Last Monday, on what has been dubbed “Blue Monday,” a sold-out crowd gathered at the Carleton to listen to some of the Nova Scotia theatre community’s best singers perform the songs from Joni Mitchell’s iconic fourth record Blue (1971). The show was a benefit for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.
Full disclosure: I find January to be by far the hardest month of the year. There is something about the first few weeks after Christmas that always give me the blues. It was difficult for me to get up the motivation to leave my house on Monday night, especially after dark and in the cold, to go to the Carleton, but I knew that hearing this music interpreted by these performers was a rare and special opportunity, and one that very likely would give my heart the push it needed to help get me back into the regularly scheduled swing of my life. The Blue Monday Cabaret was even better than my already high expectations, and I was so glad that I’d forced myself into my boots and my mittens and got there.
The biggest revelation of the evening for me was Jenn Priddle, who sang “My Old Man,” as she was the only performer that I was seeing for the first time. She has a gorgeous and powerful voice and a commanding stage presence, and I look forward to seeing her on stage again.
Margot Sampson was an integral part of my introduction to the Joni Mitchell canon. I saw her, Raquel Duffy, and Mark Uhre perform in Joni Mitchell: River in 2005 at Festival Antigonish and fell in love with the music. Last evening she sang the haunting and devastatingly hopeful “Little Green.” Sampson’s voice is strikingly similar to Mitchell’s, and it seemed apt that she be the one to sing this song, given the poignancy of its connection to Mitchell’s real life.
Jeremiah Sparks breathed so much life and joy into “Carey,” it was certainly a recipe for chasing the clouds away. Stewart Legere completely reimagined the title track, “Blue;” I felt like I was hearing the song for the very first time. Becca Guilderson showed off her effortless soprano with a powerhouse performance of “California.” Audrey Eastwood and Nick Cox (as Guy & Doll) performed “The Flight Tonight,” and Laura Caswell started the evening with “All I Want,” both filling the Carleton with sweetness. Cox, Shane O’Regan, and Ellen Gibling provided additional musical accompaniment for the evening.
One of the greatest aspects of the evening was how perfectly suited each artist was to the song they sang. Cliff LeJeune’s vivid storytelling prowess lent so much depth and nuance to “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” and Amanda LeBlanc’s rich, emotional sensibility was perfect for “A Case of You.”
I’ve known Kyle Gillis for over twenty years, so I shouldn’t have been surprised at his gorgeous rendition of “River” (with Ellen Gibling on harp!), he has a falsetto that you just want to curl up inside; but what shocks me is how rare it is for me to have the opportunity to hear Kyle sing. There is so much talent here. This cabaret is a testament to the exquisite ability and the diversity of musical styles in just these eleven performers from our community. It’s clear that we need more opportunities for these performers to perform. We need more theatre spaces. I know I’m speaking the obvious to the converted, but it’s a travesty that Halifax has so many exceptional voices and only very few limited windows of opportunity for audiences to hear them.
Until we realize our dreams of a series of midsize black box theatres woven elegantly throughout the North End and downtown: more cabarets at the Carleton, please.
The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia ” is a registered charity that works to increase financial support to community initiatives throughout Nova Scotia while providing hope and eradicating the stigma around mental illness and addiction.” For more information or to make a donation please visit this website.
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