A&R Angels Round Table Discussion @ Crow’s Theatre (Toronto, ON) on August 30, 2017 [Photos & Review]

What do you get when you mix Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene with Ben Kowalewicz of Billy Talent? Why, a musical comedy about angels trying to prevent tragic suicides, of course. Kevin and Ben, along with artistic director Chris Abraham and managing director Monica Esteves sat down at Crow’s Theatre for an intimate round table discussion of A&R Angels, which premiers at the theatre on November 20th.

This excerpt from the Crow’s Nest web site I think sums it up nicely;

“Straddling our world and the afterlife, Loud Angel (Kevin Drew) and Soft Angel (Ben Kowalewicz) have been pulling people back from the brink with their music for decades. But times have changed. The appreciation of the well-crafted song has languished, and with it the A&R Angels’ powers of persuasion. The past 12 suicides they’ve been tasked to prevent … have not gone well. Have they lost their touch? Or have we all stopped believing in a song’s power to pick us up from rock bottom? The A&R Angels have only one shot left before being eternally benched by the higher-ups: can they write that killer song that will give life to the living?

At this special round table event we discussed the cross over from music to theatre for these two musicians, and how they’ll have to tone it down coming from a concert stage to a theatre stage. The play was written by Kevin Drew and is being directed by Chris Abraham. This is also his acting debut for Ben Kowalewicz.

I think this is something that’s going to have a really interesting audience. You’ll have the regular theatregoers as well as concert fans. I also have to mention that the theatre has a really nice restaurant as well as an awesomely-stocked bar. So there you have it. Dinner, drinks, a great play, some more drinks… talk about one stop shopping. You can make a night of it!