"Olga: A Farewell Concert" at Aurora Theatre Company

Aurora photo by Scot Goodman

This is another show that's kind of hard to categorize. It's not a play, really, though it's more of a play than the Hundred Days show we saw the previous weekend in New York. Olga was a special, limited-run production as the first commissioned piece through Aurora's "Originate + Generate" (O+G) program for developing new works.

The Show

Presented in cabaret style, the show actually begins when the doors open and patrons start to find their seats. Olga (Beth Wilmurt) is already seated at the piano, playing softly and singing to herself. Olga is based on the character Olga Sergeyevna Prozorova, the eldest of the eponymous three sisters in Chekhov's play. As we learn early in this performance, the other two sisters are gone (one dead, one moved), leaving Olga alone and feeling reflective.

The reflections take the form of rather anachronistic musical selections. Olga would have been singing about a hundred years ago, but the musical selections performed by Wilmurt and her band are all distinctly more modern, from opening with Harry Nilsson's "Wasting My Time" through Phil Ochs and Brian Wilson tunes into adaptations of songs by such diverse artists as Jimmy Cliff, Los Lobos, Kirsty McColl, Gloria Deluxe, and Johnny Cash, among others.

The mood shifts from wistful to mildly celebratory, ironic and reflective, but never gets morose. There is a minimum of chatter between tunes; just enough to provide a bit of flow from one to the next. So the overall effect is pretty much just continuous music, but a bit of a story line makes itself felt through the music and the interactions on stage.

The Performance

Wilmurt has a lovely voice, being as much a musician and music teacher as a theater performer. And she has an easy rapport with her band (Sam Barnum on guitar, Gabe Maxson on harmonica, and Olive Mitra on bass and percussion). The band rolls into the room after a few minutes, wearing their Russian army uniforms, but quickly make themselves at home on the chairs and couches on stage. Olga fetches them beers, and with a bit of wine for herself, continues the show.

The overall show therefore has the informal, playing and singing with old friends vibe that suggests familiarity and shared experience, but there is a definite order to the show, rather than the impromptu feel of a jam session. Olga definitely has a plan for the evening, a journey she wants us to share. And the little nods to Chekhov's play give a context, yet don't conflict with the apparently contemporary setting of the piece.

I was most impressed with the way Wilmurt has arranged such diverse musical pieces into a style that makes them all feel like they fit together, and some are rather dramatically different than the original performances (notably Wilson's "In My Room," which is much more sprightly here than the familiar Beach Boys recording). Unlike so many current musical assemblages, where story lines warp to fit the lyrics and tempos of existing songs, Olga manages to select and manipulate the songs to fit the narrative arc of her evening.

Bottom Line

Olga is a pleasant evening of music. I suspect it helps to be of a certain middle-ish age to recognize and appreciate the songs assembled, as well as to fully appreciate the reflective ambiance of the show. It's a really solid show, not in a knock-your-socks-off sort of way, but rather in a kind of sly, subtle way. Olga seems intent on holding back, not setting our expectations, and then manages to reveal lots of interesting bits with her choices of songs and styles.

Unfortunately, the show only ran for ten days, and closed last weekend, so there aren't any more options for seeing it just now. However, I suspect the show will reappear in some form down the road.

And the next O+G production will be next spring, with a show called Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector on the Aurora main stage. It's always interesting to see new works, so I hope the O+G program will be successful.