There were no tears shed at the 10th, and what could be final staging of the musical showcase Simply Myrna which was held at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston, last Saturday,

The event’s conceptualiser, jazz chanteuse Myrna Hague-Bradshaw bid a strong farewell to the show she has presented for a decade in front of an audience hopeful that she will continue.

“It’s been 10 years, I know that everybody likes the show and would like it to go on, but I think perhaps after ten years it might be time to regroup and refocus, and maybe rethink of how we can re-present Myrna, so we’re going to take a break,” Hague-Bradshaw told the Jamaica Observer.

While she didn’t rule out the show returning, Hague- Bradshaw cited personal reasons for stepping away from the production.

“Because my PhD has not yet been published and I think the university is getting tired of me having it just on the shelf, so the PhD needs to be published and I think I want to start working on my autobiography,” she said.

Hague- Bradshaw received her doctorate in Cultural Studies from the University of the West Indies in 2015 with a thesis which examined jazz in the Caribbean. Her doctoral work explored the history, politics, and socialisation of jazz in the region, with her research showing that jazz is not a product of the United States but rather originated here in the Caribbean.

Executive producer Lennon Crooks explained that Simply Myrna was originally slated for a five-year run, but the demand for the cabaret show and Hague-Bradshaw’s distinctive musical styling allowed it to continue for five more.

These extra years have allowed Hague-Bradshaw to experiment with the format, try everything she wanted to, with varying degrees success.

“We tried a couple of things that didn’t quite work, for instance we went to Mandeville for instance and that didn’t quite work out. We also tried to do two nights, Saturday and Sunday, that didn’t work out and then we went to Devon House. That was fun because it was under the stars and that was kind of fresh and innovative as well, so we’ve tried a couple of different things over the ten years because you always want to keep pushing the envelope,” said Hague Bradshaw.

With all that history it was the first and the last events that have stuck with her the most.

“The first year, because it was exciting and innovative and we did things we hadn’t done before, so the first year is still my favourite. I loved this last year. I felt very free this time, maybe because it was the ten year mark, I felt very relaxed and comfortable with the songs that I chose with my wonderful band,” she continued.

The 10th staging saw a significant nod to that nostalgia as Hague-Bradshaw brought back the original acts from that seminal first show, Dean Fraser, The Cari-Folk Singers and her special surprise guest, pianist Marjorie Whylie.

“My favourite song of the night was I Dreamed A Dream,” Hague-Bradshaw shared.