This marks the third time I have seen Hawksley Workman's musical/cabaret/ode to debauchery The God That Comes (and it would have also been the fourth time, had Mark's sinuses not revolted earlier in the week), so you already know what I think of this (it ruled) so I will forego a full review but must touch on some highlights.
By "highlights," I mostly mean I want to complain about my old neighbourhood. I moved to Regina in 2004, and lived in the same apartment until buying a house around five years ago. You know how people go back home after a long time away and they're sad about what happened to their old stomping grounds? Well, that's me, but not because everything there went to hell. No. Since I moved out of that neighbourhood, they renovated the grocery store and drug store, opened a Subway, opened a coffee shop, opened a CAKE SHOP for God's sake. All within easy walking distance. I could be picking up a cake on the way home from work every day instead of riding the bus to a house like a chump. It's like the whole neighbourhood hated me and couldn't wait for me to leave. Which is not impossible.
The daycare just down the block from my apartment is gone too, having been renovated and turned into Shynok, an authentic Ukrainian restaurant. I say "authentic" despite knowing very little about the food of my people because Deserée has been to the Ukraine and reports that the restaurant's salads are authentically full of beets.
We went to Shynok before The God That Comes ("so THAT'S your point") and it was fantastic. Best borscht. Best perogies that aren't my grandpa's recipe. Tasty cabbage rolls. Perogies for dessert! Colin drank some bizarre prune beverage and we were all concerned about its possible after-effects. I have not heard from him since that evening. I am not certain if no news is good news in this case.
The show was at the Artesian, which is a lovely venue and was well suited for the play. There were tables down in front with raised benches (pews?) in the back. We managed to get seated right up close and in the centre, near some other work people. Everyone but me had wine, which means I am now Hawksley's least favourite amongst our little club. This makes me sad, but we'll always have Twitter dolloping.
As for the play itself, it hadn't changed much since I saw it in Calgary. I won't go into too much detail - the soundtrack CD includes all of the night's songs, but I think there are still parts of the show that are best kept under wraps. I say this mostly because I had forgotten about one of the little surprises (even though it was hinted at) and the crowd reaction to it was my favourite part of the show.
There were a few little tweaks from before. The show felt a little longer this time, due largely to a few spots where Hawksley padded things out a little bit. Notably, there was an audience call-and-response part added during one song that everyone seemed to enjoy (complete with a little impromptu back-and-forth during our show) (that might sort of be a double entendre). The introduction to the show-closer, They Decided Not To Like Us, was changed up a little and while I still think that the song feels tacked on, the new lead-in did help it a bit. I wonder if it might be best to end the play after He's Mine and come back to perform Decided as an encore.
Oh, also, Hawksley said "fuck" way more this time. I kind of wish that I'd been charting the frequency of his swearing through the years. He goes through phases, and I'd love to figure out if they're connected to sunspots or something.
UPCOMING SHOWS • Danko Jones w/The Lazys (April 10) • The Joel Plaskett Emergency w/Mo Kenney (May 15) • Charley Pride (May 20) • Danny Michel (June 13) • Regina Folk Festival feat. Sinead O'Connor, Jenny Lewis, Vance Joy, Blue Rodeo, Bahamas, Basia Bulat, The Sheepdogs, more (August 7-9) • Chubby Checker & The Wildcats (September 26)