Louisbourg Day 3 (The best day)

Wednesday August 25th, 2010 (Day 3)

Wednesday was the best day of the entire trip for me. Costumes, artifacts and more!

7:15 AM
Woke up to beat the alarm clock.

8:00 AM
Breakfast and it was my favourite; French Toast! This french toast was rolled in whole oats. It was absolutey fantasic.

8:30 AM to 9:00 AM
Drove down to the Visitor Centre, met up with group and bussed down to the Fort.

9:00 AM to 9:30
Had our morning coffee and tea and talked about what we were doing that day. We were going to go to the costume shop to talk to the costume curator and see the costumes.

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
The curator, Elizabeth Tate, gave us a tour of the costume shop. She showed us the rooms where they kept both male and female costumes and explained some of the pieces such as the pannier which an upper class woman would wear under her dress to give her the belled hip look, and whale bone corests. We also were able to see the costumes for the men. I tried on the drummer's coat which was a justacourps, which I have always wanted. Maybe one day when I make more money I'll have one made. She took us down to a little room where they make prototypes of the costumes. They contract out the costume making but they research the design and find out what works. Once they have a prototype made, using the fabrics appropriate for the time period, they are sent off to be made. At the end of the tour, I asked if we could try on some tricorner hats. Larry joined me and we had many pictures taken.

11:00 AM
We went out to the excavation site as soon as we were finished with the costume tour. When we got there, I immediately found some iron nails. I found a piece of rock that had the tell tale sign of corroded iron on it, but I wasn't sure if tehre was anything inside. I got up to talk to the supervising archaeologist, and while I was other there, I was invited to dig in the interior area of the New England Powder Magazine. My group was digging in the exterior wall, looking for mainly glass and iron nails, but on the interior of the wall of the building they had found the floor boards, and had been finding things like buttons. The idea was that each one of us would come over while they removed the top soil and look for artifacts. Since I was already up, I was asked to participate first. At first all we found was iron and bottle glass which was different than the window glass I was previously finding. I asked if I should go get another one of the group since I had stayed for at least 3 or 4 topsoil removals. Blair, the guy I was working with who was a part of the archaeology crew told me to stay until we found something interesting.

11:30 AM
Around this time, we finally found something interesting. A tiny piece of yellow pottery could be seen in the dirt. Blair had to go into town and pick up the lunches, so he instructed another supervisor to come keep an eye on my excavation. He told her that he wanted me to excavate the piece of pottery by lunch. As he left, I began to excavate the item. The yellow glaze kept falling off, and I was instructed to keep it. I was told to put the artifacts in a dust pan as I went. I had many little pieces of chipped glaze wear covered in dirt. Finally, around 11:45 AM, I had excavated a piece of Staffordshire pottery. It was a little handle. Satisified, I asked if I should leave the site, or if I should clean up the corner of my area some more. The supervisor told me to clean it up a little, since lunch wasn't here yet.


12:10 PM
I glanced at my watch and saw it was past noon, but the lunch had not appeared yet, so I kept working. I noticed something sticking out of the ground where I was excavating. At first I thought it was a little nail. I pointed it out to my supervisor who exclaimed it was a buckle. I asked her if she wanted me to keep excavating it, or to leave it for someone else. She told me to continue. Once I got it out, I handed it to her. She told me it was near complete, then announced to the rest of the group that I had found a buckle. She then took my picture with it (the first picture in this blog). My little pottery piece was totally overshadowed by this find.

12:30 PM
Lunch had arrived and I was excited to tell everyone about my find. I didn't want to rub it in or anything, I was just excited. I had lunch, which was more exciting than the one I had yesterday (a ham sandwich). It was a chicken wrap and it was very good. I wish I had ordered another one in the week, but since we had to order before we had tasted the food, I decfided to play it safe and ordered a two ham sandwiches during the week.

1:00 PM to 3:15 PM
We went back to the site and had our group picture taken. Once our picture was taken, we went back to excavating. Everyone wanted to get into the 'prime' stuff as they were calling it amongst our group, so they could find something other than glass and iron. Unfortunately all was found was nails and glass. We were told we had to pack up early because the Fortress Association had bought us tickets to a dinner theatre event at the Fortress after dark. Since we had to meet up at 6:00, we all wanted some time to get dressed and freshened up before we went out. By the time we cleaned up, got back to the Chevalier House and sorted out rides, we all left for the bus around 4:30

5:00 PM
I went back to Cranberry Cove B&B to change my clothes, fix my make up and freshen up. Most of my pants were rather dirty by that time haha.

