If you are in the New Brunswick area from July 30th to Aug 15th, then you might want to check out a little play that might piqué the interest of car enthusiasts everywhere. Okay, everywhere is a little bit of an exaggeration, but some people might be interested. The Playhouse in Fredericton, New Brunswick is proud to bring its people, “The Bricklin”. Sound familiar? It should.

The Bricklin Safety Vehicle-1was a safety car built in New Brunswick, Canada from 1974-1976. It was created by Malcolm Bricklin, an American millionaire with apparently had nothing better to do with his time. Although Bricklin’s goal was to build a safe and economical sports car, what he ended up doing was building a car that was safe, but way too heavy. Inevitably, he got in way over his head and ended up costing the New Brunswick government tons of money.

The story was just too good to pass up and so this little tale was turned into a musical. Yes, you read that right. It is now a musical. Tim Yerxa, the Playhouse’s executive director, says they were going for a “cabaret-meets-disco-meets-car-show vibe.” Insert chuckle here.

The story obviously includes Malcolm Bricklin and his “enthusiastic backer,” Richard Hatfield as the story tells how these two chaps acquired the money needed to start and continue this venture for the measly numbers of years it was kept alive. The playwright even managed to slip in a love story while he was at it.

The biggest character in the show is a safety orange SV-1 whose gull-wing doors and headlights are supposedly set to operate during the show. Good luck with that, fellas. Way to put a funny spin on a major catastrophe.

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