{"id":116703,"date":"2025-08-12T12:56:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T16:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116703"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:00:02","slug":"interview-music-musical-theatre-cale-crowe-talks-world-premiere-play-rez-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/08\/12\/interview-music-musical-theatre-cale-crowe-talks-world-premiere-play-rez-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | From Music To Musical Theatre: Cale Crowe Talks About The World Premiere Of His Play Rez Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rez
Rez Gas musical theatre creators Genevieve Adam and Cale Crowe (Photo: Sam Moffatt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Capitol Theatre Port Hope is presenting the world premiere production of Rez Gas by Cale Crowe and Genevieve Adam. Cale Crowe is an indie singer-songwriter, and the production is his first foray into theatre.<\/p>\n

The score is infused with hip-hop, and orchestrated by Jeff Newberry, whose credits include the Mirvish production of The Lion King.<\/p>\n

The Story is simple. Destin left his home reservation years ago to follow his musical muse, and start a career singing on stage. But one day, he finds himself back in his home town via unexpected car troubles. He ends up at a diner called Wide Wigwam, where he reconnects with many of the people he left behind.<\/p>\n

Those people remind him of his past, and of a place in his community that still waits for him.<\/p>\n

Ojibwe singer-songwriter, and now playwright, Cale Crowe grew up in the Alderville First Nation, a small community of less than 1,000 people.<\/p>\n

We caught up with Crowe to talk about the musical.<\/p>\n

\"Actors
Actors Vinnie Alberto, Dillan Meighan Chiblow and John Wamsley in Rez Gas (Photo: Sam Moffatt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cale Crowe: The Interview<\/h2>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a singer-songwriter professionally […] since 2013,\u201d Crowe says. \u201cThat\u2019s when I officially dropped out of school to play music,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own mother will give me grief if I don\u2019t mention that I went back to school at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a point of fact, he\u2019s a graduate of the Music Business Management program at Oshawa\u2019s Durham College.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn September it will be 12 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

That has typically included a busy schedule of playing in festivals, bars, and other music venues in the region. Musical theatre wasn\u2019t in his sight lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say all the time that it was out of my wheelhouse,\u201d he acknowledges. Still, he was no stranger to musical theatre. \u201cI did musical theatre when I was in high school as an actor,\u201d he says. That extended to taking roles in community theatre productions after high school.<\/p>\n

It was a chance meeting that led him down the road to a musical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t honestly until I met Rob that I even considered doing something theatrical again,\u201d Cale says. \u201cI definitely had choice words for what I thought of his idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Kempson<\/strong> is Artistic Director of the Capitol Theatre. Kempson is a seasoned director, writer, and educator who’s worked with multiple theatre companies over his career, including Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw something in me that was in one of my blind spots,\u201d Crowe says.<\/p>\n

\"Rez
Rez Gas musical theatre creators Genevieve Adam and Cale Crowe (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creating A Musical<\/h3>\n

Cale had written music of his own to sing, of course, but creating songs and music for a theatrical production enlarges the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the bigger challenges, because I have only ever written from a first person perspective,\u201d Crowe says.<\/p>\n

That includes writing from the perspective of fictional characters who weren\u2019t at all similar to him. The songs, like the dialogue, has to maintain a conversation, the narrative of the story, and create the perspectives and plot points that are right for the story.<\/p>\n

He likens it to \u201cdesigning your own game of table tennis\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy co-writer Genevieve was writing maybe four or five lines of dialogue that would kick off a song,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Genevieve Adams<\/strong> is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School in Toronto and holds an MFA from the East15 Acting School. As an actress, she recently appeared on Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia, and has been on other popular TV shows such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and The Handmaid’s Tale.<\/p>\n

As a playwright, she’s created several productions, including the New France trilogy of Dark Heart, Heartless, and Deceitful Above All Things. She won a 2025 ACTRA for Outstanding Performance for her work in the role of Anne in her own play Deceitful Above All Things (Favour The Brave Collective and Thought For Food Productions), currently available online via Stratford At Home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He describes a process where he\u2019d read through the dialogue several times, getting ideas for the music, where the rise and fall in tension should be, and then restructuring her lines into a rhyming scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a very literal meat and potatoes sense, that was the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also the in-between bits to consider, where one song or scene ends and before another begins. Blocking the play was another element to add to the complexities he had to take into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that I didn\u2019t consider when we started writing the songs [was], these characters are going to have to be visually dynamic \u2014 moving around on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting It On Stage<\/h3>\n