6:00 PM
Larry and I carpooled together back to the Fortress. All the cars had to meet up at another gate, and then we followed in a convoy back into the Fort. We were allowed to park our cars along the harbor street in the Fort, which was kind of cool.

6:30 to 9:00 PM
We had a 18th century style dinner in the Grandchamps restaurant, with an interactive play called For Love or Money going on as we ate. We had a beef stew with carrots, rice and turnips, freshly baked buns, and the entry was salmon with rice. For dessert it was a little chocolate brownie. The play was about a fisherman's daughter, Claudette, who wanted to make money so she could get married to someone with money. A guy by the name Laurent Chevalier who was a clerk but owed a Captain money for gambling debts. Chevalier bumped his debt over to the audience but said he was getting a new job with a rich family and he should be able to pay back his debt in time. Claudette meanwhile gets a job being a servant for a rich girl named Antionette. Laurent's job is to help the rich family's son get married to Antionette so they can use her money to pay off their own debts to the Captain. Augusta, the wife is horribly embarassed by her son Albert, and her husband George feels that the plan is rediculous as Albert has no interest in girls, only his books. Nerdish Albert just doesn't want to meet up with Antionette but they insist on having a party and inviting her. The night of the party Augusta hides Albert's glasses and he ends up embarassing himself and upsetting Antionette. Claudette goades Laurent for his stupid plan and refuses to help him. Antionette claims that she is going to leave for France, which would put Claudette out of her job. Claudette decides to help Laurent because Antionette would have to stay in Louisbourg if she was married to Albert, and she could keep her job. After numerous attempts to get them together, Albert and Ationette refuses to pair up. Laurent goes to the family's house, explaining he will try once again to get the two together. The Captain storms into the home of Augusta and George, demanding payment. The Captain realizes that Laurent's new job is working for a family that owes him debts. He laments that he needs the money so he can start his trading company when he returns to France the next day. Augusta and George reveal that they are banking on their son marrying Antionette and that will pay off their debts. Laurent had invited Antionette to the family's home, and she comes but says she is leaving for France and will not return because she cannot find a suitor who is romantic. The Captain woos her, and proposes to her on the spot, realizing that she has the money to finance his new company. Antionette accepts because he is so romantic to her. Augusta reveals to George that she really does love him, even after a small discussion in which she claims to not love him. Albert telsl Laurent and Claudette that books are absolutely wonderful. Laurent tells Claudette that now that his debts are paid, he does have a bit of money and a well paying job, and he would like to court her. Claudette accepts this and then the entire ensemble sings a finale song for the audience.

9:00 PM
I convinced some of our group to drive out to Kennington Cove. This cove is a beach, and also the area that James Wolfe landed with the British soldiers in order to take down Louisbourg in the Siege of 1758. I kicked off my socks and shoes and jumped into the Atlantic Ocean. It was my goal to swim in it, but I never had the time, nor the weather to. I tasted some sea water, and had a few pictures taken since the full moon was still out.

9:45 PM
Half of our group split off, and the rest of us went out to the Royal Battery. The Royal Battery was an area on the side of the fortress which would have had cannons alongside it to help protect the fort from an attack from the water front. There isn't much left of it now, but it would have been walled.

10:00 PM
Larry wanted to walk the lighthouse trail, but we ended up deciding once we got back to the lighthouse it was too dark, and way too narrow to drive the car through.

10:20 PM
We returned to the B&B and I uploaded the photos from that day as I got in the habit of doing.

12:00 AM
Once again, a late night for me! Finally went to bed at this point.

Miss Saigon Review

It took me a couple of days, but here's my review of Miss Saigon at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

This is the first time I have ever been to the Four Seasons and I have to say it was a very interesting theatre. It isn't built like any other I have been in. It felt very roomy. The orchestra pit and orchestra ring weren't too elevated from each other, which felt kind of weird. Either way, we got pretty good seats.

For the review I'm going to break down the components of the musical, starting with the most important aspect, the story.

