Introducing Kyla Musselman!

Back in 1959 Once Upon A Mattress debuted on the Broadway stage. This musical comedy was a retelling of the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, and was the show that launched the career of Carol Burnett who starred in the lead role of Princess Winnifred. Though I'd been aware of the show's history, I had never actually seen it performed until last night when I saw a production of it at Theatre Sheridan.

While the play itself is, admittedly, a fairly lightweight piece of fluff, it does boast some really fun musical numbers. And although I didn't think it was as strong a show choice as Sheridan's offering back in December, The Drowsy Chaperone, it did feature exuberant performances from the entire youthful cast. The Drowsy Chaperone was probably the finest show I've seen performed yet at Sheridan over several years of attending their productions, so it would have been asking too much for lightning to strike twice in a row. Whereas that show seems to lend itself more to an ensemble cast with many plum roles to go around, Once Upon a Mattress strikes me as more of a star vehicle for the leading lady playing Princess Winnifred.

But what a performance we got from the young lady playing Winnifred in this production! Her name is Kyla Musselman, and I predict she'll go on to great things onstage once she graduates at the end of this college year. Kyla is a little ball of fire with an impossibly cute face, a huge smile and sparkling brown eyes. She seems to have boundless energy that she puts into her singing and dancing, while also possessing a flawless sense of comic timing. There's one song number that requires her to dash back and forth across the stage, alternately picking up a barbell then taking great gulps from a chalice of ale, among several other stunts, expertly hitting her marks without fail all while the rest of the cast is singing this fast paced song. There's also a dance number that progressively picks up pace that the whole cast starts out performing, only to drop out one by one until just Princess Winnifred finishes it up to its breakneck finale. This role demands a multi-talented performer and clearly young Kyla is up to the challenge.

Kyla Musselman also had a supporting role in the aforementioned The Drowsy Chaperone as Kitty, the ditzy chorine in love with theatrical producer, Feldzeig. Although in that show everybody got to shine, Kyla was still a standout with great stage presence and magnetism. Sheridan's music theatre program is highly respected here in Canada, having graduated many fine performers including Sarah Cornell, Michael Therriault, and Janna Polzin, all of whom I have written about before. I believe that Kyla Musselman will also be a name to watch for on the marquee, as she truly possesses star quality. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who thinks so, as I found this review of Once Upon a Mattress that would seem to agree that Kyla is one to watch for.

Ladies & Gentlemen, May I Present...

I've been teaching part-time for several years at Sheridan College in nearby Oakville, Ontario. Currently, I'm the Character Design Instructor for 2nd Year in the BAA Animation Program, which I prefer to having taught 1st Year as it allows me to get more involved with the subject of characterization rather than concentrating merely on the basics of construction. For me, the idea of getting that performance on paper (and ultimately onscreen by my students) is what really thrills me. Because of this, I am also very interested in another program here at the college.

Sheridan has also become rather renowned for its Music Theatre Program. I've seen a number of the Sheridan productions and have been very impressed with the high calibre of the students involved. And once they graduate after the three years, many of Toronto's big theatrical productions have benefited from their talent. Some of them even go on to international success. I'd like to introduce you to two of these fine talents.


In my last post, I talked about the contribution to Toronto theatre of Ed and David Mirvish. Several years ago, the Mirvishes brought the Broadway hit, "The Producers" to their Canon Theatre here in Toronto. Well known Canadian comic, Sean Cullen was cast as the bombastic Max Bialystock. But the two characters that really impressed me were played by Sheridan graduates, Michael Therriault, as accountant Leo Bloom, and Sarah Cornell, in the role of the Swedish bombshell Ulla. Here's a picture of me with Sarah and Michael backstage after seeing them in performance. I had given them prints of caricatures I had drawn from a TV interview with them I'd recently recorded from TV.

By the time he came to "The Producers", Michael had already had several roles on the Stratford stage and brought such a poignancy to his role as Leo Bloom that I felt his performance was the heart of the show. The character is a mixture of the neurotic and the sweetly naive, and I think Michael stressed the latter in his portrayal. Since then, Michael Therriault has gone on to play Canada's Tommy Douglas in the CBC TV miniseries, "Prairie Giant". Soon after that he originated the role of Gollum in the musical stage extravaganza, "The Lord of the Rings" which debuted here in Toronto last year before moving on to London this summer. He was one of only a couple performers, I believe, that was asked to continue on in the move to London and, despite the show having garnered mixed reviews, Michael's Gollum is usually singled out as one of the highpoints. As you can see from this photo, his portrayal of Gollum is nothing like the genial Michael Therriault himself!


