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| Chris Barillaro recording the Curtains Up theme with Roger Peace (Photo courtesy Curtains Up) |
Following a lengthy battle with cancer, legendary Canadian theatre director Roger Peace died peacefully in the palliative care unit at the
Montreal Jewish General Hospital on February 10.
Peace brought his love for live musical
theatre to North America when he sailed from London to Montreal in 1957 aboard
the ocean liner SS Columbia at the age of 21 and experienced the tail-end of
Montreal’s famed and infamous golden Sin-City era.
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| Roger Peace |
The Montreal theatre scene wasn’t quite
London’s West End, where Peace had landed a bit part in the musical Call Me
Madam at the London Coliseum in 1952 at the age of 16. But he spent much of his
professional life as a director and producer casting larger-than-life divas in
his productions, notably his longtime muse, Montreal jazz legend Ranee Lee, and
another of his favourites, soul singer Michelle Sweeney.
When another glorious diva, Juno
Award-winning soul singer Kim Richardson, starred in his 2013 revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the
Segal Centre for Performing Arts, theatre critic Pat Donnelly wrote in the
Montreal Gazette that Peace “directed Montreal’s
first Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Le Stage dinner theatre at La Diligence restaurant
in 1986. That one ran for more than a year and did a Canadian tour. There were
only four singers, Michelle Sweeney, Ranee Lee, Dorian Joe Clark and Anthony
Sherwood, with musical director Ari Snyder alone on piano.”
“We couldn’t afford a
fifth performer,” Peace said.
