This performance is part of the BrokerLink Presentation Series and is show sponsored by Camrose Morning News.
*Active service members, Veterans, Legion members, Cadets, and Health Service workers can save up to 20%! Use the promo code POPPY at checkout!*
This show will be livestreamed – Get your digital ticket to see the show LIVE from home!
About Billy Bishop Goes to War
Billy Bishop Goes to War is The Governor General’s and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award‐winning musical documenting the heroic First World War exploits of Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop. Written by Order of Canada recipient John Gray with former Corner Gas star Eric Peterson, the play has been the recipient of multiple awards since it premiered in 1978 and is one of Canada’s most successful musical dramas of all time. Billy Bishop Goes to War continues to re‐create this true war‐time story for new generations of theatre audiences as it attempts to reconcile the horrors of battle with the ecstasy of flying, in the process capturing the complex but indomitable human spirit of its unlikely hero. Billy Bishop Goes to War is a truly heart-warming, often funny, always captivating narrative of a genuine Canadian World War One flying ace. It is told through the eyes of Billy Bishop, who at the age of 21 left Owen Sound, Ontario to fight the Hun in the muddy war in Europe. While floundering in the mud with his cavalry horse, he saw a British pilot land lightly in a field and take off again — all clean, no mud — he immediately transferred to the Royal Air Force, where he was told the average lifespan of a pilot was 11 days. He signed up anyway and became one of only a handful of Canadian pilots in that war. William Avery ‘Billy’ Bishop was officially credited with 72 victorious flying missions, making him the top Canadian ace in the First World War, and one of the few Canadian pilots to ever win the Victoria Cross for his daring early morning solo attack on a German Aerodrome in 1917. The play stars actors Damon Calderwood and Chris Robson of Ace Productions, a British Columbia‐based, small‐cast touring musical theatre company. Billy Bishop Goes to War premiered in November 1978, at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Since then, it has gone on to be one of two internationally acclaimed Canadian musicals — the other being Anne of Green Gables. Billy Bishop Goes to War was presented with the 1981 Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Award, the 1982 Chalmers Canadian Play Award and the 1983 Governor General’s Award for drama. Billy Bishop was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on February 8, 1894 and died on September 11, 1956 in Florida at age 62. When WWI broke out in 1914 he joined the Mississauga Horse Cavalry Regiment, then transferred to 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles, a mounted infantry unit and arrived in Plymouth Harbour in England on June 23, 1915. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps a few months later. During the period of time he flew over France he claimed 72 victories, won the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order and the Victoria Cross, was promoted to Major and then Lieutenant-Colonel. The Canadian Government was concerned that if he were to be killed, public morale at home regarding the war would plummet, and much to his chagrin he was sent back to England in 1918.
*Active service members, Legion members, Cadets, and Health Service workers can save up to 20%! Use the promo code POPPY at checkout!*
Memories from our Staff (Alyson Ryan – Box Office Attendant)
We are so excited to share our Box Office Attendant, Alyson Ryan’s fantastic review of “Bill Bishop Goes To War”!
When I heard that the Lougheed Performing Arts Centre was presenting “Billy Bishop Goes To War” it took me back 45 years to when I was attending university in Ottawa and living with my oldest sister and her family. I had the opportunity to go with them to see the [musical], which starred Eric Peterson at that time. I remember how it made an impression on me and how, afterwards, my young nephews would go about the house singing lines from the various songs: “If it’s good enough for Britain, then it’s good enough for us…The Canadian boys are lining up, they’re lining up for war, two, three, four, Canadian boys are off to war!”
I am looking forward to seeing it again (45 years later!) and would recommend it for all to see!
~Alyson Ryan, Box Office Attendant~
Thank you, Alyson, for sharing your experience! We’re thrilled to present this memorable show as part of the BrokerLink Presentation Series (and special thanks to our show sponsor, Camrose Morning News!).
Do you have your tickets yet?! If not, there’s still time to grab some! Join Alyson and others on November 13th for a great time filled with memorable songs you’ll leave singing for years to come! 
*Active service members, Veterans, Legion members, Cadets, and Health Service workers can save up to 20%! Use the promo code POPPY at checkout!*
This performance is part of the BrokerLink Presentation Series and is show sponsored by Camrose Morning News.
