Grant Tilly: Bio
Red Fightin' Blue - Full length musical
Formerly THE CHRISTIAN REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER IN DAYTON TENNESSEE (winner of Best of Fringe, Toronto, 2008, and subsequently remounted at the Diesel Playhouse) this musical is being re-written for Talk is Free to be premiered under the new title RED FIGHTIN' BLUE from May 6th to 15th, 2010.
Posing as the band, God's Country a group of left-wing activists have infiltrated the Christian Republican Fundraiser in Dayton, Tennessee. Armed with only "three chords and the truth", they are intent on having their opinions heard. Plans begin to unravel when the group encounters Deborah, the smart and sassy virgin who is hosting the event along with her shotgun-wielding father Jennings. When Jackson, the rugged lead singer attempts to seduce Deborah, she sees through their plot and threatens to tell her father. The band must decide: is this political action worth risking their lives? And even if they are heard, will they only enrage the staunchly conservative audience?
A musical about country music, politics, and the values that can bring together even the most disparate groups. The show features a cast of 6 actor/singer/musicians and a rockin' country score. Contact me for more info.
A Vancouver Apartment - Full length play
A simple two person play that takes a look at love in a complex world as two young people take a look at questions of integrity, religion, death, and what it means to love someone.
A two hander, this play runs an hour and a half and was first workshopped by Talk is Free Theatre in 2007.
Grant Tilly
Born in Miami, raised in Calgary, Grant Tilly now performs regularly in Toronto and around Canada as an Actor and Singer/Songwriter. Whether through his brutally comic or sincere songs, there is always a truth behind Tilly’s music that listeners can’t help but identify with. Tilly’s songs have a quality of art within pop music, and while they are can be catchy and hypnotic, they also show a lyrical depth reminiscent of BNL or Leonard Cohen. Honing his skills while performing in theatres across Canada as an Actor and Singer has led to a theatrical quality to Tilly’s live shows, that vary from laugh out loud funny to anticipated silence. His playful jab at religious hypocrisy, “My God’s Better than Your God” has received airplay nationally on CBC as well as local stations in Alberta.
Grant is also a composer of musicals and playwright. His second musical, "Why You Should Think Twice about Cloning Yourself" was performed at the Edmonton Fringe this Summer (see Press section and listen to a song selection in Tunes). Tilly has had works read and performed at Theatre Networks Nextfest and ATP's Brief New Works, and is currently working on a draft for a reading of a two-hander play for Talk is Free Theatre.
DEBUT CD - BEFORE MY EYES
Recorded by Brad Conrad (El Torpedo, Matt Mays) in Halifax and produced by Konrad Pluta, Before My Eyes is a folk-pop collection of 11-all-original-tracks. The album features several Halifax musicians such as Paul Christian on drums (The Jimmy Swift Band) and Danny Sutherland on bass (Eileen Joyce).
Spleendid! The Musical - One Act Musical
A man, a woman, a spleen... their passion!
Sweeney Todd meets Monty Python in this macabre musical comedy. During an operation and in a fit of passion, an obsessed Doctor falls in love at first sight... with the spleen of an aging mobster he is in the midst of operating on. Convinced he has found his diamond in the rough, he removes the spleen to keep it for himself. Yet soon, this "love that must not be named" meets many obstacles, including the mobsters three sons who vow revenge, not to mention german nurse who is in love with the doctor and is determined to get the Spleen out of the way.
My first writing endeavor, this one act musical (somehow!) has remained very popular, with two remounts since it's original showing. It has a dark-comedy/chamber musical feel, runs about 45 minutes and has a cast of 5... and one spleen.
Why You Should Think Twice About Cloning Yourself - One Act Musical
This dark musical comedy that tells the tale of Yvette and Hubert, a happy young couple Hubert and Yvette, who have their future all mapped out. But, when Hubert is tragically rendered infertile in a bizarre bicycle accident, their hopes of a family are crushed. They turn to an eccentric Scottish scientist and the possibility of cloning to help make their dreams a reality. This show was a hit at Ground Zero’s Aftershocks! Festival in Calgary, two years later we remounted it and brought it to the Edmonton Fringe and to Bird and Stone theatre in Calgary.
The show runs about 70 minutes, and has a cast of seven singer/actors: one actor is double cast as Hubert and his clone, while another is the narrator and piano player.
Without a doubt, this was my angry young man musical… people have those, right? You can hear a few examples in the songs section.
Taking a Chance on Love - One Act Play
A two-hander, one act play I have in development. The story of a lonely man who decides to take piano lessons later in life and ends up having a connection with his piano teacher through jazz standards. Requires two actors, one male (intermediate piano player) and one asian female (advanced piano player). Runs about 45 minutes.
Eye Opener Bob - One Act Play
While researching another project, I got hooked on the story of Robert C. Edwards, or as most Albertans know him, Eye Opener Bob. Bob Edwards was the sole owner, writer, and editor of the Calgary Eye Opener from 1903 to his death in 1922, and entertained and shocked his readers as his newspaper (coming out semi-occasionally due to his frequent “drunks”) developed the largest subscription west of Winnipeg. Bob was famous for taking the wind out of politicians and for his stance on prohibition, but in the end, was elected MLA and supported the re-introduction of cheap beer.
This two hander (the other character being a young Fred Kennedy, who would go on to have one of the longest carreers in Alberta journalism as a reporter for the Calgary Herald), will be a one act play and is still in development.