Summer theatre in the Kawarthas wouldn’t be summer theatre in the Kawarthas without a Norm Foster play at Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre. After all, Canada’s most-produced playwright cut the ribbon when Globus Theatre moved into the Lakeview Arts Barn 19 years ago, and the professional theatre company has staged one of his plays almost every year since.

This summer is no exception, as Globus Theatre brings Foster’s touching comedy The Ladies Foursome — described as “a girl-power comedy with balls” — to the Lakeview Arts Barn from August 14 to 24.

First produced in 2014 at Morrisburg’s Upper Canada Playhouse, the play is a much-requested sequel to Foster’s 1988 play The Foursome, which was performed at Globus Theatre in 2015. Like that play, which followed four male college friends as they played 18 holes of golf, The Ladies Foursome does the same with four female characters — but that’s where the similarity ends.

In The Ladies Foursome, three golfing friends — Connie, Margot, and Tate — hit the links in honour of their late friend (and fourth) Cathy the day after her funeral, where they are joined for the first time by Dory, an old friend of Cathy’s who they’ve never previously met. Over the course of 18 holes, secrets, surprises, and confessions are revealed as the women discuss love, sex, children, and everything in between.

Writing The Ladies Foursome was a more challenging task for Foster than writing the play that inspired it.

“I wanted the characters of the women in this play to ring true,” Foster said at a media conference for the play’s 2014 premiere in Morrisburg. During the course of re-writes and rehearsals for the premiere, Foster said he would ask the actresses, “Would a woman really say something like this?”

Based on the critical acclaim for the play, they really would. The Encore Sun Journal said “The witty dialogue in this show is rapid-fire and right on target” and one reviewer called it “Sex and the City, but on a golf course.”

Globus Theatre’s production of The Ladies Foursome stars Sarah Quick as Connie (“Connie’s 18th hole rallying cry of a speech was one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a long time,” said one reviewer of a production of the play), with Elana Post as Margot, Melissa Morris at Tate, and Linette Doherty as Dory.

As well as being Globus Theatre’s artistic director, Quick is an playwright and actor who is no stranger to the Lakeview Arts Barn stage, having starred in many past Globus productions including Sexy Laundry, Hurry Hard, and Shirley Valentine. Post has appeared in Globus Theatre’s production of Hurry Hard and Lighthouse Festival Theatre’s production of Sugar Road. Both Melissa Morris and Linette Doherty are newcomers to Globus, with Morris known for Watershed Festival’s Lancashire Lass and Doherty for Shaggypup Production’s Menopause The Musical 2.

“I love how this play encapsulates female friendships and everything that ladies, when they get together, talk about,” Quick says in a media release. “The three actresses that I’m working alongside are fantastic, and we’ve been having so much fun in rehearsals.”

The Ladies Foursome runs for 11 performances from August 14 to 24, with 8 p.m. shows from Wednesday, August 14th to Saturday, August 17th, and again from Tuesday, August 20th to Saturday, August 24th. There will also be two 2 p.m. matinee performances on Saturday, August 17th and Thursday, August 22nd. An optional dinner is available before the evening performances.

“I love the fact that this year there are groups of girlfriends and groups of ladies golfing foursomes coming to see the show,” Quick says. “The Ladies Foursome is great for men too, of course, especially if they’ve ever wanted to know what women gossip about over 18 holes of golf.”

Tickets are $50 for the show only or $100 for dinner and the show, and are available by calling the box office at 705-738-2037 (toll free at 1-800-304-7897) or online at globustheatre.com.

There remains something special about sharing a live musical experience with strangers, be it in a pub, an arena or stadium, or an outdoor venue. For the duration, a rarity of sorts occurs in that all there are on the same page, with differences put on hold and social standing neither here nor there.

Imagine, however, if that shared music experience was wholly reliant on the audience’s participation, transcending the passive with emphasis on the interactive.

In February 2011, Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman (aka Dabu) — the latter a multi-credited Canadian television actor and writer — imagined just that, bringing people together twice weekly at Toronto’s Clinton Tavern to sing popular songs as a group. Since that humble beginning, Choir! Choir! Choir! has headlined at venues, large and small, around the world.

