Mel Atkey was a composer and lyricist, who wrote two books on musical theatre: Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre and A Million Miles from Broadway: Musical Theatre Beyond New York and London. He also wrote When We Both Got to Heaven, a book on his great-great-great-grandfather James Atkey, an early missionary in Ontario, along with a book about his adventures in Taiwan when he ran away to join the circus! But his biggest passion was musical theatre, leading him to London, U.K., where he lived for the past 30-plus years. Mel wrote several musicals and dozens of songs. Although he struggled to get his plays produced, he left behind a legacy of beautiful music and was well known in theatre circles for his contributions. Early in Mel’s career, composer Stephen Schwartz wrote, "As a composer, you show enormous promise — you have a wonderful gift for melody, great musicality, a good sense of how to use a chorus to make a song interesting; in short, I feel you have the potential for a real career as a theatre composer. Lucky you — such talents are rarer than you know."
Mel was born in Vancouver and grew up in Ladner, BC. His interest in musical theatre began while he was at Delta Secondary, where he produced his own play. He attended Douglas College, began his career as a theatre critic in Vancouver, then lived in Toronto for several years, where he workshopped one of his plays with James Doohan of Star Trek fame, before moving to London in 1991. There, he worked many years in West End theatres to pay the bills while writing musicals and books. Mel wrote the music for A Little Princess and O! Pioneers, both of which were collaborations with the late director Robert Sickinger, and were produced off-Broadway in New York. His two-character musical, Perfect Timing, was a finalist in the Musical of the Year competition in Aarhus, Denmark, and was showcased at Greenwich Theatre, London. His work has been shortlisted for the Vivian Ellis Prize, the Quest for New Musicals, the Ken Hill Prize, and Musical Stairs. Late in life, he earned a master’s degree in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Mel was a gentle soul who loved cats, trains, music, writing, and family. He is deeply missed by his two sisters, his extended family, and by his theatre colleagues in Canada and around the world.
