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kf tai in review cast and crew took on tough task of parody myt soars with city of angels t vi5 tconomisfrsnnf stoufivihetrfwniliib sept30 1999- t21 bylizwyatt correspondent city of angels the broadway musical is not to be confused with the recent nicholas cage film of the same name eschewing heavenly messengers it is a witty and sophisticated spoof of film noir and the manners morals and materialism of 1940s hollywood produced by markham youth theatre and staged at markham theatre earlier this month the show won eight tonys and several critics awards when it opened a twoyear broadway run in 1989 it was written by the acerbic larry gelbart a funny thing happened on the way to the forum tvs mash with music by cy goleman and lyrics by david zippel our hero a cheating husband but an appealing screenwriter named stine will stokes struggles to sort out his personal life and to maintain his artistic integrity against the philistine movie mogul buddy fidler joel buxton stines emerging screenplay is influ enced by the characters and events of his own life and has more twists and turns than a licorice whip as he writes and sometimes rewrites the scenes in his head are played out before us in black and white as they will appear in the movietobe firsttime director tim hawco is challenged with the huge task of making all of this clear to the audience and he succeeds quite well although some of the transitions between the coloured framing scenes and the movie-within- theplay might have been crisper and parody is tough it must be played dead straight but with the high energy broad strokes and strong projec- tion mics or no mics this high style was achieved only intermittently but most of these problems could well be attributed to opening night jitters hawco has instilled his cast with a good sense of satire and an understand ing of the genre it targets he has achieved some memorable moments and he uses andrew prestwichs impres sive twostorey set and lighting to good advantage in maintaining the flow of the scenes and delineating their locale stokes gives a commanding perfor mance as the beleaguered raymond chandlerlike detective novelist stine he plays and sings with strength and musicality and is utterly engaging and believable throughout as stines alterego and hero the hardboiled detective stone jonathan david makes a good stab at the required laconic character and deadpan delivery particularly in his voiceovers buxton is oddly likable and relaxed in the dual roles of the odious buddy and his screen counterpart bombast and manic selfabsorption are missing in these villains scott wandless as panchomunos has a wonderful sense of style but his heavy hispanic accent tends to muddy his lines the quartet of female leads put in fine work both vocally and as actors lidia guadagnolo is especially success ful in defining her dual roles as stines nononsense selfassured wife and the victimized nightclub singer bobbi whose blues number is a knockout katherine janicki too shows a nice distinction between her egotistical run away mallory and the insecure dumb starlet avril sarah burley is assured and sympathetic as the stereotypical faith ful lovestruck secretaries of stine and stone jennifer kees fine sense of parody particularly in her opening scene stamps her golddigging toughasnails mrs kingsley and her ultrasophisticat ed carta with authority allowing for some overlight singing marktses music direction was assured and in sympathy with the period he got some good fun out of the swell of angel voices in the schmaltzy choral score of the party scene and some nice 40sstyle close harmony from jimmy powers dan roberts and the angel city four these last were inappropriately cos tumed but for the most part hilary whitebread dressed the large cast in the spirit of the times the show was produced by jennifer kowalykpieterse a gargantuan job and stagemanaged by frances kulis who along with hawco myt president jeff jones the hood and the cop and bj eyerhart are leaving the company this year v6 7 passenger amfm cd player air conditioning tumbleunder 3rd row seat side by slide 2nd row seat starting from i iz- 49 financing 48 mths 00d selection of 199fs available at clearance prices markham kovac mazda 5396 hwy 7 152941210 get in be moved tvi i i fhsi mim setliatelv new mce cuts bed bath kitchen tabie top basic fashion bedding drapery borders decorative accessories pillows everything must go including these famous brands cannon charisma wamsutta monarch martex royal velvet westpoint stevens more selling famous brands below dept store sale prices markville shopping centre newmarket upper canada mall 17600 yonge street brampton orion gate wet 589 steeles ave east oakville oakville town centre 270 n service road all sales final no returns or layaways selection may vary by store no adjustments on prior purchases cash visa mastercard 6 debrt card accepted sale conducted by universal capital group