Celebrity News:

Stories about celebrity stalking generally come in two varieties. There's the they-killed-our-princess strain, out of which celebrities themselves made hay in the months after Diana's death. And there's the crazed-fan narrative, with pictures of an unkempt-looking fan and quotes about picking up secret messages from the star's songs or movies.

But what if a celebrity really were sending out messages like that? What if they weren't secret? What if they were being sent out to every fan as a fundamental part of the celebrity publicity machine?

That's the question posed by a new play from Paul Ledoux and David Young, which opened yesterday at the Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary. Still Desire You is a reimagining of the pair's 1980s hit docu-musical, I Love You, Anne Murray, about a man who's convinced Murray loves him. According to Erin McGrath, who plays the singer Rose, "The play really asks us to look at the celebrity's responsibility as opposed to all of these crazed fans - it takes a look at the celebrity and the image that their managers, producers or they themselves are producing."

Twenty years after I Love You, Anne Murray debuted, Ledoux figured that our relationship to the stars had become significant enough to warrant an update.

"Back when the play was originally done, music videos were just starting, and you turned on MuchMusic, that's what you'd see," says Ledoux. "Now you mostly see celebrity gossip. So we talked about ways the story could be brought back to life."

Before long, they were talking about Canadian singer-songwriter Melanie Doane - not because she's had experiences similar to Murray (whose stalker Robert Kieling was the inspiration for the original play), but because of her back catalogue, now integrated into the production, with dancers and actors playing all the instruments. Ledoux figured Doane had an East-Coast resonance appropriate to the play's setting. As it turned out, Doane, who's known Ledoux and Young ever since they cast her in their play Fire in the late eighties, was a good match in more ways than one.

"I think it's not surprising that someone who is a lonely person, who is possibly slightly unstable, would fall into the trap of becoming obsessed, when really they're being enticed to get closer and closer," says the Juno Award-winning Doane. "As a fan, you're bombarded with invitations like, 'Why don't you write a note on the website and get an autograph? Become part of the street team and spread the word and you can come have a special meet-and-greet after the show!' You're being given all the signals that as a fan, you're part of the group. Then as soon as you step over the line, you're slapped with a restraining order."

She believes her own celebrity is of a low enough wattage that she doesn't attract many moths, though that may soon change: After a hiatus to look after her two young children, Doane's releasing two new albums next year.

But whether or not there's more celebrity in her future, Doane has very little sympathy for famous folks with fevered fans. "In a lot of ways," she says, "they're asking for it."