The Story of My Life

Adam P. Blais Director	Courtney Babbidge Music Director	Jim Alexander Set Designer	Jennifer Fok Lighting Designer
Madelaine Foster Props Supervisor	Erika Gordon Costume Designer	Mandy Spartz Stage Manager	Cameron Sarchi Asst. Stage Manager

Rew Tippin Sound Designer

Cast

Christopher Blonski Alvin

Zack Lopez Roa Thomas

From the Director

According to the World Population Clock there are approximately eight billion people currently calling planet earth home. Eight billion individual stories that intercept and occupy the sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that make up the stories of our lives. While many of us will never put pen to paper to document our individual stories it doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth sharing.

The Story of My Life made its debut at Canadian Stage Company in 2006 and later premiered on Broadway in 2009 where it ran for a total of 19 previews and five regular performances. Written by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, the musical follows the friendship of Alvin and Thomas, two men from a small town, from age six to 35. Following Alvin’s mysterious death, the two friends are reunited as Thomas struggles to write the eulogy for his lifelong friend. Through music and song, the two friends recount their adventures, explore their past dissonance, and ultimately discover what is at the base of every strong friendship…love.

Like so many others who were not able to experience the show during its brief Broadway run, I became a fan of The Story of My Life by listening to the Original Broadway Cast Recording. With each track revealing a new chapter in the lives of Alvin and Thomas’ I was lovingly transported to a world filled with Halloween costume contests, book reports, and Christmas traditions, and interrupted by school bullies, professional obligations, and parental deaths. By the time I got to the final track, which in my opinion is one of the greatest musical finales ever written, I was hooked. Alvin and Thomas felt more like my personal friends than characters from a musical. Their stories were not filled with world altering events or lavish production numbers but rather they were filled with routine human interactions, dedication, and love.

The Story of My Life is packed with simple yet challenging messages. It is a musical that encourages us to embrace and focus on our lived experiences rather than search our minds for answers and memories that will never be there. We may never know what goes on in the minds and lives of the individuals that we are closest to when we are apart. They are not our stories. “But just like stones in a lake, and the ripples they make,” we must never underestimate the effect that our shared interactions have on the stories and lives of others.