When someone from your community theatre days essays a uniquely different approach in your shared love of the art form, you can’t help but encourage that individual to keep moving forward.

Mike Trites did just that.

He is the bookwriter and director of the upcoming jukebox musical (in its purest form), In the Key of Blue, which will receive its world premiere this summer, 2026, in Prince Edward County (where he now lives) before the show tours. With classic tunes from a large song box of Canada’s Blue Rodeo and an interesting plot, I had to find out more.

Trites provided me with a show synopsis:

Jarod Scott dreams of becoming the next big thing in Canadian rock. Jarod’s break seems to come when a prominent MP invites the band to perform at an election rally being televised by the CBC. The national stage seems grand, but when the road to fame presents a few potholes, Jarod’s life takes a significant hit. He looks to one of the few friends he has left to piece his life back together. With the classic music of preeminent rockers Blue Rodeo punctuating the plot, the characters of “In the Key of Blue” navigate the perils of trust and lies.

Mike makes a logical and good choice – he’ll tell a Canadian story in an intimate, interactive way with Canadian artists. We don’t need to keep looking to our southern neighbours for stories. We have them, and our artists, right here in our own country. Trites credits the musical Once, performed in Toronto and Gananoque, with inspiring him to write. Although Once is not a jukebox musical, Mike says he’s a fan of these newer musicals rather than the ‘older’ ones. Once gave him a structure – it’s a musical about music, and so is In the Key of Blue.

Recently, we held a Zoom call. Mike and his wife, Deb, built their dream home in Prince Edward County, just east of the Greater Toronto area and Durham Region (where I worked with them on several community theatre shows). They moved east from Durham Region to Prince Edward County when he and Deb retired.

Trites was big-time excited about this opportunity to write the book for a new Canadian musical. He first started it back in 2017 because he thought it was a nice way to conclude his teaching career:

“I was writing with the intention of retiring around 2020 or 2021. I had about three-quarters of the book written when COVID-19 had its way with the idea of getting the writing done at school. The pandemic shelved the book at that time as a lot of things did.”

In 2022, Trites had a connection to Blue Rodeo. He finished writing the book in 2023. Readthroughs and workshops took place from 2023 to 2024, and a band was formed in 2024 to record for choreographer Tara Forbes (another personal community theatre contact). The band wanted to stay on after that because they believed in the project, and Mike was fine with that. The band and the choreographer have been in rehearsal since 2024 and 2025.

Trites secured the performance licence for Blue Rodeo’s music. He needed three permissions: first, the band’s. Trites had a promise from Jim Cuddy, who then passed it on to Starfish Entertainment, Rodeo’s management team. Starfish gave it the go-ahead but wanted to make sure Warner Music, the record label, was also on board. In 2025, Warner Music gave the thumbs-up for 10 performances:

‘[Jim] Cuddy and Greg [Keelor] have never outgrown that belief that ground roots and the small guy are really important. All they wanted to be was a small bar band. They realized eventually that they would have to do more work than that [with Rodeo] when they hit big time.”

At this time, the leading male is John Kenny. Although he doesn’t have much experience in the theatre, he’s an incredible singer. For the lead female, there is Miss Emily, a Prince Edward County gem who mostly sings rhythm and blues but also folk and country. She’s a Juno nominee and has released an album in December called ‘The Medicine.’ Trites is confident the album will rack up some Juno nominations and possible wins. He’s also confident in Miss Emily’s on-stage work in Blue, which will require some challenging moments in performance and song.

In the Key of Blue opens July 3, 4, and 5, 2026, at the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario. Other performance dates are July 10, 11, 12, 2026, in Kingston, and July 17, 18, 19, 2026, in Peterborough.  Venues in these two cities will be announced soon.

As we wound down our Zoom call, I asked Mike how he feels about the term ‘emerging musical theatre bookwriter’.  Does he call himself by that term?

“I can’t really tell that, but I’ve enjoyed myself in the process. I’m not sure how often this opportunity might come along again. Opportunity knocked, and I answered the door, but I don’t know how many further opportunities there might be from hereon.”

I’m going to return to writing more about the upcoming In the Key of Blue before it opens this summer.  To learn more about the upcoming production, visit the Facebook page: In the Key of Blue or the website: inthekeyofblue.ca.