The Stage is Right for Melody McArthur

Melody McArthur’s first audition ever was for an original production at Northwestern Polytechnic. “I got the lead part,” she remembers. “It was a really pivotal moment for me.”

Now, Melody is on her way to the off-Broadway premiere of Bear Grease, playing the lead role of Sandy in the all-Indigenous take on the classic movie musical. How she went from a Grande Prairie stage to centre stage in New York is a story of hard work, a commitment to making music, and the courage to step outside her comfort zone.

Melody, a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8, came to the NWP campus in 2009, strategically choosing to start her post-secondary career in a smaller centre. With roots in the hamlet of Canyon Creek and school days in Slave Lake, Melody instinctively knew Grande Prairie would be a smart place to move towards adulthood. “It’s a city with a small-town feel,” she says.

Northwestern was a place of transformation for Melody, especially in the drama classroom of former professor Annie Smith. “There was a lot of love in that room,” Melody recalls, and the opportunity to be someone different. 

“Trying new characters lets you explore thoughts and emotions, and say things you’d never say.”

Melody also found an important resource in what was then called Aboriginal Student Services. “They were super helpful, keeping me grounded with support and friendship,” she says. She uses the Cree word wahkohtowin – kinship, making someone welcome – to describe what their support meant to her.

After finding her footing at NWP, Melody continued to the University of Alberta, where she graduated in 2015 with a degree in psychology and sociology. She uses that degree to write Gladue reports for Alberta Justice, setting her own hours as a small business owner. At first, that day job helped subsidize her creative endeavours, but now, performing is her full-time gig with report writing on the side.

Telling Melody’s story without mentioning music, though, is like watching Grease with the sound off. Melody has been singing and performing since she was a toddler. Local talent shows prepared her for that first NWP role, the starring part in an original musical called Sonny’s Song. In 2014, she began recording and now has six albums and a long list of awards and accolades to her name.

Melody feels her newly-released sixth album, Revelations, is her best work yet. She wrote almost every track, and calls it a blend of pop and roots with some country influence. She’s explored hip hop and R&B on previous albums, and counts her performance on the National Music Centre stage in Calgary as a career highlight.

Bear Grease has led to other memorable stages: the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Winnipeg’s Burton Cummings Theatre were stand-outs among her nearly three years touring with the company. Melody credits her “relentless” work ethic in helping her gain a place in the production, including a move from understudy to lead.

Melody is excited to head to New York and plans to explore the city when time allows. “It’s eight shows a week for a two-month minimum,” she explains, with the possibility for a longer run.

Singing, songwriting, acting and more - how does she do it? “Magic happens outside the comfort zone; I do things afraid,” Melody says. “You never know what someone on the other end of an application or audition is looking for. It could be you.”