Charlottetown Festival performers take on special roles for benefit

The 41st annual Maud Whitmore benefit concert is Sunday, and will feature Charlottetown Festival performers showing off their talents in new ways.

Members of the Young Company and Confederation Players will also be part of the performance. There will be dance numbers, and songs from Irving Berlin to Michael Bubl.

"One Day More from [Les Miserabbles], there's going to be 12 people who are singing it, from the Young Company, the Mainstage Company and also from the Confederation Players," said Monique Lafontaine, chair of the Maud Whitmore scholarship committee

"It's four-part harmony; it's going to be beautiful."

Helping performing artists improve

The concert will raise money for the Maud Whitmore scholarship, and go to benefit performing artists looking to improve their skills.

Whitmore performed at the Charlottetown Festival from 1965 to 1977.

Lafontaine said the opportunity provided by the scholarships can be crucial to performers' careers.

"From the outside an actor's life looks very glamorous but in reality it's not," she said.

"You never know from contract to contract if you're going to be unemployed for a certain number of months, hopefully not more than that. Sometimes you need to keep on training, especially in dance. And even for your singing, your acting, you need to keep on developing."

Volunteer effort

A scholarship can sometimes allow a performer to afford rent and food while taking classes. There will be 11 scholarships this year, including two funded by the McConnell Family Foundation aimed at Indigenous youth.

All the organizers, performers, musicians, and backstage crew volunteer their time for the show.

Maud Whitmore benefit concert starts at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Homburg Theatre.

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