Introducing song and dance to the set of Murdoch Mysteries required writer Paul Aitken to solve a mystery of his own.

“I had noticed the shows that were doing those [musicals], weren’t particularly good at coming up with a reason for why people were just breaking into song,” he tells Playback Daily. “So I wasn’t going to actually pitch this until I came up with a concept that was actually baked into the show itself.”

“Why is Everybody Singing?” marks the first musical episode for the Shaftesbury-produced series. The episode debuted on CBC Monday (March 25), and is now available to stream on CBC Gem.

The script and songs were written by Aitken. The music was produced and arranged by Jono Grant, with direction and score by Robert Carli. Laurie Lynd directed the episode, which was produced by Jeremy Hood and Julie Lacey. Executive producers include Shaftesbury chairman and president Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Simon McNabb, showrunner Peter Mitchell and stars Yannick Bisson and Hélène Joy.

Pulling off a musical was always going to be an “ambitious undertaking,” says Jennings, and it required a larger budget — approximately $400,000 more than a typical Murdoch episode.

“We made the decision as a company that this was going to be something special for Murdoch fans around the world,” she says. “And we were going to make that investment.”

Jennings says that Murdoch Mysteries was the right show to do a musical episode because of its tone and sense of humour. She adds that the decision was made easy by the fact that even “after 17 years, Murdoch Mysteries is flourishing and ratings are strong.”

Aitken first started thinking of a musical during season eight. He eventually pitched it in season 10, saying that Jennings was on board for the idea. The prodco initially planned the episode for season 13, but those plans were derailed due to the pandemic. By season 17, Aitken had thoroughly honed the premise and was ready to try again.

The episode sees Detective Murdoch (Bisson) fall into a coma after being shot in the head. The injury transforms all of the conversations around his hospital bed into songs, which drives the story.

With concept and script clear, they took the idea to the CBC, which Jennings says was “very supportive.” The broadcast partners in the U.K. and U.S. were also on board, as was sales agent ITV Studio Global Entertainment, she adds.

“When you’re making musicals, you’re going be compared to Buffy [the Vampire Slayer], you’re going to be compared to Star Trek,” says Jennings. “The list of shows that have done this, you’re going be compared to all of them. So the bar was high and we were ready.”

The musical features the regular eight cast members — Bisson, Hélène Joy, Jonny Harris, Thomas Craig, Lachlan Murdoch, Daniel Maslany, Shanice Banton and Arwen Humphreys — and an additional 14 performers, including street chorus dancers and constables.

Rehearsals, choreography, and time in the recording studio meant the producers had to pinch “about a day” from another episode. The team even did a table read, which it hadn’t done since the COVID-19 pandemic, as most of the cast members were hearing the songs for the first time.

For many of them it was the first time singing and Aitken says he was impressed at how they could all hit the right pitch. He says the voice he enjoyed the most was Colin Mochrie, who made a guest appearance on the episode. “He was just so comically menacing,” says Aiken.

An official 40-minute soundtrack, including the 14 original songs from the episode, eight original score tracks with dialogue and the re-orchestrated Murdoch Mysteries opening theme song will be released globally on April 8. The soundtrack is distributed by Sony Music Entertainment subsidiary The Orchard. The soundtrack is produced by Ron Proulx and Jennings is executive producer.

Photo courtesy of Shaftesbury