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| Yes, AND... (plus thoughts on another great Molina, Juan Chioran, in Man of La Mancha) | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 05:30 pm EDT 08/07/20 | |
| In reply to: Brent Carver's Tevye. - portenopete 04:05 pm EDT 08/07/20 | |
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| Portenopete said so much and said it so beautifully, I have very little to add to the conversation. It was the first, and perhaps only, time I've seen a Fiddler where Tevye's foremost quality was his love for his children. It defined Carver's Tevye. And so when he rejected Chava, it was devastating--for him and the audience. The emotional impact was ASTONISHING. I wept like I have rarely wept in the theatre, before or since. On a personal note, I was a teenager nearing the end of high school when I saw the production. It was in Carver's performance and especially in his relationship with Chava that I came to understand I had lived my life and my relationship with my father with what I now know is commonly referred to as "best little boy in the world" syndrome. My very armchair understanding of it is that it's when a gay child pushes himself to be perfect in every way in the hope that his perfection will cause family members to forgive him for being gay. The performance quite literally changed my understanding of myself and how I navigated my relationship with my Dad. Portenopete, it's interesting that you say Carver would have been an incredible Don Quixote because, to this day, my favorite Man of La Mancha--both show and performance as the title character--was the production I saw at Stratford, directed by Susan H. Schulman (whom I believe directed Carver's Fiddler), and starring Juan Chioran, who was a Molina in the first national tour of Spider Woman and a standby for the role on Broadway. As different as Don Quixote and Molina are, and as different as Chioran was in each role, his performance also highlighted some crucial similarities: a certain longing; a dedication to an ideal world; a willingness to blur the lines between fantasy and reality; and an elegance that as Molina was filtered through the lens of feminine ideals and silver screen glamour and as Quixote was filtered through the lens of chivalry. |
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| The Chioran/Carver Connection. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 04:17 pm EDT 08/08/20 | |
| In reply to: Yes, AND... (plus thoughts on another great Molina, Juan Chioran, in Man of La Mancha) - DanielVincent 05:30 pm EDT 08/07/20 | |
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| Thanks for that beautiful memory, DanielVincent. I've been reading a lot of memories on Facebook and I discovered that Brent had indeed played Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha at Neptune Theatre in Halifax in 1989. A number of people mentioned it in passing telling the story of his being asked to play David in Brad Fraser's Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love with Crow's Theatre, which opened at the tiny Poor Alex Theatre in Toronto in January of 1990. He was in the middle of the La Mancha run when he was asked to play the cynical gay waiter approaching a mid-life crisis in Fraser's jolting murder mystery/gay comedy thriller. It had a phenomenal cast and got great reviews so the only way to get in was to line up on Sunday morning to get a seat for the PWYC matinée. In its own Canadian way it had a Hamilton vibe: by 8:00 AM there were line-ups around the block. And on some very cold winter mornings in Toronto. It was glorious! There was such anticipation in the air and Brent was a big part of why it generated the excitement it did. It eventually transferred to a bigger theatre and had a commercial run, very odd for Toronto theatre (outside the big musicals). I think he might have been doing Human Remains when Spider-Woman came along. Yes, Juan and Brent shared a few roles. In addition to Molina and Don Quixote, they were both electric Emcees in Cabaret (Juan at the Shaw Festival in 2014 and Brent in Brian Macdonald's 1987 Stratford production). They both possess lean and lanky bodies with a dancer's grace. And they both gravitate to the non-traditional choice in terms of playing a role and a scene. Juan has always seemed to me like a 19th-century actor who loves filling a large theatre with his razor voice and blazing eyes. (Another role that was written for Brent but played by Juan in the end was the title role in Richard Ouzounian/Marek Norman musical of Dracula at Stratford in the mid-1990s). If anything, Juan's joy performing and Brent's sadness were both deep and foundational and perhaps inspired similar reaction. Now I'm trying to remember if they ever played together.... |
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| That was a joy to read. Thank you. And now, I need to... | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 11:57 pm EDT 08/08/20 | |
| In reply to: The Chioran/Carver Connection. - portenopete 04:17 pm EDT 08/08/20 | |
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| ...find a copy of the Fraser play! | |
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| re: Yes, AND... (plus thoughts on another great Molina, Juan Chioran, in Man of La Mancha) | |
| Posted by: mikem 08:24 pm EDT 08/07/20 | |
| In reply to: Yes, AND... (plus thoughts on another great Molina, Juan Chioran, in Man of La Mancha) - DanielVincent 05:30 pm EDT 08/07/20 | |
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| DanielVincent, thank you for sharing that. The impact of theater can be so great. Moments like those are being lost every day, during this pandemic. | |
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