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The new work, as you may have deduced, is a parody of Phantom of the Opera with a Western twang.

“It’s really Phantom of the Opera in a Calgary opry house,” said Kelly during a break in rehearsal last week. “We’ve got our country starlet, Chrissy Day, and the disturbed, lovesick, petulant Phantom who’s obsessed with her.”

The cast features seven Ottawa actors, includingAmy Osborne as sweet-voiced Chrissy and Justin Ralph as the banjo-playing Phantom. Featured in the house band are keyboardist Jasen Colson, musical director/guitarist Joel Elliott, bassist Chris Lucas and Lost to the River’s Sean Tansey on drums.

The script is peppered with jokes and gags that might make you groan more often than laugh, but that’s perfectly fine with Kelly.

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“If I laugh out loud at my own stuff, then I know it must be OK,” Kelly said, explaining his creative process. “I plowed through the whole draft pretty quick, and went back and refined the jokes. Not that the jokes are refined at all.”

Next to the dumb wisecracks, the songs are surprisingly good. They’re written by the show’s musical director, Ottawa singer-songwriter Joel Elliott, aka Jumpin’ Joel Flash, who met Kelly when he was cast in the theatrical production of My Fair Zombie. It was his first experience with musical theatre.

“I loved it,” Elliott said. “And when it was over, Brett asked if I had any interest in writing a score. I had no experience, so I said yes.”

Once he had the script in hand, Elliott wrote 10 songs on acoustic guitar and did quick recordings. “I’d never song-written with instructions before,” he said. “It was nice not starting from scratch. You have a blueprint, and I just tried to toss in humour with the lyrics because it’s a comedy. It had to be just as funny as the script.”