''The (Post) Mistress'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

play by

Tomson Highway Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, children's author and musician. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', ...

. The play has also been staged in a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

version titled ''Zesty Gopher s'est fait écraser par un frigo''"A one-of-a-kind musical"
''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began ...

'', October 25, 2012. and a

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

version titled ''Kisageetin'',"Nothing heavy, just some great Highway songs"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', June 25, 2010. although ''The (Post) Mistress'', a predominantly English show which retains some French and Cree lyrics, is the most widely produced version. Set in the 1960s, the show centres on Marie-Louise, a

postmistress A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in the small

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

town of Lovely, on the rural outskirts of the larger city of Complexity. She possesses the supernatural ability to read through sealed envelopes, thus serving as a keeper of the town's stories and secrets, and the songs detail her revelations about life in the community. The city of Complexity is based on the Ontario city of

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

, while the town of Lovely is a pastiche of the city's suburban and outlying rural francophone communities such as

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Azilda Rayside-Balfour (1996 census population 16,050) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It is now part of the city of Greater Sudbury. The town was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury and took its name ...

and Highway's own hometown of Noëlville. Most productions of the show to date have starred Sudbury musician and actress

Patricia Cano Patricia Cano is a Peruvian Canadian singer and actress from Sudbury, Ontario, most noted for her musical theatre performances in the stage musicals of Tomson Highway. She graduated from the University of Toronto in Spanish Literature and Theatre. ...

in the lead role, although some have also starred Pandora Topp or Martha Irving. The play was published in book form by

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

in 2013. A soundtrack album, with Cano performing the songs, was released in 2014, and garnered a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2015 The Juno Awards of 2015 honoured Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2013 and most of 2014. They were presented in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, during the weekend of March 14-15. The main ceremony was conducted at FirstOntari ...

."Tanya Tagaq, Leela Gilday nominated for 2015 Juno Awards"

CBC North CBC North (; ; ) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon of Northern Canada as well as Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik in the Nord-du-Québec region of Quebec. Hist ...

, January 27, 2015.

Songs

# "Taansi Nimiss" (5:06) # "Hey, Good-Lookin'" (3:40) # "Quand je danse" (5:08) # "Oh Little Bear" (5:26) # "Love I Know Is Here" (5:39) # "The Window" (5:37) # "When Last I Was in Buenos Aires, Argentina" (8:56) # "Some Say a Rose" (6:36) # "Mad to Love" (5:21) # "Have I Told You" (6:46) # "The Robins of Dawn" (7:34)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post Mistress 2009 musicals Plays by Tomson Highway Albums by First Nations artists 2014 albums Northern Ontario in fiction Canadian musicals Musicals set in Canada Musicals set in Ontario