Long Winded

Don, Norman, Elaine and Mavor did.

Don, Norman and Elaine were long-time friends who worked in music, theatre, radio and television both in Canada and around the world.

One night after a theatre performance in Toronto, Norman and Elaine went backstage to visit Don, who told them about a book he was reading his kids … a book he thought that just might make a good musical … their friend Mavor who ran CBC Television liked the idea … and soon a short black and white television show with a few songs was aired and pleasantly received … and that was that.

Fast forward 8 years and Mavor was now running a new Arts Centre out east .. a centre that every Canadian was contributing to to celebrate the upcoming 100th anniversary of Confederation. This was going to be a big event … The Queen was coming and the opening night gala had to be perfect … and Mavor needed a song … so he chose one from Don, Norman and Elaine’s television musical … after the gala, when the Queen came backstage, she told Mavor she liked the song .. but wondered where the rest of the musical was? Well Mavor called up Don immediately and together with Norman and Elaine they flushed out a full musical so that it could start running at the Centre the next summer. Mavor himself even contributed a few songs.

Today, over 50 years after its initial debut, the musical Don, Norman, Elaine and Mavor created has played on Broadway, London’s West End and its the Guinness record holder for longest running annual musical theatre production in the world … and it still plays today where it originated …at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown …

Anne of Green Gables – The Musical!

Anne of Green Gables – The Musical is a great idea … because w