Jericho Arts Centre to June 23, 2024
Tickets from $15 (students with ID) at 604-224-8007 or www.unitedplayers.com
Posted June 2, 2024
I saw the Touchstone Theatre world premiere of Dorothy Dittrich’s When We Were Singing back in 1995 and have often wondered why it didn’t get picked up more often. That staging won three Jessie’s for Outstanding Musical Direction, Outstanding Ensemble Cast and the Sydney Risk Award for Outstanding Original Script from an Emerging Playwright. Buddies in Bad Times produced it in 2000 where it made the Toronto Star’s Top Ten of shows that year and it was mounted again in 2002 at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre and Victoria’s Belfry Theatre. Billed in New York as a “quirky Canadian-born new musical about neurotic gay friends and broken relationships”, When We Were Singing was also given a private workshop hearing in Manhattan that year, too. And then it seemed to disappear until now.
Under the artistic direction of Sarah Rodgers, United Players (in association with Touchstone Theatre) closes its terrific 2023-2024 season with Dittrich’s sung-through musical. Once again directed by Roy Surette, (about-to-retire artistic director of Touchstone) with the assistance of Laura Di Cicco, it’s great to see Dittrich’s work getting another go although Surette, in his program notes, warns “it’s somewhat of a period piece.”
Period piece notwithstanding, the music (under the musical direction of Christopher King) is still great, the Sondheim-like lyrics are sometimes punchy, sometimes heartbreaking, and despite being a non-professional company, this production is top-notch from the multi-platform set by Brian Ball lit by Brad Trenaman, to piano accompanist Gordon Roberts and the talented cast of four: Nevada Banks (Abby), Michael Briganti (Les), Rachel Kent (Jenny) and Viviana Renteria (Belinda).
Set in 1991 the story revolves around four, self-described “best friends” in their early thirties. Abby has a lover and “we get along pretty well.” Not much of a recommendation. Jenny and Belinda have just broken up; Belinda has taken to drink and Jenny to being sad. Les has lost his lover to AIDS. Their careers are not taking off, either.
Abby gets dumped, although she lies to her friends and says she was the one doing the dumping. Subsequently an error in judgement leads to a disruption in this foursome’s bestie status. Can they, will they, overcome it and get back on track?
When We Were Singing is a sung-through musical; that is, there is no dialogue, it is all sung so every song really counts and is critical to the story.
I confess to being not very good at catching lyrics; it’s hard work when the words rush by. And like Sondheim’s lyrics, Dittrich’s lyrics often go at a breakneck pace. Kent and Briganti are easier to understand in this respect although both characters have a more laid-back personality so their songs are less frantic, more poetic. When two or all four are singing together, the harmonies are sublime, breath-taking, heart-stopping. “In The Middle of the Night” is simply gorgeous and, alone, worth the price of admission (which is already the best in town). I could hear Banks, Briganti, Kent and Renteria sing it all night long.
The self-absorption of these characters is a bit hard to take in Act 1; but by Act 2 the story deepens and darkens – and so does the music. Long past my own thirties, I don’t really know how it is with the 30-somethings of today. I suspect that for most of them, hoping “love would find me and never let me go” is still uppermost in their minds. For those past thirty or maybe forty, maybe it’s climate change, wars and poverty that keep us up in the middle of the night.
From a recent interview, Dittrich, who now lives on Vancouver Island, has this to say about When We Were Singing, her first musical: “I would love the audience to feel a connection to the people and their stories — to what is being expressed: to remember that time if you were there, or be curious about it if you weren’t.”
The recipient of the 2022 Governor General’s Award for English-language drama for her play The Piano Teacher: A Healing Key, Dittrich is working on a new play and a musical so hopefully we will not have long to wait.