Zanna, Don't - Good Intentions, Beautiful Voices

Awkward Stages Productions presents a spirited musical set in highschool where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are outcasts. The school matchmaker keeps everyone coupled up with his magic wand.

I was very impressed that only three and a half weeks of rehearsal resulted in such a smooth production with a cast made up of 14 to 20 year-olds. I was also impressed by the slick choreography and vocal talents of the cast, although the pattering speech-song style of the musical didn’t allow them to really own that strength as much as they could have.

First, a disclaimer: I’m not traditionally one for musical theatre. And I don’t believe in treating "youth" productions any differently from “adult” productions. I hold them in the same respect and to the same standards I hold everyone else. I assume that these “youth” (the oldest not that much younger than me) are performing in the hopes of one day being “professional”.

The show wasn’t bad, but wasn’t very good. I think a great deal of that falls at the feet of the playwright, and the choice of how to handle this particular subject matter with a cast of this age. That said it is an ambitious and novel idea, which is more than you can say for a lot of theatre. I liked the puns and references in the script. I’m not a musical theatre buff, so I’m sure I missed most of them. But I got “anyone can whistle” and “he was kissing Kate”, they made me giggle.

Almost the entire cast had beautiful voices, no matter how little opportunity they had to show them off with the Sondheim-esque fast speech-singing that most of the songs consisted of. When they were given a chance to show their stuff, they really shone. And the harmonies in the group numbers were fabulous. This group is obviously very musically talented. Now we just need to work on the plot, delivery of dialogue and emotional connection.

A technical note: I do think the mic volume should’ve been higher, these poor kids are singing their dialogue as fast as they can. Between their untrained enunciation and the loud live band, I missed about 30% of the lyrics. With every cast member wearing a mic, there really is no excuse for that.

As far as the acting goes, these are young performers who had three and a half weeks rehearsal and they probably spent most of that on blocking and the group numbers and songs. I got the feeling that things like dialogue and character development were regarded more as filler than anything else. And perhaps that’s as it should be. (Remember: not a musical theatre person.) I’m not sure what the casting pools are like for these things. I think some of the choices might not have been for the best. I would not have cast Philip Kuligowski Chan as the title character, Zanna. Chan is a charming actor with a quiet, sweet rapport with the audience. He was engaging in his reflective solos, but lacked the power and stamina to carry the demands of such an enigmatic character. The final few scenes and the song between Chan and Zach Wolfman were a long-awaited treat.

This isn’t a character heavy piece, and although most of the actors seemed quite competent, it was hard to tell if they were under-rehearsed, badly directed, or just not given enough of a character to sink their teeth into. Michael Wilkinson was the one exception. He was present and listening the whole time, not turning on and off like a light switch when it was his turn to speak. In my opinion, that kind of commitment and energy is the mark of a true pro.

That’s really all I have to say about the performance. But I can’t let this review go without some social commentary.

Zanna Don’t was advertised as a musical fairy tale, not as a social awareness piece, but given the subject matter and the message in the program “hopefully it will also make you think about and cherish the importance of tolerance and acceptance… and of course love.” I feel it would be irresponsible of me not to point out that this production spreads a superficial message of tolerance while reinforcing the stereotypes and attitudes from which that intolerance springs.

I have a few problems with the premise and the plot and all the messages therein other than “it’s OK to be gay and how would we normal hetros feel if we were treated the way we treat gay people?” This may be a well-meant message of tolerance, but it is set in a backdrop of patriarchy and a preoccupation with infatuation and sexual attraction that the characters call “love”.

Watching this play made me feel old. I didn’t see any of the magic and mystery that I associate with my days in youth theatre companies. I saw a bunch of talented, tarted up kids, innocently condoning a bunch of terrifying “norms” while dubiously communicating a message of tolerance towards homosexuality.

This next bit is not about the performers or even so much about the direction. It is about the script and the choice to perform this play with a cast of mostly teenagers in Vancouver, BC.

As an individual of unclassified sexual preferences, I found this play insidiously shocking and offensive. I felt ostracized, like this play was written by a straight person who has learned about alternative sexuality from mainstream romantic comedy movies and to whom women are either dimwitted sex objects or ambitious bitches and all gay men are effeminate and nerdy. And if you’re not in a couple ALL THE TIME there’s something wrong with you and you must be unhappy. If the purpose of this play was to reinforce all the harmful, shallow and petty facets of pop-culture, then Zanna Don’t is a complete, vapid success.

The fact that I seemed to be the only member of the audience who didn’t seem to see this play as a rambunctious, joyful, feel-good piece makes me weep for the state of our society. I know we need to bring a message of tolerance and love to our youth and that the best way to do that is through youth performances, but I think this was the wrong script and that this cast is too young to deal with this material. Their performances were good, but the result was terrifying and grotesque. Apart from the final “real” homosexual couple at the end (who were very sweet) the other 80% of the play featured “homo” couples that looked so awkward kissing or even hugging that the kids obviously weren’t as comfortable as they needed to be with the subject matter. (Of course the one romantically lit heterosexual kiss was quite convincing.)

Obviously this production is a tongue-in-cheek, pop-culture bit of fluff and people will say I’m overreacting. But no offhand remark is harmless. We live in a society where hate crimes happen and children commit suicide. If you’re going to take it upon yourself to spread a message of tolerance and responsibility, you have to be mindful of all the other messages you are spreading along with it. After all, as “If musical theatre doesn’t address the important political issues, what will?”