Billy Bishop Goes to War

Last updated
Billy Bishop Goes to War
Music John MacLachlan Gray
LyricsJohn MacLachlan Gray
Eric Peterson
Book John MacLachlan Gray
Eric Peterson
BasisLife of Billy Bishop
Productions1978 Vancouver
1978 Canadian tour
1988 Canadian tour
1980 Broadway
1980 Off Broadway
2009 Toronto
2010 Saskatoon
2010 TV movie

Billy Bishop Goes to War is a Canadian musical, written by John MacLachlan Gray in collaboration with the actor Eric Peterson. One of the most widely produced plays in Canadian theatre, the two-man play dramatizes the life of Canadian World War I fighter pilot Billy Bishop. [1] One member of the cast plays the part of Bishop in word and song, although he is also called upon to dramatize 17 other parts; the second cast member provides all the accompaniment on the piano and also sings.

Contents

History

Gray and Peterson developed the music and storyline of the musical in 1978, when they were both 32. Collaborative rehearsals took place in stage designer Paul Williams' studio in Toronto.

Productions with the original cast

The play premiered at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre co-produced by Tamahnous Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 3, 1978. Peterson played 18 different characters, and Gray accompanied on piano and vocals. The original production toured across Canada, and also was staged in Washington, DC, both on Broadway and off-Broadway in New York City, at the Edinburgh Festival, in Los Angeles and at the Comedy Theatre in London. During the international tour, a second production, starring Cedric Smith with musical accompaniment by Ross Douglas, continued touring across Canada.

The libretto was published in 1981 by Talonbooks.

The show was produced on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre. Previews began on May 22, 1980. It opened on May 29, 1980 and closed on June 7, 1980, running for 12 performances and 7 previews. It then moved to Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre from June 17, 1980 to August 24, 1980. [2]

In 1998, when they were 52, Gray and Peterson revised the show, adding one new song and presenting events through the eyes of a much older Bishop recalling his wartime exploits. They again toured the new production across Canada.

The show was produced at the Soulpepper Theatre in August 2009. [3] In 2010, a second revision was made and was performed, with the original actors, at the Soulpepper Theatre [4] in Toronto from January 22 to February 27, 2010.

In 2011 the show was performed as part of the repertory summer season at Frinton-on-Sea. The production was directed by Tom Littler. Soulpepper staged the play once again in Toronto in the summer of 2017. [5] Gray and Peterson, by then both 70, once more made up the cast of the play. [6]

in 2018 the show was revived by Proud Haddock and ran at the Jermyn Street Theatre and the Southwark Playhouse and was directed by Jimmy Walters.

Other productions

Many Canadian theatre companies have also staged productions of Billy Bishop with other actors, and the show has received hundreds of productions in the United States. The Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon, performed the show March 3–17, 2010. [7] In the fall of 2010, the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton produced a revival. For his performance as Billy Bishop, John Ullyatt was awarded an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award.

Recordings and other media

A cast recording starring Peterson and Gray was released in 1979, and received a Juno Award nomination for Comedy Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1980. This production was broadcast on the cable channel Bravo as introduced by Maureen Stapleton. A recording of the revised play was released in 1999.

CBC Television and the BBC also coproduced a television adaptation. The production was reproduced for WDR Television in Germany, starring Hans Peter Korf, with Gray on piano and vocals.

A second adaption of the most recent production, directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.

Excerpts from the play also appear in the National Film Board of Canada documentary, The Kid Who Couldn't Miss .

Reception

Canadian critics have generally been enthusiastic, both about the original production, and of the various revivals brought forth by Peterson and Gray. In 2009, Eye Weekly critic Christopher Hoile observed, "The achievement of the piece is in formulating, perhaps for the first time, what a Canadian hero is like... Peterson and Gray emphasize not only how accidental Bishop's heroism is but how aware he is of his oafishness and his luck." [8] Hoile went on to call the play "a Canadian classic that deserves the name..." In 2010, Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian called it a "brilliant examination... One of the great works in the Canadian theatre canon." [9]

Awards

The play won the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Award in 1981, the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1982 and the Governor General's Award for English Drama in 1982. An album recording of the play was a shortlisted Juno Award nominee for Best Comedy Album at the Juno Awards of 1980.

Related Research Articles

David Benson French, OC was a Canadian playwright, most noted for his "Mercer Plays" series of Leaving Home, Of the Fields, Lately, Salt-Water Moon, 1949 and Soldier's Heart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Schultz</span>

Albert Hamilton Schultz is a former Canadian actor, director and the founding artistic director of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company. He resigned his position with Soulpepper after sexual allegations against Schultz became public in January 2018.

