Coal Mine Theatre’s Dion: A Rock Opera leans into Greek ideology

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For the first time in its 10-year history, Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre presents a world premiere. Dion: A Rock Opera, based on Euripides’s The Bacchae, was co-created by the company’s co-founder Ted Dykstra and Prince Edward Island poet/novelist Steven Mayoff.

Dion begins previews Feb. 4, opens Feb. 8, and runs through March 3. During a break in rehearsals, Dykstra spoke to The Globe and Mail about rock operas, angels with big pockets and tragedies that are timeless.

You wrote the music to Dion and your friend and long-time collaborator Steven Mayoff wrote the book. Why the choice of Peter Hinton-Davis as director?

He’s sort of avant-garde, and deeply knowledgeable about Greek tragedy, Roman history and all those things. He’s a wizard, really – his own Google, because he has such a great knowledge of it. I sent him the recordings of the songs. He responded right away and in a positive way. From there it was a question of developing it properly.

Meaning financing?

Yes, money. Coal Mine has hardly received grants. We received one from the Canada Arts Council for operating costs. Because of that, money was released that we were able to spend on a workshop for Dion. A year later we did another workshop, which would not have been possible without money from Gary Slaight and the Slaight Family Foundation.

Gary Slaight is a rock and roll guy from way back.

He’s why we were able to do this show. There’s no way we can sell enough tickets to pay for it. We needed angels, and Gary Slaight was that angel who made this possible.

You have a history with the story from The Bacchae, is that right?

Yes, a production of The Bacchae at Stratford Festival in 1993. I was Pentheus. And Colm Feore was Dionysus. I remember thinking then how timely it was and it’s just stayed with me this whole time.

What’s the appeal of presenting the story in 2024?

It’s a story that wouldn’t have to have diversity shoved into it. In The Bacchae originally it was women who left society because they didn’t like this right-wing society. In this production, it’s expanded to the queer community and to the transgender community and the racial community. These people who don’t like, for example, Donald Trump’s America, and leave to go into the hills and follow this creature who claims to be a half a god, and get high and get ecstatic and dance.

Could we see Canada as the hills Americans are fleeing to?

One hundred per cent. We’re not doing one of those plays where somebody is impersonating Trump or anything like that. But it’s just obvious when you see it, the parallels between 2,500 years and now. It just shows that humans really haven’t changed that much. Further to that, the thing I love about the story is that it’s saying that if the two sides can’t live side by side, we won’t have a healthy society. This is a very Greek ideal. We need both the brain and the heart. We need both the left and the right, and we need them not convert the other. That’s the heart of this rock opera, and it’s at the heart of the whole world right now.

Did you see Hawksley Workman’s The God That Comes, a rock cabaret also based on The Bacchae?

I did not. I would have loved to. But obviously Hawksley has the same connection that I do in terms of this belief that this story is of value right now.

You also share the belief that the story can be told through rock music. Why is Dion a sung-though rock opera?

The rock opera is probably one of the hardest things to do right. There’s quite a graveyard full of failed rock operas. But I happen to be really connected to Tommy by Pete Townshend and the Who. As a child I had the original album. There’s something about it that it doesn’t require exposition the way a play needs exposition. You don’t have to explain anything. Even in classic opera, things are a given – you’re in this world and it exists differently. It’s more about the feeling of the music and where you’re going with it. When you come out, you remember a human going through something, but you don’t necessarily talk about the plot. I’ve always responded to it.

You were in the Toronto production of Tommy in 1995 weren’t you?

Yes. There I was six feet away from Pete Townshend, my idol, singing the Cousin Kevin role in an audition, and getting to meet Pete. I kissed his hand and told them I didn’t care if I got the part. I really just wanted to meet him. I ended up doing Cousin Kevin though, and hanging out with Pete for a couple of months. He was always around during rehearsals. It was an incredible time. So, rock operas have always been close to my heart. I always loved Jesus Christ Superstar as well.

The original Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar albums both came out in 1969. The promise of the rock opera as a genre hasn’t been exactly fulfilled.

It’s a genre that could use some more success, granted. But I’m very excited about this. Will people in 2024 respond to it? We’re about to find out.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article stated incorrectly that Ted Dykstra and Steven Mayoff had previously collaborated on the musical comedy 2 Pianos 4 Hands. This version has been updated.

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