The Wingham Advance Times, 1995-06-21, Page 15Carefree musical hits the Avon stage
with good-hearted nature and pleasure
By Marion Duke
Over the years, The Boy Friend,
Sandy Wilson's fluffy musical
f about carefree, rich young women
in a French finishing school, bas
launched the careers of many ac-
tors. Among them are the likes of
Julie Andrews, the original Polly
Browne, and the model, Twiggy,
who also played Polly.
What there is in the way of plot
• is tissue paper -thin; therefore the
success of The Boy Friend lies in
its staging, singing and dancing.
Luckily, the Stratford Festival's
,production, directed and choreo-
graphed at the Avon Theatre by
Brian MacDonald, excels in all
three categories.
It would be hard to imagine 'a
brighter, more good-hearted piece
of fun than this Boy Friend, and it
is the dancing which sets it apart.
From the first hectic routines of
the Charleston, featuring Cara
Hunter as the flirtatious Maisie
and Danny Austin as the rich,
good-looking young ,American,
Bobby van Husen, The'Boy Friend
cuts a rug from beginning to end:
Brian MacDonald has tossed a
couple of curves to heighten the
frivolity.
He has cast a man in the part of
the stiff-necked Lady Brockhurst,
and then has the hoity-toity ma-
dame become involved in one of
those wild he/she, slam/bam Span-
ish dances that goes way beyond
the prescribed tango. The results
are hilarious.. Along with
MacDonald, associate directors
and choreographers, Donna Feore (
and Timothy French; are to be
commended for this bit of
inspiration.
Actor Lee MacDougall doesn't
:quite measure up to William Hutt's
notorious version of Lady
Bracknell, but be sure gives us an
unforgettable . Lady Brockhurst —
even with an obvious five o'clock
shadow.
SECONDARY ROLES
Generally speaking, the come-
dic roles are the ones that stick
with viewers of The Boy Friend.
The •1eel§"'PolTy (Patty 'Jamieson)"'+`
and Tony (Ian Simpson), son of
Lord and Lady Brockhurst, are "
too sincere to be anything but
sweet, sweet sweethearts.
But not so the perky Maisie
who plays the field while singing
"Safety? in Numbers", or Madame
Dubonnet (played . by Karen K.
Edissi), the head mistress of the
finishing school who recognizes a
•
The Boy Friend•..Patty Jamieson as Polly Browne, and lan Simpson as Tony are
shown in their beach scene of the musical, The Boy Friend, playing at Stratford's Avon Theatre.
Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann) •
prize catch when she sees one, or
her maid, Hortense (Gabrielle
Jones) who knows the cop on the
beat — and most other men about
town, and beach.
Not so either the gentlemen
who are so, easily captivated by
the deftly delightful French ladies,
These include Polly's father, Per-
cival (Eric Donkin), a widower,
who rediscovers the charms of an
old lover in the well-preserved
Madame Dubonnet, ai4,a frisky
Lord'Brockhurst (Douglas Cham-
berlain) who wears himself out in
pursuit of one of the young ladies.
HINT OF PATHOS
While most of 'The Boy Friend
is frothy enough' to take flight,
there are some touching scenes
between Madame Dubonnet and
Polly, who has been forbidden by
her father to entertain the advanc7
es of young men, because he fears
she will fall prey., to a fortune
hunter.
To fit in with her boy -crazy
classmates, Polly has invented an
imaginary admirer and taken to
writing herself love letters. How-
ever, her fantasies come true
when the wealthy young
Brockhurst, mAsquerading as a
• delivery boy, arrives with her
Pierrette costume for the carnival
ball.
It's love at first sight. During an
afternoon rendezvous at the
beach, Polly tells Tony she's
Madame Dubonnet's secretary,
and Tony agrees to accompany
her to the ball, dressed as Pirrpt.
The rendezvous ' ends abruptly
when the Brockhursts spot their
son, and Tony takes flight, leading
Polly to believe he is a petty thief.
There are a few sad moments
for the young lovers, but never,
ri
1.01 110
Or fir
any doubt of a happf ending for
all concerned.
LAVISH SETS
Rivaling the dancing and sing- '
ing in this production are the set
designs —' the girls' school, the
beach, and in particular the dance
pavilion at Nice.
In the background on this star.
ry, starry night, ready to set sail, is
Bobby van Husen's yacht and
it actually does move across the
horizon. The yacht also figures in
the spectacular marriage scene.
There's no sense in trying to
pick a 'better among the best' in
this cast of The Boy Friend. Eve-
ryone is terrific and it shows —
the whole thing is a lovely lark.
