had that feeling at the Confed Centre's production of If You Could
>>> Read my Mind, the Music of Gordon Lightfoot. The problem is my answer
>>> to the question in the title is, "No, actually, I can't read your
>>> mind." - in this case the minds of the shows co-creators, Michael
>>> Lewis MacLennan and Duncan McIntosh.
>>>
>>> The sweet wind that is blowing through the Confed Centre these days
>>> is in part powered by a willingness to take chances, and expand the
>>> Centre's artistic horizons. Such an approach necessarily means that
>>> you blow right past your audience on occassion, a challenge that the
>>> Lightfoot show, at least now, is facing.
>>>
>>> At the show's core is a beautiful concept that is not easily devined
>>> by the audience: The five performers are given the character names,
>>> The Lover, The Philosopher, The Mother, The Creator, and The
>>> Troubador. These names are so chosen to indicate distinct thematatic
>>> groupings of Lightfoot's songs - and each of the actors performs songs
>>> consistent with their character name. But you wouldn't know it, even
>>> after reading the program, unless you had it explained to you.
>>>
>>> Also hard to understand are the montages, dances, interplay etc. that
>>> the performers engage in while performing 27 of Lightfoot best
>>> material. MacLennan and MacIntosh are reaching for something here,
>>> finding stage dramas, theatrical narrative where none existed in the
>>> first place. And while much of Lightfoot's work is based on story,
>>> this particular construct does not quite take, at least overtly. At
>>> present the story suggested by the five musicians onstage
>>> relationships only works, at best, on an intuitive level.
>>>
>>> This production could get a lot more bang for its creative buck if
>>> the audience was somehow let in on the conceptual core of the show.
>>> Perhaps supplementary Director's Notes is the answer - much as the
>>> storyline of opera is either previously known or supplied to audience
>>> members in their programs.
>>>
>>> In a way, none of this really matters - if all you want is great
>>> performances of great songs. Here Lightfoot works wonderfully, with
>>> the five musicians/singers performing the Lightfoot tunes with gently
>>> offered acoustic sounds and inventive, sometimes startling
>>> arrangements. "Sundown" is a once such number, where earthy
>>> percussion, and a crackling blend of harmonies and instruments brings
>>> a communal exuberance to the house.
>>>
>>> For this reason, this show is very enjoyable; and if you are a
>>> Lightfoot fan, you will likely love this show. The directorial
>>> choices around story and character may yet add even more to this
>>> show. For now, though, you'll need to bring a crystal ball with you.
>>> Or read this review - and realize you're not as dumb as you think


"Char" <lightfootfan@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:LVHV8.1970$rdy.1781@news01.bloor.is.net.cable .rogers.com...
> from the Toronto Star - Sid Adilman
>
> Not good to be Charlottetown bound
> Festival offers weak Lightfoot tribute and Anne that needs work
> By Sid Adilman
>
>
> CHARLOTTETOWN EVERYTHING OLD is new again at this year's
Charlottetown
> Festival.
>
> Gordon Lightfoot, Anne of Green Gables and World War I entertainment
> troupe The Dumbells are on the bill - but none of them in person.
>
> If You Could Read My Mind: The Music Of Gordon Lightfoot, the
> festival's only new show of the season, is a 110-minute review of 28 of
his
> songs performed by a five-person cast who all play guitars, often at the
> same time. It runs at the festival's cabaret theatre all summer.
>
> It's very clever of Duncan McIntosh, the festival's new artistic
> director, to fashion a show from the lyrics and music of Canada's premiere
> contemporary-era songwriter.
>
> This is the first time Gordon Lightfoot's work has been put on a
> theatre stage, but if you are going to do him, you either take your cue
from
> his lyrics and present the wistful, poignant, world-weary troubadour who
> regrets lost loves and admits that he has seen better days and hopes they
> will come again.
>
> Or you could re-interpret well-travelled Lightfoot for a new
> generation and plumb new meanings.
>
> McIntosh and show's co-creator, Michael Lewis Maclennan, have
managed
> the unimaginable, considering this most gifted songwriter.
>
> They have assembled a lineup of songs (no dialogue) that are sung
> shrill and rushed, most of them without emotion and often drowned out by
the
> plunking guitars. Almost every song ("Alberta Bound" and "Sundown" to cite
> just two of them) sound the same and are performed without character. Only
a
> few numbers, such as "Early Morning Rain" and "If You Could Read My Mind,"
> work because they are done as imperfect and close imitations of
Lightfoot's
> own renditions.
>
> The cast seems not to have been chosen at all for their singing
> ability. And I always wonder, with shows like this, why the boys are cuter
> than the girls.
>
> If there is a stage show to be created from Lightfoot's songs, this
is
> not it.
>
>
>
>

[char]

from Campbell Webster - Charleottetown P.E.I. :
Campbell just sent this to me:

>>> LIGHTFOOT REVIEW
>>>
>>> You know that awful feeling where you find yourself at a movie, play,
>>> speech etc. and you can't figure out the what the fuddle-duddle is
>>> going on? Secretely you're thinking, "Am I the only stupid person in
>>> this room?" or "Should I be taking more Ginko Bilboa?"
>>>
>>> I had that feeling at the Confed Centre's production of If You Could
>>> Read my Mind, the Music of Gordon Lightfoot. The problem is my answer
>>> to the question in the title is, "No, actually, I can't read your
>>> mind." - in this case the minds of the shows co-creators, Michael
>>> Lewis MacLennan and Duncan McIntosh.
>>>
>>> The sweet wind that is blowing through the Confed Centre these days
>>> is in part powered by a willingness to take chances, and expand the
>>> Centre's artistic horizons. Such an approach necessarily means that
>>> you blow right past your audience on occassion, a challenge that the
>>> Lightfoot show, at least now, is facing.
>>>
>>> At the show's core is a beautiful concept that is not easily devined
>>> by the audience: The five performers are given the character names,
>>> The Lover, The Philosopher, The Mother, The Creator, and The
>>> Troubador. These names are so chosen to indicate distinct thematatic
>>> groupings of Lightfoot's songs - and each of the actors performs songs
>>> consistent with their character name. But you wouldn't know it, even
>>> after reading the program, unless you had it explained to you.
>>>
>>> Also hard to understand are the montages, dances, interplay etc. that
>>> the performers engage in while performing 27 of Lightfoot best
>>> material. MacLennan and MacIntosh are reaching for something here,
>>> finding stage dramas, theatrical narrative where none existed in the
>>> first place. And while much of Lightfoot's work is based on story,
>>> this particular construct does not quite take, at least overtly. At
>>> present the story suggested by the five musicians onstage
>>> relationships only works, at best, on an intuitive level.
>>>
>>> This production could get a lot more bang for its creative buck if
>>> the audience was somehow let in on the conceptual core of the show.
>>> Perhaps supplementary Director's Notes is the answer - much as the
>>> storyline of opera is either previously known or supplied to audience
>>> members in their programs.
>>>
>>> In a way, none of this really matters - if all you want is great
>>> performances of great songs. Here Lightfoot works wonderfully, with
>>> the five musicians/singers performing the Lightfoot tunes with gently
>>> offered acoustic sounds and inventive, sometimes startling
>>> arrangements. "Sundown" is a once such number, where earthy
>>> percussion, and a crackling blend of harmonies and instruments brings
>>> a communal exuberance to the house.
>>>
>>> For this reason, this show is very enjoyable; and if you are a
>>> Lightfoot fan, you will likely love this show. The directorial
>>> choices around story and character may yet add even more to this
>>> show. For now, though, you'll need to bring a crystal ball with you.
>>> Or read this review - and realize you're not as dumb as you think


"Char" <lightfootfan@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:LVHV8.1970$rdy.1781@news01.bloor.is.net.cable .rogers.com...
> from the Toronto Star - Sid Adilman
>
> Not good to be Charlottetown bound
> Festival offers weak Lightfoot tribute and Anne that needs work
> By Sid Adilman
>
>
> CHARLOTTETOWN EVERYTHING OLD is new again at this year's
Charlottetown
> Festival.
>
> Gordon Lightfoot, Anne of Green Gables and World War I entertainment
> troupe The Dumbells are on the bill - but none of them in person.
>
> If You Could Read My Mind: The Music Of Gordon Lightfoot, the
> festival's only new show of the season, is a 110-minute review of 28 of
his
> songs performed by a five-person cast who all play guitars, often at the
> same time. It runs at the festival's cabaret theatre all summer.
>
> It's very clever of Duncan McIntosh, the festival's new artistic
> director, to fashion a show from the lyrics and music of Canada's premiere
> contemporary-era songwriter.
>
> This is the first time Gordon Lightfoot's work has been put on a
> theatre stage, but if you are going to do him, you either take your cue
from
> his lyrics and present the wistful, poignant, world-weary troubadour who
> regrets lost loves and admits that he has seen better days and hopes they
> will come again.
>
> Or you could re-interpret well-travelled Lightfoot for a new
> generation and plumb new meanings.
>
> McIntosh and show's co-creator, Michael Lewis Maclennan, have
managed
> the unimaginable, considering this most gifted songwriter.
>
> They have assembled a lineup of songs (no dialogue) that are sung
> shrill and rushed, most of them without emotion and often drowned out by
the
> plunking guitars. Almost every song ("Alberta Bound" and "Sundown" to cite
> just two of them) sound the same and are performed without character. Only
a
> few numbers, such as "Early Morning Rain" and "If You Could Read My Mind,"
> work because they are done as imperfect and close imitations of
Lightfoot's
> own renditions.
>
> The cast seems not to have been chosen at all for their singing
> ability. And I always wonder, with shows like this, why the boys are cuter
> than the girls.
>
> If there is a stage show to be created from Lightfoot's songs, this
is
> not it.
>
>
>
>

[Brian 57]

At least they didn't attempt to dramatize The Wreck with a rowboat for the Fitz and some firehoses for the storm.

[ANDY A]

I attended this performance and personally found it very enjoyable and very easy to follow. The actors performances were very well done. Some of the guitar playing was so similar to Gord's you would swear it was him up there! Out of the 27 songs performed i was only dissapointed by one. I personally found that "Sundown" could have been done better. Other than that i found this performance very entertaining!

[Stew]

I attended this performance and personally found it very enjoyable and very easy to follow. The actors performances were very well done. Some of the guitar playing was so similar to Gord's you would swear it was him up there! Out of the 27 songs performed i was only dissapointed by one. I personally found that "Sundown" could have been done better. Other than that i found this performance very entertaining!