Canada's next hit musical: coming soon to the Toronto Fringe?

It all started with a classic Broadway premise. Let's put on a show — or eight.

Theatre producer Derrick Chua was talking with some of his contacts at the Toronto Fringe late last year, when he got wind of some changes happening at the festival. Theatre Passe Muraille, one of the regular venues, wasn't going to be booked for the 2025 edition. If the stage was going to be empty, why not do something with it?

Chua jumped at the opportunity, and at this year's Fringe, he'll be launching a satellite program that's exclusively devoted to theatre's most razzle-dazzling form. He's dubbed it the Alliance for Canadian Musicals, and from July 2 to 13, Theatre Passe Muraille will be home to eight original productions by homegrown writers. 

In the mix, there's a story about true-crime obsessives (All That She Wrote); a Dumas-inspired adventure set during Prohibition (The Iron Mask); and a comedy about a theme-park orca who longs to be free (Killy Willy). 

The Fringe famously selects its program through a lottery system, but Chua organized his own draw after the festival made its randomized picks for 2025. In addition, he's given spots to two of the runners-up in this year's Adams Prize for Musical Theatre, the festival's juried competition for unproduced musicals. "One of my personal passions is Canadian musicals," says Chua, and in assembling the program, he's given a bunch of musical-theatre creators one more shot at finding their audience. 

"The hope is that it will be a platform for those shows that would not otherwise have had the chance to to be seen," he says, talking about his vision for the Alliance. "And who knows what will happen from there."

Megan Phillips and Peter Cavell are the creators of People Suck: A Musical Airing of Grievances, one of the musicals playing Theatre Passe Muraille as part of the Alliance line-up. Their show has appeared at the Fringe before (it debuted there in 2015), but they've expanded the piece into a 90-minute song cycle which now responds to the cultural and political "suckage" of our present moment. "We like to say if you've ever complained about anybody, you will relate to and enjoy this show," Phillips jokes.

She and Cavell are excited to be featured in the Alliance showcase. "This is something that we need," says Cavell. "Canadian musicals: we're this tiny, barely supported industry. But we've shown so far that Come From Away can happen. Drowsy Chaperone can happen. We can hit well above our weight if we have a system in order to help us."

Indeed, those success stories all have links to the Toronto Fringe. The Drowsy Chaperone played the 1999 festival; by 2006, it was the toast of the Tony Awards. And Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the authors of Come From Away — which enjoyed a Tony-winning five-year run on Broadway — debuted their first musical at the 2009 edition. A festival slot can be the first step toward bigger things here in Canada too. Back in 2019, for example, Chua produced a Fringe show that eventually made the leap from a bar in Kensington Market to the Royal Alexandra Theatre as part of the Mirvish main season: Jake Epstein's Boy Falls From the Sky. 

"These shows would not have happened in full productions without the Fringe as a platform for them to get up on their feet," says Chua, and he wants to give a leg-up to a lot more artists.

"Canadian musicals — Canadian musical talent — is as good as anything out there, but we don't seem to have some of the same opportunities," says Chua. 

So what's missing in this country? "Opportunity is the biggest thing," says Cavell. Even if a show's a hit, there's a limited number of theatre companies who could put it on next. "And musicals are expensive," he adds, "so they will maybe put on one musical a year, and typically they're going to be bringing in American musicals" — established titles that are already familiar to ticket buyers.

Canadian musicals — Canadian musical talent — is as good as anything out there, but we don't seem to have some of the same opportunities.- Derrick Chua, executive producer of the Alliance for Canadian Musicals

Still, the chance to be part of the Alliance for Canadian Musicals is an opportunity that didn't exist a year ago, and Cavell and Phillips are determined to get their show in front of a larger audience. The short term goal: connect with a producer or theatre company who's keen to present their show. But Phillips doesn't pause when asked what their end game is.

"Broadway," she says bluntly.

"If Broadway is an option, we'll take that," says Cavell with a laugh. "We want to take it as far as we possibly can."

As for the future of the Alliance for Musical Theatre, Chua says he's taking things day by day. For now, he's only concerned with the many tasks in front of him: like preparing the venue for the festival . "I think that's the focus," he says. "Just getting past the Fringe."

Alliance for Canadian Musicals presents Killy Willy; Reborn; Ctrl Alt Delete: An Alphabetical Musical; All That She Wrote; Apothecary; People Suck: A Musical Airing of Grievances; Potato Potato; The Iron Mask. July 2 to 13. Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto. www.allianceforcanadianmusicals.ca