Success through failure
Tony award-winning writer speaks to Canadian musical theatre community
When it comes to success, not being afraid of failure is key.
At least that’s the belief of Tony award-winning writer and actor Bob Martin, whose work on the Broadway production “The Drowsy Chaperone” earned him the prestigious theatre award in 2006.
As someone with more than 30 years of experience in theatre, film and television, Martin said one thing he learned in his life is that failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“You have to not be afraid to fail,” he told the Guardian following his keynote address at the Charlottetown Festival Theatre Conference at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on Thursday.
“Failure is a great instructor, so you have to be allowed to fail and you have to look at your failures, you can’t turn away from them.”
Perseverance is also a key to success, he said.
In the same amount of time it took the United States to put a man on the moon, so, too, did it take Martin to bring his musical production from conception to Broadway.
From 1998-2006, Martin worked and re-worked his script and when it finally hit the big time, he said the feeling was “totally surreal”.
“It was like walking into the television set. Growing up, I’d never even been to New York, I just knew Broadway from the Tonys every year, so to suddenly step into that surreal world; it was incredible.”
The theatre conference was held as an opportunity to celebrate Canadian musical theatre and its creators, as well as to get a conversation going, said the centre’s artistic director, Adam Brazier, who added he was pleased with the conference.
“It’s a wonderful start to the dialogue that so much of this conference is about. It’s trying to put the creators and some of the decision makers in the same room,” he said.
“For me the exciting thing to talk about is partnerships.”
Following Martin’s speech was a panel discussion entitled “Creating Across Geography”, which, along with Martin, included panellists Michael Rubinoff, who conceived the Broadway Tony-award nominated musical “Come From Away”, Landon Braverman, a New York City-based composer originally from Vancouver, and Leslie Arden, whose varied background includes composer/orchestrator, lyricists, director and teacher. It was moderated by Mitchell Marcus, founder of the Musical Stage Company.
This is the first year for the conference, something Brazier said he would like to see happen biannually.
Many Canadians across the country involved in musical theatre were in attendance, including composer and lyricist Mary Knickle from Lunenberg, N.S., who said the conference was a great way to connect those in musical theatre in the east coast with others across the country.
“I think it’s brilliant that the Confederation Centre stepped up and did this,” she said.
“We need more of these in Canada, and I think it’s amazing to have one on the East Coast. It’s a small world in Canada, and we need to come together more as a community.”
The theatre conference ends today.