The Origin Story

About the Show

A Musical Set in the 1980s AIDS Pandemic

Set against the backdrop of Toronto's punk and new wave scene in the early 1980s, Rough Trade The Musical follows the rise of a trailblazing rock band as the AIDS crisis begins to devastate the LGBTQ+ community around them.

Equal parts celebration and elegy, the show weaves together the iconic catalog of Carole Pope and Rough Trade — four Juno Award winners, multiple gold and platinum records, and a legacy of radical honesty — with new songs written in the raw aftermath of devastating personal loss.

Featuring characters drawn from the LGBTQ+ community navigating love, art, activism, and grief, the musical honors those who were lost while celebrating the ferocious spirit that refused to be silenced.