WETLAND was inspired by a poem by Tom Dawe. The poem is a re-telling of the Frog Prince fairy tale whereby the Prince-turned-Frog loves his new wetland home and doesn't want to go back to the palace. The Bog Opera has come to fruition with the help of many people over the course of many years.
The initial idea was workshopped by me, Beni Malone, Lois Brown, and Ruth Lawrence.
George Morgan helped me write the music and many of the lyrics, and recorded the initial demos.
Wayne Hynes, Suzanne Power, Jodee Richardson, Michelle Rex-Bailey, Rhiannon Morgan and Mark Bragg sang the demos, and did such a great job that they were kept on as the characters for this album version of WETLAND.
The musical was workshopped virtually at Terra Bruce Productions. Courtney Brown and Ann Connors facilitated this. The musicians' ideas were recorded and many of these tracks have stayed. The band included Josh Ward, who collected and organized the tracks as well as playing bass; with Paul Kinsman, Sandy Morris, Chuck Bucket, Kelly Russell, and Tamsyn Russell.
Charlie Tomlinson and Lois Brown helped me refine and develop the story, and Angela Brake is my consultant and sounding board for all things Indigenous. Anita Best is narrator, and Mark Bragg helped me continue with the recording of the demos and development of the music even when budget was scarce and non-existent. Mark Feener streamlined all of the files, recorded additional overdubs, adding Chris Donnelly and his own good self to the roster of wicked musicians, then mixed the project. Spencer Sunshine at Orange Lounge mastered, with Daryn Barry. Helen Peters and Henry facilitated this.
To each and every one of these wonderful people I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
The Frog Prince
Tom Dawe
Resplendent in the ranks of mud, unmindful of the race of man
I bloomed with water lily bud, lolled blissful in the pools of Pan
Cavorting in a classless Ooze, oblivious to all amiss,
My life a lovely swampy snooze until that metamorphic kiss.
Now as a prince I pace bright halls and palace floors are prickly dry,
I plop from ornamental walls to catch the odd bug on the sly
Weighed down by crown my mother sits, a-counting out her kingdom's woes,
My princess screams and threatens fits- she's found a blemish on her nose!
I keep a swamp tune in my head against the threat of courtly knack-
I crave the id of watershed, caressing moonshine on my back
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Notated score available upon request.
WETLAND gratefully acknowledges funding support by Arts NL and the City of St John's
We respectfully acknowledge the land on which we gather as the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, whose culture has been lost forever and can never be recovered.
We also acknowledge the island of Ktaqmkuk Newfoundland as the unceded, traditional territory of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq. And we acknowledge Labrador as the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Innu of Nitassinan, the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, and the Inuit of NunatuKavut.
