Charlottetown Festival gets ready to boogie
Last Updated: Thursday, November 6, 2008 | 5:27 PM AT
CBC News
The flashy styles of the 1970s will be a feature of Disco Cirque. (CBC) A new disco-era music revue was announced Thursday as a highlight of the 2009 Charlottetown Festival season.
The revue follows successful runs of musical revues based on the music of the 1960s, The British Invasion and America Strikes Back. Disco Cirque will will combine music from the disco era with choreography inspired by shows like Cirque de Soleil.
"The music for that kind of show is always the driving force," said artistic director Annie Allen. "The incredible artists like Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, as well as the Bee Gees, also gives us the golden opportunity to use our orchestra in a wonderful way. But I love the idea of combining dance with it, and as I say this theatrical cirque element as well."
Annie Allen is looking forward to the cirque elements of the festival's new show. (CBC) A popular show which debuted last year at the Mack Theatre based on the life of Stompin' Tom Connors will not return for a second season. Allen said the Ballad of Stompin' Tom was well-attended but too costly to mount. In its place will be the return of A Matter of Heart, a show based on the life of Stan Rogers that last played at the Festival in 2001.
The show that made the Charlottetown Festival famous, Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, will return for its 45th season. It is Canada's longest running musical.
Sketch-22 heads for the Big Dance
Local comedy troupe Sketch-22 has been picked up by the festival. The group will perform at the Mack Theatre.
"This is awesome we're so excited, we put so much work into this show for five years, I think this is sort of a sign to us our hard work is paying off," said founding member Andrew Sprague.
"This validates Sketch-22, and because of this we promise to make much less fun of the Confederation Centre of the Arts."
Sketch-22 is well known for its sometimes crude spoofs of Island life.
The festival also announced that a new venue is being developed at the Confederation Centre, a studio theatre with about 100 seats. That will host a new Charlie Farquharson show next season featuring Don Harron, as well as a jazz retrospective paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Jazz Festival.
