Blackbird

I went to watch the play Blackbird on Wednesday night. Having just read the play a month or so ago, I had no idea it was even coming to town so was excited to see that it was. This was the story of the young 27 year old woman who confronts the now 55 year old man she had a sexual relationship with when she was 12 and he was 40. Yeah. If you're looking for some controversial and uncomfortable theatre in Vancouver, this is your current best bet.

I thought it was a great production, with two strong actors and a riveting storyline, which as previously noted when I had read the play, was sometimes a bit too sympathetic to the pedophile character and made me wonder just exactly where the writer was coming from and what his intentions were. The play manages to touch upon all the different facets of the situation: the hurt and chaos caused to the victim, the shame and aftermath of the pedophile's life once things come out in the open, both characters trying to move on, the seduction of the adult figure by the younger one, and the possible ongoing cycle of abuse in the adult's new life under a different name.

The East Van Cultural Centre, aka The Cultch, has been renovated so it was nice to see part of the new building. The play takes place in the back, as the main theatre isn't open yet. The only complaint was the heat in there! Somebody needed to put on the A/C!

Blackbird plays at the Cultch until March 29.

Jan Wong is Coming! Jan Wong is Coming!

The author of Red China Blues and the Globe and Mail column "Lunch With Jan Wong," will be coming to the Vancouver Public Library this Thursday night to do a reading from her latest book Beijing Confidential. Momma, Rick and I will be in attendance and we can't hardly wait!!

Bashir Lazhar

I went to the Pi Theatre production of Bashir Lazhar this past weekend, which is a one-man show starring David Marr who was downright excellent in it. For 65 minutes, he carried the entire show on his shoulders and was brilliant.

The play is the story of a substitute teacher who comes to Canada as a refugee from Algeria. He has to console a grade six class through a tragedy while at the same time dealing with his own personal tragedies that take place beyond the classroom.

Bashir Lazhar runs at Performance Works on Granville Island from now until March 21.

Seussical The Musical

What a holiday treat! A local production of the Broadway musical, Seussical, based on the stories of Dr. Seuss! What can I say? It was fun and a perfect night out for the whole family. There's even a special toddler night for those of you who have really little ones. This could be a great way to introduce the kids to live theatre, which I would totally do if I had kids of my own!

It's playing now until January 3 at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.

Master Debaters

I laughed for two hours straight last night when I went to a taping of CBC Radio's The Debaters.



Hosted by the very hilarious Steve Patterson, this radio program takes two comedians and pits them against each other over topics such as "Santa Claus: A Good or Bad Role Model for Children" to "Is Blogging a Waste of Time?" and "Home Theatre vs the Movie Theatre." We were lucky enough to catch the program, along with almost 300 other fans who lined up on a chilly December evening, when it rolled into town this week. They said they've never had such a large audience before, and managed to entertain us with the taping of not one, but THREE shows! That meant a total of six debates! One of the best ones of the night was a gay comic vs a lesbian comic fighting over the surprisingly serious topic of "Portrayal of Gays and Lesbians in the Media." In the end it was just a bunch of silly fun, with everyone in the audience clutching their sides at the hysterics. (Unfortunately, the show doesn't come in a podcast format due to copyright issues with the different comedians' material.) However, try to catch the show when it airs in the upcoming weeks on CBC Radio, you might hear me laughing somewhere in the distance!

You Could Say I'm Hard To Hold, But If You Knew Me You'd Know...

Last night's Jay Brannan concert was so beautiful in that stripped down, acoustic, intimate setting, casual and uber-talented kind of way. I can't think of a better way to follow up last month's huge arena spectacle that was Madonna.



Thank you Mr Jay Brannan for returning to our city. I was so pissed at myself for having missed out on his last show back in January. I'm so glad I was able to catch him this time around. He sang a blanket of songs including Soda Shop, Housewife, Half-Boyfriend, and a new one he penned with Margaret Cho - a little ditty about bringing peace to the world by giving great head - aptly titled Relax Your Necks! (My favourite lines include the "horses at the gate" and "my esophagus is lined with silk"!)

If you've watched his clips, you'll know he likes to talk quite a bit, which made the show that much more fun and interactive. If he comes to your town, do go see him as he seems to be so genuine and grateful to have an audience, as he deserves! It was like hanging out with an old friend - a hot gay one whose lap you just want to put your head on while he strums away on his guitar and serenades you all night!

It was also refreshing to attend a concert where there weren't 100 cell phones and digital cameras in the air snapping photos and recording the songs to be uploaded later that night to YouTube. But that said, I'm glad there are a few online that I can look for and recreate the evening that I had.

