NY-bound 'Spoon River' revives tales of dead

Prior to playing in the Big Apple, "Spoon River" will be staged at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto beginning on Friday.

The theatrical show is based on the celebrated century-old anthology by American writer Edgar Lee Masters, which includes more than 200 poems bearing the monikers and stories of the dead.

"As you read the name, you realize you're standing in front of the grave of that person, and they speak to you the truth from the grave," said Soulpepper artistic director Albert Schultz, who helms "Spoon River."

"In the course of reading these poems, an entire community emerges, and a history of a community emerges."

There's little rest for the dead in "Spoon River," where the spirits of a small-town graveyard reach out from the great beyond to connect with curious passersby. The spirited group stomps, shuffles and sings with passion and longing, recounting an unlikely mix of haunting, heartfelt and humorous memories of lives lived.

Schultz worked in tandem with Charlottetown-born composer Mike Ross to translate "Spoon River" for the stage, with the theatrical version featuring a blend of spoken-word monologues and soaring song passages.

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The New Jersey-raised Ross said "Spoon River" offered a tremendous opportunity to write distinct songs of various qualities and tempos reflective of the graveyard's diverse residents.

"A sound came to mind immediately and it was that of Americana," Ross said of the folk-influenced musical style.

"We might associate the sound of the dead because of various horror movies that we've seen ... as a minor key thing. But these are lives that are lived. Just because these people are gone doesn't mean the memory is a sad memory....

"If you go through the exercise of each person that was indeed in a graveyard, you get styles that are all over the place," he added. "What they have to say then beyond that also determines what the song is going to be like and the effect that it has. It sends you off in all different directions."

Award-winning stage and screen veteran Jackie Richardson was a longtime fan of "Spoon River" before joining the revival's ensemble. She sees the show as occupying a space where few other productions typically tread.

"The one thing that we very rarely deal with is the other side, the passing over," said Richardson, who performs a bluesy folk number in "Spoon River," and also inhabits the character of the Widow McFarlane, the village carpet weaver.

"I find that passing over and also dealing with senior love stories, those two things to me they're always very few stories written or performed about that. So I loved it that they found this place."

As Schultz describes it, the stage atmosphere is more akin to a rollicking wake than a sombre funereal experience when audiences settle in with the departed residents of "Spoon River."

"There is nothing macabre about this piece. There's nothing sad about this piece. It's very fun. It has all of the colours that any great work does that's full of life, and it has every aspect of life," he said.

"Some of the poems are very, very funny. A lot of the music is extremely uplifting, and the message at the end is much more about life than it is about death."

"Spoon River" runs until April 15.

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By Lauren La Rose, The Canadian Press