Clockwise: Amanda Sum, Josh Epstein, Meaghan Chenosky, Chirag Naik
I’ve never posted an emergency review before, but here it is. You’ve got to see do you want what i have got? a craigslist cantata and your last chance is today at noon. Here’s where to book your tickets for the livestream.
Based on real-life Craigslist ads and posts, this musical is eccentrically hilarious and, especially in these times of Covid loneliness, heartbreaking.
My favourite ad: “For sale: children’s sized guillotine. It’s only been used once. Recently cleaned.”
Playing a character in her early 20s who’s trying to get rid of her childhood collection of 300 stuffed penguins, Amanda Sum sings a mesmerizingly possessed torch song.
And director Amiel Gladstone creates a final moment that had me sobbing with longing.
Most impressively, the production team has created one of the most dazzling online shows I’ve seen from anyone anywhere in the world since the lockdown. For the livestream, musicians Veda Hille and Barry Mirochnick perform on The Cultch’s stage and the five actors — Sum, Meaghan Chenosky, Josh Epstein, Chirag Naik, and Andrew Wheeler, who are all fabulous — perform in separate pods scattered throughout the theatre.
I think Cameron Anderson was probably in charge of the shooting. I haven’t been able to confirm that, but he’s done other Cultch Covid shows and he’s a frickin’ genius.*
Book your tickets right now. You can thank me later.
DO YOU WANT WHAT I HAVE GOT? A CRAIGSLIST CANTATA By Veda Hille, Bill Richardson, and Amiel Gladstone. Directed by Amiel Gladstone. Presented by The Cultch. Viewed via livestream on Saturday, November 21. Tickets for the last show, Sunday, November 22 at 12 noon.
* I just got a note from Cameron (November 25). He wrote: “While I’d love to personally take credit for the digital reimagining of our recent show, that credit belongs to director Amiel Gladstone, who was consistent and thorough in his vision of actors in a blank void, speaking directly to the audience, split across the screen, even when it seemed like the technological barriers were just too high to pull it off. For overcoming those barriers, the whole tech team deserves all the praise they’ve been getting, and while I have been fortunate to take a leadership role on some projects in the past, in this case, I was very much a supporting player.”
That credit is shared by the entire team who are mixing the show live: technical director Cody Biles, head audios Kyra Soko and Chris Engleman, and stage manager Kelly Barker, who calls all the video switches in real time, and head electrician Kaden O’Reilly, who wired the whole Cultch to connect the acting pods.
Huge thanks for this amazing team effort.
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