REVIEW: The Storyville Mosquito buzzes brilliantly at NAC English Theatre, Theater News

It’s the first weekend of December, and the National Arts Centre is abuzz with winter wonders. While the usual crowd of families flock to see the Nutcracker in Southam Hall, not everyone heading down Elgin has visions of sugar plums in mind. For Ottawa’s cool kids, the Babs Asper Theatre is the place to be, where NAC English Theatre is presenting Kid Koala’s The Storyville Mosquito — a warm and winsome jazz fairy tale about big efforts, small triumphs, and learning to be happy just where you are.

The Storyville Mosquito is a puppet show, movie, DJ set, chamber concert, and backstage tour wrapped into one dizzyingly well-coordinated live performance. Played on 20 miniature sets with the action projected onto a screen above the stage (live video editing by Phil Creamer), this all-ages fable follows Mosquito, a mini rod puppet, on his quest to become a celebrated clarinetist. Montreal-based creator and director Kid Koala (a.k.a. Eric San) provides the soundtrack from a booth onstage, where turnable, keyboard, electric clarinet, and a slew of additional instruments meld with a vibrant string trio (violinist Marcus Takizawa, co-composer and cellist David Campbell, violist Lana Tomlin; string arrangements by musical director and co-composer Vid Cousins).

“We’re doing it with no mistakes tonight,” says Kid Koala at the start, and it’s tongue-in-cheek, but if there were any errors in the show’s 75 minutes of carefully choreographed magic, they were invisible to me. And oh, there’s so much visible at once — interiors and exteriors, larger puppets for close-ups, aerial views, pinpricked sheets of starlight (puppet design by Patrick Martel; set design by Corinne Merrell). As the house lights go down and the overture begins, the shining storefronts of the central downtown stretch become the focal point. We’re headed to the (tiny) big city, baby!

When Mosquito pulls up in Happytown, he doesn’t have much in his suitcase — a clarinet, a handful of reeds, a songbook, and a concert ticket. We see the world through his round, awestruck eyes — at times literally, with one stunning sequence at a museum showing Mosquito’s reflection in the vitrine while he marvels at sheet music by his idol, Artie Chaux (composer of such hits as “Chaux Bizness” and “Best in Chaux”). 

The ups and downs of Mosquito’s life play out silent-movie style, with plenty of comedy and enough bittersweet moments to balance the tone. Mosquito meets a tough-guy tarantula (accented by distorted guitar) and an authoritative avocado (wobbly synth fuzz), and befriends a chittering crew of local squirrels and pigeons in the park. A special connection comes when he takes a job at the copy shop next door to struggling restaurateur Katy — short for katydid — and they fall in love over photocopied noodle menus. While The Storyville Mosquito contains no spoken dialogue, bilingual French-English wordplay abounds in the set and props, creating clever layers of humour and hushed whispers of “What does it say?” from littler audience members.

The pace is relaxed, but with so much to see behind the scenes, there’s always somewhere to turn during slower moments. Watching puppeteers work with the lighting (designed by Olivier Gaudet-Savard) on each set from a distance and then seeing how differently it shows up on camera was especially amazing to me, and ignited an inner battle between my curiosity for all things behind-the-scenes and my investment in the plot. No matter where you find yourself looking, the soundtrack is always within reach, offering a masterful meld of genre-blending musical motifs, foley, and speech-like inflections. Funny moments punctuated by bweep-boops and bowed strings keep it kinetic enough to capture younger kids’ attention, while the crystal-clear storytelling crafts a coherent narrative for adults and older kids to follow.

Underscored by the quiet commotion of over a dozen production members working together, The Storyville Mosquito is a love letter to anyone who’s ever cared deeply and tried very hard to follow a dream. The show demonstrates and celebrates human (and insect) work ethic and craftsmanship, giving a timely kick in the thorax to the AI-generated so-called art that threatens to dominate our contemporary attention. The tempo never accelerates to the prestissimo promised on Mosquito’s sheet music, but the show feels no worse for it, and it hits some sweet, melancholic notes before coming to a mellow conclusion.

Although The Storyville Mosquito is about being happy with what you’ve got, I left the theatre itching to see it again. Luckily for me, I’ve got a little money in my pocket and a free evening before I head back to Kingston, so I’ll be buying another ticket before hopping on the bus home from Happytown.

The Storyville Mosquito runs at the NAC until December 13. More information is available here.

Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.

WRITTEN BY

Haley Sarfeld

Haley Sarfeld (she/they) has reviewed theatre for the Kingston Theatre Alliance, Kingston Whig-Standard, and Intermission Magazine. Her coverage of Theatre Kingston’s Fringe Festival in 2024 was recognized with a Nathan Cohen Award for Excellence in Critical Writing (Outstanding Emerging Critic). As a playwright and composer-lyricist, her work has been featured in the Shortwave Theatre Festival, Watershed Music Theatre Festival, and Kick & Push Festival. Haley loves word games and is a regular crossword puzzle contributor for The Skeleton Press.

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