Review: SANCTUARY SONG at Nancy & Ed Jackman Theatre

Tapestry Opera’s production of Sanctuary Song was my first experience in the company’s new space shared with Nightwood Theatre. This family-friendly story on themes of hope and joy despite adversity was a warm and easy welcome to this fledgling venue, signifying a new chapter for new opera in Toronto. 

Sanctuary Song tells the story of Sydney the elephant, who is separated from a happy life in the jungle playing with her soul sister Penny, when she is captured by a poacher and sold to a circus. Her conditions and experiences in the circus give her many reasons to mistrust and hate humans. Despite this, she manages to place faith in a human when she meets and develops a relationship with a kind keeper and the zoo to which she eventually transfers. Her ability to keep an open heart pays off when she is reunited with Penny at her final home, an elephant sanctuary. 

The libretto by acclaimed Toronto playwright Marjorie Chan was inspired by a documentary she watched about an elephant named Shirley who was retiring to an elephant sanctuary. Music for chamber orchestra of piano, violin and two percussionists composed by Abigail Richardson-Schulte personified the elephant protagonists and painted a richly evocative picture of Sydney’s solemn ponderous dignity despite the injustices and suffering caused by human greed and cowardice. 

Under Gregory Oh’s musical direction, the deceptively minimalist arrangement conveyed a breadth of nuanced emotions paired with the libretto’s sensitive storytelling. The piano and violin worked together to create an emotional palette of playfulness, fear, grief, rage, joy and love. The percussion instruments worked well together 

Strong vocal and dramatic performances did justice to the score and libretto. Midori Marsh’s light, soothing soprano is perfect for conveying Sydney’s inherently gentle nature while grounded and confident enough to capture Sydney’s strength and toughness. Elvina Raharja’s voice blended charmingly with Marsh’s in their duet passages, with the role of Penny also allowing Raharja to showcase her strong dance talent in their scenes of frolicking forest play.

Experienced physical comedian and character actor Courtnay Stevens brought some welcome comic relief to the production in the roles of the story’s various villains, the hunter, the circus owner and the zoo worker. He was gifted at transforming his voice and body for each role and elicited many laughs from children and adults while being credibly loathsome in each persona. Alvin Crawford’s mellow, inviting bass and easy-going charisma lent itself well to the part of James Sydney’s care provider and friend at the zoo for 22 years. Crawford is so easy to like that it is intrinsically credible that Sydney finds healing in his friendship after all she’s been through.

One of the best successes of this modest production is the costumes. I was not sure what to expect of how elephants would be realized on stage. I thought it might go down a “furry” or “amusement par” road or be the kind of absurd get-up where one performer has to be the head and the other the butt. I was wholeheartedly impressed with set and Costume Designer Jung-Hye Kim’s subtle and clear choice. Lengths of gray fabric were used as head dresses that formed cones on either side of the head with long trains to represent the elephants’ big floppy ears. Loose-fitting gray pants and tunics in supple natural fibres served elegantly as the elephants’ weighty bodies and wrinkly skin. Ingenious choreography by Aria Evans transformed the performers’ arms into tusks.

I am curious to see what Artistic & General Director Michael Mori and Tapestry Opera do next in their new playground. Intimate and approachable, Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre seems like a great place to experiment, innovate, and bring new ideas to life.

Photo by Dahlia Katz

 

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