On Wednesday (August 14) at 8 p.m., Goldman and Adilman will bring Choir! Choir! Choir! to Del Crary Park for a free-admission concert, leading the Peterborough Musicfest audience in what’s billed as an Epic ’80s Sing-Along.

There is no such thing as a bad singing voice at a Choir! Choir! Choir! session, as there’s a part for everyone. Those who want in on the choral fun receive lyric sheets, with Goldman and Adilman leading a rehearsal of the various harmonies and then, with Goldman on guitar and Adilman conducting, the rehearsed song is performed en masse. The effect is nothing short of uplifting, and the sense of achievement overpowering.

As Goldman and Adilman put it a February 2023 interview with Greg Stewart of Theatre Weekly, “Choir! Choir! Choir! is a party where singing is the excuse to hang out in a room full of strangers and connect.”

“You’re going to laugh, you’re going to dance, you’re going to find yourself sharing intimate details of your life, you’re going to meet people you would never have (met) before, and yes, you’re also going to sing harmonies to some of the greatest songs of all time,” Goldman and Adilman said.

VIDEO: “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey – Choir! Choir! Choir!

For the Musicfest gathering, the pair have handpicked some of the most popular hits of the 1980s, pledging to have Del Crary Park harmonizing in no time with songs like Toto’s “Africa,” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize,” Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon,” and more.

“Though it’s all about singing, you don’t need a perfect voice,” they told Theatre Weekly. “We’ll teach you everything you need to know at the show. You can be super young, super old, an extrovert, an introvert, a complete cynic … whoever you are, by the end of this you’ll be buzzing. Honestly, it’s almost embarrassing how joyful you’ll feel. But you’ll take that vibe with you into your week and you won’t be able to stop singing.”

“Every single person there is the show. The biggest hurdle for us is to light that match and everyone on board so they’ll naturally give all their energy: sing at full volume, yell at us, share, lose their minds.”

The seeds of what became Choir! Choir! Choir! were planted in 2008 when Goldman and Adilman, with their friend Amanda Burt, got a small choir together to sing at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Canadian music and actor Matt Murphy.

In a March 2019 interview with Bailey Richardson of People & Company, Adilman said that, two years later, they asked via Facebook if anyone wanted to sing as a choir. Based on the response, they prepared some simple arrangements for The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” and Pilot’s “Just A Smile.”

“We thought maybe some friends would show up and we’d just have a couple of beers. It was kind of extraordinary what happened. People we didn’t even know showed up.”

VIDEO: “Shout” by Tears for Fears – Choir! Choir! Choir!

That gathering was at a friend’s real estate office in February 2011.

“I got a phone call from Eye Weekly saying ‘We want to take a photo of what you guys are doing.’ I told that to Daveed and he’s like ‘We don’t even know what we’re doing. What are they coming for?’ But it was indicative of what was to follow because, at the end of the night, people were so happy. They were so into what we did, which was very little, but they loved it and they wanted us to do it again the next day.”

By 2016, Choir! Choir! Choir! was centre stage at bigger venues. A performance of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” drew close to 2,000 participants to Massey Hall. Another at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square saw Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” performed at a memorial vigil following the Orlando nightclub shooting. And, in 2017, again outside Toronto City Hall, a tribute to the late Gord Downie saw several Tragically Hip songs performed.

There is also a philanthropic side to Choir! Choir! Choir! In 2016, the Choir! Choir! Choir! Foundation was founded. That same year, its 25 Days of Charity! Charity! Charity! Campaign raised $50,000 for various local, national, and international causes.

Travelling the globe since to create harmony with strangers and friends alike, Choir! Choir Choir! has been joined by some very big pop music names, including Patti Smith, David Byrne, Brandi Carlile, Rick Astley, Rufus Wainwright, Sarah Harmer and, at New York City’s Lincoln Centre, Kermit the Frog.

“The thing about singing is it happens naturally, just like dancing happens naturally,” Adilman told Richardson. “You just start dancing with people and you feel a certain rhythm at different points. It kind of locks in step and the whole room is dancing to literally the same beat. You lock into it and it feels really, really good.”

VIDEO: “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club – Choir! Choir! Choir!

“It’s great when you can have those moments without having to explain anything to anybody,” Adilman added. “The over-intellectualization of feelings is the death of that feeling, so it’s nice when everyone feels it, but you don’t have to say it.”

