Confederation Centre of the Arts renews mandate to produce Canadian musicals

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Spring, 1998 by H. Shirley Horne

Charlottetown feels like home to Curtis Barlow. In fact, he graduated from high school in this P.E.I. town. Now, after 10 years as head of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and 10 years as Canadian Cultural Counselor to the United Kingdom and the United States he's quite enjoying the challenge of his position as Executive Director and CEO of Confederation Centre of the Arts.

"The opportunity to run a multidisciplinary national institution doesn't come along every day," reminds Barlow. But he's particularly enthusiastic about the Centre's 1998 slate of musicals. He says, "Musicals are what we do. We are one of the few cultural institutions (in the country) that has the financial resources to produce musicals of scale. So if we don't who's going to?"

"The musical, Anne of Green Gables as Canada's single most successful production, will be back for its 34th season." (It's also the Charlottetown Festival's 34th anniversary.) Anne of Green Gables is, Of course, based on the novel of the same name by Island author, Lucy Maud Montgomery with music by Norman Campbell and lyrics by Don Harron, Mavor Moore and Elaine Campbell. Everyone knows the story of the appealing red-headed orphan who comes to an elderly brother and sister in Avonlea and gradually wins their hearts. Her enchanting but outrageous escapades keep people coming back to see the show. Barlow says, "Anne of Green Gables plays six to eight weeks in summer and it sells out every performance. It's truly a family classic."

And this year the Summer Festival will be reviving Johnny Belinda, another musical based on an Island story. Written by Elmer Harris and made into a musical by Mavor Moore, founding director of the Charlottetown Festival, it's a romantic tale of an appealing deaf mute girl who emerges from a desolate, stark background to eventually find love. "I'm very proud of the play," says Barlow. "Even though it was off to a fairly slow start last season it ended with almost capacity houses and made $30,000 over budget."

The Centre is also importing Letter from Wingfield Farm "in recognition of the very best comedy work that is being created by other theatres across Canada". Although not a musical, Letter from Wingfield Farm is hilarious in its portrayal of Toronto stockbroker Walt Wingfield who buys a farm in southern Ontario, hoping to escape the rat race. Actor Rod Beattie expertly plays many different roles as Walt Wingfield encounters unexpected pitfalls in his new career as a farmer. The one-man show has toured Canada but this is the first time it has been staged in P.E.I.

Barlow predicts that Bending the Bows which features Canadian country fiddle champion, Frank Leahy duelling with classical violinist, Eduard Minevich will be a popular show. It's a comedic duel and Barlow says, "...it's mainly an evening of fabulous music: country, classical, gypsy, jazz and blues."

Barachois, an Island bilingual ensemble, will be playing toe-tapping Acadian folk music and performing clever routines right up until Canadian Thanksgiving.

The Drill Queens, an irreverent land comedy group of four women who joke about everything from politics to sex and religion, will perform throughout the summer in the Lecture Theatre. Then there's the energetic Young Company who play in the outdoor Amphitheatre when it's fine and indoors in Memorial Hall when it isn't. This year's nostalgic production, Somewhere in the World by Neil Bartram is about finding a home. Daily shows are free. There will also be a concert of new tradition folk music by Acadilac, a P.E.I. francophone ensemble in the Lecture Theatre as well as a free performance by classical pianist Roger Shakespeare Lord with cellist Robin Dupuy.

And true to its mandate to produce Canadian musicals, Barlow says the Festival has "four new musicals under commission. Two will be workshopped this summer and one will be on stage for 1999."

Theatrically speaking, the Confederation Centre of the Arts is a must when in P.E.I., with special emphasis on musicals and fun.

H. Shirley Home is a Charlottetown freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the Calgary Herald, The Financial Post, Harrowsmith, Today's Parent, Canadian Gardening and Outdoor Canada. She also writes regularly for potato publications around the world.