The Nine Lives of Ross Fordham is the inspiring true story of one man’s never-ending dance with death. A collection of 10 new original songs are interwoven with stories that highlight each of Ross’ “nine lives” and the extraordinary details of each brush with death.
The stories and songs are all performed by a musical merry band of Ross Fordham’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Ross’ grandsons, Jason and Brandon McGibbon, dreamt about an album of songs capturing the epic tales around their grandfather’s life. As they began to collect the stories however, they started to realize that a collection of songs may not be enough to capture the incredible details in their fullness. They started with a painted portrait of Ross, done by his son, artist Mark Fordham, for inspiration. Then, they began to collect old newspaper clippings and chat with numerous family members. They then recruited great-grandchildren Liam and TJ McGibbon to help round up the final details, assemble the songs and stories and, with the help of director and granddaughter in law, Nathalie Toriel, bring them to life on stage. With an over 90 year biography, and stories that span Toronto, Montreal, the shores of Georgian Bay and even Hamilton, what emerged was a distinctly Canadian tale. Despite the ever present threat of death, these songs and stories include moments that are astounding, others that are touching and some that are uproariously funny. The show begs the question,
“…was Ross’ life one that you would consider extraordinarily lucky? Or one that was extraordinarily unlucky? Hard to say, but there is one thing we know for sure… It was extraordinary.”
