Marvelous Mr Moysey will be one of three theatre productions at this year’s Sechelt Arts Festival and it is shaping up to be among the most unusual arts events ever staged on the Sunshine Coast.
“I promise it will be fun,” Gibsons resident Bill Moysey said in an interview as he prepared for the show, which will be performed on the evening of Friday, Oct. 11 at Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt. “It will range from delicate and sincere to loud and raucous.”
The Sechelt Arts Festival (SAF) news release describes Moysey’s show as “an avant-garde fusion of music, song, tap dance, and immersive audience song creation.” The song-creation part is what caught festival co-producer Ross Powell’s attention when Moysey first pitched him a version of the project last year. At one point in the show, “the audience will assist in randomly generating a piece of music,” Powell said.
Like audiences at improvisational comedy shows might suggest plot and character ideas, Moysey will seek audience suggestions on music and lyrics. Moysey, who staged several music and dance productions during the 1990s and early 2000s in Vancouver, is calling the interactive segment The Dartboard Orchestra.
That’s just one part of a four-part show of dance and music using an ensemble that will range from nine to 11 players, said Moysey, who promises an evening that “will be informative, inspiring, and provocative.” That said, he admitted that part of the challenge will be that “nobody knows this music. Probably half of the evening is stuff that’s never been heard before and never been put on stage.”
That kind of gamble is right in the SAF’s wheelhouse, according to Powell. “One of the main things the Sechelt Arts Festival wants to do each year is take somebody like Bill and help them be able to put on a big show that they normally would not be able to,” he said. “Pretty much every year there has been something that has been experimental or different or something we were inventing.
“It’s going to be a wild ride,” Powell said. “But I know he’s perfectly capable of making this work.”
The SAF’s two other theatre shows are Becoming, choreographed by award-winning Coast dance master Becky Izad and performed twice at Raven’s Cry on Saturday, Oct. 5, and the Brazilian dance-music fusion of Forro do Cana, featuring Coast fiddler Serena Eades, at the shíshálh Community Hall on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Advance tickets for the adult-oriented show range from $20 to $25 and can be purchased at secheltartsfestval.com
