Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Anne of Green Gables
Several theatre versions of Lucy Maude Montgomery's book (published in 1908) exist (notably, a recent one, Anne, by Paul Ledoux presented by Young People's Theatre in 1998), but the most famous Canadian one is the musical theatre adaptation Anne of Green Gables, with music by Norman Campbell , book by Donald Harron , with lyrics by Harron, Campbell, Mavor Moore and Elaine Campbell, directed and choreographed by Alan Lund , premiered July 27, 1965 at the Confederation Centre For the Arts, Charlottetown, featuring Barbara Hamilton , Peter Mews and Dean Regan. Family-oriented tale of an orphan and her adoptive parents which has become the longest running musical in the history of this nation.
Marilla and Matthew (brother and sister) adopt a red-haired girl (when they had been hoping for a boy) to find that she is a stack of trouble. They, of course, grow to love her eccentricity and passion while she grows to love the farm, her friends, her parents and Prince Edward Island , where the work is set. The musical is by turns goofy, fun and embarrassingly tear-jerking with little of the subtlety of the Montgomery original and many of the lessons of Broadway salesmanship.
The work, in one form or another, has had innumerable tours of this country and the world and is the mainstay of the Charlottetown Festival each summer. In January 1996, a minor controversy erupted when the Festival's artistic director, Colin Jackson, proposed to change the set and costumes with Harron saying, "They have no sense of the small-town Prince Edward Island north shore. It's more like Charlottetown." The costumes and sets were merely replaced, finally, and the royalty contracts extended five more years.
Last updated 2009-03-10
Since October 2002, Athabasca University has hosted the web site, with an editorial board comprising members of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research.
To submit an entry for consideration, please consult our guidelines for submissions. Please follow the guidelines. Failure to do so will result in your submission being returned to you.
Email your submission to Anne Nothof.
The Encyclopedia collects and disseminates information on plays, playwrights and theatre practitioners. It does not respond to requests for information, auditions, bookings, or tickets.
The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia web site was originally conceived and developed in 1996 by Gaetan Charlebois—theatre critic, playwright, and actor.
