P.E.I. music director wrapping theatre festival in Manhattan

'This is the mountaintop, in a way ... It’s an honour, it’s humbling, it’s exciting'

Image | Ross1

Caption: Mike Ross was born in Charlottetown and is now the music director of Toronto-based Soulpepper Theatre Company. (Soulpepper Theatre Company/Facebook)

P.E.I. music director Mike Ross is wrapping up an off-Broadway engagement in New York City where he showcased his award-winning musical, Spoon River.
Spoon River was selected for the lineup of the first-ever performance season in the U.S. for Ross's theatre company, Soulpepper Theatre.
The four-week "festival of plays and musical performances" runs from June 29 to July 29 and honoured both Canada 150 and Soulpepper's 20th anniversary.
Ross adapted Spoon River in 2014 and has since received some of Canadian theatre's highest honours for his work, most notably the Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards for Best Musical as well as Best Director of a Musical.
His show also won the Dora Awards for Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Musical Direction.

'Beyond our wildest dreams'

Taking the production from Toronto to New York City was a "massive risk," Ross said, but it's a gamble that's paid off.

Image | Spoon River

Caption: The musical is based on Edgar Lee Masters' seminal Spoon River Anthology. In it, townsfolk are brought to life by performers and musicians portraying rural life during the early 1900s. (Charlottetown Festival)

He said Spoon River has been sold out for quite some time.
"It's been wildly successful, beyond our wildest dreams."
Soulpepper presented a number of original dramas and musicals, along with workshops, symposia, master classes and outreach events during its inaugural performance season in New York, a bid to bring Canadian theatre to the biggest stage in the world.
"This is the mountaintop, in a way," Ross said. "It's an honour, it's humbling, it's exciting.
"I'm curious to see what happens after this — it's been a wild ride."

New York loving Canada's 'moral fibre'

With Canadian productions like Come From Away and Spoon River, Ross said Americans are becoming more attracted to the stories coming from north of the border.

Image | Come From Away

Caption: Come From Away tells the story of passengers stranded in Gander, N.L., after 9/11. The musical has won a Tony Award for best direction. (Matthew Murphy)

"The idea of Canada's values and moral fibre is really appealing to people who are not a fan of what is happening down here right now," he said about the current political climate in the U.S.
Both shows, he added, force audiences to "pause for a second, look around and say 'this is your life.'"
Soulpepper's run in New York ends this Saturday, after which Ross will fly to the Island to stay with his parents for two weeks.