Bluenose is a new musical I am writing with Edmonton composer John Estacio.
The show’s current title, as of the latest Draft 9A, is Alive! (The Bluenose Musical).
We had hoped to have a production of the show in Nova Scotia in 2021 to help celebrate what will be the 100th Anniversary of the building of Bluenose. Obviously, with the current COVID situation, those plans have had to be cancelled.
We do still hope that we will be able to help celebrate the Anniversary in one way or another, but that currently remains to be seen.
John and I do want to thank all of the artists who have participated through the years in the ongoing development of the show, and so we have created The Bluenose Musical Collective, all the members of which will be a part of a Royalty Pool (a share of the writers royalties, should there in fact ever be any royalties!).
There is a list here of all of the show’s various Developmental Stages, complete with all the various participants, all of who will be part of the Royalty Pool Collective.
I will try to update this page as more information becomes available.
What Is The Show About?
Some things really do matter. We have a right to be proud of our accomplishments. We have a right to want to achieve our best. Only by risking failure can we achieve true greatness.
The Bluenose, and equally her Captain, ANGUS WALTERS, became a symbol of Canadian accomplishment, only to be ultimately abandoned and forgotten. From 1921 to 1938 WALTERS and the Bluenosebrought pride to Lunenburg, in turn to Nova Scotia, and ultimately to all of Canada. They became a symbol of Canadian expertise, determination, and success.
For Pride. For Country. For Home.
Nova Scotia had experienced more than its fair share of tragedy in the years leading up to the 1920 creation of the International Fisherman’s Trophy. In 1912, Halifax bore much of the brunt of the Titanic disaster. In 1917, 2000 people died, and another 9000 were injured, in the Halifax explosion. Thousands more died in the 1918 flu pandemic.
Nova Scotia had reason to want to find something of which they could be truly proud. They disparaged the “faux” sailing test represented by The America’s Cup, and wanted to have their accomplishments as sailors and fishermen justly celebrated.
The creation of the International Fisherman’s Trophy – a race for real working schooners – was expected to lead to just such a celebration, but the results were exactly t he opposite. The Nova Scotia schooner was defeated by the Gloucester, Maine schooner representing the US.
After that disastrous start in 1920, the creation, and ultimate success, of the Bluenose became even more important, and her uninterrupted victories for the next 2 decades more than established her, and the Nova Scotian sailors she represented, as the queen of the Grand Banks fleet, and a symbol of Canadian enterprise and success.