Wright sisters stage a review

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 19, 2004


A pair of Burnaby sisters are working together this summer to showcase the works of one of the 20th century's most storied composers on stage at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.

Berlin to Broadway, which runs from June 24 to July 3, is a musical voyage with Kurt Weill, the German-born composer who wrote the songs to such popular stage productions as The Threepenny Opera, Lady in the Dark and Lost in the Stars.

"He was such a brilliant composer. There really wasn't anything that Kurt Weill wrote that wasn't good," said Johnna Wright, director of the show and a founding member of the cooperative production company.

The show follows Weill's career from his early days on the Berlin stage in the 1920s to his flight to Paris in the pre-war years, and finally his arrival in America, where he became one of Broadway's most loved composers, best known for the hit song Mack the Knife.

Wright said the show has tremendous sentimental value for her because it features Happy End, the first musical number she ever performed with her sister, Katey, who is one of five actors in the production.

The Wright sisters grew up in town and graduated from Burnaby Central, from where they went on to become active members of Vancouver theatrical community.

Johnna Wright is an actor and director who runs the Solo Collective Theatre Co. that produces new works by Western Canadian playwrights. Her most recent acting role was in Zadie's Shoes at the Arts Club, and this fall she will have a role in the Robin William film Final Cut.

Katey Wright is an actor and singer who has earned strong reviews for her lead performances in Twelfth Night at Bard on the Beach and Little Shop of Horrors at the Arts Club.

Johnna said that, while working on this play, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that Weill wrote several songs she'd always loved, but didn't realize he had composed.

And as the production winds it's way closer to the actual run dates, Wright is immersed in the work she loves best, directing and organizing the actors, musicians and other talented folk who are helping to get on with the show.

"My favourite part is the staging and rehearsals," Wright said. "All the crew are so talented and creative. Any ideas I have about how to make this show exciting will be multiplied because there are all these other people bringing their own creativity to it, too."

The rest of the cast in Berlin to Broadway also have strong credentials.

Rebecca Codling has performed in Vancouver-based productions such as Baby, Red Rock Diner, Swing, and Heidi: The Musical in New York City and on the U.S. tour of Footloose.

Shawn Macdonald is a Jessie Award winner who co-authored and performed in two Arts Club production, World's Greatest Guy and Fear Knot, which were both produced in concert with Vancouver TheatreSports.

Don Noble spent the past two years touring across the United States in the hit musical Mamma Mia! and has returned to his former home to where he has worked with the Arts Club, Richmond gateway, Bard on the Beach and in a variety of TV shows.

The narrator of the show is Denis Simpson, Kerry O'Donovan is the pianist, and Alison Jenkins of the Flying Folk Army is the musical director.

Peter Jorgenson is the vocal director, choreographer and assistant director, Adam Parboosingh is the designer and the other musicians are Jonathan Teague and Lyndon Surjik.

Berlin to Broadway runs June 24 to July 3 at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island and tickets are $16 or $21 from the Festival box office at 604-257-0366.