For those who don't know, Miss Saigon is an adaptation of the opera Madam Butterfly, with slight variations. Both the lead women of the stories are Asian (Madam Butterfly is Japanese while Kim, from Miss Saigon is Vietnamese). Both are promised to be married by American Men (Pinket and Chris) and taken back to America, the reason being for Pinket who just wants to marry a girl in every nation, and Chris,a G.I. in Vietnam decides Kim would be better off in the USA. They are both 'married' in their native country, but the marriage doesn't count in the US for different reasons. In Madam Butterfly, marriages in Japan are like leases that one can leave at anytime, and in Miss Saigon, they have a ceremony with the Vietnamese bar girls, but it is not a proper ceremony in both regards. Also, at the Embassy, it is made clear that Chris must marry Kim on American soil. Both the men leave for different reasons, and do not return for three years. During this time, M.B and Kim are pressured into marrying another man. Both refuse, saying they are already married, and produce a son, claiming that their husband will come back for their child. Both men have returned to America and have remarried since then. They are notified to return. Kim and M.B realize the man they have loved has moved on, and commits suicide.

Now, there is more to the story of Miss Saigon than that. Miss Saigon opens up during the Vietnam war. A man of French and Vietnam descent called The Engineer , who dreams of going to America, has a bar called Dream Land where many G.I.'s come looking for prostitutes. Kim, an 17 year old orphaned virgin is starting her first night as a bar girl. The Engineer holds a weekly contest called Miss Saigon where the men vote for the prettiest bar girl and crown her Miss Saigon. The girl with the title of Miss Saigon is then raffled off to a G.I. The winner of Miss Saigon this night is a bar girl named Gigi. After Gigi has been raffled off to a GI, she begs him to take her to America with him and marry her. The enrages the GI and the bar girls sing about how they want a better life in America.

At the same time, John and Chris enter the bar. John wants to buy Chris some fun but all he wants is a beer. When John sees Kim, he arranges with the Engineer to get a dance and a room for Kim and Chris. At first, Kim is reluctant and Chris is not interested and they share a dance. Chris tries to pay Kim to leave the club, and the Engineer interferes, thinking Chris doesn't like Kim. Kim then leads Chris upstairs to a room.

After they sleep together, Chris asks God why he has met Kim just as he's about to leave Vietnam. Kim wakes up, and Chris offers her money, but she refuses and admits to this being her first time. She then reveals that she became a prostitute because her parents had both died during the war and she did not want to marry the man she was promised to. Moved by this, Chris decides to bring Kim back to America and marry her so she will not continue to sell her body to survive.

Chris calls John asking for leave time to spend time with Kim. John warns Chris that they'll be leaving soon as the Viet Cong will be taking control of Saigon. Chris asks for just two days, and John agrees to cover for him. Chris then arranges to take Kim from the nightclub and the Engineer tries to get a Visa out of the deal. Chris refuses and holds the Engineer at gunpoint until he agrees to a sum of money instead.

The other bar girls hold a ceremony for Kim and Chris. Kim's cousin Thuy, an officer of the North Vietnamese Army, arrives, claiming to have looked all over for her. Thuy reveals that he is the man she was arranged to be married to. Kim says that because her parents have died, they deal is off and she is not obliged to carry through with it. Thuy says she has disrespected her family and he curses her before he leaves. Chris promises Kim he will take her with him when he leaves Vietnam and they dance together.

Three years pass and there is a celebration in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Mihn City in honour of the third anniversary of the new government and the defeat of the Americans. Thuy has become a commissioner in the new government and is now looking for Kim. Thuy finds the Engineer and orders him to find Kim for him. Kim meanwhile believes Chris will come back for her and is living in an impoverished area of the city. Meanwhile, Chris is in bed with his American wife Ellen, and awakes from a nightmare calling Kim's name.

The Engineer brings Thuy to Kim. Thuy offers to marry Kim, but Kim refuses and shows him her three year old son Tam, the child of Chris. Thuy calls Kim and traitor and tries to kill Tam. Kim pulls out a handgun and shoots Thuy. Kim cradles Thuy as he dies, and then escapes with Tam. She finds the Engineer and tells her what she has done, and he agrees to help her once he finds out that she has a son with an American. He believes he can use them to get a passport to America and refers to himself as Tam's uncle. He takes them to Bangkok and they leave on a boat with other refugees.

