Rough Notes In The Media/News & Testimonials/Reviews
Most recent articles, etc. are posted here at the top of the page. Please scroll down to see more! (special thanks to journalists, CBC's Raechel Huizinga & Danielle McCreadie, RVS's Karen Palmer, province wide -Q.R. Wright and Sophie Lavoie (The Brief), locals Steph Kelley, Corinne Fitzherbert, Jocelyn Turner,
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The following is the best article for summarizing the Oct. 2022 professionally-workshopped Rough Notes. Click on the group photo first, then follow the arrows to read both the Telegraph-Journal article AND some of the comments recorded as 'reviews'
for an Aug./2022 article in NB's The Brief, Culture section, focusing on the diversity of Rough Notes, click the rainbow:
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from week of June 4, 2022
after official CAST ANNOUNCEMENT
Easter Weekend, 2022: $20,000. grant from
canada council for the arts is announced
Grant Money was used to WORKSHOP the show, with professional performers with NB connections, & to film it!
* email us at jannivanj@gmail.com to request to see the private (due to Equity rules) archival film of entire 2022 workshop, including close-ups and various camera angles. Also included are the below VIP audience members' and cast members' who were interviewed for this film and had longer enthusiastic testimonials, from which some of the below extracts were taken. *
Extracts from testimonials/reviews from pro-workshop cast members,
Artistic Directors, Dramaturgs, the 2022 Canadian ACTRA
Woman of the Year - and even the Provincial Premier !
“Testimony to our Canadian legacy…”
“Gives voice to our ancestral spirit…”
“Diverse and creative…”
“Massive scope…”
“Epic!”
“Fresh and a lot of fun, and the music is just wonderful…”
“Endearing characters…”
“A gem of a creation!”
“Timely, relevant and inclusive…”
“Takes you on quite an extraordinary journey…”
“All the beautiful little nuances of our Canadian communities – yet it reaches universally…”
We are honoured that, in the 50th anniversaryof the Playwrights Guild
of Canada, & their
"Year of the Playwright", we have been granted this opportunity!
additional fabulous news is that we are now listed here:
click here
In November 2020, Theatre New Brunswick A/D N.MacLellan arranged for a live streamed talk called "Writing A Musical", which incl. Rough Notes' writers Johnson & Slipp and featured famous musical theatre actors Tony LePage and Adam Brazier (the latter who is currently the Charlottetown Festival A/D. )
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Rough Notes and J. Ivanel Johnson were included in a video made about Fredericton Female Artists, to celebrate International Women's Day, Mar. 8, 2020. Thank you to Spearhead Theatre!
The musical was mentioned May 10, 2021 (thanks to Perth-Andover mayor Marianne Bell,) at end of this archival discussion on the Buchans in NB by CBC radio's SHIFTNB : https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-83-shift-nb/clip/15842305-archives-lord-lady-tweedsmuir
From late 2020 through spring of 2021, many online Zoom opportunities arose, incl. (above) several readings from the script to various groups and an interview with UNB Drama/English educator Corey Scott, who is using Rough Notes as an example of historically-based Canadian musicals for his PhD. thesis.
Early Testimonials/Reviews (after table-reads, dramaturgy, or pitches)
I believe that it is important to support and encourage Canadian artists who are producing unique Canadian content. I encourage anyone who believes in the value of the arts to our society to support this work by a very talented musician, author, actor and teacher.
– Jane Wright, professional artist, philanthropist, former president of Hudson Artists’, Quebec
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“New Brunswick is a province that is a rich in history and the arts. It is exciting to hear that one of our stories is being produced for the musical theatre stage. I hope it grows to become a testimony to our legacy and gives voice to our ancestral spirit of adventure and tenacity.”
~Curtis Sullivan, Musical Theatre and Opera professional, Toronto, also of Bravura Baritones
from those who have either read the script, portions of the script or had pitches made to them:
" I would like to emphasize how diverse and creative the script is... and the duet "Sit With Me Awhile" is also just lovely. I am most eager to see this project go forward."
- Mayor of Perth-Andover, NB (where Rough Notes is partly set) Marianne Bell
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“It has been my honour to work on these pages… there’s a wealth of gold in them and the scope of this piece is massive, including many different cultures. It is very Canadian and Atlantic-Canadian-centric and the challenge has been to pick and choose the wealth and research that should remain...”
- Charlottetown Festival Artistic Director, Toronto/Broadway/West End actor Adam Brazier, after Oct-Nov.2020 dramaturgy
“It’s fresh and a lot of fun!... The characters and situations are truly endearing and have really stayed with me. It’s a gem of a creation!”
-International Musical Theatre/Opera &Film Actor/Singer Curtis Sullivan, after extensive dramaturgy on Book/script and lyrics, June 2020
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" Please know we are all extremely impressed with your work... and are pleased to inform you that Rough Notes was definitely short-listed by our jury...any of the 8 chosen for the short-list could easily have been supported by us and it was an extrememly difficult decision this year."
- Wes Colford, Artistic Director, Highland Arts Theatre, Sydney
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“This musical is EPIC! The characters’ voices are distinct and there is an emotional pull to the whole thing that just works. An impressive achievement.”
-Fredericton, NB-based Professional Playwright/Actor Ryan Griffith, 3rd partial-table-read and overall script advisement, Feb.2020
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" The characters are relatable and funny, especially Mrs. K, who has some of the best lines! You are very talented and should be proud of this work!"
- Sarah Francoeur, music teacher, Southern Victoria High School, Perth, NB
" The stories are of relevant interest, though from a by-gone era, the list of songs sound very fun... The song extracts I've heard so far, I love - and I'm most interested to see where we could take them..."
-Cameron Slipp, arranger, Woodstock, NB and Waterloo, Ontario
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"P.E.I. has their 'Anne' and now Newfoundland has 'Come From Away'. Perhaps it's possible this might be THE musical for New Brunswick, although much is set in Ontario too... and it's so nationally relevant even today."
-Marshall Button, Artistic Director, Capitol Theatre, Moncton