Newmarket resident and producer JP Gedeon sought to bring back arts with a flourish as the pandemic public health measures lifted.
With the difficulties of being stuck inside, the longtime musical director wanted to do something different once that was more possible.
“It really did feel like art in the city just sort of jammed and ground to an incredible halt,” Gedeon said. “What struck me was it seemed like it was an opportunity to build something new that furthers the artistic endeavours in the City of Toronto.”
Gedeon has started the company More Entertainment Group, to do just that and is launching its first show, Rock of Ages, this month. The theatre company seeks to bring musicals to the city each year, with its inaugural show playing in the Elgin Theatre.
“It’s been a roller-coaster ride,” Gedeon said of working on the show the past two years. “It’s just an absolutely humbling and sincere pleasure to be working with the team … Of course, we’re starting a brand new company. There are challenges and frustrations to production and we’re working on those, too.”
Gedeon, a 20-year Newmarket resident, said he has always had a love for theatre, which blossomed in university. He said he had excellent mentors who taught him the ins-and-outs of direction and production.
He would go on to lead all kinds of musical productions, including Mamma Mia, Music Man and My Fair Lady.
But after deciding to spend some years in higher education, getting a doctorate in art psychology, he said he wanted to further pursue his lifelong love of theatre.
“I really feel like it’s time to answer the call that drives me to the thing I’m most passionate about.”
His company’s first show is Rock of Ages, a famed Broadway show built around classic rock songs from the 1980s.
“We really did believe that what we need is an opportunity to get together,” he said, “to feel a little bit nostalgic and remember a simpler time and sing songs and dance and laugh and really connect.
"This is not," he added, "your Grandma's musical."
The company plans to start touring with Rock of Ages across North America in the spring. After that, Gedeon said they hope to do the same thing again next year, having a different musical or two that starts in Toronto each year.
There is room for more musical productions in the city, Gedeon said, adding that he has worked positively with the city's famed Mirvish musical production company.
“By working together, I think we can altogether maybe spark the industry even further,” he said.
The production will start performing at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto Feb. 23 and continue until May. Tickets are available through moreentertainmentgroup.com.
“We have re-imagined this top to bottom,” he said. “It’s going to be a wonderful spectacle and a wild party.”
