Anne at Centre Stage

Anne at Centre Stage: Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™

Fraser McCallum

The idea to adapt L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables into the (now famous) musical form was born out of a brief visit between Canadian humourist, actor, and writer Don Harron and his friends, musician-writers Norman and Elaine Campbell. The Campbells gifted Harron a copy of the famed novel while the veteran performer was sick with the flu, and it soon lit a spark within him.

Elaine and Norman Campbell discuss the origins of the musical. (01:16)

Confederation Centre of the Arts

Click to view the full Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™ souvenir booklet from 2014.

Royal Command

The legendary Canadian team of Harron and the Campbells first adapted Anne of Green Gables for a CBC TV special in 1956. In 1964, the team was invited to Charlottetown by Mavor Moore, the artistic director of the new Confederation Centre of the Arts, Canada’s national memorial to the country’s founding. Moore was directing a grand variety performance for the official opening of Confederation Centre and its state-of-the-art 1,100-seat Mainstage Theatre, and he invited the pair to present a short vignette derived from their earlier Anne of Green Gables television adaptation.

Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance to officially open the Centre, and legend has it she "was amused" upon seeing Harron and Campbell’s Anne vignette and asked about the rest of the story. Campbell, Harron, and Moore considered her feedback as "the Royal Command" and set about expanding their work into a complete two-act musical for the following summer in Charlottetown.

black and white image of an actress as Anne, with a black back showing the name "Anne of Green Gables"

Confederation Centre of the Arts

The cover of the 1969 program for the musical, the star feature of "The Charlottetown Festival."

The Charlottetown Festival

As the Centre’s first artistic director, Moore was tasked with developing a new summer festival of musical theatre for the Island. The vision was an annual, professional-level festival of "music and laughter," one that reflected Canadian culture and identity to Islanders and visitors alike. Moore knew that Anne Shirley was the best-known character in Canadian literature, and the perfect subject matter for both a new Canadian musical and a Prince Edward Island-based festival.

Moore also saw Montgomery’s work as an honest representation of the Island character, “… one that causes us to rejoice in our own triumphs and weep at our own sorrows as we see them mirrored in her Avonlea,” he shared in an early interview. “It is this very combination of qualities—rejoicing and sorrowing, and the recognition of both, which makes Anne … such apt source material for the musical comedy form,” he posited.

“… an orphan girl’s quest; but Anne Shirley is a classic portrait—and a portrait can come to life on the stage with even greater vitality than it can on the printed page.”

The Musical Comes to Life

By the summer of 1965, Harron had completed the musical’s book (dialogue, stage directions, etc.), and the Campbells had composed the undeniably catchy music, including such now-iconic songs as “Ice Cream,” “Gee I’m Glad I’m No One Else But Me,” and “The Apology.” All three are credited for the songs’ lyrics, with contributions from Moore. The world premiere of Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™ took place in the Mainstage Theatre on July 27, 1965—a momentous occasion for the cast, creative team, and Island community.

The original creative team was complimented by Costume Designer Marie Day, Set Designer Murray Laufer, and Original Director and Choreographer Alan Lund (who would succeed Moore as the next artistic director in 1966). The 1965 original cast starred Barbara Hamilton and Peter Mews as Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, Maud Whitmore as Rachel Lynde, and young Jamie Ray (originally from Texas) as Anne Shirley.

photograph of a young actress with Anne's iconic braids

Confederation Centre of the Arts, photo by David Wotton

Jamie Ray, who played Anne from 1965-1969.

Ray would play the title role for its first three festival seasons and is remembered fondly by her successor, P.E.I.’s own Gracie Finley: “Jamie was as warm and giving off stage as she was onstage, and when I joined the company as a young apprentice, I shall never forget her welcome support and advice, and the warmth in her lovely soft Texan voice.” Finley still holds the record for the longest-tenured Anne, donning the red braids from 1968 to 1974, and then again from 1984-85. Eighteen more women have stepped into the title role, including fellow Islander Jessica Gallant (2015-16) and most recently, Kelsey Verzotti (2022).

