Be First in Line for Last Night at the Gayety at Centaur
George Bowser and Rick Blue (authors and songwriters) have an amazing way with words. True to the their well-known genre it’s the songs at Centaur’s Last Night at the Gayety, that really “sing” (bada-boom, as the drummer would do in this show). They are just so darn clever. The play, about Montreal’s infamous years of “Casinos, Bordellos and Booze” (one of the songs) could have been formulaic, but manages to relate a story which not only keeps you interested, but giggling and titillated throughout.
A tale of this era could not be told without the usual suspects: the gangster, nightclub owner, priest and cops (the good and bad). The glue holding it all together is the famous stripper Lili St. Cyr. Julia Juhas is a knockoff, so perfectly cast; she elegantly glides across the stage dressed to kill in early 50’s fashions, yet bumps and grinds so provocatively with those sinuous long legs.
Our very own burlesque queen, Holly Gauthier-Frankel, plays the ingenue and she was also the burlesque consultant for the production. She has total command of the stage, whether she is acting, singing, dancing or bumping and grinding.
However, I think the men steal this show, especially Daniel Brochu as Pax Plante, the honest chief of police (“da law is da law”) trying to clean up the town. I loved him acting out the “Decent Set of Nuts” (yes those nuts) song. Michel Perron as Father d’Anjou belts out another clever ditty about how “we must get rid of Lily St-Cyr”.
What could be wrong with a night of inside jokes, overacting, silly songs, erotic dancing, love, lust, murder, gangsterism and priestly disgust – all so definitively Montreal. Bowser and Blue make sure to point out, tongue-in-cheek this city was made for burlesque because there’s a main street named Beaver Hall Hill and the crossroads of downtown is after all, called “Peel”. Lili retorts that she prefers Las Vegas because its main street is is known as “The Strip” (bada boom).
The show is summed up perfectly in the final courtroom scene with the parade of witnesses all acting out Lili’s anatomic bombshell gyrations. Go buy tickets now to enjoy the hilarious, inside jokes (Griffintown was a pile of poo) that only all real Montrealers will get.
Location: 453 St-Francois Xavier
corner: Notre-Dame
Tel: 514-288-3161
Dates: til May 15
Prices $33 (student) -$47.50
www.centaurtheatre.com
Metro: Place d’Armes