With all due respect to church concerts staged every weekend in naves, chancel entrances or parish halls all over the world, Jubilation – 125 Years of Musical Theatre at Christ Church Cathedral, Saturday, October 18th, 2014, achieved the “gold standard” for this type of entertainment. The sound was great, the lighting was perfect, the instrumentalists excellent and the performances were of an extremely high calibre.
Part of the production’s purpose was to continue the celebration of Christ Church Cathedral’s 125th anniversary, but the greater purpose was to raise money for two very worthy charities, the 127 Society for Housing and the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL). The Honorary Patrons for the event were actor/playwright/producer/director Joy Coghill C.M. a resident and patron of PAL and Hilda Gregory C.M. one of the principal founders of The 127 Society for Housing. Due to ill health Hilda was unable to attend but Jubilation’s Executive Producer, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott was more than happy to pass on her message encouraging those in attendance to be generous with their financial gifts to be directed to funding Community Worker positions at the three Yaletown locations.
Joy Coghill was present and participated in the production, offering a poem by Mary Oliver.
In his program notes Dean Peter Elliott wrote, “When the time came to imagine ways to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of Christ Church, the idea of a gala performance of musical theatre was obvious. Music has been very much part of this place since its founding, and theatre with its origins in religious ceremonies has also been part of the fabric of this venerable church for decades. Moreover a performance of this type gives an opportunity for a journey through time, as various eras of social history are remembered through hearing the songs of the period. “
Jubilation’s running time was considerably less than two hours without an interval and there were two performances on October 18th at 2pm and 7pm.
At 2pm the lights dimmed and as the opening strains of “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company filled the nave of the Cathedral, the four soloists: Kazumi Evans, Warren Kimmel, Cailin Stadnyk and Jonathan Winsby took their positions in front of the four instrumentalists: Pianist and Music Director, Ken Cormier; Reed Player, Chris Startup; Bassist, Rene Worst; Percussionist, Graham Boyle and an incredible chorus of 40+ singers (including eight members of Cathedral Choir) led by the Cathedral’s Organist and Director of Music, Rupert Lang. The full company performance of “Being Alive” was a wonderful opening number that set the tone for a program that in Dean Peter Elliott’s words did indeed “journey through time,” from Gilbert & Sullivan to Gershwin to Harold Arlen to Rogers and Hammerstein to Sondheim and right up to selections from musicals being performed now on the contemporary Broadway stage.
Guest artists included:
• Ben Elliott, Dean Peter Elliott’s nephew who is a very busy actor/singer/musician in Vancouver’s professional theatre scene. Ben was featured in “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate
• Jim Hibbard, a tap dancing teacher and choreographer who teaches at Harbour Dance Centre. Jim brought the house down with his song and dance performance of George Gershwin’s, “I Got Rhythm”.
• Bob Robertson & Linda Cullen aka Double Exposure who had the crowd in stitches with their impressions of local, provincial and national politicians both current and past.
• Bard on the Beach Artistic Director and Founder, Christopher Gaze who performed Gilbert & Sullivan’s, “Modern Major General” complete with some extra verses of particular interest to Canadians, and he was also featured as well in “Brush Up Your Shakespeare", a not too subtle nod to his day job.
• Andrew Halladay, Vicar of St. Augustine’s, Marpole and one of the principals involved in the Diocesan Arts Ministry is an excellent performer. His performance of “I Believe” from Book of Mormon was one of the highlights of the show and this difficult and not-so-well-known piece was performed brilliantly by the instrumentalists and chorus.
• Vancouver mezzo-soprano, Judith Forst’s performance of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s, Carousel sent chills up the spines of everybody present. Watching Ms Forst on the stage the audience quickly became aware that they were in the presence of greatness. At the conclusion of the piece the entire audience at the matinee performance jumped to their feet applauding.
Another highlight was the performance of the Vancouver Children’s Choir Cantate (Senior) Division sounding great singing “For Good” from Wicked.
Of course when one is inside an Anglican Church and two or three or more are gathered there is always bound to be some congregational singing and Jubilation was no exception. At the halfway point the four soloists led the audience in an enthusiastic rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Spamalot.
The guest artists participated in this benefit concert as supporters of the 127 Society for Housing and PAL. A generous donation from Jubilation’s Supporting Patrons, Paul and Maryke Gilmore covered the costs of the production therefore allowing all of the proceeds to be split between the two recipient groups.
Images: Top: "Brush Up Your Shakespeare"; Kimmel, Gaze, Winsby and Elliott. Upper right, Warren Kimmel and Kazumi Evans listen to the opening strains of “Being Alive”. Upper left, James Hibbard wowed the crowd with his tap dance routine to “I Got Rhythm”. Middle, The audience stood in the nave and sang “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. Lower left Judith Forst. Lower right and homepage, The Reverend Andrew Halladay, perhaps a little too old to be a Mormon Elder but still pretty convincing.
PHOTOS: Randy Murray