Eric Neal Peterson is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – Street Legal (1987–1994), Corner Gas (2004–2009), and This is Wonderland (2004–2006), as well as Corner Gas Animated (2018–2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Epstein</span> Canadian actor, singer (b. 1987)

Jacob Lee Epstein is a Canadian actor and singer. He played Craig Manning, a musician with bipolar disorder, on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He also played Will in the First National Tour of American Idiot, and originated the role of Gerry Goffin in the Broadway production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

<i>A Whistle in the Dark</i>

A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered on September 11, 1961 at the Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time.

John MacLachlan Gray, OC is a Canadian writer-composer-performer for stage, TV, film, radio and print. He is best known for his stage musicals and for his two seasons as a satirist on CBC TV's The Journal, as well as an author, speaker and social critic on cultural-political issues.

<i>This Is Our Youth</i> Play written by Kenneth Lonergan

This Is Our Youth is a play by American dramatist and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 and since been produced all over the world, including the West End, Broadway Sydney and Toronto.

Christopher David Johnson is a Canadian actor best known for his role of Chuck Tchobanian on the dramatic television series Street Legal.

Richard Ouzounian is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He was the chief theatre critic for the Toronto Star and the Canadian theatre correspondent for Variety.

Daniel Brooks is a Canadian theatre director, actor and playwright. He is well known in the Toronto theatre scene for his innovative productions and script-writing collaborations.

Louise Pitre is a Canadian actress in musical theatre. She performs on Broadway and in Canada. She is best known for her role as Donna Sheridan in the ABBA-themed musical Mamma Mia!, which earned her a 2002 Tony Award nomination.

Yanna McIntosh, sometimes credited as Yanna MacIntosh, is a Jamaican-born Canadian television, movie and theatrical actress.

<i>Tribes</i> (play) Play by Nina Raine

Tribes is a play by English playwright Nina Raine that had its world premiere in 2010 at London's Royal Court Theatre and its North American premiere Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2012. The play won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.

Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi, is a play about a family-run Korean-owned convenience store in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood.

The Company Theatre is a Toronto-based independent theatre company that produces provocative international plays with Canada's best actors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Kwok-Choon</span> Canadian actor

Patrick Kwok-Choon is a Canadian actor, best known for his recurring roles as Perry Crofte in the television adaptation of the horror Western comic book miniseries Wynonna Earp and as lieutenant commander Gen Rhys in the CBS science fiction drama Star Trek: Discovery.

Ronald Pederson is a Canadian (Métis) actor, comedian and theatre director who has worked extensively throughout Canada and in the United States. He has performed with most of Canada's major theatres including The Stratford Festival, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Arts Club, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Young Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soulpepper and The SummerWorks Festival. Pederson has also worked extensively in television and may be best known for his Canadian Comedy Award-Nominated work and his three seasons on Fox Television's MADtv.

Dan Chameroy is a Canadian actor.

Of the Fields, Lately is a Canadian theatrical play by David French, first staged by Tarragon Theatre in 1973. It is the second in his Mercer Plays series, following Leaving Home (1972) and preceding Salt-Water Moon (1984), 1949 (1988) and Soldier’s Heart (2001).

The Test is the English-language translation of Swiss playwright Lukas Bärfuss' 2007 play Die Probe. Themes of the play include family, paternity and identity. The translation was first staged in Toronto by The Company Theatre (TCT) in association with Canadian Stage in 2011. According to Christopher Hoile of Stage Door, The Test paints "the frightening image of the older generation so self-obsessed with creating a 'legacy' that it has driven away anyone who could possible carry it on."

References

  1. ↑ "BWW Review: Masterful Storytelling in Soulpepper's BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR". Broadway World, by Taylor Long Jul. 11, 2017
  2. ↑ "'Billy Bishop Goes to War' Internet Off-Broadway listing" Archived 2011-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Internet Off Broadway Database listing, retrieved March 12, 2010
  3. ↑ Berketo, Steven."Review, Soulpepper Theatre" theatermania.com, August 14, 2009
  4. ↑ "'Billy Bishop Goes to War' listing, January-February 2010" Archived 2010-03-05 at the Wayback Machine soulpepper.ca, retrieved March 12, 2010
  5. ↑ Nestruck, J. Kelly (July 11, 2017), "Billy Bishop Goes to War is Soulpepper's ace in the hole", The Globe & Mail, retrieved 2018-05-25
  6. ↑ Crawford, Trish (July 22, 2017), "Veterans give thumbs up as Billy Bishop takes flight again", The Toronto Star, retrieved 2018-05-25
  7. ↑ "'Billy Bishop Goes to War' listing, March 2010"
  8. ↑ Hoile, Christopher (August 13, 2009), "Billy Bishop Goes to War", Eye Weekly, retrieved 2018-05-25
  9. ↑ Ouzounian, Richard (January 27, 2010), "Billy Bishop Goes to War: Not to be missed", The Toronto Star, retrieved 2018-05-25


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.