Cape Breton performers create first-ever 'donair musical'

Straight off the spit, it's something no stage has likely ever seen.

Donair – The Musical is a 78-minute long story featuring ten songs, and wrapped around it all is Nova Scotia's favourite delicacy.

"A donair musical is a musical about a donair”, deadpanned Aaron Corbett – an actor in the production. "The core of it is about a big, greasy donair history, of donairs. Donair, donair donair."

Production writer Paul MacDougall was enjoying a taste of the Maritimes in an Alberta pizza shop when he first 'cooked up' the idea way back in 2009.

He said the script tells the tale of how the donair made its way across the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton years back.

"I said, 'Here's an idea. What do you think of this? 'Donair - The Musical’”, MacDougall said. "As far as I know, the second place in Nova Scotia to have donairs was in Cape Breton”, he continued. “So that's what the musical is about. 1975. Downtown, Charlotte Street. First donair shop opens, and they get the idea from Halifax."

The musical is also an ode to a food that's become a cultural phenomenon around here. Some may even consider it a palate cleanser during these stressful pandemic times.

"Really taking all of your worries away in a big, giant pita and greasy meat and donair sauce - and stuffing them down deep”, Corbett said.

While the Donair Musical is available on YouTube, it's audio-only for now. The hope is to turn it into a stage production someday, and if it does well, maybe there could be a sequel. How about "The Donair That Devoured the East Coast?"

"If a donair were to follow the same line as the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles and fall into some ooze, and then grow into a giant donair monster that would then take over downtown Sydney - or downtown Halifax - COVID would be the least of our worries at that point”, Corbett said.

There's no word on whether this production is PG-13, but early reviews rate it 'D' for Delicious.