Pull up your spats and dust off your pillbox hat: The Andrews Brothers is on at The Gladstone Theatre
The Andrews Brothers is only playing at The Gladstone until Saturday August 14th, and you’d be a fool to miss it. In the words of the show’s director Andy Massingham, “It’s a madcap romp, as light as a soufflé… pure escapist summer fun”.
And he’s right! But it’s also so much more than that.
Director Andy Massingham, sat down to gush about the comedy and talk Ottawa theatre with Emma Godmere:
The Andrews Brothers, by playwright Roger Bean, pays homage to the real life sister act The Andrews Sisters, who were a close-harmony singing group that entertained extensively to Allied forces during World War II. In Bean’s narrative, The Sisters fall ill at the last minute and are unable to perform, so three male stagehands, enamoured with the sister’s act, allow themselves to be coerced into cross-dressing and replacing them. Hilarity ensues.
The 1st Act is all about getting to know the 3 stagehands, Max, Lawrence and Patrick Andrews, along with pin-up girl Peggy Jones who was slotted as the opening act. This is the Act where every woman in the audience falls in love with the stuttering Patrick (David daCosta), who could likely act without a body for the rest of his life, as his face registers every emotion known to man – and in the most adorable of ways. For the fellas in the house, there’s Peggy Jones (Emmanuelle Zeesman) whose giddying costume changes, and sexy 40’s starlet stagger will have you won over before she even opens her mouth – and that girl has pipes!
The 2nd Act is where this cast really turns up the heat though, and the humour! In the 20-minute intermission, these 3 young actors are ridiculously transformed into the Andrews Sisters. The varying ways they handle this transformation brings down the house for the whole act until its culmination, whereupon everyone was on their feet.
Lawrence (Adrian Zeyl) couldn’t look more like a fish out of water in stockings and heels if he tried, which is funny in and of itself, but this really is Max’s (Kodi Cannon) Act. He is so good at playing a woman (even with a bum foot), and his instincts are so bang on, that its quite literally hard to take your eyes off him, even as Zeesman’s hems move up and her necklines down.
I saw the show on opening night, so there were still some snags to be worked out, but the cast appear to be such seasoned improvisers, that even when something went wrong, they turned into a positive, allowing the audience to laugh not just at the characters, but with the performers themselves. This might be the reason why when asked if 2 audience members would be willing to join in on the act, so many hands shot up, and the lucky chosen ones literally ran down to the stage. The following number had the audience in stitches, and the 2 audience members played along so well, I had to ask director Andy Massingham afterwards whether they were plants (they weren’t).
This is a unique night out for Ottawa audiences. From the time you walk through the door (all the staff, and many of the audience were dressed up in period costume as well), to the way Andy has so warmly directed the performers to include the audience as part of the cast and their dilemmas, you’re inspired into complete escape for an evening – what a delight! So comfortable and tight-knit did the audience feel, that some were breaking into song along with the actors – which if anything was encouraged.
If you haven’t been paying attention, 40’s music and fashion are making a comeback! The audience was packed (it was a sold-out house) with people from ages 8 to 88, tapping their wing tips, and covering their laughter with gloved hands. So pull up your spats, dust off your pillbox hat, and get ready to skedaddle from this century into last’s for a truly rare night out!
Video by Kevin Burton
Tags: 40s music, The Andrews Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, The Gladstone Theatre, theatre in Ottawa
August 13th, 2010 at 7:01 am
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