Saskatoon Pie!

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan and director of La Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

Geoffrey Ursell is a very busy Saskatchewan writer whose works have been
produced by every professional Saskatchewan company and often broadcast
on the CBC. Saskatoon Pie! is a little more than a piиce d’occasion,
but its appeal is perhaps a little less than a general musical. This
probably explains why it has been received with enthusiastic local
success, but has not taken off like Anne of Green Gables, which,
admittedly, has the advantage of a worldwide audience familiar with the
book. It’s a pity, because Ursell’s musical brims with energy,
political barbs, and wit.

The plot, which has to do with the selection of a capital city for the
founding of a provincial legislature, involves lots of political
chicanery. Romance, the demon rum, and women’s suffrage (in the guise
of a feisty Nellie McClung) all make their appearance as well. The text
of the musical includes no music and gives no indication of its
availability, which is unfortunate, for Ursell has written a delightful
variety of music for this piece—everything from a ballad to a
temperance anthem—sure to please a general audience. There is even an
operetta within the play. (Ursell’s triple-patter song “[What a]
Clever, Clever Trick,” surely rivals the best of W.S. Gilbert.) This
book should definitely be issued with an accompanying cassette of the
original cast performing the music.