A rapturous tribute to Joni Mitchell, the 10-time Grammy Award-winning folk singer-songwriter who once described her regular sojourns on the Sunshine Coast as her “heartbeat,” filled the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt two times last weekend.
The Covering Joni shows, on Oct. 14 and 15, represented a return of the homage originally mounted in 2013 by the Sechelt Arts Festival, refreshed in honour of Mitchell’s 80th year and the 20th anniversary of the festival.
“We have reprised certain shows that have been popular in the past,” explained festival co-producer Ross Powell, “but obviously with different characters. Even some of the musicians in the Joni show are not the same musicians as they were 10 years ago, but a lot of them have returned, which is wonderful. It was a very popular show that was never videotaped because we didn’t do a lot of videotaping in those days.”
Powell was among the eight local soloists who interpreted Mitchell’s work from her 19 studio albums, three of which reached platinum status in the U.S. in the early 1970s.
Powell, also a guitarist, joined the stage band of Graham Ord, Randall Stall, Sasha Fassaert, Bill Barclay and Paul Steenhuis for the bulk of numbers. Ord handled a dazzling array of reed instruments with ebullient ease; Barclay shifted effortlessly from grand piano to keyboards. Stoll occasionally emerged from behind his drum kit to beat a rhythmic tattoo atop his cajon. Steenhuis occasionally took the spotlight with virtuosic guitar solos while Fassaert demonstrated his agility on electric and standup bass.
Musical selections propelled a chronological journey through Mitchell’s output over five decades. Each song was accompanied by projections featuring album artwork and Mitchell’s original paintings. Trudi Diening delivered musical bookends, performing Dawntreader (from Mitchell’s first album, Song to a Seagull), and later sang a track from the 2007 release Shine, Mitchell’s last studio release.
Wendy Hibberd strode onto the stage in thigh-high stockings for a saucy rendition of Raised on Robbery, followed by equally high-spirited versions of Lucky Girl and Shiny Toys. Janet Panic demonstrated the range of Mitchell’s oeuvre, with a performance of 1972’s You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio and later the iconic Both Sides, Now. Guillermo Martinez’s three numbers included the heartfelt Night Ride Home, from the album that featured some of Mitchell’s most vulnerable tracks.
The Sunshine Coast Children’s Choir, under the direction of Varya Rubin and adorned in tie-dyed T-shirts, performed Mitchell’s plaintive 1966 hit The Circle Game. Also in the concert’s first half, the “Charlie’s Friends” drum corps marched from the back of the theatre to herald The Jungle Line with Rebecca Shoichet as soloist, fresh from performing The Crazy Cries of Love. Shoichet’s charismatic stage presence carried her through two more classics, eliciting anticipatory exclamations from the audience with the first few notes of The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines.
Keely Halward and Patrice Pollack each delivered soulful renditions of classics from Mitchell’s 1970s songbook (River and Amelia).
Diening, Hibberd, Panic, Martinez and Schoichet reunited onstage for the finale, an exuberant rendition of Mitchell’s 1970 Woodstock.
Although Mitchell was not confirmed to be in attendance at the Raven’s Cry Theatre, the 79-year-old artist returned to the stage earlier this year with an appearance in early June at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State.
The Sechelt Arts Festival continues until Oct. 31. Full event listings are available at secheltartsfestival.com.
