Cast size: From nine to fourteen+ (dependent on doubling and chorus size)
- 1 female-identifying lead
- 1 male-identifying lead
Length: Two hours, five minutes.
Setting: A large unnamed Canadian city, and Barnabus Bay (a neighbouring small town)
Current Status: Workshopped at Sheridan College with a cast of twenty-four and a band of three, Feb 2025. Director: Stephanie Graham, Musical Director: Jonathan Corkal-Astorga. Four readings (two informal, two with audience). Demos recorded for all songs. Workshopped by Arts Club in Vancouver, August 2022. Artistic Director: Ashlie Corcoran; Director: Barbara Tomasic; Dramaturg: Stephen Drover. Further dramaturgical development by Robert McQueen.
Recognition: Armchair Confidential was shortlisted for the 2023 Tom Hendry Playwriting Award for Best New Musical, and was named #1 Stage Play of the Month by Coverfly, and is a finalist for the 2025 National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Centre.
SYNOPSIS
Lucy’s isolated workaday life is disrupted by an unexpected opportunity to crack a serial murder case the next town over. Circumstances force her to reconcile and join forces with her former best friend, Aldo. Armchair Confidential is a wickedly clever buddy-comedy about facing fears, mending fences, and taking a chance on life.
Click here to read Armchair Confidential Script Sample
Click here to view What Are the Chances? Piano Vocal Score
DEMO TRACKS
(featuring Alana Bridgewater, Eric Craig, Dan Duran, Bruce Dow, Sara Farb, Hailey Gillis, Kaylee Harwood, Arinea Hermans, Aaron Jensen, Linda Kash, Ryan Kelly, David Lopez, Jeff Madden, Whitney Ross-Barris, Nick Settimi, Sarah Strange, & Paula Wolfson)
Why the Hell Are You All Still Here? (Ensemble)
In Barnabus Bay (Ensemble)
Throw Me A Line / Sure Seems Fishy to Me (Teuta, Shepherd, Pascal, Donna, Lucy)
Why Armchair Confidential?
I believe that now more than ever, audiences are hungry for entertainment. We could all benefit from a little escape. Armchair Confidential carried me through a winter in quarantine, and provided a lighthearted creative world for me to explore. The concept was dreamt up by my wife, who like so many others, is obsessed with True Crime. She asked: “What does it say about our society when Netflix can’t keep up with the demand for new murder shows? What fuels this obsession? Morbid curiosity? Underlying fear? The desire for neatly tied-up resolutions in the battle of Good v.s. Evil?”
“NEED SOME DRAMA TO DISTRACT YOU FROM THE BLEAK AND BLACK ABYSS?
D’JA COME TO RECONNOITER? GET ROPED IN BY A FRIEND?
COMPELLED BY SCHADENFREUDE? LORDY, HELP ME COMPREHEND
WHO’D DELIBERATELY SUBJECT THEMSELF TO THIS?”
So began this journey.
My ambition in writing Armchair Confidential has been to create an entertaining, satirical new Canadian work that evokes the catchy numbers and clever wordplay of Golden Era musicals while telling a timely, relatable story.
Why Armchair Confidential?
I believe that now more than ever, audiences are hungry for entertainment. We could all benefit from a little escape. Armchair Confidential carried me through a winter in quarantine, and provided a lighthearted creative world for me to explore. The concept was dreamt up by my wife, who like so many others, is obsessed with True Crime. She asked: “What does it say about our society when Netflix can’t keep up with the demand for new murder shows? What fuels this obsession? Morbid curiosity? Underlying fear? The desire for neatly tied-up resolutions in the battle of Good v.s. Evil?”
“NEED SOME DRAMA TO DISTRACT YOU FROM THE BLEAK AND BLACK ABYSS?
D’JA COME TO RECONNOITER? GET ROPED IN BY A FRIEND?
COMPELLED BY SCHADENFREUDE? LORDY, HELP ME COMPREHEND
WHO’D DELIBERATELY SUBJECT THEMSELF TO THIS?”
So began this journey.
My ambition in writing Armchair Confidential has been to create an entertaining, satirical new Canadian work that evokes the catchy numbers and clever wordplay of Golden Era musicals while telling a timely, relatable story. Looking past the gags, the show tunes, and the pratfalls, at its core, Armchair Confidential is a redemptive story about hope, friendship, and our fundamental need for human contact. By some lucky turn of fate, this project has provided opportunities for me to connect. It’s given me the chance to deepen relationships, and to make new friends with the artists who’ve helped with demos, taken part in readings, and offered dramaturgical insights along the way.
