Take a few dancing cowboys, a couple of feisty women and a cult movie–voila!–Johnny Guitar. Getting its Canadian premiere from the Plain Janes, the show features some up-and-coming local talent, including diminutive but dominant Kendra Connor in a role made famous by the arch-diva of Hollywood, Joan Crawford.

"I usually get cast as the funny ingénue," says Connor, "this is a woman, not an ingénue kind of character. It’s challenging because I haven’t been there yet in a role. It’s fun. I strapped [a gunbelt] on in rehearsal yesterday and had a ridiculously good time strutting around in it... feeling a little sexy. That’s what I love, it’s a challenge but fun."

Johnny Guitar is based on the cult film of 1954 wherein Vienna, a sultry saloon keeper, squares off against the local tycoon Emma, her nemesis. When Johnny Guitar rides into town for a showdown with the Dancin’ Kid, events take a comedic turn. The challenge says Connor is committing to the antics. "It’s a stylistic piece. That’s the challenge, playing style and buying into it. We have to be totally committed to it. It would seem cheap to send it up."

Fuelling the bucolic shenanigans are songs, which Connor says borrow from many forms, doo-wop to country. "It’s not like Garth Brooks, thank goodness. There’s a lot of 1950s style folk and roots. Really, really excellent."

And while Connor gets to be hard as nails, she says the men in this show are really, really pretty. "You have to catch John Manning in this. He plays Johnny Guitar, a character that’s ‘all man.’ John’s playing with this Elvis persona, and that stoic male thing they had going on in the old Westerns." Jill Pollock takes on the role of Emma and Matt Goodall, the Dancin’ Kid.

The biggest challenge she says ruefully is playing against type. "It’s hard to be womanly and intense and Joan Crawford-esque, while everyone else is yucking it up."

Johnny Guitar plays La Cite Francophone (8627 - 91 St) from February 24 to March 5, Tuesday to Saturday at 8 pm, Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $18, $15 for Students, Seniors and Equity members, available from Tix on the Square.

Styling the love

Its time to get your love on. Theatre Network presents Love Styles, a showcase of prominent Edmonton designers, and fashionistas. With choreography and environments by Henry and Irving, music by Andrea House and Chris Smith, a whiff of aromatherapy and a silent auction the evening promises to be ravishing. Tickets are a mere $20 and the fun begins at 7 pm in the fabulous Roxy Theatre.

Q & D in the TC

For the theatrical equivalent of a quickie, check out the Quick and Dirty Performance festival this week in the Timms Centre for the Arts Second Playing Space. The event brings together the talents of students all disciplines and departments. Dance, song, monologues, improv, musical performances, juggling, clowning–it’s all there. Each act runs 15 minutes and anything goes.

The Festival runs February 28 to March 2 at 7 pm. Admission is free, but a donation to the Drama Student Emergency Bursary Fund is greatly appreciated.

And in other news

...nomination forms for the 2006 Mayor’s Evening for the Arts are now available. If you’re a member of the Edmonton Arts Council look for yours in a mailbox near you, or contact the EAC office. Don’t forget to fill them out!