“It doesn’t matter how tired we are, when we get on stage and we have such an incredible venue to perform with people who are so supportive and amazing and appreciate us so much, we appreciate them back just as fiercely. It’s a positive loop that just keeps on giving. It’s total euphoria.”

Asked by Theatre Weekly what the highlight of the Choir! Choir! Choir! experience is for them, Goldman and Adilman noted there are several, but narrowed it down to one.

“It’s the greatest when everyone has their parts down; huge smiles on their faces, dancing around and filling the room with harmonies. That’s when we know they’ve caught the Choir! Choir! Choir! bug that bit us.”

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 37th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until August 17th.

Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the 2024 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2024 season.

The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra might be taking a rest before the start of the 2024-25 season, but that doesn’t mean its musicians are taking a break from sharing their passion with those who will listen — and for their next outreach this fall, they’re bringing it outside.

With a stunning classical music backdrop and a trail walk along secluded woodland acres, the non-profit organization’s Musical Nature Walk will have you feeling like you’ve stepping into a National Geographic program.

On Saturday, September 14th from 1 to 3:30 p.m., the orchestra is joining forces with the Peterborough Field Naturalists for an afternoon of exploring, learning, and listening at Tecasy Ranch, just 40 minutes outside Peterborough between Buckhorn and Burleigh Falls.

Encouraged to carpool, guests will meet at the 550-acre private property, where they will be divided into smaller groups of eight to 10 people. Led by a knowledgeable field naturalist, groups will learn about the flora and fauna that surrounds them while walking to four different stops and hearing performances from selected musicians with the orchestra.

“Nature is obviously a huge inspiration for art of any form,” says Peterborough Symphony Orchestra general manager Christie Goodwin. “As a musician, you’re aware that you’re playing music that’s been inspired by nature — birdsong, ocean events, or, for example, a great storm in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. Nature is always being imitated and represented in art and music.”

Performing on the main stage pavilion in intervals throughout the day will be principal oboist Tori Owen, violinist Laurie Mitchell, and cellist Andrew Randall. Guests can watch a performance prior to beginning the walk or take a break by getting the snacks and refreshments that will be for sale in the area.

“The main stage group will just play on and off throughout the afternoon, so there is always something to be heard — besides birds of course,” Goodwin says.

While much of the trail at Tecasy Ranch is marked as green (“easy difficulty”) for casual hikers, a small optional section of the Musical Nature Walk will cover a blue (“medium difficulty”) trail. Terrain is uneven with rocks and roots, and hikers typically needing hiking poles or other equipment are encouraged to bring them. The terrain also means the event is not suitable for people who use mobility devices.

After walking no more than 10 minutes at a time, where they can learn from and ask questions to the field naturalists, groups will stop for brief ensemble performances in the middle of the trails.

Concertmaster (lead violinist) Jennifer Burford and principal flautist Jaye Marsh will be one such duo performing together, and Goodwin notes their repertoire covers anything from Baroque to more modern compositions or even familiar show tunes.

“We’ve left the musical choices up to the individual groups, so we’re going to get a huge variety,” explains Goodwin, noting that there will be wide range of participating musicians. “It’ll be a different combination of instruments and sounds at every stop.”

Goodwin is hopeful that combining music and nature will not only make both more accessible to new audiences — nature lovers who are new to symphony orchestras and vice versa — but that it will also work towards her mission of engaging music lovers beyond the City of Peterborough.

“It’s outside of Peterborough and that’s exciting because our outreach with the symphony shouldn’t always be in town,” she says. “Hopefully holding it in the fall means milder weather and fewer bugs too.”

Dogs are not allowed on the Musical Nature Walk. A rain date is set for the following day (Sunday, September 15th).

Tickets for the Music Nature Walk cost $45 and can be purchased online at www.thepso.org/musical-nature-walk-2024 or by calling 705-742-1992. Guests wanting to be grouped with friends are encouraged to email requests to marketing@thepso.org.

For more information about the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, including the orchestra’s 2024-25 season of five concerts, visit thepso.org.

For more information about the Peterborough Field Naturalists and other upcoming nature events, visit peterboroughnature.org.