By Megan Phillips
Has this ever happened to you?
It’s your average Tuesday afternoon in July, 2014. You’re sitting outside Tarragon Theatre, in that awkward interval between Fringe shows where it’s too hot to go anywhere else, but too cool inside. So you do what any average Fringe-goer would do: sit at the patio, drink a cider, and journal about how your sketch group is falling apart while you are powerless at being as much of a jerk to them as they are to you – while tears are streaming down your face.
You’re journaling because your therapist told you it would help, and all you want is an answer to how you’re going to fix this situation, and also humanity is the worst, and you’re really on a roll … when all of a sudden, the clouds part. And you’re smacked with 3 truths:
- You are going to write a musical theatre song cycle called “People Suck”.
- It’s going to solve all the world’s problems.
- You need to ask Peter Cavell, your ridiculously talented and funny buddy from university (who you randomly run into on the street every couple of years, so you finally just decided to swap numbers) to write it with you, or else this entire thing will be a waste.
So you immediately text Pete’s landline (you forget he still does not have a cell phone), and two days later, you head to his studio and say, “I want to write a musical and do it at next year’s Fringe, and you’re going to be my partner.”
And Pete kind of sighs – he’s just had a kid and bought a house, and you both live across the country from each other – and he says, “I’m not sure I have the time or energy these days. My life is bonkers. But why don’t you tell me what it’s about, and maybe I can hook you up with the right person.”
So you say, “It’s a musical theatre song cycle.”
He says, “Ok… what’s it called?”
You say, “People Suck.”
*bell tone*
And Pete says, “I’m in.”
You say, “Don’t you want to know anything else about it?”
Pete says, “Nope. It’s perfect. Let’s get to work.”
So fast-forward, one year later. July 2015. Not only is the show written, but it’s won pretty much every award it can, including the Ed Mirvish Entrepreneurial Award for the most tickets sold of any show that entire Fringe. It’s got an all-star cast, and the show’s creation and production has been perhaps the most joyous experience either of you has ever had. It has catapulted past every expectation you had, and you get optioned by a famous entertainment company to write a 90-minute version. It’s time for the WORLD to see People Suck: a musical airing of grievances!!!!
Annnd … fast-forward another year. And another. The team that green-lit you has been laid off. No festivals are accepting you. You’re not sure what’s next. The show gets mounted twice in Australia in 2019, and you giddily start to plan for Edinburgh in Summer 2020. But then 2020 comes along, and EVERYONE’s plans go out the window. And the show’s trajectory fizzles out again.
And then 2021 passes, then 2022…2023…2024. By now, the world has changed enormously. And you’ve pretty much given up hope on your second truth of making all the world’s problems go away. But maybe 1 & 3 were enough? Maybe your show was supposed to burn brightly but briefly, and it’s time to move on?
So you both hang up your hats and dissolve your partnership.
And then … you just happen to see a posting in January 2025 by indie musical theatre titan Derrick Chua, announcing a brand-new all-Canadian musical initiative at the Toronto Fringe. You and Pete simultaneously realize that “People Suck” qualifies. So you throw your name in the hat and…
You … get … drawn.
Gulp.
Suddenly, those chills you first experienced ten years ago are baaa-yaaack. IT’S HAPPENING!
So you immediately go into rewrites, completely gutting some songs to make everything work in today’s climate. (It turns out songs about kooky conspiracy theories are no longer the laugh-riot they were in 2015!)
You laser-focus your joint vision for the show. You form a team of star-studded calibre – signing on people from such shows as Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away. You level up in every possible way – as artists, as partners, and as humans – and your music sounds light years beyond anything you ever thought it could.
Suddenly, your truths are manifesting in front of your very eyes, and you cannot WAIT to bring People Suck: a musical airing of grievances back to Toronto bigger, better, and more timely than ever.
Like I said … just your average Tuesday. One that I’m sure has happened to you, too, right?
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So listen. We can all agree people are ten thousand times suckier than they were ten years ago. And we can also agree that there’s not a lot we can do about it. But what we can do is find a way to laugh, cry, and commiserate with good art.
People Suck: a musical airing of grievances allows us – and you – to do exactly that…and we are SO excited to share it with you. So go ahead, click that link (peoplesuckmusical.com), and buy those tickets.
Because you never know where an average Tuesday afternoon will take you.
People Suck: a musical airing of grievances, created by Peter Cavell and Megan Phillips, directed by Jessica Sherman and part of the New Canadian Musicals showcase, runs at Theatre Passe Muraille from July 2-13, 2025. Tickets and show times are available on fringetoronto.com.
© Megan Phillips, Sesaya Arts Magazine 2025
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Comedian, writer, and performer Megan Phillips is the best friend you didn’t even know you needed! Trained in Musical Theatre Performance at Mountview Academy in London, UK, Megan tours solo shows, standup, and sketch comedy. Fancy thingies of note: People Suck (co-written with Pete, won Ed Mirvish Award, Best of Fringe, Patron’s Pick, produced by Salty Theatre – Melbourne, AUS); NYC sketch team Get Me a F*cking Shovel, directed by thrice-Emmy-nominated Ana Breton, NYC Sketchfest pick; solo show Grease, Too!, won Patron’s Pick and Sold Out Show awards, Orlando Fringe Festival. Megan really, really, REALLY loves wombats.