Back in American, John is now working for an organization that connects child conceived in the war with their American fathers, called Bui Doi. He receives information that Kim is alive and has a son. He immediately finds Chris to give him the information. Chris is relieved to find Kim is alive, as he feels guilty for what has happened in the past. But he is now married to Ellen, and has not told her about what happened in Vietnam. John and Chris agree that it is now time to inform Ellen of what happened. The Engineer is hawking for a bar club in Bangkok and Kim works there as a dancer. John, Chris and Ellen arrive in Bangkok looking for Kim. John finds Kim and tells her that Chris is in Bangkok. John doesn't have the heart to tell her that Chris is remarried, and Kim believes she is going back to America with Chris. John tells her he will bring Chris to her.

The Engineer does not trust that Chris is in Bangkok and tells Kim to find Chris herself. Kim is then haunted by the ghost of Thuy and relives her nightmare of what happened three years ago.

In a flashback, Kim and Chris sign paperwork to bring her to the US. As things become chaotic at the embassy, Chris is asked to help. He tells Kim to pack and leaves her his gun. When Chris gets to the Embassy he finds that there is an order for an immediate evacuation of all remaining Americans and the Ambassador orders that no more Vietnamese are allowed in the embassy. Kim rushes down to the Embassy, trying to get through. Chris tries to call her at her home but gets no answer. He then tries to find her in the crowd but John punches him out to stop him from leaving. John and Chris are they ushered into the helicopter and Kim watches from the outside, pledging her love.

The Engineer has found the hotel room where Chris is staying at and gives it to Kim. Kim dresses in her 'wedding' clothes and goes to the hotel. When she arrives, Chris is not there as John had taken Chris down to the bar to see Kim. Ellen, Chris' wife is there, and reveals that she is his wife. Kim refuses to believe her. She then begs Ellen to take her son Tam so he can have a better life, the one she promised him. Ellen refuses to take Tam because she doesn't want to separate Kim and her son, and she wants children of her own with Chris. Kim demands that Chris tell her these things in person and runs off. Ellen realizes that Kim still loves Chris and when John and Chris return after not finding Kim, Ellen issues an ultimatum: Kim or her. Chris reassures her that he loves only her. They then agree that it is best for Kim and Tam to stay in Bangkok and they will support them from afar. John tells them that Kim will not find it acceptable to leave Tam in Thailand. Kim lies to the Engineer that they are all going to America and the Engineer imagines what his life would be like in America and living the American Dream.

Kim tells Tam he has a father now, and that she will be watching over him. The Engineer, John, Chris and Ellen arrive at the club, and Kim tells Tam to go meet his father. Once Tam is outside, Kim steps behind a curtain and shoots herself. Hearing the gun shot, they all rush into the room and find Kim mortally wounded. Chris cradles her in his arms as she dies, and Kim explains that the Gods have guided him here to his son. Chris begs her not to die, and she asks him to hold her one more time, then she dies.

The themes of this story are powerful; the American Dream, a Better Life, Sacrifice, Love and Tragedy.

The one thing I walked away with from this story was that men are jerks. Chris supposedly falls in love with Kim, but we are lead to believe that he more or less feels sorry for her and wants her to have a better life. Whether he truly loved her, as she loved him - I have my doubts. He explains that he tried to find her in the three years he was gone, but admits to being with Ellen for two years, and they had been married for one of those years. In a war ridden country, where not everyone has a phone and many people are poor, it would take a long time to track someone down. I just got the impression that Chris didn't try as hard as he could have, if he really loved her. His nightmares of her dying could have resulted in not only the guilt he had for not bringing her with him, but the lack of time he spent looking for her as well.

The story also stirs up a lot of stereotypes - the gentle, submissive and feminine East and the dominate, masculine West. The West feels that they need to protect the East. While Kim did need a better life than the one she had in Vietnam, there were many references to Chris guarding her from harm. It also reinforced a lot of female stereotypes like the jealous wife who refuses to allow Kim and Tam to both move to America, as she doesn't feel comfortable having her around since Kim still loves Chris. The other stereotype is the woman who is blindly in love with a man. After three years she holds out for him, even though (unknowing to her) he has moved on. Maybe it's because I'm not one for love stories, especially unbelievable ones, which is strange since I grew up with Disney, that I just couldn't get into the love part of the love story. A tragic one at that, and the tragedy was there. I cried three times during the entire thing. Would I see it again, like I would Wicked or Phantom of the Opera? Probably not.

