Anne of Green Gables - The Musical
Encyclopedia
Anne Of Green Gables - The Musical is a musical based on the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE , called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L.M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success...

. The book is by Don Harron, the music is by Norman Campbell
Norman Campbell
Norman Kenneth Campbell, was a Canadian composer, television producer, and television director best known for co-writing Anne of Green Gables - The Musical....

 and the lyrics by Don Harron
Don Harron
Donald H. Harron, is a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author and composer.- Charlie Farquharson :...

, Norman Campbell, Elaine Campbell and Mavor Moore
Mavor Moore
James Mavor Moore, CC, OBC was a Canadian writer, producer, actor, public servant, critic, and educator.-Biography:...

. The musical has been performed continuously ever since 1965.

Background

The idea for the musical version of the book came about when the Campbells (Norman and Elaine) visited Don Harron, and he gave them the book Anne of Green Gables, suggesting that it would make a musical. The three prepared a musical version, which was broadcast in 1956 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 as a television movie.

Mavor Moore, the founding artistic director of Charlottetown's Confederation Arts Centre, used a song from that Green Gables tv movie in the inaugural variety performance. Queen Elizabeth II was in the audience. A stage version was then written, with the premiere in 1965 at the Charlottetown Festival
Charlottetown Festival
The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which runs from late May to mid-October every year since 1965.Named after its host city, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, since its inception the festival has showcased Canada's most popular and longest-running musical,...

.

Productions

The musical was originally directed and choreographed by Alan Lund
Alan Lund
Alan Lund, OC was a Canadian dancer and choreographer, who worked in television, movies and theater.Lund trained as a dancer in his native Toronto and first established a performance reputation as a dance team with his wife Blanche, appearing during World War II in the revue Meet the Navy...

. It has been performed every summer since 1965, headlining the Charlottetown Festival at the Confederation Centre of the Arts
Confederation Centre of the Arts
The Confederation Centre of the Arts is a cultural centre dedicated to the visual and performing arts located in the city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.-History:...

, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, making this Canada's longest-running mainstage musical. Officials are currently researching to determine whether it is the world's longest running musical. A song from the musical was part of the feature performance at the opening of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in September 1964, playing to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

 as well as Prime Minister Lester Pearson.

The musical has also toured outside of Prince Edward Island. Its first tour was in 1967, visiting the major Canadian cities. The second national tour took place in 1974, at 34 venues; the third national tour was in 1982 with 9 stops. It played off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 in New York from December 21, 1971 to January 2, 1972 at the City Center Theatre. During the 1980s and 1990s the musical was produced in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 by Gekidan Shiki.

It ran at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, from October 4 to 9, 2005, with Jennifer Toulmin as Anne.

An independent production opened on April 16, 1969, at the New Theatre
New Theatre
New Theatre or New Theater may refer to:In the United Kingdom* The New Theatre , Wales* The New Theatre * The Noël Coward Theatre, London * New Theatre , The University Of Nottingham's student run theatre...

, London, running for nine months and starring Polly James
Polly James
Polly James is an award winning British actresswith a varied career in theatre, film, television and radio spanning nearly 40 years...

 as Anne.

In 2009, Dancap Productions
Dancap Productions
Dancap Productions is a theatre production company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.It was founded in 2007 by Aubrey Dan. Since then, it has brought many productions to Toronto. Its longest running production is Jersey Boys. The touring company opened their show on 21. August 2008 at the Toronto...

 is bringing the original Charlottetown Festival production starring Amy Wallis to Toronto for a limited run at the Elgin Theatre
Elgin Theatre
The Elgin Theatre can refer to:* Elgin Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, a former movie cinema that was the first twin cinema in North America* Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

May 13 to 24.

Musical numbers

This varies with the production but this is a typical list.
Act One
  • Overture - Orchestra & Company
  • Great Workers For the Cause - Rachel Lynde & Ladies
  • Where is Matthew Going? - The Townspeople
  • Gee I'm Glad I'm No One Else But Me - Anne
  • We Clearly Requested - Marilla, Anne, Matthew
  • The Facts - Anne, Mrs Spencer, Marilla, Mrs Blewett
  • Where'd Marilla Come From? - Mailman, Farmer, Minister and Ladies
  • Humble Pie - Matthew and Anne
  • The Apology (Oh Mrs Lynde) - Anne
  • Avonlea, We Love Thee - Mr Phillips and students
  • Wondrin' - Gilbert
  • Did you Hear - Josie, Mrs Pye, Lucilla, Mrs Barry, Mailman, Farmer, Mrs Lynde
  • Ice Cream - Sarah Marie Marshall
  • The Picnic - The Company


Act Two
  • Summer (Where Did The Summer Go To?) - The students
  • Kindred Spirits - Anne & Diana
  • Open The Window - Miss Stacy & the students
  • The Words - Matthew
  • Open the Window (reprise) - Miss Stacy & the students
  • I'll Show Him - Anne and Gilbert
  • General Store - Lucilla, Matthew & the Townspeople
  • If It Hadn't Been For Me - The Company
  • Anne of Green Gables - Matthew
  • The Words (reprise) - Marilla
  • Wondrin' (reprise) - Gilbert and Anne


Note For the showings in the year 2008 in Charlottetown, commemorating the 100th "ANNE"iversary, a portrayal of L.M. Montgomery and the students sang a reprise of "Anne of Green Gables" in the beginning, following a bit of history of how Montgomery arrived at the plot of "Anne"

It is also with mentioning that school productions typically cut out a few tracks (Humble Pie, I'll Show Him to name a couple) or either change the key to better suit some of the more inexperienced student vocalists' ranges, as well as keep the plot fast paced.

External links

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