Arpita Ghosal is a Toronto-based arts writer. She founded Sesaya in 2004.
When was the last time you heard a voice that was so evocative that it seemed almost luminescent?
When Hailey Gillis sings, she has that kind of voice. It calls to my mind the opening sequence of The Crown: molten gold moving across the screen, mesmerizingly fluid, tremulous and incandescent. Even before you figure out that the swirls and whorls are forming into a crown, the movements are so arresting that you can't turn away. And that movement remains in the mind's eye long after.
In addition to various of the Soulpepper concert series, she has played key roles in the runaway hit musical Spoon River and the beloved Alligator Pie. And last December, she debuted the title character in a concert presentation of Rose, a new musical currently in development at Soulpepper that is based on Gertrude Stein's picture book of the same name. In addition to Gillis, one common factor in Soulpepper's assorted music programming is Mike Ross, Soulpepper's Slaight Family Director of Music, whom Gillis describes as "one of the kindest and most genuine people you will ever meet." Ross either leads the concerts (where he typically also arranges the musical numbers) or in the case of Rose and Spoon River, composes them.
In Spoon River, she inhabits the role of a young woman so recently deceased that she still feels the beauty of the life she had to leave. In Rose, Gillis brings to life a very young girl. The hinge-point of the plot is Rose's search for identity, which is symbolized by her inability to utter her own name. So how does one sing an omission? By turns comically, frustratedly and poignantly – and altogether remarkably — if you are Gillis. The night I saw Rose, there were many smiles . . . yet also few dry eyes, in the audience.
Luckily, a trip to New York is not required if you'd like to hear her. Gillis appears in True Patriot Love: A Concert and the Toronto revival of Spoon River – a welcome opportunity to experience that versatile and luminescent voice firsthand.
Posted in Arts News and Events and tagged Hailey Gillis, Soulpepper, Soulpepper on 42nd Street, Spoon River, True Patriot Love.