A production about fashion icon Coco Chanel will help relaunch Red Deer’s arts scene this June.
It’s COCO!, described as a new theatrical and musical fusion opera, will have preview performances at the Scott Block Theatre in Red Deer.
Red Deer’s Cheryl Cooney and Anna Maria Kaufmann, who’s originally from Lacombe, teamed up to bring the production to life.
“I always loved playing strong women,” said Kaufmann, who will play Chanel in the production.
“I love Coco Chanel and her whole life story is that of a strong woman. I was with Cheryl, we were doing some concerts, and I said ‘Why don’t we write our own show?’ And here we are.”
Told with instrument and voice, the production highlights how Chanel, abandoned after the death of her mother, began to make a productive life for herself. Her development began with sewing work in an orphanage and culminated in the founding of her iconic fashion house.
Cooney and Kaufmann started working on It’s COCO in 2018. They tried to get the production up and running a couple of times, but the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way.
“Anna Maria lives in Germany permanently … so it was difficult bringing her to Canada with the COVID shutdown. We tried to start it up a couple of times, but now we’re here and things are open,” said Cooney.
The two wrote the lyrics together, while Cooney composed the music. These upcoming shows will be “workshop performances,” they explain.
“It’s the first time for the music, first time for the staging and direction. We’d love to say it’s a world premiere because it is the first time it’s being performed, but really it’s the first time bringing it to life. We’ll see what happens after that,” said Cooney.
“There’s a lot of growing and getting it from the page and onto the musicians’ music stands and into the hands of the singers. Then there’s the costuming and set design. It’s so exciting.”
Kaufmann added: “Every big show, from Phantom of the Opera to any other thing you can think of, will go through a preview session to perfect it. You may cut something, add something or change something. It’s a process.”
It’s COCO! will serve as a “re-opening of the arts” for Red Deer, Cooney said.
“It’s really exciting for us to do something big to re-open arts in Red Deer,” she said, adding she’s looking forward to bringing the performance to downtown Red Deer.
“We want to bring folks downtown and get some life going with the arts.”
The Scott Block Theatre is a perfect venue for these preview performances, Kaufmann added.
“When you go in, it has something very magical. I fell in love with it and I thought it was the perfect place for us,” Kaufmann said.
The performers in the preview performances currently or used to live in Central Alberta. The production is scaled for a larger orchestra, but the performances will feature a chamber orchestra and cast for the preview performances.
Darold Roles will serve as the production’s director and choreographer.
Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite. For more information on It’s COCO!, visit rdpl.org/cocomusical.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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