THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPING NEW WORK IN CANADA.

As YES launches our “New Works Commission” this week, we take the time to look back on and celebrate the most recent Canadian smash hit: Come From Away. Come From Away, currently the only Canadian show on Broadway and the only piece of musical theatre that keeps a house in Toronto, is one of Canada’s most successful hits ever. 

Many of us will remember the excitement back in 2017 when the show was a favourite to win the Tony award for Best New Musical.

This was an electric moment for Musical Theatre in Canada. Something we could all be proud and excited about- a race that had us chomping at the bit to see what the outcome would be.

To us, Come From Away signals a success in what we hope to be a much larger trajectory. The Canadian Musical Theatre cannon is still in its infancy and we, along with other fellow Canadians, are embarking on a journey to develop “the next Come From Away”. A show that begins in Canada, that is developed here, that tells our Canadian stories and that showcases our community in a way we can be proud of.

We must consider art “as a celebration of difference and an empathic bridge for coming as close as we can ever come to the way a consciousness other than our own is experiencing reality.” And the creation of a new musical is the opportunity to explore the uniqueness of this sprawling country and its peoples.

Our New Works Commission will support artists in the development of a new musical. As a community we will see early versions of what could be the next big hit and we will learn together how to support artists in creation. Just as, many years ago, Come From Away was workshopped by students at Sheridan College, our new musical will be workshopped right here in Sudbury by the YES Theatre ensemble. 

In regional areas across the United States, audiences are taken on the journey of seeing a show grow from its beginnings to Broadway hits or Broadway flops. Not every show is “finished”, or a part of “the cannon”, but these shows need audience viewership and support to help move them to the next step. 

With YES as a growing force in the North, Sudbury is primed and ready to become the next out of town stop for pre-Broadway shows and grow its own cultural legacy as a developer of Canadian Musical Theatre.