When I see the name Hailey Gillis attached to a theatrical production, especially of the musical variety, I’m all in. In my estimation, she is one of the city’s best performers. And, when creating her own potent musical theatre alchemy alongside a crew of Soulpepper Academy grads such as Andrew Penner and Frank Cox-O’Connell, watch out.
And that is the case with Soulpepper’s latest, Tiger Bride, which is a musical based on the Angela Carter short story “The Tiger’s Bride,” itself a feminist take on Beauty and the Beast. The production created from scratch by Gillis and Penner, who also star in the show, as well as Cox-O’Connell who directs.
It has been described as a punk rock fever dream, a gothic fairy tale and other descriptors suggesting some serious experimentation was at hand. And, my theatrical bar was perched perhaps a touch too high. Because when I stood up and applauded alongside the full house at Soulpepper’s Michael Young Theatre last night, I was impressed as always by Gillis and her sheer talent — a pleasure every single time — but, I also felt like it could have been more.
Here, there is a trio of actors, Gillis, and Penner as well as Langdon Doak, performing all the roles. The set is a barrage of spare parts and garage sale cast-offs spread around a variety of musical instruments meant to invoke a dark, almost Alice in Wonderland quality where everything is upside down. It’s confusing by design. This production demands suspension of disbelief. Audiences need to jump in with both feet.
It begins perfectly with Gillis on stage, suitcase in hand. She sets the case down to reveal an archaic synthesiser, which drops a wonky off-kilter beat to begin our steam punk-style story.
The first act bursts forth and speeds past audiences: they are travelling, father is a gambler and has more than one vice, mother is dead, daughter is lost to the beast in a game of cards and is taken away to the castle. It all happens so fast.
There are hits and misses here, but the bigger issue is pacing. Maybe it is fitting to create that whirling dervish mood. Heads spin, on stage, and in the audience.
Things settle in during the second act. We find out the beast wants to see the girl he won naked as part of the bargain, but she is not warming up to the idea. The high points come when Gillis’s character is in her cell having a conversation with her dead mother before singing alongside an automaton version of herself. Yes, it’s that kind of show.
At this point, we start to see an inversion in the Beauty and the Beast worldview. Something awakens in the girl who begins to shed her past life and sees the world, sees her captor, in a new light.
The stage, ahem, is set for act three, where the production and the cast really shine.
Beginning with the song “Tantivity” a rollicking three-parter that is one of the evening’s best moments and ending with more than one tender and gorgeous moment with Gillis alone with her thoughts completing her transformation and shedding her past life. Completing her contract, she is offered the opportunity to leave, to go back from whence she came, but she doesn’t. It’s not her life any longer.
She returns to the castle, and knocks on the door, intent on taming her beast, here a tiger.
The show ends with a seriously steamy number, which unfortunately involves Gillis and the actor who also plays her father. I get it, it’s acting, we can suspend our disbelief. But, I would have loved to have seen two different actors play the father and the beast. Maybe it’s just me.
This is wonderfully experimental theatre. It felt dangerous, but it also felt messy, at times brilliant, at times disorganised, some songs were pitch perfect, some a clash of styles that was jarring. There is potential for some real magic, but it’s not there yet.
The performers, however, are wonderful. Not to take anything away from Penner, who is always good—no, great—but Doak is a standout alongside Gillis, and their scenes together are among the show’s strongest moments. They sound fantastic as a pair.
And this production is absolutely worth seeing. It’s not perfect. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s meant to be messy because life is messy. Either way, it’s a show that stays with you, and that matters.
I love that this creative team is pushing the boundaries of what musical theatre can be. I love the atmosphere they create. It is transformative in the best possible way. This is one of the reasons I love Toronto’s theatre scene.
Tiger Bride runs until June 21 at the Michael Young Theatre. For more information and tickets head to the Soulpepper website.
