WHAT MAKES A MAN songs by Charles Aznavour, created by Jennifer Tarver with Justin Ellington, directed by Tarver, music direction and arrangements by Ellington. Presented by Necessary Angel and Canadian Stage at the Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley). Previews October 8, opens October 9 and runs to November 2, Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday 8 pm, Friday 7 pm, matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 pm. $30-$49. 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com. See listing.
At the age of 90, Charles Aznavour is one of the world’s most popular songwriters, the author of some thousand of melodies.
His work and the humanity it captures is the source of What Makes A Man, a new creation by Necessary Angel’s Jennifer Tarver and Justin Ellington that features four singers who each represent an aspect of Aznavour.
It’s the first collaboration between Necessary Angel and Canadian Stage, marking the start of the former’s new residency at the Berkeley Street Theatre.
Director Tarver and musician Ellington met informally at Stratford several years ago, when she was directing The Homecoming and he was composing a new score for As You Like It. But it was director/dramaturge Andrew Shaver who brought them together for this project, which had begun before Ellington came on board.
“I was caught up by our first few meetings, as we talked about Aznavour as a writer,” recalls the musician. “He tells observational, universal stories about people, narratives in which we can place ourselves even when they’re about specific characters.
“Because I love being a storyteller in my own work, I’m drawn to material that has a richness of text as well as a beautiful melody.”
Drawing on over 20 Aznavour tunes, including the one that gives the show its title, Tarver and Ellington explore the universality of his music.
“We decided that the best way to do that was to put the material in the hands of totally different artists and discover how we hear the songs from their perspectives, the various tones and particular emotions they bring to the music and the lyrics.
“That’s what the ‘play’ is about, with each of the four performers representing a side of Aznavour.”
Each of them also stands for an archetypal figure, too. Kenny Brawner, the most senior of the troupe, brings years of experience to the production.
“He’s the prophet, not in the sense of being a spiritual prophet, someone who knows and sees all, but rather a person who can make predictions about the future because of his past history.
“When he sings Yesterday When I Was Young, he brings a resonance and weight to the words.”
Louise Pitre is the survivor figure, someone who Ellington says infuses the material with classiness and believability.
“Her strength and confidence just fill the stage. I know this person has been somewhere and been victorious in her efforts, though there’s been some cost in the process.”
Saidah Baba Talibah represents the poet, though Ellington also refers to her as the lover.
“Her character, caught up in her own words, is able to find honesty in what she says, even if lies are woven with truths. She’s the kind of person who gets what she wants, someone who, sometimes yielding blindly to love, follows her dreams because she’s confident that her feelings will make them all work.”
Finally, Andrew Penner is the performer persona, though not the celebrity that some think he is.
“He’s the figure wearing a mask, but occasionally the real person appears behind that façade. Despite the mask, he still brings an everyman quality to the songs, even when he’s ‘performing.'”
In working on his arrangements, Ellington – a theatre composer who is also part of the Grammy-winning company Bangladesh, which has produced records for Beyoncé, Usher, Ludacris and others – spent time with the four performers to get a sense of how each might embody the songs. Given their backgrounds in jazz, musical theatre, rock, soul and country, the singers bring different qualities to the stage.
“I didn’t want to change anyone’s tone or musical nature each is an artist in his or her own right. We just agreed on the stories we wanted to tell and then each artist was given the emotional rope to hold onto and tell the narrative through their own individual instrument.
“They hold the stage in their own way without redoing what Aznavour wrote, which allows the richness of the material to shine through.”
