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Ecstasy of Rita Joe for the Royal Winnipeg Bailiet, _ first one, I think, about spontaneity because | Piiae Py wirusee onA hk and had done my first album while | was still lookâ€" â€" didn‘t know what else to speak about. But over mwmm?mfi:’e:?emf ing for what I was going to do with my life. I time what I discovered is that | have discovered a tainment in a telephone inteview. "It‘s not just couldn‘t believe that you could be a singer â€" it‘s _ lot over my journey in terms of all the traditions a litfle something that a few people do. It‘s now never been an aspiration. I‘ve studied, whether it was with yoga or karate or becoming big business and that‘s very scary "When I started to write a musical, I never meditation or the travelling I‘ve done or the variâ€" Then you have to be much more careful with thought, ‘Oh, I want to write a musical‘. It was just _ ous spirttual paths that have fascinated me over the vuinerability of the child. Kids will be drawn that I was asked to do a oneâ€"wornan show, which 1h9yeos. . in by the color of a cartoon‘s character, or a I got excited about because I had been writing So my life has happened to me. It‘s not like | â€" posetry. So I started putting songs together with feel like I‘ve cast out a hook, snagged something. (Continued on page 31) monologues, and it started taking on that shape. (Continued on page 32) e o o o 0o 0o 0o 0o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0o 0o 0o o o o o o o n Mortifee‘s success in the entertainment arts is proof that life is what happens while you‘re making other plans. Throughout Mortifee‘s lengthy career, she‘s recorded eight albums (the latest of which was released a couple of weeks ago), has written a children‘s opera, and has written several ballet scores. She has written and starred in a handful of musicals and played the lead in several others, and has performed in concert to thousands of people around the world, with Canada‘s *4 . omm leading symphony s o > orchestras, often with _ |i. ..z‘ + *3 the likes of Harry Belaâ€" _ [ .lze! & i # / / fonte, Hagood Hardy, ; N* / t John Denver and <@ ~ 0M Michel Legrande. *. «m IZ But despite these o , e many accomplish ~ w ments, it never A § =~*>. occured to Mortifee * ied E. .+ that entertaining * c & would be her lifeâ€"long .@; _ Sn career. That "sort of [ .. 0b dawned" on her somewhere along the A career case history of life as it happens By Deborah Crandall "I never wanted to asi hy cE & be a singer. It was es 0 y ~. C never even a thought _ Wiklkkss. . . *. of a possibility that | ES x. & 3 could be a singer. But _ Mss someone gave me a £07/ Pf Sareriity 2 guitar, and | started to _ WR en play and loved it. And I; someone asked me to i /. 1kÂ¥ sing somewhere, and | j c,f 3 loved it," Mortifee says k % in a telephone interâ€" s g view from her home in LF . ol 1 08 wokeqg us _ Ann Mortifee plays Wateroo‘s Humanities Theatre this singer, had written The Saturday, Nov. 5. Ecstasy of Rita Joe for the Royal Winnipeg Bailiet, first one, I think, about spo and had done my first album while I was still lookâ€" _ didn‘t know what else to s ing for what I was going to do with my life. I time what | discovered is 1 couldn‘t believe that you could be a singer â€" it‘s _ lot over my journey in tem never been an aspiration. I‘ve studied, whether it we "When | started to write a musical, I never meditation or the travellin thought, ‘Oh, I want to write a musical‘, It was just _ ous spirttual paths that har that I was asked to do a oneâ€"wornan show, which _ the years. I got excited about because I had been writing "So my life has happene posetry. So I started putting songs together with feel like I‘ve cast out a ho monologues, and it started taking on that shape. Ann Mortifee: qeesemenmn y After that, | started writing a story for me to tell in concert. But before | knew it, there were too many characters and too many voices â€"I couldn‘t handle it ail. And, suddenty, | had written a musical. | said, ‘Gosh. How did this come to "It‘s been a strange journey in that way," Morâ€" tifee says. "And very blessed." . So while other artists make concrete plans, have clear aspirations, and often struggle for years to make those dreams reality, Mortifee‘s career has followed an unusual path. The same is true for Mortifee‘s foray into the world of spiritual healing. For the past seven or eight years, Mortifee has, as a workshop leader and lecturer, used voice and music as a key to.personal growth. "I never, ever, ever, ever, ever wanted to or aspired to (lead workshops), and when they phoned from Hollyhock Farms and said they‘d love me to do a workâ€" shop, I thought, ‘What would | teach?‘ I mean, | know nothing â€"I sing. But they bugged me for two years until finally the woman | work with said, ‘You must do this â€" I feel it‘s imporâ€" tant for you‘. When | did my workshop, | litâ€" erally had to go and get books about how people sing. And | ended up doing my WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 2. 1994 â€" PAGE 21 "The business world has found out that this is business," Penner says about children‘s enterâ€" tainment in a telephone interview. "It‘s not just a litfle something that a few people do. It‘s now becoming big business and that‘s very scary Then you have to be much more careful with the vuinerability of the child. Kids will be drawn in by the color of a cartoon‘s character, or a By Deborah Crandall hildren‘s entertainment, particularly music, has come a long way over the past couple of decades, thanks largely to performers like Winnipegâ€"bomâ€"andâ€"raised Fred Penner. Penner, along with contemporaries Sharon Lois & Bram and Raffi, burst onto the familyâ€"oriâ€" ented music scene in the mid 1970s. With brightty colored stage props and costumes codles of energy. tons of activity, and audience particiâ€" pation like never before, this new breed of children‘s entertainer stood in %, & stark contrast to the likes of the gentieâ€" mannered (albeit wonderfullyâ€"enterâ€" S taining) Pete / s a and others of the " generation previous And as a result, the new generation of chiiâ€" dren‘s entertainers is enjoying incredible sucâ€" cess. Penner, for example, has sold over one million albums, he has an immensely popular television show on CBC in Canada ang Nick elodeon in the U.S., has three videos (all cer fied Gold), released in Canade anda the «. © and has performed to more than a millon ‘ans at more than 1.000 concert across No Amer iga. During his last tour. for his albur nappy Feet, Penner performed at Camegie nal :~ New York, and became the first chilgrer entertainer to headline at the Universa Amphitheatre in Los Angeles As Penner‘s success might indicate. children s entertainment has become big business, and that, the alreadyâ€"responsible performer warns. i cause for some concem. For Fred Penner it‘s not enough to just entertain ho I