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Citadel Theatre’s production of Almost a Full Moon features, from left to right, Patricia Zentilli, Peter Fernandes, Chariz Faulmino and Lyne Tremblay.Nanc Price/Citadel Theatre
- Almost a Full Moon
- Written by: Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman
- Music by: Hawksley Workman
- Directed by: Daryl Cloran
- Actors: Alicia Barban, Felix de Sousa, Chariz Faulmino, Peter Fernandes, Kaden Forsberg Reuben, Kendrick Mitchell, Amanda Mella Rodriguez, Luc Tellier, Lyne Tremblay, Patricia Zentilli
- Venue: Shoctor Theatre, Citadel Theatre
- City: Edmonton
- Year: To Nov. 27
Winter, and the juggernaut of a holiday it contains, comes on hard and fast. It happens every year, and it never ceases to shock – just ask the Albertans who went from an unseasonably warm October to minus-20 in a matter of days.
If you’re not one of those people who has a playlist of Christmas carols ready to go 365 days a year, it can be a lot. Dora Award-winning playwright Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman spent most of her life as a decidedly not-Christmas person, as she writes in her program notes for Almost a Full Moon, her Christmas musical at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, featuring music from Hawksley Workman’s 2001 holiday album of the same name, along with others from his catalogue.
Best known for music that draws images of cigarettes, sex, rock ‘n’ roll and doing cocaine in Montreal, Workman’s troubadour soul and penchant for theatrical flair – he’s also an actor, creator of the musical The God That Comes and music writer of the Citadel’s The Silver Arrow – make Workman an inspired choice for a fresh holiday show to turn into a new tradition. The Almost a Full Moon album is a wintry collection of cozy scenes: the first snowfall, generations washing dishes together, a soup recipe, even an ode to the common cold. It’s full of his signature poetry-from-the-road grit, but imbued with pure holiday sentiment. He apparently wrote the album while fasting in Paris in dedication to the Christmases provided by his grandmother in rural Ontario. The love, and the longing, all come through simultaneously.
Corbeil-Coleman rightfully plays into that tension with a generations-spanning epic story of a family’s roots in France in the Second World War, to 1970s Montreal, to Edmonton in 2001. It digs into the loss, miscommunication, expectations and generational trauma inherent to any family, but also the uniting power of a shared meal; in this case, a “magic” soup.
The combination of Workman’s music, Corbeil-Coleman’s story and Citadel artistic director Daryl Cloran’s direction, as well as the theatre’s recent reputation for launching musicals such as Six and Hadestown to commercial success abroad, are all key ingredients to make Almost a Full Moon a sumptuous, hearty feast. But as of last week’s press night, there was still more cooking to do.
It’s felt right away in the show’s opening number, First Snow of the Year, a jaunty, joyful romp through freshly fallen snow with Ryan deSouza’s music direction and original arrangements. It’s the perfect mood for Younger Philip (Felix de Sousa), ready with a snowsuit and sled, and de Sousa’s energy is an immediate audience pleaser. But a dissonance arises when more characters enter, particularly during the 1940s France scenes of Canadian soldiers Reuben (Kaden Forsberg) and Sébastien (Luc Tellier) and Marie-Éve (Alicia Barban), all running for their lives. Likewise, seventies-era Lewis (Kendrick Mitchell) and Clementine (Patricia Zentilli), chic in Jessica Oostergo’s costume design, sing happy words with concerned expressions. For Lewis, it’s clear, he just fled the draft in the United States, and is navigating a new country while mourning the break from his family, and for Clementine it’s a more subtle pain – existential, familial, dreadful of another get-together and holiday pressures.
Corbeil-Coleman has orchestrated generations of complex family dynamics of all types – bound by blood, romance, and friendship – that reveal themselves over the course of the show’s two acts. The hiccups come through a conflict in tone between the story and the music. The characters’ moments of song are often inspired by plot points, not necessarily depth or motivation, but there’s so much action to get through that the music is brief and so are the emotional beats. As often is the case with musicals inspired by an artist’s work, songs can feel like checking boxes rather than useful moments.
There’s also an interesting shift when Workman’s lyrics are applied to a theatrical context – they’re so beautifully simple, mundane, and Rockwell-esque (“Lets make some soup cause the weather is turning cold/Lets stir it together till we are both grey and old”), taking them literally risks pushing them over the edge from nostalgic to saccharine.
There are moments of transcendence, though, when character, performer and song match beautifully. In It’s a Long Life to Always Be Longing, we finally get to hear the uniting thread of the show come to life through three women: Older Tala (Chariz Faulmino), who migrated to Edmonton as a child and unofficially joined Philip’s family, filling a void left by her own; Clementine, struggling to overcome her fear of commitment and chart a course for her life; and Marie-Éve, adjusting to life in Canada and trying to reconnect with the shy, traumatized soldier Reuben. Performed wonderfully by Faulmino, Zentilli and Barban, Corbeil-Coleman’s main idea comes through – despite hardships, or perhaps because of them, these women are choosing to work to save their connections, instead of deserting them. Another highlight, Wonderful and Sad by Older Philip (a standout Peter Fernandes) and Lewis, travels similar territory from the men’s point of view.
Developed largely over Zoom during the pandemic, it begs the question of whether more in-person time would have helped the team and cast of Almost a Full Moon bridge the gaps that still feel apparent between the storylines, characters and music: everyone’s on the same stage, but not in the same world. All the ingredients of a great show are there, but perhaps there just hasn’t been enough time for them to simmer, mix and deepen.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)