Musical explores the life of fur trader

A musical about David Thompson? Song-and-dance numbers about a fur trader, mapmaker and explorer?

Why not?

After nine years of grant-writing, playwriting, song-writing, set-making and rehearsal, it’s about to happen.

“DownRiver!!” — the David Thompson musical sponsored by CREATE, a Newport, Wash., arts organization — debuts Saturday and Sunday in Newport.

It continues through July 25 with performances at the Kalispel powwow grounds in Usk, Wash., the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane and the Cutter Theatre in Metaline Falls.

It’s no small project. Here are some details:

• It has 26 cast members, most of whom are from Pend Oreille County.

• Minnesota folk singer and songwriter Charlie Maguire has written a full musical score.

• Spokane writer Kimberly Hinton has written the original script.

• It follows Thompson’s life from age 14 to 86.

And it all came about because Martha Nichols, the executive producer, heard a lecture by Jack Nisbet, the author of “Sources of the River,” a book about Thompson, about nine years ago.

“When I finished hearing it I was so excited I said, ‘We have to do a musical!’ ” said Nichols. “And people said, ‘That’s a crazy idea.’ “

Not for Nichols. She immediately went to work writing grants. She got money from the Washington State Arts Commission and the American Composers Forum. Then she got support form 18 other community organizations and corporations, including the Kalispel Tribe and Teck Cominco Ltd.

She sold them on the project’s artistic, historical and civic value.

“I want this to be a platform for the whole area to get together to celebrate Thompson,” said Nichols. “We don’t have Lewis and Clark, but we have David Thompson.”

In many ways, Thompson’s story is every bit as compelling.

The musical will follow the main events of Thompson’s life: his many journeys to this area on trading missions in the early 1800s, his voyage down the Columbia, his marriage and children, and the making of his influential map of the region.

It is not, however, intended to be historically rigorous. It’s a fictionalized, musical version of Thompson’s life. For a historical perspective, Nisbet will give a lecture after the July 17 performance at the MAC. Other than that, Nisbet has not been involved in the musical.

The show has already been through two playwrights. The first script didn’t work out, so another one was commissioned from Hinton, who produced “a wonderful script in a short amount of time,” said Nichols.

Nichols found Maguire by way of Continental Harmony, a nationwide program which awards grants to composers. Maguire wrote the entire score and he also spent six weeks doing a residency in the Newport, Cusick and Selkirk schools.

“His songs are very much folk music and very singable,” said Nichols.

One song, “Far Away,” was composed with the Frog Island Singers of the Kalispel Tribe. It begins with the voyageurs singing and then segues into Native American drumming. The Frog Island Singers will be present to perform the song at the Kalispel reservation, but their performance will be recorded for the other shows.

Maguire does not perform in the musical but will attend several performances.

Chris LeBlanc of Airway Heights plays Thompson, a demanding role because he must portray him through nearly seven decades.

One challenge cropped up about three weeks ago. The director, Sara Edlin-Marlowe, quit over artistic differences. A new director, Tara Leininger, the wife of musical director Donivan Johnson, took over.

“We changed scripts at an inconvenient time and we changed directors at an inconvenient time,” said Nichols. “But as the old saying goes, if it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger.”

Another challenge comes from the fact that the show will be performed in four different venues, two of which are outdoors (the MAC and the reservation). So the sets, including a large replica of Thompson’s famous map, must be portable.

“We hope it doesn’t blow over and we hope it doesn’t rain,” said Nichols.

She predicts the show will have even more venues eventually.

“I hope it will be such a smashing success that one of the theatrical organizations will want to pick it up and do it every year or every other year,” she said.