Strike! reviews, and audience and industry feedback are archived on individual review pages at left. The July 30th, 2010 review of the Second Annual Winnipeg production by CBC Theatre Beat writer Joff Schmidt is below.
Given that Winnipeg composer Danny Schur's "human rights epic" has had multiple productions since its 2005 premiere, I have a shocking and embarrassing admission to make: until last night, I was a Strike! virgin.
I don't know why I'd never seen it - maybe I've been scared away from big musicals by substandard efforts like Boys In the Photograph, or bloated epics like Beauty and the Beast. (Two-and-a-half hours for a Disney musical? Seriously?)
But when it comes to Strike!, I certainly did enjoy my first time.
If you've never seen it, the basic plot's pretty straightforward: set in the lead-up to (and during) Winnipeg's historic 1919 general strike, Ukrainian immigrant Mike Sokolowski (Cory Wojcik), his godson Stefan (Jeremy Walmsley), and Stefan's paramour Rebecca (Erin McGrath) have their lives thrown into turmoil as they pick sides on the battle lines, and make difficult decisions about what they're willing to fight for.
Of course, basing your musical on historical events can work out pretty well (see: Les Miserables) or become laughably bad (I'll never be convinced that Titanic: The Musical was a good idea).
Happily, Strike! is one that works very well. Schur and co-writer Rick Chafe are remarkably successful at finding the human drama at the core of the historical event, and they strike (oooh, pardon that pun) an effective balance between history lesson and compelling story. At the same time, they don't varnish over the uglier side of social politics in 1919 Winnipeg: anti-immigrant sentiment, bigotry, sexism, and class division are all part of the story here.
Schur and Chafe make this all palatable with a crackling stage-setting opening number ("Winnipeg's Giddy"), sprinkles of humour throughout (as in political Jewish writer Moishe's big number, "Nothing Radical," wonderfully performed by Simon Miron), and of course, the obligatory love story (Stefan and Rebecca's ballad, "Love In a Place Like This," is one of the few numbers that didn't quite "sing" for me).
For the most part, though, Schur's soundtrack is a winner. His music thoughtfully draws from eastern European melodies, a bit of Celtic, and even some good old Anglo pomp to create a sense of a city built on the back of immigration. And it's irresistibly catchy, as well - from the strident, fist-pumping march of "Strike!" to the tragic and haunting tone of the working class lament "Fifty Dollars," Strike! offers plenty for musical theatre fans to sink their teeth into.
I can't compare this to previous productions, but this one, directed by Winnipeg theatre vet Ann Hodges, works particularly well. She moves the action along at a smart pace (although the script bogs down a bit in the second act), and there's really not a weak link in the 18-person cast: while all do solid work, Wojcik stand out as Mike Sokolowski, finding all of the complexity and conflict in the well-drawn character.
Composer/producer Schur says this is the "second annual" summer production of Strike! - it ran around this time last year to near-capacity houses, and his plan is to remount it every summer (with possible future connections with the Human Rights Museum). Will that work? It relies pretty heavily on tourism - although there seemed to be a lot of other "Strike! virgins" in the audience at opening, most of Winnipeg's musical theatre fans will eventually have seen it. But I don't think it's any crazier than, say, expecting people to come out to see a 35-year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. And Strike! is enough of a smart crowd-pleaser that it has the potential to become a much-loved summer tradition in Winnipeg.
