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Douglas College theatre production “Anne of Green Gables"

 

 

Theatre goers reminded of best reasons for live theatre

The Douglas College Theatre
Department musical production of
Anne of Green Gables opened
Friday, January 12, and a full house
witnessed a warm and enchanting
performance. Sometimes moving
and sometimes funny, the produc-
tion provided a sense of the spirit
of youth in a time gone by, a time
when life was simpler and things
seemed clearer.

A musical adaptation of the
world-renowned novel by Lucy
Maud Montgomery, the play was a
comfortable combination of songs

 

Inside INSIDE

January 23, 1990
Employer-supported child care 2

Douglas student chosen for
national choir

Spaghetti bridge challenge
Weight watchers to form
Athletic update

Arts Centre events

Global health symposium
Award for animal welfare
Poets/artists calendar

Teaching Excellence

 

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Innovation Abstracts

 

 

and dialogue, and although this
production treated both with flair,
it was the energy and emotion of
the songs that made the perfor-
mance work.

In "Gee, I’m Glad I’m No One
Else But Me," the audience was in-
troduced to the elfin Anne, and
began to appreciate her innocent,
exuberant view of the world
around her. In “Humble Pie", her
view had rubbed off on the elderly
Matthew, the only adult who
seemed able to understand her
joyous attitude to life, and who sud-
denly seemed years younger as a
result. "Back To School Ballet" and
"The Picnic" were wonderfully
choreographed numbers that
portrayed the simple pleasures of
life in a small town, where
everyone knows everyone else, and
victory is rewarded with a simple
red ribbon.

A youthful sadness was ex-
pressed by the Avonlea pupils in
"Where Did The Summer Go To?",
the feeling that with every sum-
mer’s passing, something once
loved is gone forever.

"Pageant Song” was the comic
highlight of the performance; the
Avonlea pupils staged a bumbling,
beautifully amateurish school con-
cert in a scene that could be
described as priceless.

Kim Gauthier’s portrayal of

perfectly the carefree essence of
Anne, the youthful yearning that
makes Anne of Green Gables one of
the most popular and best-loved
figures in Canadian literary history.
Anne is precocious ("My life is a
perfect graveyard of broken
hopes," she announced to the
audience) and Gauthier played it to
the hilt. Her voice was clear and
strong, with just the right plaintive
note to seem believable as a young
girl. She was the focus of the per-
formance, but blended in well
during the cleverly choreographed
dance numbers. Other strong per-
formances included those by
Alexandra Holt as the stern,
spinsterly Marilla Cuthbert, and by
Derek Metz as her henpecked
brother Matthew, although his
voice was somewhat weak, as were
the other male voices in the cast.
Robin Toma has a wonderful voice,
and turned in a very strong perfor-
mance as Miss Stacey, the school-
mistress.

At times it must have seemed
to the Theatre Department that
their production of Anne of Green
Gables would never take place.
Last semester’s strike and some
late cast changes left them scram-
bling to get the production ready in
time, but their efforts were not in
vain.

please see page 2

Anne was beguiling. She captured