For those of you out there who’ve been clamouring and even pleading to hear the lovely “Cloud 9″ song from the production -- well, we have some good news. We grabbed a couple of cameras, headed down to the Panasonic, and recorded the song guerilla-style -- just for you. It’s a little rough, but the compellingly catchy music by Paul Sportelli, John Gzowski and Ben Carlson shines through, as does Ben’s wistful lead vocal.

With only two days left to enter our “I’m on Cloud 9” contest, we hit the streets to find out what puts Torontonians on Cloud 9.

It turns out most of us haven’t moved very high up Maslow’s hierarchy when it comes to spontaneously articulating our most bliss-inducing states. Delicious taco anyone?

A look at our cast/character list reveals there’s something strange going on in Cloud 9. Some characters from Act 1 recur in Act 2, but they’re not played by the same actors. And in the colonial Africa of Act 1, Evan Buliung plays a woman, Ann-Marie MacDonald plays a young boy, and Ben Carlson plays a black African. In Act 2 (London circa 1980), David Jansen plays a five-year-old girl.

This isn’t some kind of half-baked experiment or the whim of director Alisa Palmer. In fact playwright Caryl Churchill dictates this casting very specifically – and our cast has a few insights why.

“I think Churchill’s working with the idea that gender and race and class are often constructs, they’re often behaviours we create, stories we tell ourselves about who we should be,” says Ann-Marie. “And they’re political structures too, part of how we organize ourselves in society. Sometimes those structures are politically expedient. They’re a really good shorthand way of saying ‘you’re a woman, you have no power.’”

“Churchill uses the casting as a device to ask us to look at something with a different set of eyes,” says Megan Follows. “She’s playing with our preconceived notions of people, and that goes for sexuality too. The casting turns homosexuality into heterosexuality, heterosexuality into homosexuality, there’s bisexuality too. Preconceptions go out the window.”

Ann-Marie suggests an additional layer. “I think the casting also tells us something about what’s happened to the British Empire. In Act 2, five-year-old Cathy is played by the man who plays the patriarch in the first act. The patriarch is gone, and instead there’s an angry, joyful, hungry little girl who doesn’t know how to direct her energies, who runs around in a pink dress, toting a gun.” Adds David, who gets to wear the pants and then the dress: “Cathy, like any young child, dominates a room. In a way, she’s like a little emotional imperialist – an imperialist with a skipping rope.”

(Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Live from rehearsal, here’s a glimpse of what’s in store for audiences starting January 19. It gives you an idea why ads for the show have come with the following disclaimer: “Sexual content, strong language, gunshots, smoking (non-tobacco), brilliant dialogue, intense comedy, compelling drama, unforgettable characters – in short, a contemporary masterpiece!”

To view all of Cloud 9 videos, visit our YouTube channel.

CLOUD 9 isn’t the first Caryl Churchill project that director Alisa Palmer and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald have collaborated on. In 2008, Alisa won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Direction of Soulpepper’s much-lauded production of Churchill’s Top Girls – a production that featured not just Ann-Marie but Megan Follows as well.

There’s more about Ann-Marie and Alisa’s past collaborations, Alisa’s passion for Churchill’s work, and how she and Mirvish Productions are working together to create “a commercial theatre culture that can support both tour-bus blockbusters and high art” in this article in the Globe and Mail.

The cast gives us a glimpse at the impetuous, yearning characters of Cloud 9 – characters who exist in colonial Africa circa 1885 and then again in late 70’s London. They switch genders, colours and proclivities. They age only 25 years. And through it all they’re longing and searching… for identity, for family, for love. For Cloud 9.

John Stead demonstrating fight moves

Yesterday most of the cast got to play rough with John Stead, fight director extraordinaire.  It started off with Ann-Marie (playing 9-year-old Edward) getting the brunt of it, tussling with Evan over a doll and then receiving convincing slaps from both Evan (as mother Betty – note the ever-present heels) and Megan. Then it was David’s turn to give Ann-Marie a nice smack across the head.

Ann-Marie MacDonald and Evan Buliung rehearsing

Ann-Marie MacDonald and David Jansen practicing

The best was saved for last, with Evan and Megan (as Mrs. Saunders) giving “cat fight” a whole new twist. Blair finally got into the action, trying to tear the two of them apart.

John Stead supervising Megan Follows and Evan Buliung's cat fight

Time to pull Evan and Megan apart

So you get to see a great comedy plus you get a great novel that’s part of a nationwide event. How can you beat that?

Hurry though – this is a limited time offer. You must book by December 31, 2009 and use the code KNEES to access this great deal.

Call 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333 for more details, or click here to order online.

On the second day of rehearsal the cast got a chance to get to know one another during the Cloud 9 photo shoot. Here’s a glimpse of them in action, and a glimpse of Blair trying to get some action. In character as Harry Bagley, that is.