Auntie Cheryl’s “Emotional Medicine”

Director Cheryl Nembhard (second from left) with cast members Crileidy Liriano, Nichole Araya-Lentz, Natasha Araya-Lentz and Woodney Pierre

Playwright Cheryl Nembhard is passionate about reaching at-risk youth through the arts and there was plenty of passion on display last Monday when I attended a rehearsal of My Brother’s Keeper, premiering Thursday at the Music Hall Theatre.

Sparks fly between sons and the father (from left) George Franklin, Troy Crossfield and Paul Meisner

The show may be a gospel musical, but there’s drama to burn in the story about two brothers, one an ordained pastor and the other, a drug addict and criminal. Beneath the Cain and Abel story arc swirl sub-plots about marital discord, youth sexual abuse and the power of community.

Nembhard doesn’t believe in pulling her theatrical punches: “The storyline is very hard hitting,” she says. “I don’t sugar coat the issues.”

But neither is it preachy despite the fact that Nembhard herself is an ordained minister. “There’s no evangelizing,” says the writer/director, “we leave that to the church. Our message is, ‘You can make it, get up, move on, it’s not that bad.’ We just stay in the love part, there’s no condemnation.” READ MORE

Designing a Dream in High Park

Denyse Karn, above, has worked in Canadian theatre her entire adult life. She trained as an actor at Ryerson but gravitated towards costumes and eventually set design which is what she’s been doing for the last 20 years. And it’s what she was doing yesterday evening when we sat down to chat prior to the final dress rehearsal of The Winter’s Tale, this year’s Dream in High Park, produced by Canadian Stage.

“When you meet people who are still doing theatre in their 40s, you know they love it,” says Karn. “Because it’s not for the money. And it’s not for the short hours. To create magic and do this for a living is an honour. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

As we talked, Karn attached a comb to a head wreath that had been falling off during rehearsals. It was one of the finishing touches on a particularly lively production of a story that veers from the staid black and white world of Shakespeare’s fictional Sicilia to the flamboyant and colourful Bohemia. READ MORE

All Aboard For The Railway Children

Theatrical producer Rob Richardson isn’t shovelling coal when he says that Roundhouse Park is the best site in North America for the debut of British hit show, The Railway Children. With its turntable track changer and ample green space, Roundhouse Park has everything the play needed to permit the erection of a giant white tent into which an old-fashioned steam engine could be pulled and withdrawn at critical points during the show.

The train in question is a 200-plus year old locomotive nicknamed Vicky, which was shipped by sea from the U.K. to Montreal and then by truck to Toronto. Together with her coal tender, Vicky tips the scale at 86 tons, an incredible load for a site that stands directly above the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Sorting out the load-bearing capacity of the site was one of Richardson’s first orders of business when David Mirvish approached him last year about the possibility of bringing The Railway Children to Toronto. The show is part of the Mirvish subscription package but the company is not directly involved with the production of the show. Richardson’s company, Marquis Entertainment, was responsible for virtually all of the local logistics. READ MORE

Lion King’s Hometown Connections

Toronto’s connection with Disney’s The Lion King runs deep; the show had its Canadian premier at the Princess of Wales Theatre in April  2000 where it ran for nearly four years, and two local pros – Associate Director John Stefaniuk and Puppet Supervisor Michael Reilly (above) – have been helping to keep the touring show on the road for nearly a decade.

That’s a long time to work on a single project but both men insist that The Lion King’s spectacular staging (courtesy of director/creator Julie Taymor) and unrelenting schedule help to keep the work fresh, year after year. Stefaniuk travels the world checking in with seven productions running simultaneously on three continents. “It’s kind of like a bridge,” he says, “you finish one somewhere in the world, then it’s time to fly off and start one somewhere else.”

“It’s not just about seeing what’s wrong,” he adds. “It’s about inspiring people to bring out their best and being able to nurture and coax them to find qualities that maybe they didn’t know they had. I don’t want these shows to be replicas of each other, to be cookie cutter versions of the original. Each cast brings out unique qualities that only they have to give. It’s like being the captain of a ship and steering it in the best direction because there are lots of ways to get there.” READ MORE

Sweetheart Turns Museum Into Theatre

Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story has been packing the parlour of Spadina Museum where Toronto-based actress Denise Norman, above, is bringing Dean Burry’s biography of “America’s Sweetheart” to life. I was lucky enough to get a seat at yesterday’s sold-out matinee of the show. Norman, with the assistance of pianist Sherry Squires, sings her heart out as she traces the path of Toronto’s precocious and ambitious Gladys Smith who hightails it first to Broadway, where she adopts the Pickford stage name, and then to Los Angeles, where her gold curls and winning smile land her on top of the Hollywood heap.

When Pickford started in silent films in 1909, actors were not even identified in the credits; within a few years her star power was strong enough to see her name appear above the film title on theatre marquees — Pickford was the first actor to command a $1 million salary. She eventually married Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and the pair became Hollywood’s first and perhaps ultimate power couple. Together they forged United Artist Studios (with Charlie Chaplin and W.D. Griffith) and co-founded the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences. As Pickford (Norman) sings in the show’s theme song, “All my dreams were met.”

WHERE/WEHN: Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story at Spadina Museum (285 Spadina Road, 416.392.6910), Thursday thru Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm until February 27; tickets $17 – $20, advance reservations recommended.