HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-09-13, Page 23The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom,the
runaway success of the Blyth
Festival last year and one of the most
notable successes in its recent
history is back.
Fresh off a run in Gananoque,
Stompin’ Tom is welcomed back to
the Festival for a two-week run at the
end of what artistic director Eric
Coates called “the season of
exceptional women”.
If the fifth show of the season
wasn’t about Stompin’ Tom
Connors, then the Festival might
have had a problem. However, they
picked a man who could single-
handedly carry the male contingent
of the season on his back, similar to
the “stompin’ board” he lugs on
stage for shows.
And they picked a Canadian man.
While Canadiana is at the core of the
Festival, it is Connors’s lifeblood.
The Man of the Land belongs in
Canada and he wouldn’t have it any
other way.
“You’re either Canadian, or you’re
not,” said Stompin’ Tom Connors,
backing up his protest of the Junos in
the 1970s.
This was a major reason why The
Ballad of Stompin’Tom was a perfect
fit for the Festival.
And while the show features a lot
of music, a dozen of Connors’s hits,
this is not a tribute show.
The show begins with a flash
vision of a young Tom and his
mother, then quickly gives way to an
announcer who introduces Tom and
gives us our first look at Randy
Hughson, who again, carries the
show on his back, as there are no
scenes without him on stage
somewhere.
When Hughson isn’t performing
as Connors, he sits perched on a
stool sitting on extreme ends of the
stage, watching. Or he could be
floating around the scene, filling in
the occasional line for his younger
counterparts, omnipotent in the
scene, but with feeling.
When young Tom experiences
pain, Hughson feels it, clear as day
on his face and when teenage Tom
tries desperately to find common
ground with his mother, the
desperation is written all over
Hughson.
In fact, the best scene of the play
takes place through a rift in time
between adult Tom and teenage
Tom, played by Clinton’s Sam
Sholdice.
After re-connecting with his
mother, Isabel, a teenage Connors
returns to her home for some beers,
dinner and a chance to get her caught
up on what he’s been doing for the
last decade since she’d seen him.
Connors pulls out his guitar to
answer his mother and timidly starts
playing. The chords are broken at
first and his voice crackles, but
Sholdice hits his stride when
Hughson, from his side-stage perch
joins the teenage Connors on stage.
The adult Connors slowly saunters
over to centre stage as his teenage
self turns around to face his future
and both play guitar in each others’
faces as they look into a mirror of
their past and present.
The play continues like this,
exploring Connors’s past in
orphanages, on farms and in bars
with his life being seamlessly
represented by three different actors
covering three different eras.
The play trades blows, alternating
between the hard-hitting drama of
Connors’s childhood and concert
narrative from the mouth of
Hughson. These changes in time are
perfectly transitioned by
percussionist Romano diNillo’s
drumstick dragging through the
chimes reminiscent of those
children's’ book/record
combinations of yesteryear with a
chime telling the reader when to turn
to the next page.
Director Coates wastes no time in
testing Hughson, having him
perform the beloved Connors
favourite Bud the Spud within
minutes of the lights going down.
This is where Hughson excels, as
on-stage Connors. Hughson nails the
concert banter, he is instantly
accepted as Connors, easily bought
as a man of the people and nails the
role all before strumming his first
note.
He sings like Connors, he plays
his own guitar (no faking) and hits
the stomp perfectly, which can be no
small task.
With such a tall order (acting,
singing, playing, and stomping all
while keeping in character) an
exceptional actor needs to be
considered from the beginning, and
Hughson is just that.
While the Blyth Festival has now
lost Hughson after six years to the
Stratford Festival, there could have
been no better way to say goodbye.
David Scott wrote a great script
and Coates directed a great play, but
it was Hughson who made the play
possible.
Hughson plays off his supporting
cast, but for the most part, this is a
one-man show, and rightly so.
Connors was a one-man band who
stomped because he couldn’t afford
a drummer and did things his way
because he didn’t like how everyone
else was doing it.
And while Stompin’ Tom is
intense at times and Connors’s life
was far from ideal, he kept a smile
on his face and tried to have fun
whenever he could.
This culmination in Connors’s life
plays out in Stompin’ Tom as the
audience sings along and stomps
their feet to The Hockey Song to
close the show.
The roads aren’t always smooth
and the sun doesn’t always shine and
sometimes it’s freezing cold, but it
feels like home. Stompin’Tom’s tale
is about life in a place we all know:
Canada.
The Ballad of Stompin’Tom plays
at the Blyth Festival Theatre until
Sept. 15.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007. PAGE 23.Entertainment Leisure&
Stompin’ for another year
Randy Hughson is back to reprise his role as Stompin’ Tom
Connors as last season’s runaway hit, The Ballad of
Stompin’ Tom returns to the Blyth Festival for a two-week
run ending Sept. 15. The show is better than ever as
Hughson says goodbye to Blyth, with this, his last show of
his six years with Blyth as he prepares to move on to the
Stratford Festival next summer. (Terry Manzo photo)
Theatre review
Hughson carries ‘Stompin’ Tom’ at Blyth
The Stratford Festival has
announced a casting opportunity for
young children.
They are looking for performers to
appear in The Music Man, part of the
2008 season.
The Festival is seeking a boy
between the ages of nine and 12, no
taller than five feet, for the part of
Winthrop Paroo. They will need a
clear singing voice and be a good
actor. They will need to be able to
sing the song Gary Indiana, in the
key from the original Broadway
production.
The part of Amaryllis will be
played by a girl of the same age and
also no taller than five feet, who
must also be able to sing and act.
They will sing parts of Goodnight
my Someone from the original
Broadway production.
An ability to play the piano would
be an asset but not essential.
Finally the Festival is seeking
boys and girls of that age, who play
marching band instruments. The
height limit is 5’1”. Dance training
is an asset.
The submission for resumes must
be received by Sept. 17. Only those
selected for an audition will be
contacted for an appointment.
A recent snapshot and short
resume, which includes age, height,
any musical or dance training, as
well as the instrument played if
seeking a role as part of the River
Band should be submitted to Attn:
Music Man Kids, Stratford Festival
of Canada, 55 Queen St., Box 520,
Stratford, ON, N5A 6V2.
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
“The Men of The Deeps”
THURS. NOV. 29/07 – 7PM
CENTENNIAL HALL - LONDON
Tickets available at
The Centennial Hall Box Office.
Charge by Phone 519-672-1967
or online at:
www.centennialhall.london.ca
Blyth Rd., Auburn 519-526-7759
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September 15
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Marriage
Gerry and Sue Bedard
of Warren
and
Ern and Annette Lewington
of Brussels
are pleased to announce
the forthcoming marriage
of their children,
Chantal and Dave
at Sturgeon Falls
on September 15, 2007.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Stratford seeks young actors