Tag Archives: Mike Ross

Music

Raising Up Rita

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Full Cast Announced For ‘DEAR RITA’ at The Charlottetown Festival

World premiere will feature six actor-musicians channeling Rita MacNeil’s songs and spirit

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Tickets are ‘flying on their own’ for this summer’s new cabaret production,Dear Rita, playing June 25 to September 25 at The Charlottetown Festival. Sponsored by Key Murray Law, Dear Rita is a musical toast to Canadian icon and songwriter Rita MacNeil that celebrates the life, tenacity, and musical legacy of the late singer.

This week, the company and creative team are gathering together for the first time to workshop the new musical. Artistic Director Adam Brazier is pleased to reveal the full cast, including Islanders Mike Ross and Michelle Bouey; Alana Bridgewater; Quinn Dooley; and Sheldon Elter. All five are veterans of the Festival, known to patrons for a wealth of beloved shows.

This marks Ross’ first time performing at the Festival in over a decade. A Charlottetown native, he is a leading force as a performer and composer in Canada. The founding director of music at Soulpepper Theatre Company, his musical, Spoon River was a critic’s pick in the New York Times. He was an international fellow at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and also composes for the screen, having written the theme song for CBC’s Kim’s Convenience.

Dooley and Bouey’s repertory casting were both announced earlier this winter. Dooley recently appeared in the Grand’s Ring of Fire and performed in 2015’s Evangeline. Bouey recently performed in ROSE at Soulpepper and is an alumna of the TD Confederation Centre Young Company.

“It’s the kind of theatre that gives you more of a chance to connect with your audience,” she offers during a break from the workshop in Toronto. “I grew up listening to Rita McNeil and watching her Christmas TV specials. To think that a small group of us get to honour her legacy on East Coast soil is so special”

Sheldon Elter is a versatile actor, writer, musician, and comic, known nationally for his one man show, Metis Mutt, which he performed at the Festival in 2018. He also performed there inEvangeline and Stories from the Red-Dirt Road. His TV acting and writing credits include CAUTION: May Contain Nuts, Hank Williams’ First Nation, Delmer & Marta, and Hell on Wheels.

Alana Bridgewater has appeared at the Festival in Spoon River, Hairspray, and the Christmas panto Robyn Hood. An experienced professional, she has performed throughout North America with Soulpepper, Mirvish, and The Grand; live on live with Johnny Reid and others; and in TV and film.

Confederation Centre wishes to acknowledge the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Government of P.E.I., and the City of Charlottetown for their continued support. Experience it all, this summer at The Charlottetown Festival, sponsored by CIBC. Dear Rita is developed in association with the Savoy Theatre in Cape Breton, and will play there from October 1-4, following its run on P.E.I.

PEI Professional Theatre Network

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PEI Theatre is the Guild, Harbourfront Theatre,
Confederation Centre for the Arts,
Watermark Theatre, and the Victoria Playhouse
News Flash

Mack’s ‘Spoon River’ On Its Way to Off-Broadway

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The Dora-Award winning hootenanny Spoon River is headed Off-Broadway next year as part of a special theatre festival celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The acclaimed production, playing at The Mack until August 20, will be included as part of a festival of new plays and musicals presented in New York, Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center from June 29 to July 29, 2017. The festival is celebrating both Canada’s sesquicentennial and the 20th anniversary of Soulpepper Theatre Company.

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Composed and adapted by P.E.I.’s own Mike Ross with Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz, Spoon River premiered in 2014, winning the Toronto Theatre Critic’s Choice and Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Best Director and Outstanding New Musical.
In association with The Charlottetown Festival, the musical was reimagined this summer for an 11-member ensemble within Confederation Centre’s intimate cabaret space, The Mack. This same version of the celebrated song-cycle will be presented in Toronto next year before making its New York premiere.

Based on Edgar Lee Masters’ seminal Spoon River Anthology, more than 50 townsfolk are brought to life by 11 performer/musicians in this immersive portrait of early 20th-century rural living, raising their voices in song to narrate their own epitaphs, telling of loves and hard-earned truths.

As is so often the case with popular and lasting literature, these stories celebrate the extraordinary that’s found in our everyday ordinary lives. To quote Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star, the musical is “so blindingly original that it’s hard to describe in terms of conventional song and dance…there is hope and despair, love and hate, passion and desperation.”

Spoon River plays Monday through Saturday at The Charlottetown Festival, and concludes its short run on Saturday, August 20.

Reviews

Spoon River Haunts the Mack

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In an anthology of character sketches, the poetry by Edgar Lee Masters, & music composed by Mike Ross, the simple folk of a time long forgotten were immortalized by stirring southern stories that delved into old time trials & tribulations with a whole gamut of Victorian sins. For Kimberley Johnston & I this was 1st time back at The Mack, known for its well put together theatre in a small intimate setting since Dear Johnnie Deere 2 years ago as a reviewer team.

