Musical Theatre Production

In 1969, an all Canadian musical was produced, based on and titled after the Lightfoot song, Love And Maple Syrup. The show garnered good reviews and played in Ottawa, Washington DC, off-Broadway in New York and Toronto - and most likely a number of other places as well.

There were five Lightfoot songs in the show, including the title song; Bossman and The Gypsy.  Songs by Joni Mitchell and Ian & Sylvia were also in the production.

The musical appeared on CBC television around that time, and I was pleasantly surprised when Love And Maple Syrup finally turned up on Summer Side Of Life a couple of years later.

Great song!  If you ever experienced a northern spring when the maple syrup is running and the snow is melting - the song encompasses all of the hope and passion that time of year can stir within us.

A prequel to Summertime Dream, perhaps?
 

A cabaret-style show written and conceived by the Charlottetown Festival artistic director Duncan McIntosh and Michael Lewis MacLennan as a joyous tribute to Lightfoot, Canada's most respected and prolific singer-songwriter troubadour.

Running from June 24-Sept. 7, 2002 at the MacKenzie Theatre in Charlottetown PEI, Canada, the show will feature 5 singers from the festival ensemble performing Early Morning Rain; Ten Degrees And Getting Colder; Alberta Bound; Make Way For The Lady; Cotton Jenny; Beautiful; Song For A Winter's Night; I'm Not Saying/Ribbon Of Darkness; Sundown; Baby Step Back; If You Could Read My Mind; For Loving Me/Did She Mention My Name; Rainy Day People; The Way I Feel; The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face; Pussywillows Cat-Tails; The Last Time I Saw Her; A Minor Ballad; Affair On Eighth Avenue; Bitter Green; Anything For Love; Home From The Forest; Canadian Railroad Trilogy; The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald;  Christian Island; Black Day In July; Summer Side Of Life; Carefree Highway; Old Dan's Records; Nous Vivons Ensemble

"Lightfoot has composed more beautiful and significant love songs than any Canadian who ever lived," says director McIntosh.