[Download a PDF of the show transcript here]
Jim Guedo says his new show has Joni Mitchell's blessing.
The University of Saskatoon drama professor has scored a bit of a coup, creating a musical play about Mitchell's life that has her stamp of approval.
This month, 11 young women are portraying Mitchell in his show, Joni Mitchell's "Songs of a Prairie Girl" based on the one-time Saskatoon artist's centennial CD.
It all began last Spring. "The initial inspiration was purely practical... in that we were planning the season and as usual it came down to a discussion about gender balance, and the fact there are alot of women in the department and so few plays that have major roles for women", Guedo said.
Guedo took it upon himself to find a play with a number of female roles. He has also thought for some time about incorporating music into a production, because there are a number of drama students with strong musical abilities in the department.
"The brainwave just at that time was when Joni was putting out her compilation disc, Songs of a Prairie Girl. It had just come out".
Guedo was working toward the local Greystone Theatre's November-December play slot. With female roles and music on his mind - plus the province's centennial - he thought "Why not take a chance? So I e-mailed her, contacted her agent, on the West Coast and sort of ran an initial proposal, a cursory one, past them.
"They passed on the info to Joni and word got back that she would be delighted to see a treatment".
Guedo put together a proposal, did a treatment, and sent off the package. There was a protracted waiting period, "but it eventually came back with her saying that she gave her blessing", reports Guedo. "In fact, her words exactly - you have my blessing".
Her agents in Vancouver told Guedo that she wanted to add some extra songs into his production, because she hadn't been able to put all the songs she wanted on her centennial CD, and of course he agreed.
"It was in a sense her recognition of how Saskatchewan and the Prairies shaped her", said Guedo of the CD.
Songs of a Prairie Girl, however, is not a traditional musical, and is dissimilar from the musical Joni Mitchell: River, performed in Calgary last year by Alberta Theatre Projects, said Guedo.
"If people come expecting Cats, they'll be sorely disappointed", he said. "It's not a standard musical, not a straight-ahead biography of Joni Mitchell......If one had to pigeon-hole it in terms of a genre, it would be more of a revue" - a theatrical piece that showcases the work of one composer.
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