Calgary composer Joe Slabe celebrates 15 years at Forte Musical Theatre Guild with Buy Me a Drink, Joe
Joe Slabe fell in love with an art form that involves singing your feelings, but it took him 15 years to get around to singing his.
Slabe, the musical master behind Calgary's Forte Musical Guild, has been creating memorable mini-musicals for a decade and a half but has never really veered into the autobiographical, in shows such as the annual holiday hit Naughty But Nice, the award-winning Jeremy de Bergerac, the hilarious Austentatious, or Touch Me: Songs for a Disconnected Age, Maria Rasputin Presents, Twisted, Lest We Forget, Crime Does Not Pay, The Paper Bag Princess and But This is My Day Job.
Overall, there have been 29 separate productions that have won 25 local, provincial and international awards – including the American Musical Prize at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.
Now, Slabe has created Buy Me a Drink Joe, a revue of tunes that are mostly about him, and enlisted a talented trio that includes Allison Lynch, Stephen Ingram and Jason Lemmon to help him perform them at the studio theatre in CSpace.
“The show was always intended to be a celebration of 15 years of Forte shows, comprised of songs I’ve written,” Slabe said, in an email reply to some questions from CTV News. “At first, it was going to be a review along the lines of Side by Side by Sondheim. But the director I was working with wasn’t really that interested in staging another musical revue and felt like the show needed a story.
“So, as I dug into my back catalogue, I started to realize that a lot of my songs are intensely personal," he added, "but distanced from my own experience by virtue of being sung by a character instead of the actual people and events they’re based on.”
It turned out the more he shared those personal songs with the cast, the more personal they wanted the show to be.
“It was a little intimidating,” he said, “and I was worried that people might not be that interested, but the sessions kind of evolved into 'Story Time with Joe' where I would relate things that actually happened and they thought it was fascinating.”
Hilights and lowlights
Looking back on 15 years of making musicals, Slabe says there are definitely a few highlights – and one global lowlight.
“I’m really lucky since I feel like there’s been a lot of highlights over the years but, if I had to pick one, I’d say it was being in rehearsals for Jeremy de Bergerac here in Calgary and knowing that it was really special," Slabe says.
"It was the first time I didn’t worry or care what anyone thought about my writing because I knew, in my bones, that it was good," he adds. "That it went on to win a bunch of awards at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (under the title Crossing Swords) was incredibly validating to me as an artist.
“The lowlight was having to cancel shows and move everything online during COVID-19. I’m really proud of what we were able to accomplish with our online work but theatre will always be about the connection between performer and audience and it was devastating to lose that connection for so long.”
As far as the future goes, Slabe says there will be more musicals coming from Forte.
“Forte is co-producing a brand new holiday show with Lunchbox Theatre this December and I’ve started writing a pretty ambitious new musical. It’s in the very early stages but I’m in discussions with another theatre company here in town in hopes of partnering on that too.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll always be working on something,” he adds. “Musical theatre writers never really retire.”
Buy Me a Drink, Joe runs at CSpace Studio Theatre through May 5. For tickets, go here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Live updates as Stormy Daniels testifies at Trump hush money trial
Adult film star Stormy Daniels will take the stand a second time Thursday as former U.S. president Donald Trump’s hush money case continues in Manhattan. Follow live updates here.
BREAKING Sheldon Keefe out as head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. The team made the announcement Thursday after the Original Six franchise lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Bank of Canada says financial system is stable, but risks remain
The Bank of Canada says the Canadian financial system is stable, but risks remain due to debt servicing costs among households and businesses and stretched valuations of financial assets.
Why these immigrants to Canada say they're thinking about leaving, or have already moved on
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
Here are the ultraprocessed foods you most need to avoid, according to a 30-year study
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Ontario man frustrated after $3,500 paving job leaves driveway in shambles
An Ontario man considering having his driveway paved received a quote from a company for $7,000, but then, another paver in the neighbourhood knocked on his door and offered half that rate.
RateMDs violates privacy of health professionals, class-action lawsuit claims
A lawsuit against RateMDs has been given the go-ahead by a B.C. Supreme Court judge who found the claim that the website violates the privacy rights of medical professionals is not 'bound to fail.'
Capital gains tax change 'shortsighted' and 'sows division' business groups tell Freeland
Forging ahead with increasing Canada's capital gains inclusion rate 'sows division,' and is a 'shortsighted' way to improve the deficit, business groups are warning Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Court to hear about search for remains as Winnipeg murder trial enters second day
A courtroom in Winnipeg is expected to hear testimony today about the search for the remains of the four victims of Jeremy Skibicki.