Tarragon Theatre and The Musical Stage Firm are presenting the world premiere of the musical After The Rain, a brand new Canadian musical. The piece is written by Rose Napoli, with music and lyrics by Suzy Wilde.
The present runs within the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace from Could 27 to June 22, 2025, opening June 4.
The Present
The premise of the present is straightforward — deceptively easy as described on paper. It centres across the character of Suzie Evans Stone, a struggling composer who’s being profitable secretly giving piano classes, all whereas singing backup in her dad and mom’ band.
She takes on a brand new pupil, and within the course of, finally ends up altering her life. The scholar, an older newbie, insists on studying and mastering just one piece: Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1.
The story follows Suzie touring together with her dad and mom’ band, as she makes new relationships and discoveries concerning the folks near her, and helps her pupil make sense of Satie’s seminal work. There are household troubles, life’s complexities, and, in fact, plenty of music. It’s a delicate story concerning the ups and downs of life, how a music evolves, and the way making music collectively has an simple therapeutic energy.
Music additionally tells the story. You possibly can hear a pattern of it right here.
We spoke to Rose Napoli and Suzy Wilde concerning the present.
The Interview
Toronto-based Suzy Wilde is a songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, instructor, choir director, and reside performer. She works in each the reside music and musical theatre communities.
Canadian playwright and actor Rose Napoli is an alumnus of Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip Program. As an actor, she has labored extensively in TV and movie in addition to on stage, and obtained a Dora nomination in 2016 for Excellent Efficiency, amongst different accolades.
It’s not the primary time that Wilde and Napoli have teamed up. Their venture The Carrette Sisters, a part of a collective adaptation of the works of Mavis Gallant titled Retold, was nominated for a Dora Award. After The Rain obtained Tarragon Theatre’s Bulmash-Seigel prize and the Aubrey and Marla Dan Fund prize for brand spanking new musicals.
How did the story come about? It appears… fairly particular to have been dreamed up out of the blue.
“I’m not a musician. I’m a music lover. I took piano as a toddler. I took piano classes, and didn’t have the persistence in it,” says Rose.
Her personal story resonates with the coed character of the story, who’s a middle-aged novice.
“I might positively draw off these experiences that I had,” she says.
“However, Rose has nice rhythm,” provides Wilde.
Wilde relates how After the Rain took place.
“It began with a music, an previous music that I had written and completed nothing with,” she begins.
The music was about two folks she’d met who had develop into her music college students. It will be a matter of years earlier than she obtained round to taking part in the music for Rose, who instantly acknowledged the potential.
“She stated, this can be a present,” Suzy remembers. “However actually, the present is, we all the time say it’s concerning the life you need to reside to jot down a single music.”
“And that music is known as After The Rain,” Napoli provides.
In different phrases, there’s a truthful foundation for the present, and plenty of dramatization of the reality within the story.
“We’re by no means specific of which is which — and sure, it’s primarily based on numerous true tales.”
For the present, they’ve assembled a created band, and the musicians supplied their very own anecdotes which turned a part of the fabric.
“Numerous Canadian musicians will see this present and acknowledge tales that we’ve extrapolated from their reality,” Napoli says.
Why Satie?
Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1 is a piece that any pupil of the piano will acknowledge.
“One of many characters has a wonderful meditation on the music as she’s truly taking part in it on the piano,” Napoli says.
As she performs, she talks concerning the piece.
“It appears as if it’s fairly easy once you hearken to it,” Rose says.
However, that simplicity is misleading. There’s loads that goes into with the ability to create that air of peacefulness and ease.
“The music serves as a very lovely metaphor about what plenty of the characters within the present are in search of,” Napoli provides. It’s the proper option to seize the spirit of the play.
“It’s such a pop music in a means,” Suzy provides. “We had a good time studying about Satie and what he was like through the present.”
The lead character is intrigued by the truth that Satie failed music faculty, and that his lecturers famous his ‘laziness’.
“He looks like a humorous, quirky kind of particular person,” Wilde says.
“He brazenly stated that he had no want to achieve success,” Napoli factors out. “He discovered transgression in tranquility.”
The concept such a delicate and easy sounding piece of music may very well be so highly effective and affecting is the purpose.
“Music doesn’t should be in your face,” Rose says. “Music could be life altering and be quiet and easy on the similar time.”
At many live shows these days, the conductor will speak to the viewers, giving context and biographical particulars to higher perceive the music that’s about to be carried out.
“I believe in a means, that’s what we’re endeavouring to do with our present,” Napoli says. By means of the story of teaching one particular person on one musical work, they take about two hours to construct up the context, together with the individuals who surrounded and influenced the composer.
“It feels that there’s so many layers of have an effect on within the present, that we’re understanding one girl attempting to study Satie — however the viewers as properly is studying,” Rose says. “These tales actually enrich your expertise of that music.”
The present additionally seems to demystify the music, and show that even a brief piece of music can transfer you as a listener — the composer’s complete life, primarily, goes into every work, irrespective of how easy or transient.
“We actually, with our present, we wished to democratize the music. We wished to speak that music is just not a virtuosic factor,” Napoli explains. “They are often equally moved by simplicity as by virtuosity.” She factors out that it’s additionally about underscoring the sense of group that comes from the act of constructing music. “It’s a particular factor no matter one’s music means.”
“When someone sits down to jot down a music it’s popping out of that particular person, it’s additionally popping out of the particular person they spoke to 5 minutes in the past, and somebody they knew ten years in the past. It’s such a domino impact,” Suzy says.
As she factors out, it was a girl who requested for piano classes to study one single music that sparked all of it.
“And due to her concept, a music was created, a present was created,” Wilde says. “Little tiny seeds from anybody can actually develop into one thing particular.”
“It signifies that we’re all artists,” Rose provides. One of many songs within the present entails a girl singing about her mom, and recalling that she would sing whereas she swept the flooring. “I didn’t develop up in a household that may have referred to as themselves artists,” she says. Nonetheless, there was singing and music. “There are such a lot of folks on the market who’re stuffed with inventive sensibility. I believe this present desires to pay homage to the artistry of these folks.”
Suzy additionally factors out the position of music training and the way in which it’s primarily vanishing from public faculties.
“In a metropolis the place music in faculties is beginning to crumble, it appears increasingly more essential to have these conversations,” she says.
“They should come to see our present,” Rose says of metropolis politicians.
Hitting the highway…
The present shall be touring to the Nationwide Arts Centre in January.
“Our want is to proceed to take this present out on the highway and journey it. We do suppose, like Satie, there’s something deeply essential about this present,” Napoli says. “It feels prefer it’s massive and it’s small on the similar time.”
Above all, it’s a human story of discovery and group, in addition to delving into the music and what music efficiency is, with out getting on a soapbox.
“Like Satie, it looks like one thing fairly easy, and but fairly transgressive.”
- Discover extra particulars concerning the Toronto premiere, and tickets, [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 a long time, and a inventive writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