The statuesque and lovely Sarah Cornell was just perfect for the role of Ulla in "The Producers". In fact, before originating the role on the Toronto stage, Sarah had initially auditioned for and won the role on Broadway, replacing Cady Huffman when she decided to step down, playing Ulla for several months in New York before transfering to the Toronto production. Not only is Sarah a wonderful singer/dancer, but she has a natural flair for comedy. Currently she can be seen onstage in the darkly comic, "Evil Dead - The Musical". I just saw her a few weeks ago in the show and she's hysterically funny, playing two separate roles no less! For this performance, Sarah was recently nominated for a Dora Award, which is the Canadian equivalent of the Tony. She and one of her friends and co-stars from "The Producers", Jonathan Monro, had also been starting to develop a cabaret act for which I had been commissioned to create a caricature for their presskit. Alas, they've had to put that on hold for awhile as these other opportunities have come along. I still hope they'll resume those plans one day, though, as I thought they were just superb together. Actually, I wish Sarah would also record a CD of the standards that she sings so beautifully.

Both Michael Therriault and Sarah Cornell are two performers to keep an eye on. They're sure to go on to even greater success in the future!

"Maria" Problem Solved!

For the record, I have to state that I am not a fan of so-called "reality shows" on TV. I've especially avoided the various "American Idol" type talent shows, mostly because I can't abide contemporary pop music. However, a recent addition to the reality show genre did intrigue me enough to tune in earlier this summer. CBC started showing "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?"- a talent search for the leading role in a big stage revival of "The Sound of Music" to be produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, no less, here in Toronto. It's based on a previous talent search that successfully aired in Britain on the BBC some time ago.

Being a Baby Boomer myself, I grew up in the tail end of the Hollywood musical era, when film adaptations of hit stage shows were still big box office. So, yes, I saw "The Sound of Music" when it originally played in movie theatres back in 1965. I believe I saw it again in a rerelease a few years later, which is when I probably understood better what it was all about. Around that same time I also saw "My Fair Lady", which still ranks first on my list of favourite musicals. Anyway, I thought it might be fun to see what type of talent would be on display in this CBC search, so I tuned in from the first show. By the time they'd pared down a possible 20 to the 10 young ladies who would compete on the weekly show, I was hooked. It has been a real delight to see all these wonderful girls sing their hearts out each week, hoping to make it through to the following week.

Of course, that's also the problem with the series, for in order for one girl to win, nine must lose. And so it went that I'd enjoy the hour long Sunday night show, watching the ladies perform, and then cringe a bit at the end of the half hour Monday show, where two girls would have to do a sing-off based on the lowest number of votes cast, resulting in one being eliminated by the judges. There is something inherently cruel about the process, which is why I still don't much care for the whole reality show concept. Even though some of the girls may not have had the right stuff, I did not like to see any of them hurt, as they were all quite adorable.

I'll admit I had my favourite, but once they'd whittled it down to three final contenders by last week, I was convinced that any one of the three would have been ideal in the role. These three girls pictured above are the final contenders, Jayme Armstrong, Janna Polzin and Elicia MacKenzie.


So here I'll reveal Janna Polzin as my favourite choice for the role. I liked her right from the start, as there was a very professional air about her. Not only blessed with a beautiful singing voice, but Janna seemed to have an instinctive flair for the performance in delivering her song material through strong expressions and body language. I also found out along the way that Janna just happened to be a graduate of the Musical Theatre program at Sheridan College, at the same campus where I teach in Animation. In fact, in researching her, I realized I'd actually seen two productions at Sheridan that she'd appeared in, though she was only in the chorus so I couldn't recall her. I'm a big fan of Sheridan's program, and try to show my support by seeing the shows whenever I can. I know a couple of the girls who would have been Janna's classmates, and I'm also friends with Sarah Cornell, a grad from a few years ago who went on to star in the Toronto run of "The Producers", of which I wrote about in a previous post. Yeah, I'll admit I'm a sucker for pretty gals who can sing and dance - they're my feminine ideal!

Janna did in fact make it into the final round this weekend, and she'd been considered the front runner for awhile, I believe. But it was not to be, for last night the winner was announced and it was.....


....Elicia MacKenzie!

Fact is, though she may not have been my pick, I still think that Elicia richly deserves the role. She too has been blessed with a wonderful voice and seemed the most adaptable to whatever type of song they chose for her to sing. Whereas Janna seemed the more seasoned professional, Elicia is still that diamond in the rough, though I've no doubt she will rise to the challenge and be ready for the stage this fall. She is certainly a fresh faced, wide eyed beauty, and very much the image of the Cinderella who has well earned her "happily ever after". I think Elicia was more surprised than anyone when it was her name that was read from the envelope and her victorious performance at the show's finale of the title song from "The Sound of Music" was just magical. I wish Elicia much success and look forward to seeing her on stage as Maria!

Here are video clips of both Janna and Elicia, courtesy of YouTube: