Cape Breton donair musical to hit the Cape Breton stage this summer

'Donair Musical' could hit the stage five years after it was sideline by the pandemic.

More than four years ago, there were plans to make a musical surrounding Nova Scotia’s signature food: the donair.

A lot has happened since December 2021.

“One of them would have been that global pandemic, which really screwed up our plans for staging Donair: The Musical,” said production writer Paul MacDougall.

The 78-minute production about the donair wasn’t performed for a live audience, but the meaty musical is now getting revived after MacDougall talked with Carol Ann Gillis, manager of the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay.

“And before I knew it, Carol Anne and I had decided that she would take it on as director,” MacDougall said.

The plot tells the story of a family-run restaurant in 1970s Cape Breton trying to survive by capitalizing on the popularity of the new food trend from the province’s capital.

“The donair had just started in 1973 in Halifax, and now a family in Cape Breton decides, ‘Hey, maybe we could turn our pizza shop into a donair shop,’” MacDougall said, adding there are plot twists that have little to do with donair, including a love interest.

MacDougall, a recently retired biology professor at Cape Breton University and writer about the Island’s sports history, has plenty of experience in theatre.

He has written roughly 10 short plays over the past 20 years or so, many at the university’s Boardmore Playhouse.

The idea for Donair: The Musical first struck him in 2006 during a conversation at an Alberta pizza shop.

This time, he insists the musical will hit the stage and that ticket sales prove there is an appetite for it.

“Right now, we’ve exceeded the 100 mark in tickets. I think there are 140 or 150 sold,” MacDougall said.

Donair: The Musical is set for two nights in August at the Savoy Theatre.

MacDougall said a casting call is expected to take place in early March to secure the necessary actors and musicians.

“(It’s a) 100 per cent Cape Breton-driven product of a great Nova Scotian food,” MacDougall said. “It’s all wrapped up in tinfoil waiting for you to just dig your teeth into.”

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