David and Hannah Mirvish/Inside American Pie, created by Mike Ross and Sarah Wilson, music course and preparations by Mike Ross, CAA Theatre, closes Mar. 30. Tickets right here.
Right here’s a brand new phrase for you: Docu-concert.
Definition
The idea is the brainchild of Mike Ross, whom a few of you’ll know as Soulpepper’s long-standing music director. Docu-concert combines songs, (that’s the live performance half), with factual materials, (the documentary element). The latter can include, for instance, a mixture of biography, historical past, communal themes, philosophy or cultural mores, however its principal perform all the time is to offer context for the musical rating.
In brief, docu-concert is principally a mix of tune and story.
Clearly, a docu-concert ought to be entertaining. It’s a piece of theatre in spite of everything. Fortunately, Inside American Pie could be very pleasant and a pleasant solution to spend a night. At live performance’s finish, the enthusiastic viewers was actually brimming with love for Ross and his musical colleagues.
The Music
Inside American Pie, written by singer/songwriter Don McLean in 1971, was described by a music guru “as one of the crucial profitable and debated songs of the twentieth century”. At 8 minutes, 42 seconds, it is usually one of many longest.
Crucial to the tune is the repeated line, “the day the music died” that ends the refrain. This refers back to the 1959 airplane crash that killed comedy singer The Large Bopper, rising star Ritchie Valens, and a very powerful and influential of the three, rock ‘n’ roll innovator Buddy Holly.
The aircraft crash might have been the wellspring for McLean composing American Pie, however the tune goes far past that starting. McLean’s lyrics are crammed with opaque symbolism and obscure references, and it’s American Pie’s very ambiguity that should have impressed Ross and co-writer Sarah Wilson to create a docu-concert that centres on this enigmatic tune.
The narrative they normal is as fascinating because the songs are memorable. For instance, we be taught particulars about MacLean’s background, the aircraft crash, and the tradition of early rock ‘n’ roll, gilded with songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The Efficiency
The format for the night has Ross because the storyteller. He’s an amiable, informative and enthusiastic host who is raring to inform us all about American Pie. In actual fact, the analysis that Ross and Wilson do for his or her docu-concerts is monumental. No stone has been left unturned in an effort to uncover the mysteries of American Pie.
The construction of this docu-concert is constructed across the six verses of the tune.
After host Ross dissects/analyzes/edifies/interprets a verse of American Pie, he and his 4 glorious colleagues carry out a tune that was impressed by or provides context to that exact textual content. Of curiosity is the truth that singers Alicia Toner, Brielle Ansems and Greg Gale, together with drummer Kirk White are all from Prince Edward Island.
Whoops! We have now to pause right here to relay some necessary data.
Concord Home
In 2020, Ross, his spouse pianist/vocal coach Nicole Bellamy, and their two youngsters relocated to Prince Edward Island, the couple’s unique dwelling and homeland. Ross and Bellamy shocked themselves by shopping for an intimate 140-seat music corridor referred to as Concord Home the place they stage music theatre all through a lot of the 12 months (besides within the coldest months of winter).
Inside American Pie debuted in 2021 and continues to be a crowd pleaser. Ross and Wilson have additionally created docu-concerts about Leonard Cohen, rocks stars who died at age 27, and even one on Lucy Maud Montgomery.
The Music
The 4 islanders are immensely proficient. Whether or not singing solo or in concord, they, like Ross, play a plethora of devices as wanted. The ladies specifically have many voices, starting from a candy soprano to a uncooked Janis Joplin and the whole lot in between. Judging from Toner, Ansems, Gale and White, PEI has some very gifted musicians.
Which brings us to the glory of this docu-concert, and that’s Ross’ musical preparations.
Acquainted songs are elevated to the next aircraft by imaginative and shocking, even astonishing vocal traces and selection of devices. Ross even dares to have two contrasting songs sung on the identical time, placing Marty Robbins’ White Sport Coat with Pete Seeger’s The place Have All The Flowers Gone? collectively.
The Toronto Tour
How did this seminal Concord Home manufacturing find yourself on the CAA Theatre? The reply is pure serendipity.
Brian Sewell, Mirvish government producer, heard concerning the present from his brother who had seen it at Concord Home. In brief, Inside American Pie is having a Toronto run as a result of the Mirvish people know an excellent factor once they see it.
The one change is that Inside American Pie has been tarted up for the Toronto performances by A-team designers, with units by Lorenzo Savoini and lighting by Simon Rossiter.
In reality, the very participating docu-concert, Inside American Pie, might be seen as a present to Toronto from Prince Edward Island.
The one downer is you may’t get the rattling tune out of your head.
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Paula Citron is a Toronto-based freelance arts journalist and broadcaster who hosts her personal web site, paulacitron.ca. For over 25 years, she was senior dance author for The Globe and Mail, affiliate editor of Opera Canada journal, arts reviewer for Classical 96.3 FM, and dance previews contributor to Toronto Life journal. She has been a visitor lecturer for numerous cultural teams and universities, significantly on the function of the critic/reviewer, and has been a panellist on COC podcasts. Earlier than assuming a full-time journalism profession, Ms. Citron was a member of the drama division of the Claude Watson Faculty for the Arts.
