Wilson Entertainment

He was one of a handful of directors who participated in the Inaugural Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directors at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As part of this program, he was the assistant director to Des McAnuff on The Who's Tommy and The Tempest film and stage production starring Christopher Plummer. Other credits at Stratford include assistant director to Antoni Cimolino on As You Like It and to Leon Rubin on Measure for Measure. He was the apprentice artistic director/artistic associate at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada (2008/2009 season). In 2008, Lee was invited to The Old Vic in London, England to participate in a directing and writing workshop with the Peter Hall Company.

Eoin, a 55-year-old fisherman from Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland has always had a dream. Growing up in the 60’s, he always wanted to play rock music. After several hard years in a declining profession and looking at retirement, Eoin decides to leave everything he knows to pursue his dream in Toronto. He is looking at the latter part of his life and feels he has one last chance to pursue what he always wanted to do. Eoin has a special gift. He has always felt he could write ‘catchy’ tunes and has sat on them for years. After several failed attempts to secure a gig playing in local Toronto bars, he decides to look in the classified section of a local music magazine. The first audition is a disaster as the 20 something rock band mock and laugh him out of the room. In his second audition, he finds the older crew are more interested in playing Canadian traditional tunes. In his third and final audition, the band members scoff at his idea of seriously giving it a go and are content to play their cover tunes in the local bars. Defeated and questioning his own sanity for believing his dream was still alive, Eoin hears a sound seeping through an abandoned warehouse in the Liberties. As he peers into the window, he see’s four young women between the ages of 23-29 jamming in the middle of the cavernous room. Shayla is the band leader. She is white, blond, and charismatic. She could front any band and melt hearts, but it is her voice that could dispel everything in a heartbeat. Crystal is of Asian descent and plays a mean lead guitar. Nashita is indigenous and plays bass guitar and other instruments. Ebba is a drag queen and plays drums. Grace is a farm girl from rural Ontario, brunette, and plays rhythm guitar. Influenced by working class bands like The Beatles and U2, ‘The Sweetest Thing’ are struggling to write their own material and find their own sound. Eoin is excited at what he hears. He knocks on the glass window of the warehouse and introduces himself. The rest is history… A moving story about it never being too late to follow your dreams, The Sweetest Thing is a modern musical that tells the story of how an older fisherman songwriter inspires five young women to personal fame and glory. ‘The Sweetest Thing’ is a musical journey about age and youth, believing in yourself, fatherhood, friendship, inspiration, sisterhood, and our love of popular music. This musical adventure will take on its rock ‘n’ roll theatrical form by giving ode to some of the greatest songs and musical acts in recent history. Continuing in the musical tradition of such classics as “A Hard Days Night”, “Hair”, “Grease” and “The Commitments”.

Popular music is as important today as it has always been. The most exciting form of storytelling is when you can blend popular music with great text. A major challenge today is bringing together different cultures and addressing society’s gender prejudices in a way we can all understand. The musical form is universal. Every human being can understand music’s effect on our senses and its ability to bring people together. It’s time to examine a musical theatre piece that highlights relationships between the old and the young, gender and gender, and different cultures. It celebrates our desire to be happy as one human race through a shared language of music.