The music was decent. There were a couple of songs that I really liked, but nothing that stuck with me as much as other songs in the past have. I probably would have bought the soundtrack, had they been selling anything at the theatre. The lack of merchandise at the theatre was a huge surprise for us.

The backgrounds, effects and dancers were memorable. I recall a couple of scenes I really enjoyed such as The Morning of the Dragon, and the scene with the helicopter. Some of the background dancers were fantastic. There were a couple of scenes where there were bar girls, and I was convinced every time that someone would take off their top and jiggle their tits around.

All the performers did an outstanding job, except for the actress who was Ellen. I mean, she wasn't a bad singer or anything, but she really belted it out. During the scene where she's in bed with Chris and singing about how much she loves him despite he never tells her what is going on, she's practically screaming in his ear while he has a nightmare (maybe it was her singing). She is a powerhouse for sure, because she did this in her other numbers as well. She wasn't a bad singer.. just LOUD. The Engineer was very well done. He was slimy but entertaining. Chris was good looking, a great singer but I felt nothing for the character. Kim was beautiful, talented and oh so tragic that she made the role so believable.

So in the end, I did have a good time. I had some issues with the story and some of the portrayal, but this is after all, a suspension of belief. I was glad I had the chance to see it.

Musicals!

Tonight I am going to see Miss Saigon at the Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts. In honour of this occassion, I am going to recall my love for musicals.

I grew up in the Disney Renaissance. My first theatre experience was seeing The Little Mermaid. Up until 1998, Disney released an animated feature with beautiful scores and lyrics. By the time I was in high school, this trend stopped, as Disney released Tarzan, a movie with a soundtrack complete written and sung by Phil Collins. Now, the music was pretty good, and I love Phil Collins but this was a drastic change from Disney's earlier creations like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King for example.

Either way, I grew up with musicals... sorta. I was presented entertainment in musical form. The only difference was it wasn't a live performance. Because I knew and loved this formula, I was also a huge fan of any television show, animated or live action, that produced a musical episode. Musical episodes were always my favourite episodes.

So it is to no surprise that I love musicals. I love their soundtracks. I love their songs. I love their formulas. I love seeing them.

I was first introduced to a musical in the traditional sense when my parents went to see The Phantom of the Opera at Pantages Theatre in Toronto for my dad's birthday in 1994. We all went to my cousins' in Mississauga and stayed home with them while my parents and my aunt and uncle went downtown. My mom returned smittened, and purchased the soundtrack.

Once we got home, she thew it in our cd player in the sitting room, and that distinctive overture began to play. She played it over and over again, recalling the story to my brother and I. My brother didn't care much for it, but I was enthralled. I begged her to take me to see it. She told me at some point, she would. In the meantime, I bought the tape version (this was the early 90s after all, CD players were still expensive) and asked my mom for a cd/tape player for my birthday so I could listen to it over and over again. I found a beautiful black hardcover copy of the original Phantom of the Opera story. It had the most mesmerizing paintings throughout the pages. I read this tome in grade four, at the age of 10. I was hooked.

I didn't see Phantom of the Opera until 1997. But it was not the first musical I saw.

1. Grease was the first musical I actually saw. I didn't even plan it. When I was 12 I was spending the week with my friend from Toronto at a 'horsey camp' which was just the two of us staying at a friend of our parents' for a week in the summer. One night she was going to Grease, and her older sister didn't want to go, so they invited me. I actually thought they were going to Greece, and wondered how they wer eonly going for a day. She explained it was a musical. A musical about Greece? I inquired. No, she replied, high school. I was baffled. But I went and saw it, and I quite liked it. It's not my favourite but it's a good story none the less.

2. The Phantom of the Opera was the only musical I wanted to see. I didn't get my chance until 1997, when Pantage Theatre announced that the Phantom was going to be leaving that year, after a ten year run. I panicked. I told my mom she had to take me this year because we would not know if I would ever get the chance to see it. She agreed, and we went February 17th, 1997. I was so excited. I finally got to see the only musical I wanted to see. Of course, this did not become my last musical. It is still one of my favourites, and I'd see it again.