If you've got a youngster who
has never seen live theatre, The
Boy Friend is an ideal introduc-
tion. .
•`V.,'..(4,1,'
S rieV47S
BELGRAVE--Last Wednesday,
June 14, Grade 5-6 pupils from
East Wawanosh Public School
boarded a bus at 7:30 a.m. bound
for Medieval Times.
After their arrival at 1030 a.m.,
they toured the gift shop before be-
ing seated for the feast and show.
Earlier they had explored the Hall
of Arms and its fascinating paint-
ings, suits of armor, tapestries and
gift shop. Adjacent to the Hall of
Arms was the courtyard where the
students viewed the magnificent
stallions which were beingreadied
for the'Show.
All enjoyed a four -course medie-
val feast, eaten with hands, consist-
ing of rolls, vegetables, soup, roast-
ed chicken, roasted potato, pastry
and a beverage.
The master of ceremonies took
the children back 1,000 years in
time to the age of chivalry. The stu-
dents watched in amazement . as
prized horses from around the
world performed with grace and
agility. The Six Knights of the
Realm were introduced and com-
peted in authentic medieval games
on horseback, including jousting
and hand-to-hand combat.
Then they boarded the bus for
Casa Loma in Toronto, the former
estate of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a
prominent Toronto financier, indus-
trialist and military man. With the
help of architect E. J. Lennox, Sir
Henry achieved his dream of build-
ing a medieval castle on the brow
of a hill overlooking Toronto. Start-
ed in 1911, the castle took 300 men
nearly three years to complete.. and
cost $3,500,000.
Sir Henry enjoyed Casa Loma
for less than 10 years before finan-
cial misfortune forced him to aban-
don his castle home. Thechildren
enjoyed touring the magnificent
castle, now a popular tourist attrac-
tion. The Kiwanis Club took over
Casa Loma in 1937 and restored it
to its original splendor.
Upon completing the tour of
Casa Loma, the children' boarded
the bus for home. After stopping
for supper, they arrived home at
8:30 in the evening.
Still with happenings at EWPS,
Mrs. Dodds, Miss Mathers'and Mr.
Kerr organized a play -day for the
school. The Grade 8 students will
help run the events and the..grade
7s will be the team leaders.
The Grade 8 banquet will be held
next Monday, June 26, at the Bel-
grave Community Centre with the
meal being served at 7 p.m. The
Belgrave United Church Women.
are catering.
On Tuesday, June 27', the Grade
8s are visiting the F. E. Madill Sec-
ondary School in Wingham to visit
the classrooms and meet their
teachers for next year. A .special
awards assembly also will be held
at the school on June 27 at 1:30
p.m. in the auditorium to present
track and field, school team, library
helpers, citizenship and proficiency
awards. Visitors are welcome and
the children will be dismissed at
3:30 p.m.
A. special thanks is extended to
Paul Moffatt and the Belgrave
Kinsmen Club for purchasing the
awards for the children. As well,
Jane Van Camp and the Belgrave
Co-op have donated medallions.
John Nixon purchased pens for the
Grade 8 class and citizenship and
proficiency medals for children
Grades 1 to 7.
Canadians
Continued from page five
lion), we can be pretty certain that
it is growing along' with tax rates.
Evidence for this trend shows up in
the Compas poll results. Forty-two
per cent of respondent admitted
paying cash for goods or services in
order to avoid the G,ST and/or pro-
vincial sales taxes. Thirty-four per
cent said they would buy smuggled
cigarettes or alcohol or smuggle
them into Canada if they had the
opportunity.
Is this type of tax cheating ethi-
cal? Apparently the survey respon-
dents seem to think so. ...Even
though 42% of those surveyed ad-
mit paying cash to avoid taxes,
64% described themselves as "hon -
•est taxpayers".
The reality of tax cheating, how-
ever, is that everyone gets hurt.
When someone decides to evade
taxes, his or her neighbour ends up
paying for the shortfall. Revenue
lost through evasion means more
government borrowing, higher in-
terest payments and . more govern-
ment debt. To complete the vicious
circle governments Increase taxes
yet again.
There is only one solution to this
mounting problem: decrease taxes.
A lowering of the overall level of
taxation would reduce tax cheating
and , quite possibly 'even increase
revenues. Lower tax rates would
encourage much of the money
floating around in the underground
economy to .come- to the surface.
While the tax rate would de-
crease, the tax base would be
broadened. Politicians would do
well to, look at this solution before
the quiet revolution becomes a son-
ic boom.
' Paul Pagnuelo
Ontario Taxpayers Federation
Ajax, Ontario
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