EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRILY ENTERTAINED
Oh Canada Eh! |
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| Playing at: | Canmore Dinner Theatre |
| Plays until: | October 14, 2007 |
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| Reviewed by: | Louis B. |
| Official website: | www.ohcanadaeh.com |
| FULL REVIEW | |
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The signature show at Canmore’s O Canada, Eh dinner theatre is a feast of musical nonsense.
It’s about as close to old-fashioned vaudeville as we’re going to get these days.
That means the jokes are corny, the slapstick absurd and the fun decidedly wack.
There’s also a few winningand lively twists.
The cast members are also the servers and occasionally they serve, sing and act simultaneously which means it could be a Mountie, dance hall girl or trapper who’ll deliver your roast beef, battered fish and roast chicken to the table.
The skeleton of this popular show was conceived 13 years ago for O Canada Eh’s sister theatre in Niagara Falls and premiered in Canmore five years ago.
This show which has been recognized as one of Canada’s top tourist attractions runs in both theatres each May through October.
During its hiatus this past year, Canmore’s artistic director JP Thibodeau and several of the cast members rewrote and restructured the show adding more slapstick and updating the song list and what an impressive song list it is.
There’s everything from an old standard like K-K-K-Katie to If I Had a Million Dollars.
Alberta’s version of Oh Canada Eh is blessed with a powerhouse central performance from Joe Morris, a gentle teddy bear of a man who plays the show’s host, a high-spirited trapper named Pierre.
Quick on his feet and nimble of tongue, Morris is a master of improv who tailors the jokes to involve the audience as much as possible.
He also has a dynamite voice singing in both French and English.
Morris is supported by a talented, energetic and tireless company of singers and comedians including Heather Spearman as the sexy dance hall girl Klondike Kitty, Christine Stewart as Anne of Green Gables and Craig DeCarlo who switches personalities and costumes in the wink of an eye.
Thibodeau and Becky Latka are hilarious as a Mountie and his girl spoofing the Nelson Eddie and Jeanette MacDonald classic love story Rose-Marie. Latka takes some pratfalls that seem to defy gravity.
The show makes it clear that Canada has been and remains, a leader in the entertainment world.
At a full two hours, the show is uneven but when it clicks, you understand why it is so popular with tourists and locals who are entertaining friends and visitors.
OH CANADA EH runs in Canmore until Oct. 14. Be sure to call ahead as the show is dark on different nights each week to accommodate tour groups.
