The first Uncovered video features Andrew Penner lip-synching Peace Train by Cat Stevens while wandering around the Toronto Railway Museum.This 1972 song’s forward-looking attitude was at odds with a location steeped in nostalgia, and the already annoying naiveté of Stevens’s lyrics grated even more than usual given what I know about the colourfully corrupt and colonial railway history of Canada.
Reinforcing this, the most successful video in the one-hour presentation was one that simply showed Richardson, in all emotive glory, singing her heart out on Billy Joel’sin the studio. Sure, it looked like most of the FACTOR-funded adult-contemporary videos I happened upon on MuchMoreMusic in the late 1990s – but I suddenly understood the merits of that particular aesthetic.
Later that evening, I rewound to revisit some of the videos I had not fully enjoyed earlier. The thick wall of sound ofstill weren’t my cup of Cohen, they had less of the washed-out look that made me scribble down “karaoke” on my own notepad.The fact that Jacobs and his band get billing way above Barber and editor Fred Yurichuk in the program indicate where Musical Stage Company’s creative priorities clearly were.
But I must also acknowledge that I’ve now learned that tuning into a digital performance is a bit like showing up for the tech run of a theatre production that is also opening night – and discovering that you are the sound and lighting designer.is, ultimately, an inspired way for this theatre company to connect with its audience and supporters in a challenging time – and I’m very much in admiration of any independent company going out on a limb right now to fulfill its mandate in new ways.