The Pit, The Pendulum, And The Jazz Hands | Scott Shpeley stars as Edgar Allan Poe in Catalyst Theatre’s macabre musical Nevermore.
DETAILS
NEVERMORE
Written and directed by Jonathan Christenson. Starring Scott Shpeley, Shannon Blanchet, Sheldon Elter, Beth Graham, Ryan Parker, Garett Ross, Vanessa Sabourin. Catalyst Theatre (8529-103 St). To May 17. Tickets available through TIX on the Square (420-1757/tixonthesquare.com).
***1/2
It is a danse macabre.
Nightmare creatures, gothic images, chilling harmonies, and dark turns of fate make Catalyst Theatre’s Nevermore one scary bedtime story. Based loosely on Edgar Allan Poe’s life and death, Nevermore is a darkly fantastical and highly theatrical examination of the man behind such famous gothic stories as “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Written, composed (much of the show is sung, although the debate reigns about whether “musical theatre” is a proper description) and directed by Catalyst Theatre dynamo Jonathan Christenson, Nevermore fascinates even as it repels. Full of macabre images — when the female characters aren’t getting buried alive, they’re dying from consumption — the show plays out like a 19th-century Tim Burton puppet show. The movement is marionette-like, the verse is hypnotic, and the music, shrieking and shrill as well as low and melodic, is haunting and discordant and beautiful all at once — much like the show itself.
Certainly, Nevermore looks pretty — that is, if you have a penchant for corseted women in stiff papier-mâché skirts and men with pale skin, darkened eyes, and freakishly tall hats. If you didn’t know better, you’d think you walked into a Saturday night at New City Suburbs, for all the ripped fishnets and platform boots on display. In many respects the performances, although excellent, are almost eclipsed by the fantastical design elements of Bretta Gerecke, Catalyst’s resident designer. Her costumes are the true stars of this ensemble piece.
This is in no way to belittle the performances. All cast members perform the challenging verse and music with great skill, voices and bodies like gothic woodcut illustrations come to life. Particular mentions go to newcomer Scott Shpeley for his little-boy-lost interpretation of Poe, and Ryan Parker and Shannon Blanchet, whose rich, melodic voices add beauty and depth to the music. Sheldon Elter, Beth Graham, Garett Ross, and Vanessa Sabourin also each contributing gorgeous character and movement work to the tight ensemble.
And yet, Nevermore left me hot and cold. I loved the dark, grotesque fantasy of it all, design, movement, voice and character working in concert to create a wholly original style. But I didn’t love the singular level of the piece, the way it starts and ends on the same note, with very little variety in pace or tone in between. The story is told in verse, and sometimes the verse goes by too fast to truly absorb it — and its lulling rhythms sometimes cause you to forget to listen to the meaning of the words. Gerecke’s ingenious set, although beautiful, is somewhat limiting for the actors, as movement must occur on only two flat planes, in straight lines — again calling to mind a puppet theatre. I know there has been great thought put to it all, and that it all means something; it just doesn’t all mean something to me.
That said, the show is still wonderful and fantastical to behold, and is most definitely worth seeing. It’s the kind of show that will play differently to every person in the house, a show that begs to be talked about after it’s over. Richly textured and well performed, Nevermore is a scary, creepy, gothic wonderland.
And it may fuel your nightmares for weeks to come.
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