Love, authenticity, and maybe a smoky piano bar number or three.

Forte Musical Theatre’s Artistic Director Joe Slabe is returning to the stage with a new production that celebrates the past 15 years of the company through a number of the best songs, alongside a very personal story centred on Slabe himself.

That show called Buy Me A Drink, Joe, is coming to cSpace from April 23 to May 5.

In a bit of serendipity while going through the last 10 music books for productions that the company has put on, Slabe realized that so many of the songs were in fact autobiographical from his own experience. That’s even though they were about a young foster kid, a story book princess, or even an exiled Russian circus performer.

“Originally, the plan was to do another sort of music review that celebrates 15 years since Forte’s very first show, and as I looked through all the material, I kind of went ‘wow, even though they’re from vastly different shows,’” Slabe said.

“A lot of these are very personal songs, and the suggestion came out from the workshop that maybe it needs to have a story. And maybe it needs to be your story, was what the actors and the director were saying to me, which is a little scary.”

What Slabe has produced is a 17 number musical, with 14 of the best songs from the history of Forte, alongside three new songs that tell his autobiographical story from when he was in high school, through to being a music teacher, to his 2007 opening of a show at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

“I was a little bit inspired by shows like Title of Show, or even Steven Morton’s Drag Me to the Opera show where he was very open about his life,” he said.

Authentic music

Slabe said that what was missing from the show were those big set piece musical numbers that really pull audiences deep into the story.

“I didn’t really have an I want song for younger me and the things that I wanted… so I needed to cast my mind back, and so I wrote an original song for that called Anything,” he said.

“Then, in a musical, there comes a point when towards the end, the character makes a realization or discover something important about themselves, or about life, and it didn’t have an 11 O’clock Number. So I wrote that.”

That difference in wanting is something that Slabe said will come through to audiences.

“There’s breakups, and there’s figuring out who you are, and also parental expectations played a big part in my life. I started out as a high school music teacher, just because that was allowed. That was a permissible career in terms of family expectations, being being a musician or an artist was, was not something allowed,” Slabe said.

“I was really focused on doing what was expected of me, and yet, there was always this passion and this drive. So, a big part of the show is how do you navigate those things, and how do you find the courage to be your most authentic self, which I think a lot of people can relate to.”

Slabe said that in addition to himself on stage, actors Stephen Ingram, Jason Lemmon, and Allison Lynch will be playing a younger Slabe as well as people from his past.

Buy Me a Drink, Joe is being directed by Valerie Ann Pearson, with choreography by Jocelyn Hoover Leiver, set and lighting design by Cassie Holmes, costumes by Emory Carlson, sound design by Tara Kiely, graphic design by Jennifer Merio, stage management by Frances MacDonald, and production management by Lauren Acheson.

All are welcome at the piano bar

Taking some cues from the wildly successful cabaret run of Forte’s Naughty But Nice!, Buy Me a Drink, Joe is bringing back the cabaret style seating with a few additional twists.

“You’re going to hear some really great music up close. All the music is original, but it’s also really accessible. You’ll definitely laugh. You might even cry at some point, but you will come away satisfied that you’ve heard a really good story,” Slabe said.

The set will feature an actual bar, where patrons can get a drink before the performances begin while getting to take in some of the music from another part of Slabe’s life: his time as a cocktail lounge pianist.

“We wanted to keep it intimate, and, you know, tables take up more space. But what I love about Naughty But Nice! is the fact that people could take in their drinks and have them at the table and create the atmosphere that we’re after,” Slabe said.

“When the House opens half an hour before the show, I’ll be playing a bunch of songs that inspired me and have influenced my style, because I used to play cocktail piano all the time.”

Doubling down on that smoky cocktail lounge vibe—sans the smoke—is a baby grand piano on loan from Steinway.

“There’s 10 cocktail tables. So people can sit in amongst the set, or they can have the more traditional riser seating at the back of the theatre. But it’s very immersive,” Slabe said.