Inside American Pie - Review of 2025 Production of Docu-Concert at CAA Theatre

Mike Ross and Sarah Wilson have created a musical based on American rock and roll from the 1950’s to the 1970’s that is also a documentary about the growth of the music genre. They provide fascinating information and intelligent commentary about some of the songs, composers and performers of the era. Inside American Pie uses Don McLean’s “American Pie” as the pivotal song of the evening.
“American Pie” has become an iconic song with its extensive lyrics and cultural and historic references that are revealing and utterly fascinating. The lyrics of the dozen songs from the era receive commentary and indeed analysis of American society from the quiet and certain 1950’s to the uncertain and revolutionary 1960’s and the retrenchment of the 1970’s.
The songs used form a cross-section of popular music from Ritchie Valens to the Big Bopper, from Bob Dylan to John Lennon to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin.
The performers are Mike Ross who plays the piano, sings and narrates the commentary, Alicia Toner who sings, plays the guitar and the violin, Brielle Ansems who sings, Greg Gale, guitarist, and Kirk White, percussionist. They are concert performers that generate excitement, get audience participation and illustrate Ross’s commentary. All the performers are talented and have other lives but Inside American Pie originated in a tiny theatre in Prince Edward Island and played there successfully to a full house of 127 people for some years. Then someone from the Mirvish company noticed them and, as Ross tells us, here they are performing in Toronto.
Ross tells us the story of Bob McLean who was delivering newspapers in 1959 and caught the headline about the plane crash in which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed. He was 13 years old at the time and the experience seems to have made an indelible impression on him. The memorable refrain of the song that he composed in 1971 “the day the music died” is much more than the shock of a boy on a shivering February morning delivering newspapers with terrible news about the fate of those musicians.
It was also the harbinger and a metaphor for social and political change. It was the end of the comfortable 1950’s and the coming of the convulsive following decade of assassinations (John F, Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.), the decade of the Viet Nam War and student protests across the nation. The brilliant lyrics have numerous references, many very cryptic, to historical and cultural events that are not easy to decipher.
One of the more interesting comments is Ross’s interpretation of the following lyrics:
“And they were singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye”
American pie or perhaps “as American as apple pie” is a symbol of content, happy Americans imagined in the 1950’s. The Chevy driven across America may reflect ads for Chevrolet cars by Dinah Shore promoting happy driving across the country. The folks are drinking whisky in the town of Rye rather than the tautological whisky and rye. That’s like saying pasta and spaghetti, Ross tells us. Rye is a town where drinking was permitted. It is an apt and beautiful interpretation.
The numerous historical and cultural refreezes are astonishingly wide and a pleasure to detect or find out what others have discovered or guessed.
The performers are vigorous and entertaining. They stay in place as one would expect in a concert performance but the energy and spirit that they show and the expert use of imaginative lighting designed by Simon Rossiter make for an enjoyable evening.
The songs of about fifty to seventy years ago resonated enthusiastically with the audience, most of whom had direct memories or borrowed ones of the era and the richly textured lyrics, they did not hesitate to show their enthusiasm.
Inside American Pies by Michael Ross and Sarah Wilson continues until March 30, 2025, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com/

The cast of Inside American Pie. Photo: Dahlia Katz

‍