Welcome Message

Welcome to “Broadway Dreams,” marking the Lyric Theatre Singers’ 34th season of presenting the finest that Broadway has to offer.

Ce concert est le résultat de cinq mois de répétitions intensives, de collaboration, de camaraderie et de créativité.

As you can imagine, it requires a great collective effort (Yes, it really does take a village!) to bring a Broadway revue like this one to fruition, and I feel it is important to say thank you: to the Singers for their incredible dedication and hard work, to Corey Weiser and the backstage crew, to our tireless volunteers both behind-the-scenes and in the lobby – we could not do this without you – to my amazing artistic collaborators Jonathan, Martin, and Chad, for their creativity and professionalism, to the 2 “Chris’ “: Barillaro and Smith whose help with band arrangements was welcome and invaluable and to my exceptional co-director, Cathy, whose flair and energy is always an inspiration.

This show centers on Dreams; how they can lead us to new horizons or reveal hidden desires. Sometimes, they can even inspire with their depth and wonder. As our title suggests, those dreams will come alive in the exciting and eclectic Broadway selections that you are about to hear.

Nous vous remercions de vous être joints à nous et nous espérons que ces histoires musicales vous toucheront et vous inspireront comme elles l'ont fait pour nous tout au long de notre processus.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

Bob Bachelor

Artistic Director / Directeur artistique, The Lyric Theatre

Artistic Team / Concepteurs

Bob Bachelor

Musical Director, Stage Director

Directeur musical, Metteur en scène

Across decades of a storied career in the arts and education, Bob Bachelor has become synonymous with Broadway and choral singing in Montreal. After his early musical training at the renowned St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto, Bob continued his studies at McGill University, where he completed both his Bachelor of Music and his Diploma in Music Education.

In addition to founding The Lyric Theatre Singers in 1990, Bob has directed several Lyric Theatre stage productions. His choral and ensemble direction have received high praise in such shows as Company, Evita, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Oliver!, and the 2012 production of Curtains.

L’éducation a toujours occupé une place importante dans la vie de Bob. Il a passé plusieurs années au sein du personnel de l’école secondaire St. George’s de Montréal, en tant qu’enseignant de musique et de théâtre. Il a également enseigné au prestigieux collège Vincent D’Indy et au Cégep John Abbott.

Cathy Burns

Stage Director - Metteuse en scene

Cathy has been singing and dancing in musicals from a young age. She has worked with professional, community and school groups in many capacities, including as an actor, singer, educator, choreographer, and director. Cathy has a long connection with The Lyric Theatre and performed in many of their book shows back in the 80’s and 90’s. Cathy was a Lyric Theatre Singer since its inception and then went on to co-direct and choreograph many of the June Broadway shows with Bob. This marks Bob and Cathy’s tenth collaboration together as co-directors. Cathy is a graduate of Concordia’s Theatre Department with a specialization in Drama in Education, and a Master’s in Education. She taught full time at Vanier College for 32 years in the Early Childhood Education Department.

Chad Linsley

Collaborative Pianist

Pianist Chad Linsley has distinguished himself as a “wide-open musical partner” on the stage with Grammy award winner Jennifer Gasoi; Juno award winners Deborah Cox, Lorraine Klaasen, and the legendary Ranee Lee; Félix award winner Natalie Choquette; and flautist Carolyn Christie of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. In the studio, he appears on Sophie Day’s 2021 Juno-nominated Clémence and Mike Rud’s Notes on Montreal with vocalist Sienna Dahlen, winner of the 2014 Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. As an accomplished arranger, Chad has contributed well over a hundred pieces for Musicnotes.com, the world’s leading digital sheet music retailer. As an educator, he received a teaching award from McGill’s Schulich School of Music where he studied with Jan Jarczyk, Tilden Webb, Wray Downes, André White, and Tom Plaunt. Originally from Outlook, Saskatchewan, he is now based in Montreal with his wife, Marie-Claire Saindon, an award-winning composer

Martin Kaller

Assistant Musical Director, Directeur musical adjoint

Since his introduction to music when he joined his church’s choir at age 12, Martin Kaller has expressed his passionfor musicianship in dynamic ways. Wanting to explore and develop his natural talents, he took piano lessons with concert organist Suzanne Ozorak. Ms. Ozorak’s expertise nudged Martin to learn how to play the organ himself, since his local church parish had no organist. With tips from his piano lessons, he taught himself to play, which fuelled a desire to extend his technique under career musician Luc Beauséjour during his studies at Cégep de Saint-Laurent. During his courses at Saint-Laurent, Martin increased his knowledge of music theory, solfège, and choral singing.

In 2013, Martin joined and fell in love with the Lyric Theatre Singers after having attended numerous concerts as an audience member. A year later he took on the position of Music Librarian, making him responsible for organizing and distributing the group’s imposing amount of sheet music. His many years with Lyric have allowed him to develop his voice, which he graciously and regularly lends to other groups to sing Christmas and Broadway repertoire. These groups include the orchestra of Collège Durocher Saint-Lambert – his former high school – and the Ensemble Philharmonique de Montréal of Régina Assumpta College. Gradually Martin brought his experiences and skills to bear in Lyric’s rehearsals. This caught the eye of Bob Bachelor, the Singers’ director, who asked Martin in 2020 if he would like to take on more responsibility as Assistant Musical Director. Martin couldn’t say no.

Martin completed an intensive week of choral conducting workshops during the summer of 2021 with the Alliance Chorale du Québec. Having received many compliments on his musicality from instructors and attendees alike, he is delighted to continue his development with the group he’s fallen in love with, and which loves him back.Jonathan Patterson

Guest Choreographer

Based in Montréal, Jonathan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans from theatre to opera to musicals.

Some recent credits include: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Segal Centre/RMTC, Righteous Brother); The World Goes ‘Round (Opera McGill, director/choreographer); 9 to 5: The Musical (Capitol Theatre, Dwayne/Mr. Tinsworthy); Million Dollar Quartet (Sudbury Theatre Centre/Thousand Islands Playhouse, Sam Phillips/music dir.); The Producers (Segal Centre/CSLDS, Roger de Bris/chor.); Bluenose (Black Theatre Workshop, chor.); Schwartz’s the musical (Centaur Theatre, dir.), The Last Wife (Centaur Theatre, coach to M. Gabrielli).

A performing-arts educator, Jonathan has been on the faculty of Opera McGill at the Schulich School of Music since 2010, serving as Acting Director of Opera Studies in 2015 and 2017. Jonathan is also the Head of Music at the National Theatre School of Canada, provides choreography for the award-winning Lyric Theatre Singers, and has a very busy private voice studio.