Closer Than Ever puts midlife to music at the Gateway Theatre

Actor-singer Kevin Aichele says show explores the pressures that comes with the march of time

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      Call it middle age, call it grown-up, or call it the wrong side of 40: it’s a time in people’s lives that doesn’t get the spotlight on-stage too often. But it’s a period rich with angst, regret, and tension, all mined in Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire’s Closer Than Ever, a different kind of musical revue.

      Through a mosaic of song styles and characters—a guy singing about a romantic fling he once blew off to avoid cheating on his wife, a woman lamenting exercise fads, two parents who can’t find time in their careers to take care of their kids—it illuminates the frustrations that accompany the march of time.

      “You get more realistic as you grow and mature,” says singer-actor Kevin Aichele, a Winnipegger making his local stage debut in Gateway Theatre’s new production of the work. “You realize how things change from budding romance—especially as you get older and have kids—and that love is a commitment to work through and to not bail out on.

      “I’m 43. I’m not married myself yet and I don’t have kids, but there are things you start to question in midlife.…It’s a gritty realization of what midlife can be. But there’s a lot of heart in the show that is still very hopeful—that you can find love again or you can start again.”

      The show, performed by a four-member cast on a simple stage with an upright bass and a piano, was written in 1989 but seems as relevant as ever in our time-crunched, superwired era. For Aichele, who has performed across the country in musicals from Les Miz to Sweeney Todd to Crazy for You, Closer Than Ever also holds its own, special challenges.

      “I haven’t done a show like this that doesn’t have any dialogue or any scenes,” he explains. “It’s a bit of a marathon to go song after song after song. In most musicals you have a bigger cast and you get more breaks. It’s a good exercise in pacing. You’re always having to shift focus, whereas in other shows you can focus on one emotional journey.”

      Kevin Aichele in rehearsal.

      The show’s dozens of heartfelt songs, which run the gamut from Latin- and jazz-influenced numbers to more traditional show tunes, are an equal challenge, Aichele reveals.

      “They sound singable, but when you get into them they’re very complex. There are subtle dissonances, and that ties into that disharmony that people sometimes feel,” says Aichele, who is also a singer-songwriter and performs regularly around Winnipeg. “There are some very touching moments—and incredibly powerful moments. There’s been a lot of tears, even in rehearsal.”

      One of those moments comes when Aichele has to perform one of his favourite pieces, “If I Sing”, in which a man remembers his late father, who was a musician, and the influence his dad had on his love of music.

      “My father passed away a few years ago and I used that song for an audition for another show just a month after my father had died,” Aichele reflects. “Even now I can’t go into it too deep, or I’ll lose myself in emotion.”

      Grieving a parent may speak directly to the experience of those in their 40s and 50s, but many of the themes—especially the show’s many numbers about love—can apply to all generations, Aichele points out. Ultimately, he says, he finds the show has a hopeful message about the ability to find love at any age.

      Then again, all this may be hitting home for Aichele, who’s anticipating a big life change of his own once the run at the Gateway ends. “I’m moving back to Toronto,” Aichele reveals. “I found a girl I fell in love with so I’m moving back there.”

      Hey, it’s never too late to get closer than ever with someone.

      Closer Than Ever is at Richmond’s Gateway Theatre from Thursday (February 4) to February 20.

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