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The press release about Spoon River gives a very detailed description about the concept & journey of this peice: In 2015, Spoon River (produced by Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto) won Canada’s prestigious Dora Award for Outstanding New Musical. Now in 2016 Spoon River makes its first appearance outside Toronto, at Confederation Centre’s Mack theatre in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The musical is based on the classic Spoon River Anthology, written 100 years ago by Edgar Lee Masters. In this rendition, poems of the dead are brought to life and set to music by PEI’s own Mike Ross. Albert Schultz directs the 11-member cast, as they raise their voices in song, telling of loves, losses, and hard-earned truths. The Charlottetown Festival produced this mystical, dream-like musical in association with Soulpepper Theatre.

First off, we would say music was on point, incredibly talented Spoon River composer Mike Ross talked a little bit in an interview recently about the trend of Music Theatre: a place where concert & theatre meet. Ross, who has spent some time working in Toronto has been very successful, we’re glad to have him back on PEI teaming up with director Albert Schultz of CBC’s Street Legal & Side Effects (a quote someone who might’ve seen that show might remember was, “people die, it’s a side effect of living”) for Spoon River. Poetry in song is beautiful, so rhythmic.

Brendan Wall (Spoon River world premiere; War Horse for Mirvish and London’s West End; Mirvish’s Once) who is making his Charlottetown Festival debut this year caught my attention early in the show with a song that had a bit of a Tom Waits ring to it. His animated swinging of the mandolin with a tic-toc rhythm standing next to a beautiful, vailed, & very ghostly Susan Henley (‘Rachel Lynde’ in Anne of Green Gables-The MusicalTM; Evangeline; Hairspray! 1st U.S. National tour) with a barrage of instruments including 2 pianists joining in on chorus, jumping back & forth from intimate to blown up musical experience with haunting melodies & saloon-type music would’ve been the musical highlight for me on the 4th or 5th song (I should mention we were a little late getting in so, of course we failed to get a program & missed the introduction). Another honorable mention has to go to Alicia Toner (Evangeline; lead in the Centre’s Cinderella; Mirvish’s Once) for her solo piece on violin with the in-coming train featuring a deer in the headlights look which left me absolutely spell bound.

Actors did amazingly well & were very animated. Characters had distinct facial characteristics which the perfect lighting accentuated. A trip back in time with this play, at least I felt like I was in another time & that, to me, is the power of theatre. Their recitals gave an impression of what the epic poems of Homer’s era might’ve been like. Dialects were great, the Scottish & Southern accents especially. The importance of the way the voice executes a monologue is instrumental. According to Stuart Pearce, Voice coach from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, “Your voice is your identity in sound. It is far more than just a means with which to communicate your thoughts & feelings; it is the expression of your integrity & individuality in the world!

Passion is what the actors put into the poems. In the opening monologue, Jonathan Ellul (Forever Plaid; King Lear and Oklahoma! at Stratford Festival) had to look & delivery of a genuine southern playboy. His accent & demeanor actually reminded me a lot of Robert Downey Jr.’s character in Tropic Thunder (a true comedic tour de force in that picture, by the way, for Downey who also shined in the DVD commentary as well).

Fantastic set design convincingly turned the stage atmosphere into a graveyard! Great use of realistic trees & a surprisingly realistic full moon on stage, you could see the craters & everything. All characters were well used & the props were just as well used. In the 1st song, Soulpepper Theatre Company regular, Daniel Williston (Soulpepper’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Death of a Salesman; Mirvish’s Kinky Boots) made poignant use of a casket for drums which might actually have been very cathartic. I loved the scene when those caskets were standing up. There were 2 boards standing upward with couples lying next to each switching pairs each time the lights dimmed. It took a couple of minutes for me to realize, but I got the impression we were watching from a horizontal instead of vertical angle looking down at an open graves. This part quite possibly used old illusionist lighting tactics from the days before Tesla & Edison came on the scene which would’ve been quicker than eyes of those townsfolk seeing as how our more recent generations are so used to the flickering screens of TV, computer, & handheld devices.

