There are two ways to watch a spot of entertainment. You can fold your arms and sit back with expectations that may or may not be met, or you can go along for the ride and see what it brings you.
On the weekend, we watched Seth McFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West knowing it wouldn’t be Gone With the Wind or Dances With Wolves. After all, McFarlane is the envelope-pushing creator of Family Guy and the feature film, Ted. I’m a longtime fan of his humour but now wonder if it might be wearing a little thin. Still, the movie was funny and there’s a toilet-humour scene that rivals Melissa McCarthy’s in Bridesmaids for laugh-out-loud ridiculousness. An hour after the movie ended we started laughing about it again. That’s an achievement for a film maker.
The season-opening show at London’s Grand Theatre is Blue Suede Shoes. It’s not really the story of Elvis, it’s the story of his career as it relates to Col. Tom Parker, his notoriously overbearing manager, told through songs, film clips and recollections from the Colonel. Local Elvis impersonator Roy LeBlanc plays the King of Rock and Roll. LeBlanc is a London lad who worked at the Ford plant and once it closed, turned his little Elvis hobby into a career. He has won Best Elvis at Collingwood and he certainly pulls off the look. He also nails the King’s early rockabilly songs. But the ballads elude him. In fact, it was a little painful to witness him attempt to replicate one of the most recognizable and pure voices ever to grace vinyl, and fail. He split some of the words into two notes – something Elvis never, ever did in these particular songs – in an attempt to cover his limitations. He also used Presley’s old-Elvis mannerisms when he was playing young Elvis.
So I found myself at about one-third of the way in, not on board with the show. The band was excellent and the other performances were fun. And then I decided to drop my expectations and just go along for the ride. This wasn’t Elvis, there isn’t another Elvis, and when video of the real legend appeared on the screen, I chose to concentrate on that. LeBlanc had some truly shining moments, especially when they recreated the acoustic circle from Elvis’ first TV special and the King’s ad-libs veered into the nonsensical. As Elvis impersonators go, he is about as close as you can get to the real thing. I decided to stop hoping for reincarnation and be satisfied with uneven impersonation. The story centres on a narrow sliver on Elvis’ life. Drugs are never mentioned and women, only in passing. Priscilla’s name doesn’t come up. It concerns only these two men and how, on a handshake, they created a sustained worldwide phenomenon, the likes of which we won’t ever see again.