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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen-Blyth Festival 2001, 2001-06-13, Page 41Michael Taylor: helped Compose original music. female solos. "The plot is moved by music," Taylor said from his cell phone while driving. Taylor, who works at the Stratford Festival as a technical buyer, is taking a leave of absence to work on the show. Since creating Cruel Tears Taylor has composed and performed the Music on several, other theatrical shows. In the early '90s Taylor composed the music for Sticks and Stones, Corn Flower Blue, Puff and Blow Boys and Many Hands in Blyth. Now he busks the theatre in his hometown of Stratford and plays gigs in his spare time. With his bass player, Taylor plays house concerts from time to time but stays away from-playing in bars. "I played too many of those," Cruel Tears Taylor said. He prefers the sounds of country and folk because a story can be better told with that type of music, Taylor said. In 1996 Taylor released an album called Me and My Uncle and is in the process of producing another. He has also wrote a play which he said he is trying to get •Blyth to produce. It's the story of a broke- down country singer. Growing up in southern Saskatchewan, Taylor never imagined being involved in the theatre world as a child. "They didn't have much culture around there," Taylor laughed. He moved to England when he was II and did a few TV shows which exposed him to the world of the arts. However, it wasn't until after high school that Taylor learned to play the guitar. He started off with Bob Dylan songs. "They're only three cords, and almost anyone can sing better," Taylor said. And now Taylor continues to sing and play. "It's great therapy," he said. 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Michael Taylor helped write the show and toured it across Canada when it was first written as the member of the band in the mid-70s. "It's like riding a bike or something, it just comes back," Taylor said. Taylor was an original member of Humphrey and the Dumptrucks, the band in the show. Now 54, Taylor says he jumped at the chance to work on the show again. Taylor is a folic/country artist and has played those sounds for years. In this show the music is not the new country music, Taylor said, but the old style. In- the show Taylor plays his guitar for every type' of song, instrumentals. duets, male and Things will just get bigger for Gretel Meyer Odell this summer Stage manager Gretel Meyer Odell has a belly full of expectations this summer. Meyer Odell, who shots behind the scenes on Comer Green as stage manager, is expecting her first child with her husband. "Nothing is more exciting than being pregnant," Meyer Odell said. In a phone interview before leaving on a theatre tour out west, Meyer Odell said she is excited to watch her belly grow in Blyth this summer. Blyth is like being at home in Toronto, only quieter, she said. With the baby due in November, Meyer Odell will be in Blyth for two months this summer, from June to the beginning of August. Currently Meyer Odell is touring an award-winning show called Dibb and Dobb and the Adventure Home, which has hit the States, the Western provinces and Toronto. It is her second time working on the show. The show has two actors and two stage managers and one huge honking set, Meyer Odell said. The other stage manager is Jennifer Jansen who will be assistant stage managing for several shows in Blyth this summer. The two are planning to live together while in Blyth. Aside from the touring show this winter Meyer Odell worked on her first opera in St. Jacobs. Meyer Odell enjoys working in small communities since she was raised on a farm in P.E.I. She commuted from Toronto to St. Jacobs in her clunker of a car, 1987 Chevy Nova. For the past two summers she has vowed to sell it at the end of each summer season in Blyth. The car is a running joke around the theatre. This will be Meyer Odell's fourth summer in Blyth. Last summer she stage managed Corker arid Stolen Lives — The Albert Walker Story. She is excited to work on Gordon : - Pirisent'S play, Corner Green. Althciugh: she in not fimiliar with Pinsent's writing she is very aware as his work as an actor. This will also be Meyer Odell , first time working with director Diana Belshaw. Sometimes just knowing who you will call the are working with can foretell how good the show will be, Meyer Odell said.