JACOB TWO-TWO MEETS THE HOODED FANG by Mordecai Richler, music and lyrics by Britta and Anika Johnson, directed by Allen MacInnis and Jen Shuber, with Damien Atkins, David Gregory Black, Drew Davis, Saccha Dennis, Jacob MacInnis, Jeigh Madjus and Sabryn Rock. Young People’s Theatre (165 Front East). Opens Thursday (November 19) and runs to January 3 see website for times. $10-$41. 416-862-2222 youngpeoplestheatre.ca.
Canadian children’s classic Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang, by Mordecai Richler, is all about child power and how Jacob, with the help of his young allies, uses it to best a blustery villain.
Sisters Anika and Britta Johnson loved the book when they were young, and they’ve channelled that passion into Richler’s stage adaptation of the story, for which they’ve written new music and lyrics.
Presented by Young People’s Theatre, which staged the first musical version of the show in 1978 and has remounted it several times, the fresh production features Damien Atkins as the dreaded Fang, with David Gregory Black and Drew Davis alternating as Jacob.
The youngest of four siblings, Jacob is never listened to by his family. Thus, he has to say everything twice. This gets him into trouble with a greengrocer, the police and a judge, who sends Jacob to Slimer’s Island, ruled by the Hooded Fang, who resembles a showy, theatrical wrestler.
“We both responded to the Jacob Two-Two stories,” Anika says.
Britta suggests one reason: “The book understands the world of the child, what’s scary and important, as well as the logic that children live by. It enfolds those ideas in a way that’s excitingly delicious and funny. I think Richler enjoyed getting the mind of a child.”
“What’s especially strong in the book and this stage adaptation is the impotence children feel in the adult world,” continues Anika. “A child is too little, too clumsy or not smart enough. Kids can’t wait to participate with their elders and have the power and agency that grown-ups do.”
This is only the second time the sisters have collaborated on songs for a show. The first, last spring, was the amazing Brantwood, written by Mitchell Cushman and Julie Tepperman, a site-specific show in a suburban school their musical collaborator on that project was Bram Gielen.
But Anika, in partnership with Barbara Johnston, has also written Blood Ties (featured on Orphan Black) and the Fringe hit Summerland. For the latter, they were joined by Suzy Wilde. Britta worked with writer/performer Katherine Cullen on Cullen’s SummerWorks show, Stupidhead!
For this production the two made a point of imagining songs that would satisfy an audience of children.
But, says Anika, “Whenever I write a song for any show, I begin by getting inside specific emotional moments in the story. Music is evocative, immediately putting you into the scene, whether the audience is young or grown up.”
They started by recalling the music they themselves liked as kids, “the kind of tunes we danced around to in the living room and forced our parents [both musicians] to put on in the car and sing along with, again and again,” Anika says. “When you find a song that you own, it’s powerful, like a magic spell.”
Among their faves from childhood were the Rankin Family’s Rise Again, The Impossible Dream from Man Of La Mancha and tunes from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
They admit they’re lucky to be sisters as well as collaborators, having a shorthand and the ability to anticipate each other’s ideas. Both write lyrics and music, always working in the same room: one’s at the piano and the other walks and dances around getting into a character. Then they switch.
“Jacob has a lot of 80s hair-metal rock, soul grooves and hip-hop beats,” says Britta. “And because we knew Damien was the Hooded Fang, we listened to ballads by Freddie Mercury, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith and David Bowie to create his big song. He can tap into their eccentricities and energy.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto
