Our History
Cappuccino Musical Theatre originally started in 1992 as Cappuccino Singers and was a "stand n' sing" group. We sang anything choral including Broadway, light classical, jazz and light pop. Over time we began to add one or two small staged vignettes into our shows,
these extended to complete acts and eventually, in 1997, brought to the stage, Everybody Comes to Seymour’s, a complete musical co-written and directed by a fledgling group (including Dave Gagnier). We were proud to encourage individuals to step outside their comfort zone a little and perhaps try something they never thought they would do (i.e. sing solos or small group numbers, take on a small acting role or even write and direct). Many people had their first stage experience with Cappuccino Musical Theatre. Until recently all our musicals have been original scripts, written and directed from within our members, with pre-existing songs
inserted for a create-your-own-musical type format.
While very rewarding personally, this type of format was extremely exhausting and finding writers for a new musical every six months or so became increasingly difficult! So, after a brief hiatus, we produced our first book musical, A Chorus Line, in April 2005. We followed this up with Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods and we returned, at least somewhat, back to our roots in May 2006 with Eve, an original musical in a co-production with Broad Minds Productions.
We have come a long way from the stand 'n'sing format of our past and are very much looking forward to our future contributions to Calgary's musical theatre experience!!
Carolyn Byers
Past President, Cappuccino Musical Theatre