John Mann to star in new musical at Theatre Calgary

Theatre Calgary has announced a 2009-10 season that includes the world premiere of the musical Beyond Eden, starring John Mann of the Canadian folk band Spirit of the West.

Artistic director Dennis Garnhum unveiled a season on Saturday with seven productions, including two musicals and two world premieres.

Beyond Eden is a rock-inspired musical about one man's quest to save the totem poles on the remote Queen Charlotte Islands.

Co-produced with Vancouver's Playhouse Theatre, it features Mann as the lead singer and music by Victoria composer Bruce Ruddell.

"This production will be performed in Vancouver as part of cultural Olympiad and then it will play here in Calgary during the Olympics," Garnhum said.

"It's a musical unlike anything else it's huge, it's expressive and it re-examines the nature of what we should do with our culture and how we can preserve it."

The other world premiere is the comedy Jake and the Kid, based on the stories of W.O. Mitchell and adapted for the stage by Conni Massing. The slyly funny Prairie story opens the Theatre Calgary season Sept. 8.

Also planned fro the 2009-10 season:

• 7 Storeys, Morris Panych's comedy about a man on the brink of suicide.
• A Christmas Carol, the Christmas classic.
• No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, a new production involving multimedia.
• Betrayal by Harold Pinter, a revival of the classic drama about adultery.
• 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, a Broadway musical featuring Gavin Crawford.