What to know
- It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken will play Kingston from Oct. 22 to Nov. 8 after runs in Hamilton and Montreal.
- Five-time Grammy-winning producer Steve Berlin will produce the musical’s cast recording at The Tragically Hip’s Bathouse studio in Ontario.
- The production tells an original story about an Iraqi refugee in Canada and uses Tragically Hip songs to shape mood and emotion rather than retell the band’s history.
- Producers say the show will eventually tour more cities across Canada, including Toronto, following strong audience demand.
The Tragically Hip musical, It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, continues its course throughout Canada, and will eventually move onto the band’s hometown later this year.
The story, which tells the fictional story of exiled Iraqi journalist Waleed who settles in Canada as a refugee where he meets Kate, a local record shop owner, just wrapped at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius. Its next stop is Montreal on May 9 through 30 at Sylvan Adams Theatre, before arriving in the band’s hometown of Kingston from Oct. 22 until Nov. 8.
No plans for Toronto just yet, but Michael Rubinoff — producer of the new musical with David and Hannah Mirvish — told Now it will get here “eventually.”
Inside the impact of The Tragically Hip
The Hip is one of Canada’s biggest and most beloved rock bands, releasing 14 studio albums over its 33-year career, winning 17 Juno Awards, and earning a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Their charismatic singer Gord Downie, whose poetic lyrics often dug into Canadian stories, identity and landscapes, died in 2017 of brain cancer.
“Every performance, watching lifelong Hip fans and traditional theatregoers unite into one audience has been extraordinary,” Rubinoff told Now. “Hearing people exit the theatre proclaiming they are the country’s newest Hip fans is a beautiful reminder of this music’s timeless power. As a long-time fan, I set out to honour the band’s iconic music and champion a deeply Canadian, yet universal, story.”
Rubinoff, the originating producer of Come From Away, the most successful Canadian musical in history and the longest-running Canadian musical on Broadway, said he’s excited that It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken next goes to Kingston, “which is intertwined with the legacy of the band. We know it will be electric and a stop unlike any other on this journey.”
The Tragically Hip — Downie, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair, and drummer Johnny Fay — met as students in Kingston, and steadily grew from playing local bars and pubs to headlining arenas across Canada with songs that became as significant to our cultural identity as hockey and maple syrup, or, as Waleed discovers of his new home, a “double double” and snow.
“The demand for the show has been significant, and we will eventually share it right across the country, including Toronto and beyond,” Rubinoff added. “We’re only at the beginning of this Canadian cultural moment.”
A reimagination of timeless Canadian-made hits
The book was written by Iraqi-born Ahmed Moneka and American-born playwright Jesse LaVercombe, both immigrants.
To be clear, It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken — named after a song on the 2002 album In Violet Light — is not a production based on the history of The Tragically Hip, nor it is a “jukebox musical,” a type of a stage production that uses the song lyrics to tell the story.
Rather, the show uses The Hip’s hits, such as “Courage,” “New Orleans Is Sinking,” “Poets,” “Bobcaygeon,” “At The Hundredth Meridian,” “Grace, Too,” “Ahead by a Century,” and title song to emphasize the mood of a scene.
In a couple of instances, the lyrics work more literally, such as “Cordelia,” the name of Kate’s mom and the record shop, and “Bobcaygeon,” when the couple escape to a wintery cabin and observe the constellation.
Fortunately, musical director Richard Evans does not turn the beloved songs into show tunes.
Bob Foster did orchestrations and music supervision, and Levon Ichkhanian composed the middle eastern music that is woven throughout the score, connecting the two worlds, as Waleed learns about Canadian culture and community, while struggling with being so far away from his homeland and family.
Directed by Mary Francis Moore and choreographed by Marc Kimelman, the cast includes the two lead actors, Ali Momen (Waleed) and Talia Schlanger (Kate), narrator Karim Butt (Sam), and supporting actors Tahirih Vejdani (Didi/Badria), Brandon McGibbon (Jonathon), Rebecca Auerbach (Abigail), Sameer Cash (Fadi) and Kevin McLachlan (Lucas).
The onstage band is comprised of Evans (music director, keyboards), Lindsay Clark (keyboard / acoustic guitar), Aubrey Dale (drums, percussion), David Gray (guitar), Jon Maharaj (bass), Dobrochna Zubek (cello) and Adam Diderrich (violin).
The Tragically Hip’s manager Jake Gold tells Now that five-time Grammy producer and Los Lobos sax player/keyboards Steve Berlin, also his client, and producer The Hip’s 1998 album, Phantom Power and 2000’s Music @ Work, will produce the cast recording. They will lay down the bedtracks at The Hip’s The Bathouse Recording Studio in Bath, Ont., starting the second week of June, and the vocals at a studio in Toronto. Universal Music Canada will release the soundtrack.
The Hip’s Baker and Gord’s brother Mike Downie, who directed the band’s award-winning four-part documentary series No Dress Rehearsal, have both seen it. To have them “emotionally connect with the show, and offer their positive feedback is the fulfillment of a dream,” said Rubinoff. The rest of The Hip will likely see it in Kingston.
10 years since the ‘Man Machine Poem’ farewell tour
In other Hip news, to commemorate the band’s final tour a decade ago, Live July 22 – August 20, 2016, comes out Aug. 21, on 2 CDs and three LPs. The album takes performances from the 15 shows on the Man Machine Poem Tour, mixed and mastered in Dolby Atmos by their longtime engineer Mark Vreeken. “Fifty-Mission Cap” from Edmonton and “Locked In The Trunk Of A Car” from Kingston are available now.
The following night, August 22, CBC will rebroadcast The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration, ad-free, at 7 p.m. local time, on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio and CBC Music’s YouTube page. (7:30 p.m. in Newfoundland).
On June 22, Kawartha Dairy — founded in Bobcaygeon, Ontario in 1937 — will release the bespoke flavour The Tragically Chip, described as “a delicious blend of maple whisky flavoured ice cream, with dark chocolatey chunks and a rich black cherry ripple.” A portion of sales goes to Breakfast Club of Canada. The limited-edition ice cream will be available in select grocery stores (No Frills, Loblaws, Giant Tiger) and Kawartha Dairy shops, including the one in Toronto at 888 Danforth Avenue.
Also, catch The Hip’s Paul Langlois live at Nathan Phillips Square June 6 for Together Festival, a free all-day music and wellness event benefitting Toronto Healthcare. The bill also includes Feist, Alessia Cara, and Broken Social Scene. The singer-guitarist’s fourth solo album is Smooth Rock Falls.
