One year ago I went to Glace Bay for the first time to see Lindsay Kyte’s play Dear Rita at the Savoy Theatre. When I heard that Kyte was collaborating with Mike Ross on a new theatre production telling the story of Rita MacNeil through her own music, I was immediately intrigued. I met Rita MacNeil in 2002 at Neptune Theatre after seeing another biographical play about her life, Charlie Rhindress’ Flying On Her Own, so I was very curious to see how Kyte and Ross were telling this story in a new and different way in Glace Bay. The two plays both chart out a similar narrative, and both use MacNeil’s music as a mirror to her real life experiences, but it’s the way that the story is told that make both beautifully unique. I left Dear Rita deeply moved, with a very full heart, and I was pleasantly surprised by the risks that Ross and Kyte took in bringing this story to life. The show was very well received by audiences last year, so it is back by popular demand for just two more performances at The Savoy this weekend.
In Dear Rita there are six powerhouse performers: Lindsay Kyte, Heather Kerr, Katherine Woodford, Ciarán MacGillivray, Terrance Murphy, and Jenn Sheppard, who all play a variety of different characters, and all six also take turns playing Rita herself. I found this choice to be extremely interesting, especially since Rita MacNeil’s life story is an extremely unique one. She was born in Big Pond, Nova Scotia and had a cleft lip and palate, which left her feeling self-conscious and shy in her small community. However, even as a child Rita found that she was able to express herself through singing, and she had a powerful voice. She moved from Cape Breton to Toronto as a young woman where she was introduced to the bourgeoning women’s movement, and she started writing her own feminist protest songs, which launched a prolific songwriting career. Even by today’s standards Rita was ahead of her time in prioritizing her own dreams and following her own talents, and she found it difficult to balance this with the pressures of her familial responsibilities, which were especially rigid for women at that time. With her immense perseverance and belief in her talents and her absolute resilience, despite many disappointments and setbacks, Rita MacNeil went on to become one of the province’s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters for twenty-seven years. What Kyte and Ross are doing in having MacNeil’s story told through the voices and bodies of six disparate performers is centring this story, and showing how it is representative of the strength and fortitude of the larger community. Given how marginalized MacNeil felt throughout her life, it’s beautiful to see her story told by an ensemble, suggesting that there are aspects of her life that we can all empathize with, and certainly, that she offers inspiration to all of us.
In order to accommodate this ensemble Mike Ross has re-arranged much of Rita MacNeil’s music to take advantage of the potential for harmony among the show’s six beautiful voices. This also shows how MacNeil’s music resonates so far beyond her own unique experience, and in the case of songs like “Working Man” and “Home I’ll Be,” have become anthemic for the island. As a longtime MacNeil fan I wasn’t sure at first how I was going to feel about the music sounding at times so different, but it suits the show so beautifully, and it makes Dear Rita so much more than a tribute show, but rather a deeply creative, and rich musical play in its own right.
The scenes are very short, and the play moves quickly and seamlessly through time and space thanks to director Ron Jenkins. Jenkins has such a clear vision for the way he moves the performers through their portrayals of different characters, using so much subtext and subtly to bring the audience along without them having to work to keep up. The play feels very warm, and cozy, in a way that evokes gathering for a cuppa tea in a friend’s kitchen.
The band, Emily Dingwall, Aaron C. Lewis, Darren McMullen, led by Musical Director Extraordinaire Stephen Muise, could not be better. Having been lucky enough to see as much Cape Breton musical theatre as I have over the last four years or so, you begin to run out of adjectives to adequately praise the musicians. They’re simply the best.
The six performers all do a beautiful job of immersing the audience in the different characters, and especially in the specific time and place of MacNeil’s story. Together they create a deeply moving musical tapestry that honours not only Rita MacNeil herself, but also her long-lasting legacy and the way it continues to reverberate in Cape Breton to this day. I’m hearing rumblings that Dear Rita may be headed to other theatres in other cities in the future, and I very much hope this is the case. I would love to see the show again in Halifax sometime. However, I must say, I did feel very lucky to see this show at the Savoy, a theatre that was near and dear to Rita MacNeil’s heart; the audience there, and the building itself became a vibrant part of the story, that made the experience for me extra special and utterly unforgettable. If you’re able to see this show this weekend in this venue: absolutely go.
Dear Rita plays at the Savoy Theatre (116 Commercial Street, Glace Bay), on Saturday May 27th at 7:00pm and Sunday May 28th at 2:00pm. Tickets are available at this website or by phoning 902.842.1577. The Savoy Theatre is accessible for wheelchair users. For more Accessibility information please visit this website.
