Winnipeg's Theater in the Park presents "Strike! The Musical" (08/14/05)

Winnipeg's Theater in the Park presents "Strike! The Musical"

by Robert B. Klymasz

WINNIPEG - "Strike! The Musical," by Danny Schur (music, lyrics, script) and Rick Chafe (script) was presented at the Theater in the Park in Winnipeg on May 26 through June 14.

In brief, Mr. Schur's "Strike!" is a musical lesson that not only entertains but instructs as well. Reviewed and widely discussed in the mainstream press (including Toronto's Globe and Mail), this is a professional work that marks a landmark in the history of Ukrainian theater - if only because it's a production that received supporting grants from both wings of the Ukrainian community in Canada: that is, the right wing (the Shevchenko Foundation) and the left wing (the Ukrainian Labor Temple Foundation).

On stage, the musical's Ukrainian aspect is driven by the main character - Mike Sokolowski, the reluctant martyr of Winnipeg's "bloody Saturday" strike in June of 1919 - and supported by props (a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag), snippets of Ukrainian dialogue, a few anti-Ukrainian slurs, a sopilka (traditional Ukrainian flute) in the orchestra and even a set showing the Ukrainian Canadian Congress building on 456 Main St. in downtown Winnipeg.

(Off stage, a special compact disc released to mark this premier production features the singing voices of at least three Ukrainian Winnipeggers - Andriana Chuchman, Paul Mayba and Greg Udod.

Ethnic elements like these, though incidental, provide splashes of local color and strengthen the musical's triangular focus on music, history and morality. For some in the audience, the music can be reminiscent of such Broadway hits as "West Side Story" and "Fiddler on the Roof." Only "Strike!" however, dares to use unrest and social turmoil as the basis (not merely a backdrop) for its narrative (after all, who's ever heard of a musical devoted to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917?).

"Strike!" has several tense, grave moments that could be refined and developed into high drama for the operatic stage. In its current song-and-dance format, it could easily travel abroad to Ukraine where, undoubtedly, "Strike!" would be received with considerable interest.

What about a concert version? Several of Mr. Schur's songs are lovely, engaging and should be performed as stand-alone pieces for years to come. These include pieces like "Love in a place Like This," "Do it For Anna" and "Saturday in June." The choreography in "Strike!" (by Tom Mokry) is generally outstanding with "Fifty Dollars" a real knockout: telephone operators and toiling laborers have never "danced" in such superb manner.

Let's hope that "Strike!" continues to live into the future. It should not be allowed to languish as some forgotten musical curiosity.

Robert B. Klymasz is officiated with the Center for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba.

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