Size Matters: A Consideration of the Canadian “Shoebox Musical"

Abstract

Is the Canadian "shoebox musical" best seen as Broadway's poor country cousin or as Canadian drama's illegitimate sibling? This paper will consider the place of the "shoebox musical" with its small cast, few musicians and modest production requirements as a Canadian sub-genre in the larger tradition of the musical theatre. Beginning with an overview of the historical economic, artistic and social conditions that have encouraged, or perhaps forced, Canadian musical theatre artists to produce musicals on a scale almost unimaginable to the Broadway sensibility, the paper goes on to examine the ways in which working within that box has shaped the plays created. From Billy Bishop Goes to War to My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, a great many Canadian musicals have been made with a simplicity of style and absence of conspicuous consumption that may be merely a result of the material constraints under which they were created, a diminution of the creators' grand artistic visions, or may in fact be a theatrical reflection of a Canadian ethos or perhaps an uncomfortable balance of the tension between the two forces. Drawing on personal experience as a playwright and artistic director and interviews with other playwrights and producers, along with popular and critical writing, the author makes a case for the “shoebox musical” as a distinctly Canadian contribution to the world of musical theatre as well as a legitimate contribution to Canadian drama.