...and a stage musical, too?
My Unorthodox Journey to the Published Land: 10
How it all started
Yes, I know. The Best Laid Plans is indeed the novel that keeps on giving. Not long after the TV miniseries began to take shape, my agent, Beverley Slopen, fielded an inquiry about the theatre rights for The Best Laid Plans. Katrina Dunn, then the Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre and Peter Jorgensen, the Artistic Producer at Patrick Street Productions, both based in Vancouver, joined forces to secure the theatre rights, They then embarked on the Herculean journey to adapt my debut novel as a stage musical. I was thrilled and flattered but also wondered if they could pull it off, knowing the precarious, hand-to-mouth existence of so many theatre companies. But their commitment and persistence and dogged determination prevailed, and it all actually happened.
It took four years, but that’s not unusual when creating a stage production, let alone a musical, out of a 100,000 word novel. We had a meeting in Toronto and afterwards I felt the show was in very good hands. I liked Peter and Katrina and their vision for the production. Governor General’s Award-winning playwright, Vern Thiessen joined as the writer, and on the music front, a young composing duo, Anton Lipovetsky and Ben Elliott, signed on to create the songs that would carry the show and make it so memorable.
As is usually the case, I, as the novelist, was consulted at various times in the development of the musical, but really I was more of a grateful observer as these pros did their thing to take my novel from page to stage.
An early look and listen
In the fall of 2014, the leadership team behind the musical—Katrina, Peter, Vern, Anton and Ben—and I participated in a panel discussion as part of the Vancouver International Writers Festival. The team had already spent nearly three years working on the project at that point, and it was time to give the public a look behind the scenes.
At the appointed time, we hit the stage for the panel discussion in front of a sellout festival audience. Katrina was the ring leader. I offered a general overview of the novel. Peter talked about the history of adapting novels as stage musicals. Then Vern looked at the factors he considered when adapting my novel for the stage. Then the fun started.
I read three excerpts from the novel that led beautifully into three scenes and three songs from the production performed by the two composers, Anton and Ben, and a wonderfully talented local actor/singer. Remember, I had never heard these songs, so I was taking it all in for the first time while on stage in front of a large crowd. My heart was pounding. I need not have been nervous. All of the songs and the dialogue leading into them were wonderful, compelling and powerful. At one point in the middle of the second song, I very nearly burst into tears. It was a love song sung by Angus to his recently deceased wife, Marin Lee, called The Other Side, and it was beautiful, haunting, and very moving.
Demos for a few of the songs
Here are a few of the songs from the musical. These are rough “demo” versions performed by the two composers, Anton Lipovetsky and Ben Elliott, with help from a wonderful young woman singer whose name I cannot recall. Apologies to her for she was terrific.
Music is important to me. I’ve played guitar, written songs, and sung (not particularly well) since I was 17 years old. I played in a band in university. I like to think I have a sense of what makes a good song, largely because I’ve written quite a few bad ones. Ben and Anton are incredibly talented songwriters who seem to have a magical collaboration. I love the songs they created for the musical.
Seeing the debut performance
A year after the Vancouver International Writers Festival event, in September 2015, my wife Nancy Naylor, our two sons and I flew to Vancouver and watched the first three performances of The Best Laid Plans: A Musical. I spoke to the cast and crew in the afternoon before the evening debut. They were a group of extraordinarily talented and dedicated people.
To cut to the chase, the show was wonderful, and I’m trying to be objective here, however difficult that might be. During the love song Angus sings to his dearly departed wife (The Other Side), there was not a dry eye in the house. The actors were all passionate professionals and you could easily see that in their stellar performances.
Click here, or on the image below to read a review of the show:
Here are some shots from the show itself.
The day after I’d watched the third performance of the musical, I did an interview with CBC Radio while I was still in Vancouver. You can have a listen below.
I have such fond memories of the stage musical. What an experience and I’m grateful to have been along for the ride. The run was successful and there are hopes that it will tour at some point. It is certainly available to be mounted by other theatre companies. More information about licensing the show can be found at Marquis Literary.
Next up? I thought I’d offer a first post in the catch-all “Writing life” category. Would you believe in 2013 I posed naked for a calendar in support of PEN Canada? Believe it. And no, I don’t know what I was thinking. Stay tuned.
I very much enjoyed this, Terry, especially the interview with you near the end. Your comments on politics in this country are on the mark as we watch developments south of the border and hope Canada does not go any further in that direction. I would like to see us go back to advertising party platforms and candidate qualifications rather than slamming the other other sides with innuendo and outright lies. Give the electorate the true facts and let us decide what we think of them. We kind of like using our brains!