I imagine that folks in the audience for Come From Away’s initial 45 minute workshop production at Sheridan College in 2012 felt a lot like I did on Saturday afternoon at the Alderney Landing Theatre watching the two-act Work in Progress of Little Bug Records’ production of Gabrielle Papillon’s new musical Mind the Light, as part of Eastern Front Theatre’s Stages Festival. From the very first moment I was full of excited and unbridled enthusiasm. Could this be the next big Canadian musical? Could the next big Canadian musical be from Nova Scotia? I was already making mental notes for people I should tell that they need to make sure to come and see this show at the very next opportunity, because this show has the potential to be really, really, big.
The musical has a beautiful and unique story about a lighthouse keeping family, Beatrice (Alicia Toner), and her brother Emmett (Stewart Legere), and Beatrice’s daughter Azélie (Leah Pritchard), in the 1880s, whose lives are largely spent isolated together on the small island that houses the lighthouse. This feels oppressive for Azélie, a young Queer woman, who grows up sheltered from the realities of society’s rules and expectations for how women should dress, behave, speak, think, and what their dreams for the future should be. The familial dynamic is also stilted because Emmett is keeping an important secret, the key to his own restlessness. Throughout the show both Azélie and Emmett struggle against the confines of societal expectations, while also trying to honour their legacy and the traditions of their ancestors. The First Act is extremely strong, very dramaturgically tight, and with great pacing. The Second Act seems a bit newer, but the overall arc of the story is lovely and works really well. The only thing I found curious is that the story feels so local, so Nova Scotian, and yet it’s not set here, and I did wonder why.
It’s the music that makes this show so exciting. It is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard for a musical. It doesn’t have the stereotypical musical theatre vibe at all, but is rooted deeply in the story: in the ocean, in the lighthouse, it is written to be sung exactly as these characters would sing, in their voices, with their familial harmonies providing the gorgeous layered heartbeat of the story. You can listen to the song “Go Into the Night,” out of which the rest of the musical blossomed, to get a better sense of what I mean.
In order to do justice to the music and to build these rich harmonies that audiences just want to burrow into you need an exceptional cast and this Work in Progress has that. I know, obviously, the evolution of a musical of this size and scope usually sees a steady turnover in casting, but I would try to hold onto this one if at all possible. Alicia Toner, Stewart Legere, Leah Pritchard, and Emma Vickers (as Lottie) especially seem to be custom-made for their roles. I’ve never heard Legere sing more beautifully, and that’s saying something, and watching Leah Pritchard bring Azélie to life feels like watching Megan Follows discover her inner Anne Shirley for the first time.
I’ll save a more formal review for when Mind the Light gets its first fully staged production, because it needs a fully staged production; I can’t wait to see a fully staged production. I hope Annie Valentina directs it because even with music stands and the stage directions being read by Tessa Pekeles (the best person to read stage directions) the deep connections between the characters and their time and place was so beautifully palpable.
I hope to write much, much, more about this show as it continues to come together, and move through various exciting stages of development. I will be cheering for it, and for this team all the way. I’m so excited to see what happens next.
