Do you want what I have got? A Craigslist Cantata; Witty Cyber Hi-jinx at the NAC.

Bree Greig  Photo: Barbara Gray

Fans of the Cantata singers of Ottawa might wonder what the relation is between Craigslist and their own style of singing and musical accompaniment but they should be reassured that this is much closer to Cabaret . This collage of musical numbers that work to different degrees, brings together various popular rhythms , dance music, Kurt Weill ”ish” sounds of discordant and dramatic moments, musical parody and a lot more. A generally good musical score underlies this quirky musical event bringing to life a musical and physical interpretation of the nature of that web site that advertises everything, that seeks anything at all . It accumulates ads and letters that don’t connect, that don’t allow for any kind of traditional dramatic thread. In other words, at first glance it all appears to be pure chaos, projecting a cyber-microcosm of people searching for everything and anything and then wondering if anyone is listening, or if anyone cares! At least the musical plays heavily on that theme. Each musical number is an independent moment of its own and each number stands alone, some more strongly than others. Each one reveals the most intimate needs of the voices on line, transformed into musical sound expressing the most intimate desires, the most special lifestyles, the most inhabitual objects one searches for or needs to get rid of. And it all moves about on Robin Fisher’s set that shows rows of compartments along the back, representing the many categories that construct the site in space.

The fun part of it comes when the content of the Craigslist style ad is expanded into witty songs and dances that suggest the background of the ad, while the musical style usually contradicts the content so the whole event becomes a parody, based on a constant disruption of meaning at all levels . A form of excitement that only works for a few minutes so luckily the numbers do not last too long. Suddenly the next performer blurts out his/her ad and we are off on the following adventure, waiting for the next “high” to get us going again. .

Thus, it works because the performers and very good , the music is often excellent, the choreography adds to the fun and the songs project a strange sort of tension, associated with a society of people who are seeking some sort of connection with a world where they are not particularly happy.

Certain voices emerge. The most powerful musical and dramatic presence was the blond Bree Greig who set off musical theatre fireworks whenever she bounced into view, especially in the number when she becomes the young urban girl trying to share her flat. The list of unacceptable applicants  runs on and on as she tells those people “don’t call”. I could hear K. Weil in that number and it worked beautifully. That was one of the  strongest moments in the show. However, each performer had a different personality .and each personality was given appropriate material. Selina Martin brought a more simmering, personality to her various characters . She also kept popping up as the authoritative voice that had to correct bad English. A good caricature of a puritan attack on the exploding rules of cyber language that no one seems to really care about. Pianist Marguerite Witvoet created her own hypnotic world around her piano which was so strong I felt at times she should be performing her own show. Both Qaskim Khan and  Dmitry Chepovetsky brought in their talents as fine actors. Dmitry  flipped from macho man to the sermon-like number by an atheist who wants to care for your pets after you have been removed from this world. Witty, jumpy, a parody of people who will do anything for their pets that linked up to the relationship between religion and our everyday lives. Such subject matter might have been treading on slippery ground here for some people but in fact, the whole show is actually very innocuous . Nothing is outrageous at all, nothing is shocking, nothing is subversive, and it does not go overboard. It always remains polite, balanced . Perhaps that is one  thing that took the spicy sting out of the show!

An amusing evening of theatre for those who are obsessed with such websites. They will immediately catch the unhinged links between everything. However, for the rest of us, this is certainly not a typical evening of musical theatre, and yet, one might even consider that a relief. .

Do you want what I have got? A Craigslist Cantata. Plays in the Studio until November 22, 2014.

Do you want what I have got? A Craigslist Cantata

By Veda Hille, Bill Richardson and Amiel Gladstone

Acting up Stage Company, and Factory Theatre Production

Directed by Amiel Gladston

Music composed by Veda Hille

Choreographer    Monica Dottor

Set and cosumtes  Robin fiscner

Lighting  Kimberly Purtell

CAST

MALE 1     Dmitry  Chepovetsky      `

FEMALE 2 Bree Greig

FEMALE 1 Selina Martin

MALE 2   Quasim Khan.