Another highlight for me, Matt Campbell, (lead in The Full Monty and Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad; Canada ROCKS!) I am happy to report, is back at The Mack! He’s an old pro of the Charlottetown Festival & he’s someone I’ve gotten a chance to see on stage every year since I started doing reviews. Whenever we see him perform, we want to see more of him, especially in these ensemble pieces. Kimberley’s need to see him this time, however, was sated, he was really well used. His boyish charm is an asset that is right up there with his musical ability, he’s versatile yet he sticks to his niche & he always seems to play roles that suit his style. The extremely gifted vocalist Alana Bridgewater (Hairspray; Mirvish’s We Will Rock You; Gemini-nominated vocalist), Mary Francis Moore (co-writer of Bittergirl and Bittergirl-The Musical; lead in TPM’s The Thing Between Us), Sandy Winsby (four seasons as ‘Matthew’ in AnneTM; Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway; Mirvish’s Kinky Boots), Amanda LeBlanc (lead in Dear Johnny Deere; 2016 National Arts Centre Ensemble), & Richard Lam (Spoon River world premiere; The Crucible and Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper) rounded off the cast of 11 with some shining moments of their own, showing off their singing, acting, dancing, & musical talents.

Some big names were in the house for this special night including Director Albert Schultz, cultural patron of the arts Mike Duffy, Spoon River Composer & former Jive King Mike Ross, reps from the corporate sponsors, & of course, Confederation Centre of the Arts Chair & 2015 Order of Canada recipient Mr. Wayne Hambly.

It was surprising to us (again, we missed out on getting programs) that it was only 1 Act, which was a jam-packed 90 minutes, if it wasn’t mentioned in the intro or program, it would be good to take note. Nice little encore as well.

Other than 2 or 3 songs toward the end that weren’t quite my cup of tea, the show surpassed my expectations & Kimberley said she would see this show again & again & again & that this is the most uplifting thing about the dead she’s ever seen (and Kimberley has seen a lot of stuff from all genres). Kimberley would also like to thank the ushers for their professionalism & stealth. Props to everyone! To put it gingerly, we were not disappointed with Spoon River & to paraphrase actress Susan Henley, who we met after the show: “even though it is set in a graveyard, it isn’t dismal or sad. Our culture should take a second look at death. Only through death can we celebrate life.”

Review by PL Holden and Kimberley Johnston. Used by permission. Originally posted on http://www.onrpei.ca.

On Stage

Spoon River, Magical, Musical Theatre

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Albert Schultz & Charlottetown’s Mike Ross bring acclaimed production to The Mack.

For Mike Ross, Spoon River felt like a show he’d been preparing to compose his whole life. A resident artist with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and now music director, it took a brief encounter with Artistic Director Albert Schultz to connect the Island native with a 100-year-old text that would soon change his life.

After wrapping a meeting for another project, Schultz tossed Ross an old copy of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. The collection of free-verse poems was written in 1915, and each poem is a kind of extended epitaph for townsfolk in the fictional community of Spoon River, Illinois.

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“Spoon River is an incredibly theatrical collection of stories. It’s about the full spectrum of life, a theme that always resonates with me,” offers Schultz, an accomplished actor and director, and Member of the Order of Canada. “It’s relatable and human; there’s vice and violence but also wonder and glory, and nature and love. As soon as I read it, I knew that Mike would be the one to set it to music.”

“I had never heard of it,” recalls Ross, co-adaptor, composer, and musical director for the production, opening July 6 at The Mack. “I was immediately inspired by the range of voices and stories from these people sharing their loves, losses, regrets, and triumphs. It is truly a timeless study of small town life in all of its richness and eccentricity, and it is perfect for the stage.”

The Soulpepper production would go on to win Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards for Best Musical and Best Director of a Musical and Dora Awards for Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Musical Direction. Now the production is taking root at The Mack, and is again directed by Schultz. Featuring a stacked cast of 11 performers who double as on-stage musicians – including Matt Campbell, Alicia Toner, Sandy Winsby, and Alana Bridgewater – this rousing hootenanny is grounded in roots and old time music, calling to mind the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

“The way we present Spoon River places audiences right in the show’s community: you recognize these characters, especially if you’re from a small town,” continues Schultz. “And bringing the play to Charlottetown and to the intimate Mack space encourages this immersive experience. We’re thrilled to share this original Canadian work for the first time outside of Toronto, and with such an exceptional cast of Canadian artists.”

For Ross, this also represents a powerful full circle back to the city and the Festival where he got his start, performing in Fire! and Anne of Green Gables–The Musical™. “Bringing Masters’ vibrant characters to life with this group of gifted performers is unforgettable, as is having that energy connect with audiences — the most important people in the theatre at any moment,” he says. “In this show, everyone plays a part: you, the audience, have been cast in the role of ‘passerby.’ And to have that role played by people from the town in which I was born, is one of the great honours of my life.”

Spoon River is produced by The Charlottetown Festival, in association with Soulpepper Theatre Company. The musical opens July 6, and plays select dates until August 20 at The Mack, a part of Confederation Centre.