3. The Lion King was a school trip when I was in grade 11. I went with my best friend Sharyl, and it would not be the last musical we saw together. We are actually seeing Miss Saigon together. This musical was put together so well. The costumes were amazing. The opening scene with Circle of Life was mesmerizing. Just absolutely brilliant. I had already owned the soundtrack to the original Lion King so I didn't bother getting it from this production.

4. I saw Spamalot with my friend Kathleen for her boyfriend at the time's birthday. She wasn't really into Monty Python but he was. I thought it was alright. Some of the songs were hilarious, so I bought the soundtrack. The problem I had with it was it was a total rehashing of the original lines, and people were laughing at them like they were new. I mean, it was a good story, it was cute, there were some original funny moments, but when you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail over ten times, the swallow joke just isn't laugh out loud funny anymore.

5. Kathleen and I went and saw the Toronto University version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. My mom introduced me to the movie version and I had always wanted to see it live. I had gone to some theatre showings of it at my own University. Seeing it live was great. They changed some of the costumes and themes around but it was the same story. I was a little put off that Rocky spoke a few lines, as I was more accustomed to him just grunting and staring. The funniest part was when a woman with a 8-11 year old boy was beside us. This version made a lot of references to S&M and other sexual fetishes. The woman and her child left at intermission.

6. I had the opportunity to see Evil Dead: The Musical when I was at Humber College. This was a fun, fun musical and a great soundtrack. I bought it immediately after the show. The lyrics are hilarious, the music was great, the story fantastic and the performers were just brilliant. What made this musical super fun was that the second act was interactive... if you sat in the splatter zone. In the first 5 rows you were likely to get splattered with stage blood. They do offer you ponchos if you don't want to get your clothes sprayed. I wore a white t-shirt just for the occassion. Sadly, my mom washed that shirt two years after it had been splattered and all the fake cornstarch blood came out. I do have a souvenir t-shirt from the show, and pictures of me covered in blood. If this ever comes to a town near you, see it immediately.

7. Another friend of mine and myself went to Ottawa for the sole reason to see Wicked at the Centre for Performing Arts. We did some other stuff in the three days we were there, such as check out the Marketplace, Parliment and ther Museum of Civilization but the musical was our main reason for going. I had read the book of the same title but I found it really, well, dull. It wasn't a bad story but just not what I was expecting. The musical was completely different. There were some of the same elements, but it wasn't exactly the same story. It was a beautiful musical - one I also bought the soundtrack too but I bought it at a store because I didn't feel like spending $30.00 at the theatre. I did buy a t-shirt though.

8. I took a boyfriend to see We Will Rock You in Toronto. I had high hopes for this because we both loved Queen music. It was abit of a let down. Weak story, weird use of the songs, and some of the lyrics were changed to suit the story, which wouldn't have been so bad if the story didn't flop. I don't think I spent much on these tickets and I'm glad I didn't. My other choice was to see Jersey Boys, but for some stupid reason I went with this.

9. Taking a cue from my mistake, I then decided to go see Jersey Boys with my mom, our neighbor and Sharyl. It was supposed to be wrapping up, but it's still going on. Apparently it's going to be leaving this year but who knows! It lived up to the hype. I love the Four Seasons, and the music was great. The story was interesting and kept you entertained, and they had perfect timing with the songs. I love the music but I didn't see a point in buying the soundtrack of some performers singing Four Season songs when I could just get the original songs somewhere else.

10. For my 25th birthday, I wanted to see Young Frankenstein: The Musical. I went with the same people I saw Jersey Boys with. I have to say, I found it enjoyable but the music was rather dull. Usually a musical makes you want to listen to the song again, and recall the scene. This music was just.... forgettable. There were a couple of scenes I found hilarious, and three musicals acts I did enjoy. I liked the scene when Frederick falls asleep and there's a musical number "Join the Family Business" where all his ancestors sing and dance, encouraging him to make a monster. The "Putting on the Ritz" number was astounding. The final number was hilarious because Dracula makes an appearance. It was a silly musical.

There are other musicals I have seen in movie form, but I think I'll leave that for another day. So in 13 years, I will have seen 11 musicals. I hope to see more, if they come to Toronto or even Ottawa. Some musicals I would love to see or hope come to Toronto, or even come back to Toronto are: South Pacific,Rock of Ages, Les Miserables, Shrek, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, and Xanadu. I am sure there will be others that come out that I'll also want to see.