No subject

[David Akin]

This review appeared in The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal under my byline on
Jan. 27, 1996.
 
REVIEW>Gunmetal Blues. By Scott Wentworth. Music and lyrics by Craig Bohmler
and Marion Adler. Directed by Mario Crudo. Sets by Tanit Mendez. Lights by
James Chalmers-Gow. At Magnus Theatre until Feb. 10, 1996.
 
If you had any doubts that the arts in Thunder Bay are being starved of the cash
needed to produce compelling wondrous pieces, look no further than  Magnus
Theatre's production of Gunmetal Blues, a dismal, dull skit with songs that
opened
Friday.
So far this season, Magnus has  gamely and successfully  stretched its
resources to
produce appealing plays.
But musicals can put a strain on a production company like no other genre.
If Aldermen Lorne Allard and Frank Pullia - the only two politicians I
spotted at last
night's opening - were as bored as the rest of Friday's audience seemed to
be,  they
need only know that all that is required to liven up such evenings is their
continued
support of the arts at city council.
Had Magnus Theatre artistic director Mario Crudo had a bigger budget, three
things
likely would have happened.
First, Magnus' annual musical offering might not have been the thinly written
Gunmetal Blues. It is a rarely performed piece written by three Canadians;
in other
words, Crudo likely got  it cheap.
As conceived by Scott Wentworth, Gunmetal Blues is a clumsy whodunit that begins
with the death of Adrian Wasp, the richest man in the unnamed metropolis the
play
is set in. Bourbon-guzzling gumshoe Sam Galahad is hired to find Wasp's daughter
Jenny.
Galahad once was in love with  Jenny, who, as it turns out,  may be
connected with
her father's death. Galahad's subsequent investigation is a meandering
pageant of
hackneyed detecctive-story characters.C
raig Bohmler's and Marion Adler's music and lyrics are dramatically disconnected
from the style and tone of Wentworth's book. Even worse, there isn't a good
tune in
the lot that can catch an audience's ear.
Had money been a problem in selecting the piece to be performed, Crudo might
have been better off with  Elise Dewsberry's one-woman musical comedy  Nine
Months or more musicals from Billy Bishop Goes to War creator John Gray.
Secondly, with more money, Crudo might have been able to consider performers
from a wider talent pool. A musical with three-people, such as Gunmetal Blues,
saves money, of course, because you don't have to pay more artists, but it
requires
performers who  are  versatile virtuosos.
Paula Boudreau, Danny Johnson, and Geoffrey Whynot  seem to be a willing team
but all had difficulty singing Bohmler's and Adler's challenging, dark score.
Finally, a bigger budget for Magnus' annual musical  would have given Crudo more
manpower and more time to develop the piece. Crudo's direction of  Bloody
Business earlier this season - which, like Gunmetal Blues, also spoofed a
genre -
was marked by a light touch and a sophisticated playfulness. In Gunmetal Blues,
Crudo seems not to have his heart in it. The staging is stodgy; the humor is
non-
existent; and the light touch seems a long way off.
Money will not solve all the problems of Thunder Bay's arts groups but Gunmetal
Blues makes the case that Magnus deserves a minimum level of public support.
Public support means ticket prices can be kept at reasonable levels while
artists gain
a certain measure of financial freedom to challenge, investigate and delight
through
their art, none of which Gunmetal Blues does.And without that public support, we
can only  expected more of these banal and unfunny works.
 
You may be interested to know that a letter to the editor was received
shortly after that review appeared. It read:
 
AFTER reading David Akin's ridiculous review of Magnus Theatre's Gunmetal
Blues, I had to ask myself whether he and I had seen the same play ("Magnus
detective spoof musical lacks magic, money and moxy" - Jan. 27).  I did not
appreciate him speaking for an entire audience with his assumption that we were
"bored". In my experience, rarely does a disinterested audience give such a
warm,
enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of a performance. Mr. Akin is
entitled to his
opinion - but not mine.
Mario Crudo did a wonderful job with a very interesting, unusual,
fast-moving play
and for this he should be highly commended.As for Mr. Akin - the only thing he
should be permitted to review is his job description.
LILLIAN DUPONT RUSSAK
Thunder Bay
 
David Akin                      jdakin at foxnet.net
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