This wham bam thank you ma’am musical is set in the gritty, glamorous 1980’s. The story, (narrated by a Present day Carole Pope looking back on her Rockstar years) centers around her brother Howie, who moved to New York City in pursuit of rock n’ roll, sexual freedom and a new life. He lands in the middle of the AIDs crisis, becomes a founding member of queer activist group ACT UP, and tragically sacrifices his young life for love.

Using the hits of Rough Trade, along with Canadian Songwriter Hall of famer Carole Pope’s newer compositions,  the show examines  the role we all play in remembering the ones we loved while advancing the causes they cared about the most. With incredible, glamorous 80s design elements bring to life the best looks and sounds of the 1980s, the show takes us back in time to an era when art and activism coalesced around a global pandemic that robbed the world of thousands of our brothers, sisters and best friends.

THE ORIGIN STORY FOR ROUGH TRADE THE MUSICAL: HISTORY, THEMES and STORY

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