Anyone driving into a particular west-central Saskatchewan town about an hour west of Saskatoon will know instantly that, while New York may be big, this is Biggar. They will know that because there are road signs at every entrance to town telling them so.
The town has many claims to fame. It is the home of the Hanson buck, “the world record white tail deer” as another town sign proclaims, it’s the home of Woodrow Lloyd, the province’s NDP premier during the medicare crisis of 1962 and home of Prairie Malt, the destination of much top grade barley.
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The town now has another claim to fame. New York is Big But This is Biggar, The Musical, now playing at The Majestic Theatre on Main Street.
The Majestic is the ideal setting for the play. It’s a 300-seat vaudeville house built in 1911 and lovingly restored.
Saturday night was the official opening of the play written and directed by Saskatchewan theatre personality Tom Bentley-Fisher, who spent his first eight years in Biggar and feels the project has brought him full circle.
New York is Big But This is Biggar celebrates the history and heritage of Biggar and, by extension, that of rural communities throughout the province.
The cast is a mixture of professional actors and talented amateurs.
The six main actors play the parts of committee members trying to produce a comedy about the history of Biggar. The action is fast-paced and full of detail, presented in a unique and often hilarious manner.
People pushing shopping carts in the “grocery store” tell much of the story as they exchange news and comments.
Did Jimmy Durante and Sophie Tucker really perform on The Majestic’s stage in the days of vaudeville? Perhaps, perhaps not, but their spirits are there.
The story of medicare, and the strife created by its introduction, is illustrated through the dialogue of two teenagers whose families were on opposite sides of the issue and who find themselves estranged by the struggle.
The story of area train wrecks is illustrated by two “engineers” performing the “train wreck dance.” Well, actually, the audience only gets to hear about two wrecks before the “director” pulls the plug on the number.
The Biggar Museum and Gallery, with the help of a federal millennium grant, is the group behind the play.
It was well done and classy, just like the setting, the cast and the play itself. This is a tribute to a small town and a wake-up call to those who say “it can’t be done here.”
It can be and it has been.
