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Canadian premiere of play about the lives of Bella & Marc Chagall will leave you wanting to learn more
“The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” – a WJT production – on now at the Asper Campus
Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN Most of us are familiar with the paintings of Marc Chagall – with his surrealistic imagery permeated with flying cows, roosters, fish, and the moon. But, what about the man himself? What was he like as a husband? And, what about the woman he married? What was she like?
Now, in a new play being performed for the very first time in Canada, audiences find out that Marc Chagall also enjoyed a long and happy marriage to a brilliant woman, Bella, who died suddenly and much too soon shortly after the Chagalls had moved to America.
“The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” tells the story of Marc and Bella’s romance – through words and music, with some beautiful choreography as well.
Set on a stage with the audience seated all around, and within a very large tent on the grounds of the Asper Campus, there is an unusual intimacy between audience and performers – in this case the two actors who play Marc and Bella: Daniel Greenberg and Isidora Kecman.
The play begins with Marc mounting the stage, soon to receive a phone call from someone (not seen) who evidently wants to discuss Marc’s paintings in very technical terms. But, the fact that he is speaking on a fairly modern looking phone would seem to indicate that the time is fairly recent.
Soon though, we are transported back in time to 1914 – which was a crucial period in history for so many reasons. It was in that year that Bella (née Rosenberg) meets Marc, who is already a successful painter. The two fall almost immediately in love, but with the First World War and the chaos of revolution enveloping Russia, Marc and Bella find themselves uprooted.
During the course of the play we find out that Bella comes from quite a wealthy family; her parents own three jewellery stores in their native city of Vitobsk (which I found out afterward is actually in Belarus). Marc’s father, in contrast, is a poor delivery man for pickle barrels.
Yet, the story is not told in chronological fashion. It’s not an attempt to tell the story of Marc and Bella Chagall’s lives beyond offering the audience glimpses of the chemistry – and occasional friction, that developed between them.
There are props used recurrently on the set – such as that aforementioned rooster, cow, and fish – that offer a hint of the motifs that are most common in Chagall’s paintings, but there is no probing of what led Chagall to seize upon those particular images. As such, anyone who might have expected to find a deeper examination of an artist’s motivation will leave “The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” feeling somewhat disappointed.
Instead, they will be treated to a romantic evening that explores some of the key years in Chagall’s career and sets them into the context of his coming to terms with the anti-Semitism that engulfed Russia both before the 1917 Communist revolution, and then again following the revolution.
There are references to the pogroms that were a regular occurrence in pre-1917 Russia and later, after Chagall had been appointed to a prestigious position by the new Communist regime, the anti-Semitism that forced him to relinquish his post.
But, interspersed with the narrative of the play, there are occasional dance scenes and singing performed by the two young – and oh so attractive actors who play Marc and Bella. The energy that Daniel Greenberg and Isidora Kecman bring to their roles is truly awe-inspiring.
From time to time, they transition from actors speaking their lines to lithe dancers moving in beautiful and graceful harmony together. One scene in particular is bound to resonate with anyone watching this play – when Marc Chagall dances and leaps all around the stage with a long ribbon twirling magically in his hand, and with Bella the object of his adoration throughout.
And, although WJT Artistic Director Ari Weinberg had warned the audience beforehand that the play would be 75 minutes, with no intermission (so, if you hadn’t “pished” already, as Ari noted, you were in trouble), the audience the night I was there seemed quite enchanted by the entire production. I’m sure that most everyone can tell when members of an audience start to lose interest; it’s when the coughing starts.
I can’t recall hearing anyone cough at all during “The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk”.
As much as you will learn quite a bit about Marc and Bella Chagall though during this play, there are several references to how talented and brilliant Bella was in her own right that might make you wonder, as I certainly did, how much did her having to live in the shadow of such a well-known and successful painter as Marc Chagall dampen her own potential to become a great success in her own right? (She did write quite a bit of Yiddish poetry, we learn, but it is not at all clear to what extent she was published during her lifetime, if at all.)
As a result – and I discussed this with some other audience members afterward, it is likely that many people will want to find out a great deal more about the lives of Marc and Bella Chagall than they would have learned from watching this play.
“The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” is on until June 19. For ticket information call 204-477-7478 or visit WJT.ca.
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
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Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.