Musicians Gone Wild: Rock the Canyon: Amy Stein goes with her family to a concert and good dining

Review by Amy Stein

On September 14, I attended the Mayfield Dinner Theatre with my family. My grandfather has had season tickets for 37 years now and swaps out which family members he takes to each show, which means I go about once a year. The performances can range from dramas to musicals to comedies to concerts, and this show, Musicians Gone Wild: Rock the Canyon, was a concert. 

The theatre itself is set up with a four tiered seating arrangement, with booth and table seating on each tier. My grandfather’s season tickets are positioned on the second tier, front and centre at a table – a very nice view of the show. The chairs are big and comfortable to sit in, but the problem I find is that they take up so much space that when Ι go to the bathroom or to the buffet I have to squish past my neighbour. The dressware is fancier than everyday clothing but it’s not over-the-top. I wore a black-floral jumpsuit with Birkenstocks, so no need to wear a gown. It was a pretty packed room, and there was a lot of energy and excitement for the show going around.

The shows at the theatre are always great, don’t get me wrong, but I love the food. There is a separate room to grab your meal, and it’s a buffet style dinner that’s open for two hours before the show, so you can eat as much as you can possibly stuff yourself with. Each show I’ve been to has some variation of a seafood bar, an appetizers bar, a cold cuts bar, a mains bar, smoked brisket as well as what I consider the most important food item, the strip loin. This is where I learned my love for rare meat. I am a picky eater though, so I don’t tend to eat a whole lot of food, but if you love food, this is definitely the place to be.

Dinner buffet at the Mayfield Theatre

For dinner, I had the strip loin, some sweet coconut Basmati rice, red wine braised pork shoulder with rosemary pan drippings, and a garlic breadstick. For the strip loin, you can choose whether to have the meat medium rare or well done, so there are options for everyone. There are also signs above every item to say whether or not it’s gluten free or dairy free. I was really surprised by how much I liked the pork shoulder; it was tender and the sauce paired really well with the meat. I went back to get seconds of the meat and the garlic breadsticks. The dessert was incredible, and with eight different options, who could go wrong? I chose the vanilla bean cheesecake, double chocolate bread pudding and some chocolate cookies. You better believe I went back for seconds. I would also advise folks who are new to the Mayfield Dinner Theatre to save some dessert for the intermission, and have a snack while waiting for the show to resume.

dessert at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre

The show was called Musicians Gone Wild: Rock the Canyon and it was about an area called Laurel Canyon in California in the 1960’s that produced folk and folk rock music. Artists like The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Joni Mitchell and Crosby and many more all passed through the Canyon at some point to make music. The show was set with the band and its members (Harley Symington, Derek Stremel, Mark Sterling, Lisa MacDougall, Paul Lamoureux, Steve Hoy) on stage with the additional four main cast members (John Banister, Pamela Gordon, Andrea House, Brad Wiebe).

Because the show was a concert, the cast sang covered songs from that time period for almost the entire length of the show, only stopping to introduce the songs. This got a little confusing for me, because they introduced how the song came to be but not who sang it, so I had no idea who any of the people were. I sat there listening to the music, but not quite fully present because I was trying to understand what was going on. 

At the intermission, my family – who were also a bit confused – ate our saved desserts and figured out that the picture of the original artist was projected behind the cast member to indicate who the songwriter was. This is only helpful if you know the face of the original artist, and I did not. 

The second half was better because I understood more of what was happening. The band had their own speaking roles and songs to perform in addition to the cast members, which I appreciated. The sound was great. There were many instruments used like the accordion, the violin, the trumpet, along with the guitar, piano, and drums of a normal band. Everyone had really beautiful voices to listen to. I didn’t know many of the songs that were performed, but I still liked listening to the music. Some of my family didn’t like the show as much because they didn’t know the songs, and my grandfather really enjoyed it because he grew up with these songs. 

I’d tell people who were interested in going that if you enjoy the artists from the 1960’s or just enjoy listening to beautiful voices then this show would be great for you, but if knowing the songs beforehand is what makes a good concert, then I’d suggest skipping it. 

The next show is Canada Rocks! The Reboot and I greatly enjoyed going to see it for the first time a couple of years ago. It had fun little Canadian inside jokes, skits and stereotypes, and music from Canadian artists. So if Musicians Gone Wild: Rock the Canyon isn’t for you, I can fully recommend the next show for you, which runs from November 14, 2023 – January 28, 2024.

Musicians Gone Wild: Rock the Canyon runs: September 5 – November 5, 2023

Price: $70.00-$85.00 

Time: 5:30 – 7:30 buffet. 7:30 – 9:45 show with 15 minute intermission. (evening showing)

Address: 16615 109 Avenue NW Edmonton, AB

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