“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
― Norman Vincent Peale
But what happens if you fall even further? If the stars can’t hold you and you plummet towards the ground? Kathryn Albertson made that rise and fall more times than she could count before finally landing on her own two feet. Andrew Faiz’s Kathryn: A Life Almosting, with music composed by Zahra Faiz and directed by Joanne Latimer, looks at the harrowing life of Kathryn Albertson as she sings her way from Winnipeg, to Broadway and back again. With twenty-two original songs, there’s plenty packed into this new musical.
We open on a dressing table, with a tube of lipstick and a framed picture of Ethel Merman visible to the audience, along with a full length mirror festooned with pictures and old programs from days gone by. There we find Kathryn, passed out…as usual. Once she’s awake she begins to tell the audience the story of her life: from becoming famous in Winnipeg to being in the first cast of the famous Melody Fair, to working with Merman on the original Broadway production of Gypsy, Kathryn had a stellar career before she even turned 30. However, all the way along alcohol was her constant companion, and an inhibitor to her fully achieving the stardom she desperately craved. Though she tries to give her daughter Kathleen the life she always wanted for her, history ends up repeating itself in the next generation. While they eventually find peace, Kathryn and Kathleen have certainly seen their share of strife.
Throughout the play, Kathryn emphasizes that the story isn’t truly hers, but belongs to her daughter, Kathleen. Yet all of act 1, and frankly the majority of act 2, are predominantly about Kathryn herself. While I see how she might think that by examining her life you then gain insight into her daughter’s, it still very much felt focused on her career and the life choices she’s made. The reconciliation between mother and daughter is most definitely the emotional highlight of the piece, but for the whole piece to truly be about them both, I think Kathleen would need a far larger role. Act 1 proceeds quite linearly, following Kathryn from childhood into adult/motherhood, yet in act 2 there’s suddenly a time jump, where Kathryn discusses herself at 80 and the film work she was doing then, while later going back through her journey recovering from addiction. Normally I don’t mind it when authors play around with narrative and timeline, but for a biographical sort of play, and when the first act had so clearly followed a chronological path, it felt out of place. Kathryn’s story is at once unique to her and yet the story of so many; the ones in the chorus ready to do anything to get into the spotlight.
Kathryn: A Life Almosting features twenty-two new songs, all composed by Zahra Faiz with lyrics by Andrew Faiz. Many of these songs are heart-wrenching odes to Kathryn’s life and losses, with “Give Me the Moon”, “A Song or Two”, and “A Simple Lullaby” being stand-outs which have left me humming and thinking about them ever since. However, to have so many songs compressed into such a short timeframe made it feel almost more like a cabaret than a traditional musical. To have a play about such a famous songstress without any songs does seem strange, but at the same time fewer songs would leave a greater impact for each song to make. Zahra Faiz’s passion for music clearly comes through in these compositions, and the range of styles presented in Kathryn is downright impressive.
Tanya Wills stars as Kathryn Alberston, and you can tell that she truly gives her all to this performance. She embodies this tortured character with grace and care. Though at times I wasn’t sure if she was holding back, there are times when the theatre was simply ringing with her soaring voice and it gave me goosebumps. I also give her credit for being able to navigate such a tight space; there were some added rows to the audience, and unfortunately it was noticeable that she wasn’t fully in her light or that she didn’t have the room which was likely previously rehearsed, and yet she was able to make everything work and welcome the audience into the theatre with her. Kylee Martinez accompanies Wills on the piano, while also playing Kathleen. I loved the moments where Kathleen would use the piano to speak to Kathryn, playing little bits of songs or even a single note to communicate her feelings. The two performers have an interesting dynamic, and yet when they do finally come together at the end it nearly made me cry.
I absolutely love the title Kathryn: A Life Almosting: it describes the story you’re about to witness with poetic accuracy. I didn’t know who Kathryn Albertson was before sitting down to watch this show, and yet now I’m going to go and scour my record collection to see how many recordings she just might show up on, somewhere in the background. Though Kathryn never truly found the spotlight in the way she wanted to during her life, plays like Kathryn: A Life Almosting embody that legacy for generations to come.
Kathryn: A Life Almosting runs at the Red Sandcastle Theatre until April 5. For more information and tickets, visit: http://kathrynthemusical.com/index.html#
Opening quote found here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/8435.Norman_Vincent_Peale
Cover Photo: Kylee Martinez and Tanya Wills.
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