Niagara rock musical is back where it began
The rock musical Job and the Snake is coming home.
The made-in-Niagara spectacle which made its way to Los Angeles, Toronto and New York makes its local return with a twonight stint at the Seneca Queen Theatre in Niagara Falls June 23 and 24.
Creator Roberto Munoz says it “feels great” to bring the show back, 23 years after it debuted in Ridgeway. With original music by his sons Miq and Mann, inspired by The Book of Job while attending Brock University, the story follows a religious man abandoned by his wife and stripped of his luxuries by Satan, who insists his virtue is only to gain God’s favour.
The show was a local favourite, prompting one reviewer from Brock to call it a “potential masterpiece.”
The show helped launch the career of Niagara stage star Lee Siegel, and future Degrassi: The Next Generation cast member Melissa McIntyre.
“I think I was around 10 when mom saw the ad in the paper, took me down to audition in Stevensville, I believe,” recalls McIntyre. “The show was one of the things that started my love affair with the stage many moons ago.”
Munoz decided to test the waters and bring the show to Toronto, where it gained more traction. Feeling he had a potential Broadway hit on his hands after a successful run in Los Angeles, Munoz then brought it to New York. The Off-Broadway production starring Troy Curtis (formerly of Menudo) held its own in a competitive theatre scene, but couldn’t make it over the hump.
“I made money — I’ve never lost money,” he says. “(But) we just hit the wall. And then nothing happened.”
Feeling the show had run its course, Munoz turned his attention to movies, producing several low budget features with his sons, including 2016’s Lost Penny, which sold out its Niagara Integrated Film Festival screening.
But Munoz wasn’t finished with Job yet. While caring for a family member in Detroit for four months last fall, he decided to put out a casting call for a revival, attracting talent from Las Vegas.
“It was extremely successful,” he says. “I had nothing to do in Detroit, I was just trapped there.”
Returning to live in Niagara in his mother’s former house, Munoz tweaked the show some more for its local return. Expect about 30 per cent new songs in a production starring Josh D’Cunha, Tristan Alexander and Ann-Marie Zammit, returning from the original production.
Associate producer Tim Millar was “impressed and excited” by the Detroit production after seeing Job and the Snake 20 years ago in Toronto, and promises an even “tighter” version in Niagara Falls.