Sheridan College’s Canadian Music Theatre Project has enjoyed tremendous success, launching new musicals that are being produced and further developed by leading theatres around the world. The Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance Class of 2018 is now wrapping up a five-week workshop of four new musicals: Bethune by Drama Desk Award nominees Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, Cocksure Lads by Murray Foster and Mike Ford, My Bonnie Lass by Matt Murray and Johnny Reid, and Starlight Tours by Leslie Arden and Cathy Elliott.
Forty-five minute readings of each musical will be presented during the second annual Canadian Music Theatre Project Festival, October 13-15, on the mainstage at Sheridan College’s Trafalgar Campus in Oakville, Ontario.
The CMTP is Canada’s first incubator for the development of new musical theatre works by Canadian and international composers, lyricists and book-writers and has created a permanent headquarters for the development of new musicals. http://cmtp.sheridancollege.ca/
WHEN
October 13, 7:00pm
October 14, 4:00pm
October 15, 1:00pm
TICKETS
https://tickets.sheridancollege.ca
VENUE
Sheridan College, Macdonald-Heaslip Hall
1430 Trafalgar Road
Oakville, ON, L6H 2L1
BETHUNE
Music and English Lyrics: Neil Bartram
English Book and Director: Brian Hill
Mandarin Book and Lyrics: Nick Rongjun Yu
Music Director: Lily Ling
Little known in his native Canada, Norman Bethune became a god-like icon in Maoist China. This is just one of the many dichotomies that made up this complicated man. This new musical looks at an extraordinary life from two wildly opposing points of view.
*In partnership with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre
COCKSURE LADS
Book, Music and Lyrics: Murray Foster
Music and Lyrics: Mike Ford
Director: Steven Gallagher
Music Director: Mark Camilleri
Creative Consultant and Co-Producer: Bob Hallett
Dusty is a Toronto kid who loves the music of the 1960’s British Invasion – so much so that he models himself and his band, The Cocksure Lads, after it. But this passion puts him on a collision course with the modern world, and tests his ideas of love, loyalty, and authenticity.
MY BONNIE LASS
Book, Lyrics and Music: Matt Murray and Johnny Reid
Director: Mary Francis Moore
Music Director: Bob Foster
Set in postwar Lanarkshire, Scotland, and based on a true story, My Bonnie Lass! chronicles the life of Maggie, a working class mother of three. When tragedy strikes and Maggie’s world is turned upside down, she must rely on her strength, her sense of humour, and above all, her loyal group of friends to pull her through. With music by acclaimed recording artist Johnny Reid, this is a love letter to his Grandmother and the all the women of her generation. It is a celebration of the human spirit, the power of a mother’s love, and the way these women always made the most out of life even when they seemed to have nothing.
STARLIGHT TOURS
Book: Cathy Elliott
Music and Lyrics: Leslie Arden
Director: Dennis Garnhum
Music Director: Jason Jestadt
STARLIGHT TOURS is based on factual events reported in Saskatchewan in the early 2000s that trace back as far as the 1970s. A series of inquiries and media investigations would reveal a practice by Saskatoon police of picking up First Nations people, driving them outside the city limits, and abandoning them in the dead of winter at the side of the road. After three Indigenous men are found frozen on the prairie, the question would arise as to whether or not their deaths were a result of this practice, which has become known as “starlight tours”. This musical mystery explores a clash of cultures while celebrating the strength and resilience of two young women, one Cree, one white, who are able to find hope and a way forward.
*In partnership with the Grand Theatre, London, Ontario