Welcome to Cherry Lane
“Let Me Be Frank!” a new musical written and composed by Janel Rae Filipiak
Let Me Be Frank! follows 7 hungry women as they traverse through a decade, hanging on either ends of life together; all in the shade of old pine trees amidst a garden with a cunning spirit…
Courage.
Passion.
Power.
Transformation.
JOIN US
on Thursday, August 1st for an exciting fundraising event! We have a very special auction full of items & energy from some of the greatest artists in Canada along with Toronto’s very best performers to make your night truly unforgettable. Our goal for the evening is to raise $10,000 for our first section of filming this fall. With your help we can begin telling a deeply important and needed story.
Photo’s taken by: Greg Lehming
LMBF! is the screenplay for a musical movie currently in financing and development stages.
We are looking for production companies, distributors and financiers to come on board and turn this dream into a movie we can catch in theatres. We are open and excited to have conversations with anyone, please introduce yourself. I would love to meet you and talk!
Say hello!
Checkout highlights from our magical evening
On November 19th, our team gathered together to present the musical movie read through of Let Me Be Frank! formerly known as Marianne. For those of you who were able to make it, it is with the deepest appreciation and love that I thank you for your time, your presence and hearts. For those of you out of town, or who couldn’t make it last minute, enjoy this short highlight video of our incredibly brilliant cast as they maneuver the world of LMBF! and invite you all to Cherry Lane.
WHO IS JANEL?
Fantastic. Whimsical. Feisty. Gutsy. Entrancing. Gremlinish
Janel Rae has written and self produced 3 albums, available on all streaming platforms; along with directing and starring in over 15 music videos of her own compositions. Her career as a musician, actor and writer began at the age of 5. She is determined to create the movies she yearned for at that time. Somewhere to explore what it means to be a young girl hiding in the trees. A dreamer in a small town, wishing on a star and her own two feet to get her out. This is Janel’s debut screenplay and musical. She is eager to see it on screens and needs your support. If you would like to contribute to this epic journey …
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN
IN A WORLD ON FIRE
An old Edison bulb clicks on in the top left corner of the attic. A thud and a giggle from a woman in her 70’s is heard through the — “Damn I need to fix that”.
The sound of an old printer snorting. “Help Wanted” inked on the back of old scripts tumble down the steps of the third floor home cornered on the end of the easement road. Not far behind, comes Marianne sliding down, bum on the broken scanner, as though winter was calling for her toboggan back!
A loud thump nips a near by ear. An eager knock on the door “Hello! Is anybody alive in there?... She’s probably dead.” Twelve year old whipper snapper Franky picks her fingernails as the door slowly creaks open. “I need help” whispers Marianne from below, twisted like a frog on the welcome mat.
LMBF! is a sequence of budding conversations between a small neighbourhood of women outside Kelowna B.C. Three vivacious homes, an abandoned tree fort, an up and coming restaurant and a porch that collects 7 women’s lives. Intertwining between diverse perspectives of womanhood, our through line is the friendship of two electric women (Marianne and Franky) as they attempt to see the world through each other’s eyes though their age gap spans 58 years.
Let me share these women with you, so you can get a sense of their importance to exist through story and song.
M E E T T H E
C H A R A C T E R S
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Marianne
(She/Her) 70-80 years old. We find her building a waterline to feed the community garden. Growing up she was a translator in Geneva after giving up her dream to be a performer when her parent’s sold their piano before falling into poverty. She shares her political and philosophical wisdom through journal entries she left as a young girl.
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Franky
(She/They) 12-22 years old. She is always trying to run, escape the life she’s been given. She is an aspiring writer however, her true talents lay in her angry painting. She builds her ideal life on canvas.
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Tanaka
(She/Her) 13-23 years old. She is the daughter of Jaya and is on a path of discovering her queerness. She makes clothing and dreams of designing accessible and sustainable fashion along with capturing it all on camera. She is scared to admit her love for Franky. She wants to be free of her family’s grasp.
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A
(She/Her) 28-38 years old. A met Scarlet at 16 while trying to pursue a music career in New York. A is rambunctious, impulsive, artistic, drinks and drinks with her friend Scarlet, all while questioning what she is actually doing with her life. She is lost, angry and just beginning to address her suppressed parental trauma.
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Jaya
(She/Her) 55-65 years old. A driven woman who has immigrated from Zimbabwe, Jaya loves being a mother and often hates being a wife. She wants to build a safe environment for her daughter but is scared she will lose her. She is getting sick from worrying about her. She sometimes regrets building a family.
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June
(She/Her) 45-55 years old. Marianne’s daughter. She has been lonely for a long time. She dreams of being a chef and is opening a restaurant on her own. Her family has made her cold. She scratches her thighs to release her anxiety, to grieve. She doesn’t know how to love herself.
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Scarlet
(She/her) 32-42 years old. She is Franky’s adopted mother. When she found Franky in New York, while pursuing her dreams of being a dancer, because of her own health, she thought this may be the only time to have a child and so she left New York behind. She is strong, secure and presents an outer shell of durability when in fact her insides are soft, sad and coping through alcohol.
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The Garden
The houses on Cherry Lane are guarded by the Garden. She holds the women through the decade. Nurturing them, providing shade, taking on their overflowings and building strong roots of security. The women lean on her as they tear themselves a part and reknit their insides.
