Dear Rita is a musical celebration of Rita MacNeil — an iconic Canadian storyteller who invited us to see ourselves in her music. Rita herself said her life story is “something you could pretty well put anyone into. It’s about one person, but so many of us could be there.” Cape Breton playwright Lindsay Kyte was chosen by Rita’s son, Wade Langham, to develop this show, featuring a cast of six and band, and new, re-imagined arrangements of Rita’s music by PEI composer/musician Mike Ross.

From Rita’s popular hits to the lesser-known songs that made her bandmates cry like babies, Dear Rita weaves Rita’s lyrics into new perspectives and invites her spirit into the room as her songs live on through our own experiences. Who is “Rita” in this show? It’s not one person. We all are — everyone on that stage, everyone in the audience, and everyone whose hearts she has touched with the musical prayers of her people.