Tale of Gifted Prince takes Theatre Calgary audience on engaging walk through mythical woods

Ma-Anne Dionisio, Nikko Angelo Hinayo, Kennedy Kanagawa, Kelsey Verzotti in The Tale of the Gifted Prince.

One generation of young theatregoers had Dorothy, Toto and the Tinman. Another had Frodo and his hobbits. Another had Simba and his lion pals--and Mufasa.

And now, in The Tale of the Gifted Prince, Theatre Calgary’s engaging new musical, with book and lyrics by Lezlie Wade and music by Daniel Green that enjoyed a frothy world premiere Friday night at Werklund Centre, meet Prince Ren (Kennedy Kanagawa).

Ren is the heir to the throne of Tang, one of those mythical kingdoms not unlike Middle Earth or Oz -- it’s the kingdom of vaguely Asian musical mythology, filled with pagodas and delicate, elegant set design (wonderfully done by Beyata Hackborn) that immediately plunges into the issue of the day in the kingdom, which is that the king’s grasp on his domain is slipping due to the fact that there’s a bunch of rowdy rebels named the Yellow Scarves fomenting revolution and he’s old and frail.

And as far as anyone can surmise, Prince Ren is by all counts not up to task.

It’s not that Ren is a bad dude. He’s dutiful and conscientious. He walks around consulting a long list of obligations to make sure he fulfills his princely duties in a humble manner.

He’s just the product of the ultimate helicopter parent -- the King -- who might not be terribly attentive himself to Ren’s efforts to grow into a man, but who makes sure Ren enjoys every privilege and coddling that children of royals find themselves born into.

He’s goose feather soft, not at all sure of himself and the very antithesis of a leader of men.

Until one day, when an old wizened man who is actually a Woman (Ma-Anne Dionisio) sneaks into the king’s court and convinces him that the secret to the prince becoming a man worthy of the throne lies with Ren visiting a shaman for some life lessons.

That mentorship requires a trip through the forest filled with yellow scarf rebels, among other existential threats, including personal assistant Zhi Hao (Kelsey Verzotti), a village artist named Ling (Selina Wong), a scrupulous robber named Mo Sha (Nikko Angelo Hinayo, electric) -- but mostly, the leader of the resistance, a killing machine named Na Ta (Julius Sermonia) who wields a magical sword that ends people.

The deal with the shaman is that the Prince must bring her five humble gifts, things of no apparent value to anyone like a broken old saddle, but the gifts turn out to be a series of stories -- The Tale of the Singing Flute, for example -- that present obstacles that the prince must overcome in order to grow into the king and rescue the kingdom from the Yellow Scarves.

Half of the journey comes to us through songs as the characters sing their feelings in the most American of art forms there ever was, as the characters traverse a journey that encompasses Mount Wushan, Yellow Scarf Camp, the Dilapidated Village, through the Bamboo Forest, over the River Lo, across the Lotus Bridge, the Walled In Village and the Celestial Palace.

Composer Daniel Green read The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander as a young man and has brought it to vivid, theatrical life in The Tale of the Gifted Prince, with songs like “Save the Day,” “Stay With You”, “Hello Pretty Bird” and “Code of Ethics for a Thief.”

His mythical kingdom melodies gets a nice lift from Wade’s winsome lyrics and strong vocal work by Kanagawa, who’s a bit mushy as the hapless prince learning life lessons until it’s time to sing, when he turns into a belter.

Dionisio as the shaman Zhi Hao, is the anchor of the journey as she low-key guides the prince through a series of challenges that help him grow into the king he is destined to become of a kingdom that champions its artists and its ethical crooks and oddballs.

As Ren’s dutiful sidekick, Verzotti is a dynamo -- she’s aggressive, passionate and determined all while trying to figure out her feelings for Ren.

Wong’s artist Ling pops up at various points in the story and delivers a sparkle every single time.

Hinayo is sensational as the mad thief Mo Sha -- he’s charming, funny and surprisingly ethical for someone whose day job is to rob people out walking through the (bamboo) woods, which, incidentally, look wonderful.

Kodie Rollan, as Feng, the bumbling sidekick to nasty Na Ta, almost matches Hinayo’s Mo Sha for comic energy and brings a bit of humanity to the Yellow Scarves.

The sets, by Hackborn, along with projected images by Sean Nieuwenhuis, are a marvel to experience.

And let’s not forget Lan (Olivia Yang), a little girl who gets orphaned in tragic circumstances, only to exercise the power of imagination in a beautiful moment where she summons her murdered mom while singing “Hello Pretty Bird.”

‘Live performance begins with trust’

Before the world premiere presentation, Theatre Calgary artistic director Stafford Arima made a speech about the power of developing and presenting new stories onstage, rather than following the tradition of regional theatres almost everywhere by relying on the old familiar ones that lure one generation of theatregoers but fail to connect with new ones.

“Live performance begins with trust,” he said, “That unfamiliar stories are still worth our attention.

“Without new work, theatre becomes preservation,” he added, while taking a moment to remind the audience that since he became artistic director, the theatre has produced 10 new productions, including Beaches, a 2024 musical that opens on Broadway April 22.

The new ones don’t always work out, but sometimes they turn out to be Broadway-bound Beaches or even Forgiveness, a drama about the wartime internment of Japanese-Canadians developed by Theatre Calgary and the Vancouver Arts Club that turned out to be a hit at the Stratford Festival.

The Tale of the Gifted Prince, well-directed and choreographed by Darren Lee, is a new story of a journey of self-discovery that will feel familiar to audiences -- even as it puts a new spin on an old kind of inner road trip.

That would be the long and winding journey from the person we were to the person we always hoped we’d become.

The Tale of the Gifted Prince, a well-acted, beautifully-designed production featuring standout performances by a talented, engaging cast of Kingdom of Tang irregulars, is on at Werklund Centre through March 15.