Tom takes Toronto
Chad Matthews will perform as Stompin’ Tom Connors in February
Chad Matthews, the Stompin’ Tom Connors impersonator extraordinaire, will take his talent to Toronto next month.
There, he will portray Stompin’ Tom during three shows with renowned tenor John McDermott. Matthews played Stompin’ Tom at a dinner theatre in Skinner’s Pond at the Stompin’ Tom Centre.
“I couldn’t really believe it when he asked me to begin with: little Islander going up that way to portray Tom,” he said, stopping to reflect on what he just said. Stompin’ Tom, after all, had spent his childhood and adolescent years in Skinners Pond before embarking on a crosscountry trek that would ultimately launch his legendary career as a singer and songwriter. McDermott, who has given performances the last two summers at the Stompin’ Tom Centre and attended the dinner theatre shows there both years, asked to speak to Matthews during a break in one of the dinner theatre shows last summer. Outside, he invited Matthews to perform with him in February shows at the Hugh’s Room on Toronto’s Dundas Street.
“So, I was pretty excited,” Matthews said, admitting he had to contain the butterflies the rest of that dinner theatre show.
Matthews has performed as Stompin’ Tom through two dinner theatre seasons in Skinners Pond, launching the role in “My Island Home - A Stompin’ Tom Story” in 2017. They had 12 shows scheduled but the demand was so high there was still a long waiting list after 26 performances in front of 2,500 dinner theatre audience members. Last summer the Stompin’ Tom Centre added a second dinner theatre, “My Stompin’ Grounds – A Stompin’ Tom Story”, and Matthews went on to perform as Tom in 42 more shows and in front of 3,800 people. He also appeared in a Still Standing episode with Jonny Harris as Connors.
And next month he gets to do it all over again in front of audiences in Toronto.
Matthews said he will give brief performances as Tom during the John McDermott Trio shows on Feb. 7 and 8 and perform a full set on Feb. 9.
The John McDermott Trio consists of McDermott, Jason Fowler and Mark Lalama. Paul Langlois, guitarist with the Tragically Hip, will be the featured performer on Feb. 7 and Dala, the folk music duo of Sheila Caradine and Amanda Walther will be the featured guests on Feb. 8.
For Matthews, 45, who has been playing guitar since he was 15 and playing in various bands since he was 17, theatre is still fairly new to him, but he says he enjoys the experience.
Matthews, who gravitated toward Stompin’ Tom’s tunes while learning to play the guitar did impersonations of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis in the late 1990’s, admits he didn’t really appreciate how Stompin’ Tom had impacted people until he saw the reaction of his dinner theatre audiences.
“Some people leave there happy; some people leave there with a tear in their eye. It’s just a bunch of emotions everywhere. And they tell me that.”
“There’s laughter, there’s sadness, and a good story,” said Matthews who praised the dinner theatres’ writer, Erin Dunn Keefe for the well-written scripts. He says he has gained a great appreciation of Tom.