Arts & Culture

Tara Martin (left), Andrew Wade (middle), and Jessica Wong (right) will be featured in the musical comedy 'Curtains' Oct. 13 to 15.

Photo courtesy Applause Musicals Society

Richmond residents featured in musical comedy 'Curtains'

By Matthew Cheung

Published 4:09 PDT, Thu October 12, 2023

Last Updated: 3:27 PST, Mon November 20, 2023

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Three Richmond residents have been casted in the upcoming musical comedy whodunnit Curtains. The forgotten musical will run at Arts Umbrella on Granville Island from October 13 to 15. Andrew Wade, Jessica Wong, and Tara Martin will be making an appearance with the APPLAUSE! Musicals Society. APPLAUSE! Musicals Society is a Canadian company founded in 1997, dedicated to reviving rare and forgotten musicals by beloved musical theater composers.

Andrew Wade, who will play Bobby Pepper, is an award-winning actor as well as the executive director of the Richmond Arts Coalition. Having graduated from the University of Victoria in 2011, he would go on to win the 2011 Vancouver Young Playwright’s competition. For Wade, musicals create a magical connection with the audience, they communicate emotions.

“Musicals have a grand and glorious excuse for spectacle and empathic connection. I adore the magical aspects of musicals, not just in creating moments that could never occur in real life, but also how they get to use music to communicate with the audience. I also enjoy an opportunity to get to share a stage with so many other wonderful performers,” said Wade.

Wade’s journey into musicals started at a young age when he was casted into his first school play ‘The Littlest Christmas Tree’ at Westwin Elementary at the age of seven. He was awarded the lead role after the audition and the rest was history. Since then Wade has written and performed his own original works in 27 festivals across Canada, including The Most Honest Man in the World, The Hatter, William vs. The World, and Hullaboo and The End of Everything.

“The first performance of that show was the formative moment for me that embedded a love of musicals into my soul. There was the catharsis of playing a bullied Christmas Tree as other kids circled and called him names. Getting to live out the dream of surpassing obstacles and saving the day, and then after seeing all the grade seven kids applaud, having them offer high fives to me as I left the auditorium, I was hooked,” said Wade.

Jessica Wong, who will be playing Bambi Bernet’, will be making her APPLAUSE! Debut. The emerging theatre performer, producer, and voice actor has performed in a few notable productions now including ‘Before they cut down our tree’, ‘The Prom’, ‘The Treadmill’, and ‘Light Rapid Transit’. The Richmond resident is also co-founder of Bramble Theatre Collective, a way for her to nurture a love of theatre for artists who, may have struggled to find their place and hopes to invite a more diverse range of artists to join the theatre world.

Wong stumbled upon her love for musicals by chance when she and her neighbourhood friends had put on musicals as children but it wasn’t until her family moved to Richmond and her mother enrolled her into classes at Gateway Theatre that she discovered her love for musicals.
“I absolutely love the emotions elicited through musicals, musicals are so beautiful, when someone sings a song that makes you feel something, it’s unmatched. It’s almost funny how often I tear up during opening numbers because I just love it so much, it’s the beauty of telling stories through song and expressing emotions that you can’t get out of with just words that inspires me to keep coming back,” said Wong.

Tara Martin returns to APPLAUSE as Peg Prentice after a 15-year musical hiatus. Trained in voice and piano at the Western Conservatory of Music, she has performed with the Fraser Valley Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Broadway Chorus, and UBC Arts Staff Choir. Her musicals journey started when a friend suggested auditioning for a local show.

The trio from Richmond is excited for their upcoming shows and offers some words of inspiration for those who wish to participate in musicals.

“One element that comes to mind to help remove hesitation is that musicals are safe places for a newer actor to hide in a particular scene or song that doesn’t quite work yet with your skillset. A good director, choreographer, music director, works with those in the cast so they can shine in all the right moments. A musical is a grand collaboration, and everyone wants everyone else to succeed,” said Wade.

“You are the only you that exists in the world, and you have things to offer that no one else can. When I was starting out, I could never pursue acting full-time, I thought there were so many people further along than me that I could never catch up. What I’ve learned is the most important thing is the fact that you are unique – no one will play a character the way you can and that’s such an amazing thing to offer the world. Don’t hide the stories and characters you can create because you’re afraid you’re not good enough,” said Wong.

“Be brave and give it a try – you might surprise yourself, and you might become hooked,” said Martin.

For more information, visit applausemusicals.com/.