Strange magic

>> Musical theatre meets the famed illusionist
in the Segal Centre’s Houdini

by AMY BARRATT

“It’s not that we have a Houdini thing; it’s that we have a musical theatre thing.”

I’ve asked Bryna Wasserman, of the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts, how she came to be directing her second original musical about Harry Houdini (born Erich Weiss) in the space of a decade. The first, titled The Great Houdini, was presented by the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre in 2000. The most recent one, simply titled Houdini, opens Feb. 10. Bryna Wasserman is artistic director of both the Yiddish Theatre (founded by her mother) and the English-language theatre of what was formerly the Saidye Bronfman Centre, both of which are housed at the Segal.

“Over the last 10 years,” Wasserman says, “Yiddish Theatre has been a breeding ground for musical theatre, a place for young, talented people to experiment.”

There is a core group of people who have honed their musical theatre skills within Yiddish Theatre (YT) who are now ready to take what they’ve learned to a wider audience. Ben Gonshor, who wrote the book for the new Houdini show, started performing with YT as a child. In recent years, he played the lead in Lies My Father Told Me and bass guitar in the band Those Were the Days. Elan Kunin has been associated with the YT for over 10 years composing and orchestrating music, as well as appearing in shows. He wrote the score for The Great Houdini and also starred as the illusionist. This time around, he has composed an entirely new score and remains behind the scenes.

Ever since The Great Houdini was such a success, Wasserman has wanted to revisit the material. At first she was thinking of a straight English adaptation of that show but, in talks with Gonshor and Kunin, decided that the focus needed to be shifted. They would make the story more “universal” by putting less emphasis on Houdini’s Jewishness, particularly his mother’s disapproval of his gentile wife. (In fact, there is thought to be little truth to that part of the lore).

Gonshor’s version focuses on Houdini’s rise to fame and later his crusade against the spiritualist movement of the early 20th century. Following the death of his mother, with whom he had, as Gonshor puts it, “an unnaturally close relationship,” Houdini was drawn to spiritualism. He knew people who claimed to contact the dead were probably charlatans, but, like so many others, he wanted the claims to be true.

“He struck up a friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a believer,” says Gonshor. “Doyle actually believed there was a spiritual element in Houdini’s feats. He would have liked to have Houdini as the Tom Cruise of spiritualism, as a poster boy for the movement. But Houdini was such a purist about magic. For him, it was all about hard work and discipline. He couldn’t stand charlatans.”

The two men ultimately fell out of friendship over this and became public antagonists.

Houdini, the musical, has Yves Neveu, head of the École de cirque de Québec, as an “artistic consultant” as well as the multi-talented Greg Kramer as “magic consultant.” It is a showcased production of this year’s Montreal Highlights Festival.

Houdini, Feb. 10–March 2 at the Segal Centre
(5170 Côte ste-catherine). Tickets: (514) 739-7944