THE CENTRE ISLE
Productions set for Baddeck, Glace Bay, Sydney, Louisbourg
Columnist Ken Chisholm discusses the numerous summer theatre productions on Cape Breton stages.
Cape Breton is enjoying a second summer of multiple, professional level theatre productions playing to capacity houses around the island.
“The Bells of Baddeck” is the story of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife, Mabel, given a well-researched operatic setting by producer/librettist and Port Morien native, Lorna MacDonald, and composer Dean Burry.
It played last summer to sold-out houses at the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site in Baddeck (just across the water from the Bells’ home).
The production, chosen from finalists across Canada, won the Parks Canada CEO Award of Excellence in the visitor experience category this past June.
It opened for its second summer run on July 2 and runs to Tuesday, Aug. 2, with performances on specific days at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. This year, the show offers Bell Chats with descendants of the real life characters of the play.
Tickets are available at 902295-2069, and at www.bellsofbaddeck/tickets.
I was fortunate enough to see a performance last summer and I was captivated by the quality of the performances, score, and what obviously was a labour of love for producer/creator MacDonald. I don’t think a trip to Cape Breton would be complete without seeing this show.
Baddeck also welcomes back another show that premiered last summer.
“The Young Ladies of Baddeck Club” by Christie MacRae and Hannah Ziss, set in 1908, recounts the comedic mishaps of a quartet of women tasked with creating a play for the celebration of Baddeck’s incorporation as a village.
I have heard many great things about this show but due to scheduling conflicts, it was the one show I didn’t manage to get to last summer. Luckily, I have a second chance and mean to take advantage of it. I hope a lot of theatregoers do the same.
The same company is also offering “Harvest” by Ken Cameron, directed by Richard Quesnel, and starring Terry Barna and Christy MacRae.
This play is a comedy about an elderly couple forced to give up their Margaree farm and retire to Sydney.
The Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay offers two audience favourites this summer — the return of “The Cape Breton Summertime Revue” in August, and on the boards now one of their ever-popular dinner theatre productions, “My Big Fat Cape Breton Wedding.”
The premise is iconic. A Cape Breton girl is marrying a mainland boy and their nuptials are hilariously obstructed by various relatives, friends and other well-meaning wedding guests. As usual, the show features non-stop laughs and a multitude of classic pop tunes.
The show features a can’t miss cast with Colin Appleton, Ron Newcombe, Angela Duhamel, Brandon Carabin, Katherine Woodford, Matthew Earhart and Carol Anne Gillis. Appleton and Gillis also direct the production.
Performances run on specific nights in July at 7 p.m. and the $49 per person ticket price includes a meal, the show and taxes. Reservations are required (the performances tend to sellout early), so call 902-842-1577 to make sure you don’t miss out.
Also, tonight at 8 p.m., sees the final performance of Lindsay Thompson’s “Katharine’s Island” at St. Patrick’s Church Museum on Sydney’s Esplanade. It’s a keenly observed look at the life of Katharine MacLennan, one of the moving forces behind the reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg.
I saw the dress rehearsal for Eric Letcher’s “The Petticoat Duel,” the new murder mystery at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.
Along with some dazzling and scary sword play, the play offers a tough, but solvable mystery.
For ticket information for this show, visit http://www.fortressoflouisbourg.ca/Condemned or call 902-733-3548.
And of course the Highland Arts Theatre’s 2016 summer season opened this week. “Kitchen Party” is on stage tonight at 8 p.m. I am in that show (and contributed a couple of songs as well). but you will want to see it for the high-stepping, multi-talented young cast who, unlike some people (like me), can actually dance and sing (and breathe) at the same time.