For an encore, he covered Jann Arden's Good Mother. This song has always touched me, but Jay Brannan's version was downright heartbreaking. His voice simply soars on it. There's a cleaned-up version he does on YouTube, but I prefer this live footage taken from Toronto - there's just something more given out at a live performance and this clip conjured up similar emotions for me like it did last night.

If You Want Me Let Me Know, Baby Let It Show...

And so last night was Madonna's first touch-down in Vancouver, ever, and the 60,000 fans who packed the stadium to see her erupted in a sea of screams when the lights finally went out just before 9:30pm.

The floor seats I had were at first spectacular, but when everyone crowded the aisles in front of us, it got to be a bit annoying. There was no control whatsoever by the staff there, and they expect to hold the 2010 Olympics in here? Have fun!!

The ONE person in our section who stood on a chair happened to be RIGHT IN FRONT of me! She was this 3"4 woman so I couldn't really blame her, but Really? She wasn't even from our section! She had snuck up from behind with the 500 other people. And stood up on a seat that wasn't even her own. I managed to poke my head through little gaps in the crowd to see the stage, but if my view had been enetirely blocked by her, you KNOW i would have kicked that chair out from under her!!!

Anyway, the highlight for me of the evening was her rockin' rendition of Borderline, which for me, gave it an angrier/hurt/urgent feel. I belted it out along with her, singing about a guy who just keeps her hanging, who sends her mixed signals, and even though she's given all she can, he just keeps on pushing her love "over the borderline..." I feel it, Madge. I feel it!

Another song that struck a chord with me (no pun intended, even though she totally picked up that damn guitar of hers AGAIN for this number) was Hung Up. A song about being hung up on a guy, waiting for him to call, tired of waiting around for him? Gee, sound familliar, Hot-Lunch?

Okay, in order, she did Candy Shop, coming out on a purple throne which my friends and I had already dismissed as a Gwen Stefani/Love Angel Music Baby rip-off. This was followed by another newbie, Beat Goes On, which included a cameo by a Rolls Royce being wheeled onto the stage.

Human Nature followed, with the much balley-hooed Britney Spears sequence in tow. Meah. Madonna just stood there with that goddamned guitar again. I wasn't sure if I should watch her or Britney, but neither were very interesting at this point.

Vogue was up next and it was frickin' awesome! Done to a Four Minutes mash-up, the new vogue dance moves were killer and I so need to learn them!

Costume change time, while we watched a Die Another Day montage featuring M in her boxing attire. I'm a sucker for video sequences like this. I could watch those all day long.

The next section was the funnest of the night, beginning with Into The Groove and including Keith Haring images in the background and some serious jump-roping and double-dutch! Heartbeat, one of my favourite songs from the new album, was next. "Hut hut, get down!" I hate that part of the song, but love it. Know what I mean?

Then Borderline, followed by She's Not Me which included four dancers dressed like old incarnations of Madonna. There was Express Yourself Madonna, Open Your Heart Madonna, Material Girl Madonna, and Like a Virgin Wedding Dress Madonna. The real Madonna proceeded to rip their costumes off them and shoving them aside, while literally proclaiming, "She's not me!" Sadly, I didn't notice the part where she and Pharell randomly shout out: "Wendy!"

Music was next, and I liked how it began as though they were all getting off a subway train. This song is overdone for me, having seen it performed for each of her last four tours! Hey Mr DJ, put the record down already!!! Put something else on for cryin' out loud!

Time for another interlude, with Rain mixed up with Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again. Random.

It was time to bring the mellow into the show, beginning with a beautiful performance of The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You which had Madonna shrouded in a black cloak for most of the song, atop a piano, behind a cylinder screen that had images of water being projected onto it. Spanish Lesson was next, and forgettable, much like the track itself. (Though I admit I like the "If you do your homework, maybe I will give you more" bit.)

Miles Away was amazing, with the whole stadium clapping along. La Isla Bonita, another overplayed song of hers, was redone gypsy style a la her Live Earth performance and it was pretty good. I wasn't paying too much attention during You Must Love Me. I think the chaos going on around me on the floor was distracting me at this point.

A little interlude about saving the Earth, followed by Four Minutes which is not a favourite of mine at all. The crowd went nuts for the raved-up version of Like a Prayer, immediately followed by Ray of Light. A singalong of Like a Virgin took the request part of the night. Personally I was hoping for Open Your Heart or Dress You Up - two songs I've yet to see her perform live in front of me. This final stretch kicked it all into high gear with the dance tunes, including the aforementioned Hung Up and the final song of the evening, Give It 2 Me. It was energetic but I'm not sure if people knew it since it doesn't get any radio airplay here!

In the end, I'm sure it was a very historic night for many a Vancouverite who were finally touched for the very first time! As for me, I got home at 1am, and was up at 5:30am to get ready for work. So, please forgive me any typos or lazy reviewing!!