Joe Slabe calls Austentatious, the musical he co-wrote 20 years ago, the show that wouldn’t die. Read More
Joe Slabe calls Austentatious, the musical he co-wrote 20 years ago, the show that wouldn’t die. In 2005, Slabe was in London at Goldsmiths University working on his masters in music. He and four fellow students though it would be fun to write and produce a musical. They wrote Austentatious as a homage to both
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Joe Slabe calls Austentatious, the musical he co-wrote 20 years ago, the show that wouldn’t die.
Article content
Article content
In 2005, Slabe was in London at Goldsmiths University working on his masters in music. He and four fellow students though it would be fun to write and produce a musical. They wrote Austentatious as a homage to both Jane Austen and struggling artists.
Article content
“We chose Jane Austen because her works are in the public domain, but also because she has such a following,” says Slabe. “There are Jane Austen book clubs and Jane Austen societies. People throw Regency Balls. People love Jane Austen because her characters are timeless and universal, and her plots are so accessible.”
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
He and his friends wanted to create an affectionate parody of a community theatre group doing their own adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. He insists “we’re not making fun of these characters. We know them. We love them. Anyone who has done theatre has met them. It’s a backstage musical. The audience gets to see who these people are. They have to like these people. They have to care about them or the musical doesn’t work.”
Article content
Noon News Roundup
Article content
The group put their musical on in a fringe theatre in London for a week where it received glowing reviews from critics. The following year, Kate Galvin, one of the writers, mounted Austentatious for the Philadelphia Fringe. In 2010 Slabe produced Austentatious in Calgary for his Forte Musical Theatre company.
Article content
“Kate got the American premiere and I got the Canadian premiere,” Slabe says. “Every time it is done, we do a little rewriting, and finesse it a bit. It’s not just for the laughs. We want it to be a piece of real theatre.”
Article content
Elinor Holt is the only performer from the original Forte production. She is reprising her role of Jess, who Slabe calls the the long-suffering community theatre lifer. Slabe says “Jess really wants to be professional but community theatre is, as he says in her song, the next best thing. At least she is performing.”
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Natascha Girgis plays Emily who not only wrote this adaptation but also choreographed it, and plays the leading lady. She is also sleeping with Dominic, the director played by Doug McKeag, who Slabe insists “any one who has done any kind of theatre has run into a Dominic. He is pretentious to the point of being insufferable. Doug and Natascha get a duet called I Can See It Now, which shows they have competing visions for his show.”
Article content
Sarah Irwin is Lauren, who thought she was going to get the role of Elizabeth Bennet, the leading lady. She dragged her boyfriend David (Eric Wigston) along to the auditions. He got the role of Mr. Dracy opposite Emily, who had written the part for herself and she is shunted to a minor role. Slabe points out that “now Lauren is the scorned diva who is out for revenge. The characters are based on stereotypes, but they are now fully realized characters. You have to care about them for it to be funny.”
Article content
Rounding out the cast are Jessica Jones as the harried stage manager, and Ethan Vasquez at the town pot head. Valerie Ann Pearson is directing with Gregory Pember as choreographer and Slabe as the musical director.
Article content
Slabe says he wanted to do Austentatious again because this is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, but also because “with everything that’s going on in the world, we could really use a good laugh right now.”
Article content
Austentatious runs at Beddington Arts Centre, 375 Bermuda Drive N.W. from April 8 to 19.
Article content
Article content