We are living in unprecedented times. With live performance banned until the current global COVID-19 pandemic is under control, artists of all genres are using their imaginations to find new ways to virtually connect with their colleagues and audiences. One of the earliest initiatives in Canada to fill these gaps was BIG GIRL & Friends, an hour-long livestreamed show on YouTube, created and hosted by Toronto Musical Concerts’ artistic producer Christopher Wilson, and associate director, Ryan Kelly.
The show is a casually formatted musical theatre chat show, with the hosts (who seem to know everyone in Canadian musical theatre) welcoming guests who sing several songs interspersed with fun conversations about the industry, their career journeys, and how they are coping with the realities of social distancing. They also entertain questions from people watching via comments on the YouTube site. Guests so far have included Alessandro Constantini, Charlotte Moore, Gabi Epstein, Jake Espstein, Michael de Rose, Thom Allison, Erica Peck, Sara Strange and Bruce Dow, among others.
The show is free to watch and all the artists, and the hosts, are donating their performances, with donations to support the AFC (the Actors’ Fund of Canada) encouraged. Given the current lockdown, the AFC (founded and active since 1882) desperately needs funds to continue its support of arts workers who need financial and advocacy help — and that’s not just actors, but also directors and designers, stage managers and costume makers, musicians, writers, film crews and front-of-house workers. Anyone in the arts and entertainment industries who needs assistance can apply.
Impressed by Wilson and Kelly’s rapid deployment of their more-or-less daily fundraising show, and enjoying the fun of getting to know Canadian stars in such a personal format – despite each person being in their own living room – I reached out to Christopher Wilson to find out a bit more about how it all came about.
The following conversation has been condensed and edited.
WN: What gave you the idea to start the YouTube BIG GIRL & Friends broadcasts, in this format?
CW: Our Canadian theatre industry ostensibly ground to a halt shortly after Friday, March 13 (ironically). With unprecedented cancellations and closures of both theatres and events nationwide, it became increasingly evident that we (the artistic community) were going to be adversely affected for some time with the swiftly shifting landscape of the coronavirus.
When the Broadway League announced that all Broadway theatres would close (initially until April 13), SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, began a daily online mini-show, entitled Stars In The House - featuring a "who's who" lineup of stage and screen stars, singing and performing live (from home on YouTube) to promote support for The Actors Fund (US).
I tuned into their first stream on March 16 (featuring Kelli O'Hara) and immediately knew that I had to facilitate a comparable initiative here in Canada, to benefit The AFC (Actors' Fund of Canada). Having worked in the Canadian professional musical theatre industry for nearly 30 years, I am fortunate to be connected with most of Canada's extraordinary musical theatre artists from coast to coast!
WN: Where does the name come from?
CW: During my only season performing at the Stratford Festival back in 1995, I was somewhat of a gregarious “Saint Bernard puppy” type of an emerging artist (you know, the type that inadvertently takes out small children and Christmas trees in their oblivious wake). One particular rehearsal day, during an overly-enthusiastic moment, I gently annoyed one of the company members (Canadian actor, writer and theatre director, Lee MacDougall – also an original Broadway cast member of Come from Away) who lovingly expressed, “You are such a BIG GIRL!” This was also a reference to my newly embraced self-identity as a gay man.
The nickname, Big Girl, became a term of endearment among company members at the Festival – and was officially coined a phrase when I was paged over the theatre intercom, “Big Girl to the stage, please!” Since that time, I have lovingly been referred to as the “tall, high-kicking, low singing BIG GIRL”. Several years ago, I self-produced two stage cabarets at the former Flying Beaver Pubaret under the name, “Big Girl & Friends”. Both cabaret events were fundraising initiatives for local charities including the AIDS Committee of Toronto and the Daily Bread Food Bank.
When I decided to embark upon this specific online fundraising initiative (under the auspices of Toronto Musical Concerts), the title seemed apt to return to [to] support The AFC!
WN: You and Ryan are based here in Toronto, and your first guests have been performers known here in the city. Will you be reaching out across the country to speak to artists based further afield, or to join forces with other fundraising teams based in other provinces?
CW: I am doing my best to remain aware of other fundraising initiatives across Canada to benefit both The AFC and the Canadian professional musical theatre industry. Most notable was last week's incredible Virtual 24-Hour Telethon to benefit the AFC, Places Please!, raising an impressive $41,000.
Most of our first week guests were well known in Toronto and southern Ontario, but this past week's guests included artists such as Tara Jackson from Calgary, and we will be hosting the Charlottetown Festival's artistic director, Adam Brasier in Prince Edward Island – and ideally, the Neptune Theatre's artistic director, Jeremy Webb in Halifax (among others).
My biggest concern lies in the fact that as long as we continue to remain in this state of social distancing and self-isolation, our artistic community will become increasingly vulnerable, both financially and more importantly, emotionally. As we settle into this “new normal,” it is my hope that we can share this online fundraising initiative on a much broader scale, to reach as wide an audience viewership across the country as possible.
BIG GIRL & Friends intends to stream daily Monday to Saturday at 7 PM ET / 4PM PT on Toronto Musical Concerts’ YouTube channel until regional theatres are open again. To access archived livestreams and find the daily viewer’s link, visit their website here. To make a tax-deductible donation to The AFC, please visit https://afchelps.ca/.
Jennifer Parr is a Toronto-based director, dramaturge, fight director, and acting coach, brought up from a young age on a rich mix of musicals, Shakespeare and new Canadian plays.
