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When Forte Musical Theatre Guild presents Purchase Me a Drink, Joe!, the drinks may not be on the home, however music and reminiscences most definitely shall be.
That is Joe Slabe’s eleventh musical and, by far, his most private.
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“It seems to be at my life from my Grade 12 12 months to 2007 when my musical, Austentatious, opened on the New York Musical Theatre Pageant. I play a present-day model of me, speaking to myself who’s on the premiere of Austentatious. A younger actor-musician from Toronto named Stephen Ingram performs me. It was important this actor be an completed musician and that’s what we present in Stephen,” says Slabe, who explains he was impressed to put in writing Purchase Me a Drink, Joe! after seeing Steven Morton’s solo present Drag Me to the Opera.
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“I beloved how trustworthy and private his present was, but in addition how musical it was. I knew if I used to be to inform my story, it must be with music as a result of music is such an infinite a part of my life. I knew I might write my story as a result of I’ve at all times been fairly recreation at recognizing my shortcomings and foibles.”
Nonetheless, Slabe admits he needed to do an excessive amount of soul-searching as a result of “the present is all stuff that actually occurred. I’m a non-public individual so, even folks I’ve labored with in theatre, don’t know the trail I’ve taken. It helps that I’m an introvert who has realized how one can act like an extrovert in public.”
The early workshops for the musical made him really feel significantly susceptible.
“I labored with my longtime collaborators, JP Thibodeau, Allison Lynch, Eric Wigston and Daniel Fong. It was by no means my intention to be within the present, however they have been adamant I needs to be. They saved saying it was bizarre that it was my story, however I wasn’t part of it, so I reworked it so I may very well be.”
Lynch is the one member of the workshops who’s within the current manufacturing. Each Wigston and Fong have been booked for different exhibits, and Thibodeau was dedicated to directing One thing Rotten and The Music Man. Valerie Pearson, who has collaborated with Slabe quite a few occasions, stepped in as director and he or she added Ingram and Jason Lemmon.
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There are 17 songs within the present, 14 of which come from earlier exhibits that Slabe has written. The oldest music, Every thing is Advantageous, comes from a 10-minute present referred to as If I Weren’t With You that Slabe wrote for Alberta Theatre Tasks in 1997. He would later increase it right into a one-act play that premiered at Lunchbox Theatre in 2013. He has written three unique songs for this, his twelfth play.
“Luckily, I saved journals for 40 years of my life, so the fabric for these three vital songs was in them. I didn’t should battle over these lyrics as a result of they have been all in these journals. I simply needed to weed them out. ”
Slabe says, as private as this musical could also be, it’s additionally common.
“It’s about having the braveness to observe your true passions. A number of folks can relate to that. I hope the present is transferring, and galvanizing, however above all, I hope it’s humorous. I wish to hear laughter, a number of laughter every night time.”
Slabe’s earlier exhibits embody Crossing Swords, The City Jungle E-book, Paper Bag Princess, Contact Me, Twas the Evening Earlier than Christmas, and the irreverent vacation musical Naughty However Evening which celebrated its tenth 12 months this previous December.
Purchase Me a Drink, Joe! runs in cSPACE King Edward at 1721 twenty ninth Ave. S.W. from April 23 by means of Might 5 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays by means of Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
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