After/BAAL a rock n’ roll reckoning
Play by Rose Cullis Songs by Astrid Van Wieren videos: 2022 BANFF Arts Centre Workshop with J.D. Nicholsen and Parmida Vand 2023 TORONTO Workshop with Michael Scholar Jr., Sarah Richardson, Mike Tae Lee, Parmida Vand, J.D. Nicholsen - Directed by Jon Michaelson Producers: R. Cullis, A. Van Wieren, J. Michaelson, M. Scholar Jr. www. novembertheatre.com/current-productions
It's incredibly liberating to write songs from a fictional character’s POV. Baal’s delicious large appetites, her open sexuality and her fierce uncompromising attitude spur me on, as does Rose Cullis's playwriting. Unlike a regular musical, the songs don’t further the narrative in a conventional musical theatre sense, but they do tease out revelations, illuminate characters’ shared histories and just plain rock out!
Video clips from this BANFF workshop feature co-stars Parmida Vand and Jack Nicholsen, on bass and rhythm guitar.
(photo: Alison Palmer - graphic design: David Colburn)
(on Nothing To Me (acoustic version, with Alec Berlin on guitar)
"Astrid's gift, that most songwriters strive to achieve, is authenticity. Her song Nothing To Me is stunning, because it is real, grounded and authentic, which is what grabs us as an audience and as human beings. Listening to her music creates that unique connection between artist and audience we are all yearning for. Her work as a songwriter is matched by her talent and ability to translate the gift of authenticity into performance." Producer Michael Rubinoff
Musical excerpts from November 2023 Workshop of After/BAAL - staged reading with an audience - Sarah Richardson, keys, Mike Tae Lee, drums, Parmida Vand, Jack Nicholsen, guitars.
B A A L
BAAL * by Rose Cullis * Canadian Premiere Mercury Theatre at Buddies in Bad Times mainstage (1998) Directed by Jon Michaelson Set, Projections, Costumes by Denyse Karn Musical Director John Gzowski
BAAL a woman, a band, a queer new rock & roll heroine
(Inspired by a 1920's play by Brecht)
“On commission, Rose Cullis wrote a terrific contemporary drama about a fiercely autonomous, charismatically hard living artist. Promiscuously talented 'Baal' writes the songs that makes the young girls sing, but at home and on the road she's in conflict with her lovers, her band, her managers, and her growing notoriety.
Astrid Van Wieren starred indelibly as Baal and composed 7 kick-ass original songs sang with sass and passion. John Gzowski was the excellent band's excellent leader. The versatile company included the late great John Evans as a Machiavellian record industry magnate, and Brenda Bazinet as his star-struck wife. In her Toronto main stage debut, Tara Rosling played the ingenue love object with grace and fury. “ Producer/Director Jon Michaelson
Mercury Theatre (Toronto) production reviews
“Jon Michaelson is renowned and respected for his musical theatre direction. Astrid Van Wieren was born to sing these songs. Damn fine rock and roll!'
Director Sarah Stanley
“A wonderful gutsy idea…this production avoided many pitfalls and delivered many rewards…it had power, depth, and enormous creativity…and the music is as inventive as the text. Such a work deserves to go all the way and have national exposure”
Mira Friedlander, Variety
“Music and performances provide the theatrical jolts…and the poetic monologues and the sexually and emotionally hot scenes between Van Wieren and Rosling strike theatrical sparks …Van Wieren turns in a powerhouse performance…”
Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine
“The play is also a concert that the band around whom the action swirls delivers with punch, with Van Wieren showing off terrific Janis Joplin licks as well as a knack for emotionally direct messages…As the mesmerized ingenue, Tara Rosling turns in a canny, calibrated portrait of a vulnerable soul…”
Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star