Paul Decarie has lived in the rough Downtown Eastside for 15 years, but it wasn’t until he heard the music and listened to the lyrics that he understood how his neighbourhood became more than a collection of streets and alleys. “We live there and we know it is our home and where our friends and family live,” said Decarie, 51, who attended the play’s recent preview. “We all have our own histories of how we got there, but I don’t think many of us knew about the history of the Downtown Eastside.”

In writing the songs for Bruce — The Musical, Bill Sample learned about activist Bruce Eriksen. What he discovered was that Eriksen was a recovered alcoholic who lived in the rundown Downtown Eastside. His exposure to the derelicts and drunks and addicts he lived among made him understand that here was a neighbourhood without hope. It inspired in him a goal to cultivate a community spirit that could overcome the eastside’s problems. Along the way, Eriksen married politician Libby Davies and by her became a father.