CANADA ROCKS! is a celebration of Canadian pop and rock songwriters, musicians and singers. It is a full-length production that was performed in the 2005 and 2006 season of the Charlottetown Festival, hosted by the Confederation Centre of the Arts in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

, Prince Edward Island. The production featured Atlantic Canadian blues artist

Matt Minglewood Matt Minglewood (born Roy Alexander Batherson, January 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician whose style can be described as a blend of country, blues, folk, roots and rock. The name "Matt" was borrowed from his brother, Matt Batherson. Career B ...

, former Rawlins Cross vocalist

Joey Kitson Joey Kitson (born ) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer of the Celtic rock band Rawlins Cross. Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Kitson is also a stage performer, with notable performances in the Charlottetown Festiva ...

and vocalist

Terry Hatty Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Am ...

. Canada Rocks! was created by Doug Gallant, Wade Lynch, Hank Stinson and Terry Hatty. The production was workshopped at the Charlottetown Festival's David MacKenzie Theatre in 2004 to overwhelmingly positive response and brought to the festival's main stage the following season. The show's creators considered more than 700 songs from 50 years of Canadian rock, pop, folk, country and traditional music before editing that list down to a more workable 200. In the end the show featured some 75 songs from artists as diverse as Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Ron Hynes, Buffy St. Marie, Dr. Music, Mandala and The Rankins. By the end of its second season at the festival in 2006 it had sold more than $1.2 million worth of tickets to become the second most successful musical in the festival's 40-plus year history, second only to Anne of Green Gables which has been playing since 1965. Three of the show's creators, Gallant, Lynch and Stinson, are currently collaborating on another musical property for the stage and have two others in waiting.

See also