PEI musician Mike Ross’s production of Inside American Pie was a success at his Harmony House theatre in his home province. right out of the gate. He has been able to run the show every summer since 2020 for a full run and it will be playing this month in Toronto at the CAA Theatre.Mirvish
When Don McLean penned American Pie in 1971, he likely didn’t anticipate the conspiracies the song would inspire, the tinfoil-hat fanaticism borne of the tune’s lengthy, cryptic lyrics.
Or maybe he did. The track is filled to the gills with imagery from “the day the music died,” or the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” J. P. Richardson. Over the course of nearly nine minutes, metaphors of dry levees and pink carnations leap between verses. Hazy mid-century memories intertwine with tokens of a flailing Americana – a Chevy here, a Charles Manson reference there.
Inside American Pie, playing this month in Toronto at the CAA Theatre, is what Prince Edward Island-born musician Mike Ross, founding Slaight Family director of music at Soulpepper Theatre, calls a “docu-concert.” Ross and fellow artist Sarah Wilson have promised to show Toronto audiences a new way of listening to American Pie, with a crash course on the song’s mysteries, symbolism and lasting legacy.
The Globe and Mail spoke with Ross about Inside American Pie, opening a new music venue in PEI during the COVID pandemic and all things McLean.
In the early days of the pandemic, you opened a new music venue in Hunter River, PEI. Can you talk a little about the experience of creating Harmony House?
Mike Ross: There’s a thing that happens with Islanders, this itch that happens at a certain point, when you get the call to go home. That happened to me and my wife. In the summer of 2019, we lived in Toronto, but we couldn’t stop thinking about moving back to PEI, so we did. We put our house in Toronto on the market in March, 2020.
We then got a text from a friend saying that a tiny little music hall in Hunter River was looking to sell. And my wife and I just kept thinking about it. We bought the place in November, 2020, and we put on a show for 50 people. We needed to know what it felt like to make something there. We couldn’t wait.
How does Harmony House figure into the DNA of Inside American Pie?
At Harmony House, I’ve made concerts similar to those I made at Soulpepper, docu-concerts, where story and song and design all crash together. There are theatrical elements, but the content is really at the heart of what we’re doing – it’s about information.
Inside American Pie was a success at Harmony House right out of the gate. People didn’t know us yet, but people started to come, and we’ve been able to run the show every summer since 2020 for a full run. It’s become really popular.
We didn’t even know that Mirvish came to see it. But we got the call a few days after executive producer Brian Sewell saw it while on vacation on the island – he wanted us to bring the show to Toronto.
How did you decide to lean so hard into American Pie as source material?
I listened to the song over and over again with my dad when I was growing up. At 12 years old, I’d sing the whole song a cappella, from beginning to end. It’s been embedded in my brain all these years, sort of swimming in my consciousness.
And then, when I was older, I realized how much cryptic information McLean put in there. I was fascinated, because the poetry still worked even without those coded allusions to pop culture and politics. I didn’t need to know who “the jester” was, or “the girl who sang the blues.” But the older I got, the more intriguing it became, and while at Soulpepper, I realized I could turn this one song into a musical event.
McLean famously doesn’t answer any of the questions about the song. He invites you to interpret it how you want, as relates to your journey – so that’s what our show is. It’s our take on what this could all mean.
In the context of the ongoing trade war, this is an interesting time to celebrate American Pie, a song loaded with references to American culture. Is that something you’ve been thinking about while revisiting this piece?
Yes, very much so. This song is about loss of innocence, and a very tumultuous time in the history of the United States. It reminds me of these times we’re in now.
But here’s the thing: Beyond the song, Inside American Pie is an entirely Canadian enterprise. Not only that, it’s a PEI enterprise, with five musicians from this tiny little island. It’s not a celebration of America – it’s, well, a goodbye, to Miss American Pie. It’s saying goodbye to an America that people thought they knew, and that changed. I think that’s relatable in this moment.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
