Tag: musicals

Watch my magical, fantastical play-with-music, The Music Shoppe, on YouTube!

By Edward Willett in Blog, Featured in Slider, Music, Plays
May 21, 2019
4 mins to read
Leave comment

At the end of April, Regina Lyric Musical Theatre presented my fantastical play-with-music, The Music Shoppe, in four performances at the Shumiatcher Theatre in the MacKenzie Art Gallery. The response was fabulous–people loved it, gave it standing ovations, told me how much they’d enjoyed it, etc. However, only a limited number of people were able to see it …

“The Music Shoppe is what happens when a science-fiction author writes a musical”

By Edward Willett in Blog, Plays
April 20, 2019
3 mins to read
Leave comment

The Music Shoppe, the play-with-music I wrote and am directing for Regina Lyric Musical Theatre, runs this coming week (April 25-28, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday) at the Shumiatcher Theatre, Mackenzie Art Gallery..which means publicity is happening. Here’s the story from today’s Regina Leader Post. An excerpt: “(There’s a) mysterious mechanical pianist that can …

Paul Alexander Nolan: From small-town Saskatchewan to Broadway’s bright lights

By Edward Willett in Blog, Music
May 2, 2017
7 mins to read
Leave comment

This article just appeared in Refined Lifestyles Regina. I’ve known Paul since he was a kid–I performed with him several times back then, and have even had the chance to be in a professional show with him once, when he played the Beast in Persephone Theatre‘s production of Beauty and the Beast in Saskatoon …

My review of Globe Theatre’s “Man of La Mancha”: it’s a moving exploration of the power, necessity and limitations of storytelling

By Edward Willett in Blog, Plays
April 30, 2014
8 mins to read
Leave comment

This review also appears at Regina Reviews, which I edit. Globe Theatre’s production of Man of La Mancha is a beautifully directed, acted, and sung exploration of the power, necessity and limitations of the one trait that truly makes us human: our ability to imbue the world with meaning through the telling of stories. Imprisoned …

I finish a play…and sing of Saskatchewan

By Edward Willett in Blog, Music, Plays, Writing and Editing
January 17, 2013
2 mins to read
Leave comment

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been writing a play, tentatively titled The Piano Bench: A Love Story with Evening and Ghosts. Today I finished the draft script, which I’ll be passing on the fine folks at Regina Lyric Musical Theatre, which I hope will be staging the play (with me directing it) this fall. Since it’s …

Two songs from The Dragonslayer

By Edward Willett in Blog, Plays, Writing and Editing
January 11, 2013
4 mins to read
Leave comment

Many years ago I took it into my head to turn a short story of mine, “The Dragonslayer, “into one-act stage musical, intended for high schools. In brief, it was about a teenager who was a whiz at killing dragons when playing Dungeons & Dragons, who gets called into an alternate world to deal with …

From small-town hockey player to Broadway star: Paul Nolan’s improbable journey

By Edward Willett in Blog
August 4, 2012
9 mins to read
Leave comment

This week’s Saturday Special is the interview I conducted with Paul Nolan, who grew up in the small town of Rouleau, just outside Regina (better known, perhaps, as Dog River from the TV series Corner Gas), and just ended a run on Broadway in the title role of the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar (he’s …

Biddle-dee-diddle-dee-dee!

By Edward Willett in Blog
February 8, 2011
5 mins to read
Leave comment

Well, that was fun. By “that,” I mean the process of getting this new computer up and running to my satisfaction. Yes, the new monitor arrived last week, and I spent a few happy (well, mostly happy) hours with plug-ins and cables and drives (oh, my!), losing hours of productivity in order to get a …

Me, singing “Me”

By Edward Willett in Blog
January 30, 2011
1 mins to read
1 comments

While setting up my video last week for the virtual classroom visits-by-authors I was part of, I had the urge to give my microphone a good test by singing. So I recorded one of my party pieces, “Me” from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The result pleased me enough I decided to YouTube it…and here …

Tent Meeting featured in LeaderPost

By Edward Willett in Blog
October 29, 2009
3 mins to read
Leave comment

No, I haven’t been blogging much. There’s the novel to rewrite and the Johnny Cash biography to proofread and Fine Lifestyles Regina editing duties to look after and…well, lots. Including directing and being part of the cast of Tent Meeting, Regina Lyric Musical Theatre‘s fall show, which opens next Tuesday, November 3, and runs through …

Two more Follies performances left…

By Edward Willett in Blog
May 23, 2009
2 mins to read
Leave comment

Jeff Tonita and company sing “Live, Laugh, Love” …and then I can think about other things again. After a week of rehearsals and performances mixed in with other stuff, I was more tired after last night’s show than I think can remember ever being before. But a good night’s sleep took care of that, and …

It’s the second night of Follies!

By Edward Willett in Blog
May 21, 2009
1 mins to read
Leave comment

Last night’s opening performance of Lyric Musical Theatre‘s production of Stephen Sondheim’s rarely-stage musical masterpiece Follies went very well. We had a decent-sized audience for a Wednesday opening and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. So now it’s on to the second night. You can’t buy tickets online for tonight’s performance any more, but you …