 |
| Emma Slipp |
My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Un-photographable
Yet, you're my favorite work of art
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine, stay
Each day is Valentines Day
Lorenz Hart/ Richard Rodgers
Tonight I attended the opening night performance of Aaron
Bushkowsky’s play Farewell My Lovely based on Raymond Chandler’s 1940 novel of
the same name. My companion was Ruth Brooks, my sister-in-law from New Dublin,
Ontario who has not gone to a play in many (many) years. The performance was
directed by Craig Hall at the Arts Club Theatre’s Granville Island Stage and
they co-produced it with Calgary’s Vertigo Theatre.
A punctilious theatre critic (I am neither just an avid
blogger and theatre aficionado) would crucify Aaron Bushkowsky who tinkered
with Chandler’s minimal dialogue. In fact in the novel one of the cops who
manhandles our flawed dick is given the nickname of Hemingway to the utter
non-comprehension of the so-named.
Bushkowsky has simplified the plot so there is a tad less
left to the imagination. But any play that may bring our youth to an awareness
of Raymond Chandler can do no wrong especially when you can add to it a few
more very nice things.
Consider that Stephen Hair who plays slightly dense cop
Nulty reminded me of Trevor Howard.
He drinks.
He drinks.
Consider that Anthony F. (could that be Fitzgerald?)
Ingram plays two parts, Marriot an over-the-top ponce, and Amthor a slippery spiritualist.
He drinks.
He drinks.
Consider that Emma Slipp who plays Annie Riordon and Jamie Konchak as Helen Grayle can not only
act but also display stuff that were I a much younger man I would have had
the same problem as that man with the pistol in his pocket. As Mae West said:
Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they
won't be avoided.
Consider that the above two women can sing very well and
do so. I particularly loved Slipp’s smoky voice.
They both drink.
While I was living in Mexico a Mexican (naturally) told me, "I love those stockings with seams in the back. You start at the bottom and follow the line all the way up to the top." I would cross legs with either of these women anytime.
They both drink.
While I was living in Mexico a Mexican (naturally) told me, "I love those stockings with seams in the back. You start at the bottom and follow the line all the way up to the top." I would cross legs with either of these women anytime.
Consider that Bushkovsky goes on a limb and makes Moose
Malloy, a black man in the presence of Beau Dixon. Farewell My Lovely, the novel
has language about black people that is not politically correct. The novel’s
Malloy wreaks havoc at an all-black night club. This is minimized in the play. Can Chandler be sanitized? Perhaps.
Consider that Jessie Florian (the ultimate Chandler dipso expertly played by luscious Lucia Frangione) is unable to get on with the 12-step program because of terminal circumstances beyond her control.
She drinks.
Consider that Jessie Florian (the ultimate Chandler dipso expertly played by luscious Lucia Frangione) is unable to get on with the 12-step program because of terminal circumstances beyond her control.
She drinks.
Consider that Graham Percy, tonight’s Philip Marlowe had
to fit the shoes of the likes of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert
Montgomery, James Garner, Elliot Gould and Robert Mitchum. He was none of them.
But he was a tad less (for a change) hard-boiled (3 minutes 45 seconds perhaps?) and thus
easier to like.
He drinks lots and lots.
He drinks lots and lots.
Consider that tonight I overheard three people asking,
“Have you seen the Robert Mitchum version?”
Of that latter consideration I can only assert (with one
qualification that Charlotte Rampling somehow makes up for the omission) that the 1975 film does away completely with Emma Slipp’s part as Annie
Riordon. I do have one puzzle in my mind, the novel’s Anne clearly tells
Marlowe, “Don’t call me Annie). Why would Bushkowsky change her name from
Riordan to Riordon? Perhaps it is only a program typo. Does that make me
punctilious?
But any play that features one of my all-time favourite
jazz standards (I have about 15 versions with Gerry Mulligan with Chet Baker or
Art Farmer) My Funny Valentine with a trumpet version by Chet Baker has to
merit high points for me.
Would I be that punctilious theatre critic (I assert
again that I am neither) I would simply write my review in two sentences (and this is
not a spoiler alert):
Dumb dick falls for the wrong girl.
Deitra Kalyns (costume designer) blué dress, I almost died when I saw Slipp wearing it.
Deitra Kalyns (costume designer) blué dress, I almost died when I saw Slipp wearing it.
 |
| Marco Soriano & Emma Slipp April 8 2015 |