OY Calcutta was a delightful, light comedy set in the heart of enlightenment India. It played at the Arts Club Theatre on Granville Island as one of this year’s Fringe Festival offerings. The musical comedy traces the voyage of a (rather dorky) Canadian tourist, Sue (Newman), who goes to the spiritual mecca in search of inner peace after the passing of her father. She is accosted by hawker and spiritual teacher Ganesh (Stuart Katz). As her body travels through the geographic terrain that is India, her mind engages, bit by bit, in a spiritual trip. It is this inner terrain that is explored, couched in comedy. Many of the songs (indeed the very title of the play) acknowledge Katz’ Jewish roots, with names such as Oy Calcutta, Oy Vey Krishna, Oy Vey Padme Hum. A “hinjew” musical comedy, it is replete with vignettes set in various tourist hot spots: Calcutta, Goa, and Varanasi, and one that exists solidly in the realm of “l’imaginaire”: Bollywood.
Actors/producers/directors Newman and Katz carry the story through jokes, light banter, and various slapstick antics, some of which garner seeds of Higher Truths, and some of which, in the opinion of this writer, we could all have done without. The main difficulty with this production is that it had no outside direction. As a twosome, Sue and Stu were awesome, but they are capable of more depth, and with an experienced director at the reins their efforts would shine like pure gold, burnished in the right places, cut and slashed mercilessly in others.
It is a very ambitious production, in which a panoply of musical genres are explored, to quote the producers: Electronica meets hip hop meets reggae meets country meets operetta meets good old fashioned rock n’ roll. On the subject of which, one of my faves was set to a Rolling Stones’ tune, and states, “You can’t always want what you get.” Sue has a fabulous voice; it was competently met by Stu, who is the main lyricist. They are “his” songs. There is a full length CD available with all (count them) sixteen songs on it. My least favourite was “You have to Urinate to Eliminate.” Come on, people, aren’t we all past the toilet jokes by now?
Sue Newman was creatively responsible for the choreography of the couple’s movements on (and off) the stage, and the saunter into the audience worked well, as when she walked around looking for someone to help her read a map, and when she
squarely sits herself down in an empty seat to enjoy one of the highlights of the evening, an event at the Bollywood Cafe by the EK Band collective. This was a delight. We are met with a lovely Indo-Trinidadian woman, dressed in a rich red sari embroidered with gold edging, that sings in a hauntingly beautiful voice that touched me deeply. Rishima Bahadoorsingh was accompanied by tabla player Ravi Chandra, whose tabla solo was met by a resounding audience participation of hand clapping, the tempo set by Rishima. Avinash Maniram, who plays harmonium in the Bollywood Cafe vignette, is also an accomplished musician. Lamentably, these segments are missing from the CD, but I wanted them there. So it goes to show you, you can’t always get what you want.
Throughout the play, April Mackey was the glue that held the performance together. In her guise as the Mother Goddess
she picked up theatrical props, assisted characters with on-the-spot costume changes, and added a divine (pun intended) presence to the stage. She looked absolutely the part in an embroidered gold period piece sari.
I’ve saved the best for last. The poster featured three dancers, Namchi Bazar, Laura Albert and Melissa Estable. These gorgeous young women were amazing on stage. I had seen them perform at Heritage Hall, during the Sistahood Festival, and was thoroughly captivated by their creative efforts. Namchi (home-grown on Cortez Island) was the main choreographer for the dance segments they performed, although she confided that it was partly a collaborative process involving the three dancers. They opened the show with moves to Oy Calcutta that captured the heart of India. Graceful, coordinated and beautifully attired, they kept the audience riveted. Stu’s “white guy” rap song about Ganesh was given street cred by Melissa’s break moves, elephant head and all. Namchi’s solo dance, based on classical Indian hand mudras and storytelling body language was lovely. But by far the People’s Choice Award goes to . . . ”Welcome to Goa.”
The techno beat echoes “Live in the Past :Forget about the Future,” interspersed with chanting, “anything goes in Goa,” and “welcome to Goa.” where you can “find what you seek.” The scene opens with the dancers taking the stage, decked out in saffron, soft pinks and bright oranges. This scene is hugely successful in that, with very competently choreographed moves, the dancers flood the entire stage with colorful costume, light props, yoga, and dance. They become, alternately, party tourists, yoga seekers, and margarita-sipping babes.
Why Oy Ganges? you ask. Well, surprisingly, the play was put together in Ganges, and the dancers performed and rehearsed their parts in Vancouver, not knowing who each was, until, upon the first rehearsal, they recognized each other as former dance teachers and students (from the heart of Ganges, GISS).Oy Ganges!
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