“All we Annes who have followed in Jamie’s footsteps inherited a role lovingly crafted and portrayed,” recalls Finley. “She was the pioneer, the one who took Anne from the pages of the script to the lights of the stage, and we owe her a great deal for her work and inspiration. She was a true lady, and also our First Anne.”

cover of the program for the 1984 run of the Anne musical

Confederation Centre of the Arts

The cover of the booklet for the Charlottetown Festival's 20th anniversary season, where Gracie Finlay reprised her role as Anne.

Anne Endures

The Island’s now-famed musical has toured outside of Confederation Centre numerous times, including a tour to major Canadian cities in 1967 and to the World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan in 1970, representing Canada. In 1969, Anne played on London’s West End, winning the Drama Critics Award for Best New Musical. Other touring appearances include a brief appearance Off-Broadway from December 21, 1971 to January 2, 1972; Expo ‘86 (Vancouver); a Japanese tour to eight cities; and various Canadian national tours and limited runs in Toronto, Connecticut, and other places.

black and white image of the company on stage from the original production

Confederation Center of the Arts

Confederation Center of the Arts. Louise Vessey

The casts of the musical from 1965 and 2011.

The musical’s staying power can be partially attributed to the original source, of course; however, critics in major markets lauded the show for its own merits, dubbing it “the major family musical at its best” (London Times) and “the most wholesome musical since The Sound of Music” (Daily Express). Perhaps Reuters was most apt in 1974: “Anne wins 10 curtain calls … a refreshing breeze of charm and sentiment.” Neither Montgomery nor the musical’s original creative team ever let the sweet side of the story override Anne’s gusto, determination, and sense of humour.

illustrated album cover with a dancing Anne

Confederation Centre of the Arts

The cover of the Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™ album

The show’s official cast recording has now sold approximately 50,000 copies and Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™ has been seen by an estimated 2.5 million people. In 2014, Anne achieved a Guinness World Record as "the world’s longest-running annual musical" and in 2017, the production marked its 2,500^th presentation by The Charlottetown Festival.

“Anne of Green Gables, never change, we like you just this way…”

An excerpt of Feelin' Mighty Proud, a broadcast special celebrating Anne of Green Gables—The Musical™ (2:52)
and the legacy of Anne Shirley, which aired in the fall of 2020.

“An Introduction to PEI and Green Gables,” excerpted from the much longer video production made by the Confederation Centre of the Arts: Feelin’ Mighty Proud (2020)

In a grey suit, walking down steps in the Confederation Centre Main Stage Theatre, Artistic Director Adam Brazier speaks of the power of L.M. Montgomery’s words.

[Adam] The words. Every story begins with the words. It is the carefully chosen and well-crafted words of Lucy Maud Montgomery that created the community of Avonlea and gave us her most beloved red-headed orphan from away. Anne Shirley continues to inspire, to offer us hope and imagination wherever her words are found.

He holds up a copy of Anne of Green Gables and sings the song from the musical, “Anne of Green Gables Never Change.”

[Adam, singing] “Anne of Green Gables, never change, we like you just this way. Anne of Green Gables, sweet and strange, stay as you are today. Though blossoms fade and friends must part, old grow the songs we’ve sung, Anne of Green Gables in my heart. You are forever young”

While he sings, a series of photographs of former actors and scenes from the musical light up the screen including Anne and Matthew dancing in the kitchen at Green Gables, a horrified Marilla discovering that Anne has dyed her hair, Anne eagerly pouring the supposed raspberry cordial into Diana’s glass, Gracie Finley and Don Harron standing at an Air Canada terminal while the musical was traveling, a close-up of Anne with vivid freckles and red braids, Gilbert Blythe taunting a furious Anne with “Carrots, carrots!,” Anne surrounded by yellow daisies, Kindred Spirits Anne and Diana holding hands in front of the painted school-yard fence, Anne against a backdrop of sloping green fields bordered by tall trees, a smiling Anne looking directly at the viewer, a shy-looking Anne with a bouquet of yellow and white daisies, and finally, a triumphant Anne, also holding a bouquet, with one arm held straight up. When the music ends, Adam begins speaking and the photographs continue.

[Adam, speaking and paraphrasing from the novel] Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them, only to find out too late that it’s what they bring to the world that really counts.

The images include Anne with a battered suitcase held proudly in front of her; Anne eagerly clasping her hands and smiling; Anne gesturing dramatically while explaining something to shy, silent Matthew; Anne smiling delightedly at the viewer. Music plays while the credits roll for the final 55 seconds.