With the east coast currently enduring the seventh year of Great Big Sea’s ongoing retirement, times are tough. There’s an increasing demand for someone to champion a way of life and to serenade us with the sounds of our homeland. But within the next few years, we can expect to see something that may bring us some comfort on that front. Alan Doyle is teaming up with Adam Brazier to create a new musical comedy: Tell Tale Harbour.

The production will be an adaptation of Ken Scott’s The Grand Seduction, a musical comedy film that showcases the charm of smalltown Atlantic Canada. It tells the story of how the people of a dying Newfoundland fishing village go to great lengths to convince a doctor to take up residency in their town in order to save it.

As artistic director of the project, Brazier was inspired by The Grand Seduction and began drafting his own version for the stage. And when it came to the music, the choice for Brazier was clear. Who better to bring on board to write comedic songs about Atlantic Canada than someone who has a first-hand understanding of the traditions and culture? None other than Great Big Sea’s own Alan Doyle.

“I was stoked to be a part of a genre that I haven’t been a part of before,” says Doyle on the beginnings of his first venture into the world of Musical Theatre.

“Also, to do it in Atlantic Canada and draw from the two main resources from my whole life — the traditional music canon of the region, drawing from Cape Breton and Newfoundland tunes, as well as inspiration from my favourite songwriters.”

The project will be taking its next steps in February, when creators will be writing a new draft, and in May they will be attending a workshop at the 2020 Charlottetown Festival, which has gained a reputation for its successful development of many musicals since it began in 1965.

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