You’re Just a Place That I Know retraces a refugee story through song, at the BMO Theatre Centre from January 21 to February 1
Adrian Glynn McMorran’s moving theatre-concert pays tribute to his Ukraine-born grandparents, complete with a choir and traditional instruments
You’re Just a Place That I Know
The Arts Club Theatre Company presents You’re Just a Place That I Know at the Olympic Village Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre from January 21 to February 1
SINGER-SONGWRITER ADRIAN GLYNN McMorran's Ukrainian grandparents left their homeland during World War II to begin life in Canada—and he’s paid tribute to them not just in an album, but in a theatre-concert of the same name.
As he told Stir when he launched the project with performances of You’re Just a Place That I Know in 2024, “a good part of this album is an immigrant story, of surviving the horrors of war and starting life anew somewhere else, which is obviously very true for a lot of Ukrainians right now—also very true for a lot of people from other countries.”
Now his ode to his ancestors—complete with a multigenerational choir and a seven-piece band with traditional Ukrainian instruments such as the bandura and lira—is hitting the Arts Club’s intimate Olympic Village Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.
Interweaving songs and stories, You’re Just a Place That I Know follows his grandparents as they flee the Nazi occupation of Ukraine during the Second World War and find their way to Canada after meeting in an Allied camp for displaced people.
Amazingly, the songs—which range from the rousing and rock-driven to the serene—were finished before the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they’ve gained new meaning as the current Russo-Ukrainian war continues to feed Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
The standout musical talent onstage includes Beverly Dobrinsky, Marlene Ginader, Chelsea Rose Winsby. and Sally Zori. As for Glynn McMorran, you know him from his work with the criticially lauded local folk band the Fugitives, while his own first full-length record, Bruise, won him a nomination for emerging artist of the year at the Canadian Independent Music Awards. 
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