[mplpost] The Stan Show

[Richard Flohil]

I know I'm a bit late on this, but a nickel's worth is maybe in order.
	I first saw the show last summer in Orangeville, and I just hated
it. Full of "acting" - studied, over-rehearsed "bits", lots of unecessary
movement hither and yon across the stage, a huge messy set, overdone
lighting effects, and (heaven help us!) audience singalongs to boot. I
couldn't wait to get outta there.
	I went, at Jim Betts' invitation, because I was interested in
getting the publicity job for the show; I politely bowed out of the
running, suggesting that in its present form the show would bomb in
Toronto, especially because what you really have to do is impress half a
dozen people (the newspaper critics) and if you fail at that, you fail
overall.
	Once again, I was invited to the opening in Toronto, this time by
the nice people who did get hired to do the publicity.  It was a MUCH
improved show; the singing was better, the set simpler, and the brief (new)
explanations of who Stan was and why his music was so important were brief
and to the point (and, let's face it, necessary since most people - and
it's their loss - have not the foggiest idea who Stan was).  Best of all,
the songs were front and centre, and I was surprised how often I heard new
things in songs that have been familiar to me for years.  More than once
tears started, more than once memories - of festival workshops, airport
encounters, Toronto Folk Festival meetings,the Groaning Board - came
flooding back.
	The publicists did a sterling job of setting up the show, with
major Globe and Star features on Stan.  And then the critics came, and,
unimpressed, wrote lukewarm reviews.  One said there wasn't enough "acting"
and that it was like a concert, but she couldn't hear the words (where the
hell was she sitting?  in the washroom?)...
	And here you are.  The show is up against everything from Caribana
to the Lion King, from nearby festivals to monster shows at the Molson
Ampitheatre.  Surely summer is the last time of year to put anything
thoughtful and emotional on a stage in this City!  The Drabinsky-fication
of entertainment in this city - spend millions and they will come, and they
will pay the outlandish marketing costs - has hurt all the smaller shows,
which have to carry enormous advertising and promotional costs (and pass
them on to the ticket buyers).
	And so "the Stan show" will close, and I wouldn't be surprised if
the backers and producers lose, if not their underwear, at least major
parts of their shirts.
	What a pity.
	The handful of people on this list who have not seen the show ought
to go.  They ought to support a brave (if flawed) venture.  They should do
this not out of duty, but because they will get their money's worth.  And
the whole show should certainly get wrapped up and sold to the National
Arts Centre in Ottawa, and the regional theatres in Halifax and Winnipeg
and western Canada.  And it should, every ten years or so, get revived to
remind people about Stan - lovable, impossible, arrogant, bloody-minded,
bad-tempered, funny, and incredibly talented Stan - and about the music he
made which touches us all.

Richard


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