When the play was reading for a read through, Kempson sent out feelers through his theatre network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did a reading of this show back in 2023, he already had a list of people,\u201d Crowe says. A couple of those interested parties are still involved in 2025. \u201cThey didn\u2019t miss a beat, they embodied the characters so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reading fine tuned the play, including characterization.<\/p>\n

The story itself, while not autobiographical, is based on Crowe\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery, very loosely,\u201d he says. The story and concept were the result of collaborating with Genevieve. \u201cI\u2019m currently on the opposite end of a transitional period in my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowe moved back to the Alderville First Nation in 2022 when his son was born. \u201cIt was kind of a moment of taking a step back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That process continues with the show. \u201cIt has been this really great opportunity to self reflect and self examine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been transformational, and while the show hasn\u2019t hit the stage yet, he\u2019s thinking of continuing his career with a dual focus on music and theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did our workshop in Toronto back in the winter, I would sit with the actors and Rob and Jeff Newberry, our music director \u2014 I\u2019d sit with them at lunch, and the actors would ask me, you\u2019ve definitely caught the bug \u2014 and I think I have,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got a few ideas for future stories to pursue, with and without music. \u201cCreating something for stage, I\u2019ve had quite a few ideas floating around,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it\u2019s entirely possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like his work as a singer-songwriter, theatre is a way of trying to get your message across.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the process of creating this show, whatever messages you\u2019re trying to convey, or questions you want to ask your audience, theatre is this intersection of show and tell,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Capitol Theatre as a venue, with a capacity of just over 350 people, creates an intimate theatrical experience. \u201cI don\u2019t know that I would ask for a bigger room for that ever,\u201d Crowe says. He wants to be able to see people connecting directly with the actors on stage. \u201cYou feel it in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are intense moments on stage, along with the lighter ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some pretty heavy arguments that happen in this story,\u201d Cale says. \u201cI\u2019m going to feel it in my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the skill of the actors to bring those to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something visceral to me with being in the same room as the actors. It\u2019s the difference between going to see Phantom of the Opera and going to your local Cineplex and seeing the latest superhero movie,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can get something of substance that is going to nourish you mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or you can go to the theatre and get your junk food fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Audience<\/h3>\n

Cale isn\u2019t looking to give his audience any pat answers to those larger questions about reconciling with the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this show, I think, my goal when we started writing it was that I didn\u2019t want to give my audience the impression that I had any particular answer to any of the questions asked in the [show],\u201d he explains. \u201cWhat I think I want this show to represent is for the audience to ask transitional questions to themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rez Gas leaves some questions open ended, and up for interpretation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would love is for audiences to walk away with is an internal sense of how it pertains to them, and to see parallels in their own lives \u2014 whether they\u2019re Indigenous or not,\u201d he adds. \u201cI want my characters and my story to be seen in their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he points out, we\u2019ve all tried to leave some of the past behind at some point in our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what life you\u2019ve lived, there is always going to be something unresolved that you\u2019ve left, over your shoulder,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have work to do with ourselves and our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performances & Details<\/h2>\n

Rez Gas features Vinnie Alberto, Dillan Meighan-Chiblow and John Wamsley as a trio of old friends The ensemble also features Michelle Bardach, Jonathan Fisher, Nicole Joy-Fraser, and Emma Rudy. The piece is directed by Herbie Barnes. Orchestrations and Music Supervision by Jeff Newberry, with a band led by Music Director Sarah Richardson, and featuring Kia Rose, Emry Tupper, and David Schotzko.<\/p>\n

The Rez Gas creative team also includes set designer Jung-Hye Kim, costume designer Yolonda Skelton, lighting designer Jareth Li, sound designer Emily C Porter, stage manager Kat Chin and assistant stage manager Ada Aguilar, choreographer Monica Dotter, and copyist Haneul Yi.<\/p>\n

Along with regular dates, there are several special performances throughout the run:<\/p>\n