West Side Story - Stratford

EAP is super excited to be heading out to Stratford today to catch an early performance of West Side Story. I am bringing a friend of mine who has never West Side before and I am super excited to get her reactions, as well as see this production. For more information on West Side and the Stratford Festival click here. And be sure to check back to read my thoughts on the show.

Stratford Festival announces its 2009 Lineup

Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Des McAnuff has released his choices for the 2009 season. McAnuff has kept his word of diversifying the festival. According to Richard Ouzounian the '09 season "reveals a varied choice of plays from the classic repertoire, a strong devotion to Canadian authors and the hiring of first-rate creative talent from around the world." (thestar.com)

As previously revealed in the Star, Shakespeare's Macbeth and Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac will be sharing the Festival Theatre stage with West Side Story. McAnuff will be directing Macbeth, Donna Feore Cyrano and Gary Griffin and Sergio Trujillo West Side Story. Newly announced is acclaimed British director David Grindley, who will be staging A Midsummer Night's Dream.

At the Avon Theatre, McAnuff will direct A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Brian Bedford will both direct and star in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
Also at the Avon will be Julius Caesar, Edmonton's James MacDonald will take the reign on the classic, who was most recently seen in Toronto as the director of Canadian Stage's multiple Dora Award-winning Fire.

The Tom Patterson Theatre will be the place to witness a rare production of Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, staged by the Festival's General Director, Antoni Cimolino. Martha Henry, head of the Festival's Birmingham Conservatory, will be directing Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters and Carey Perloff, the respected head of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, takes on a new adaptation of Racine's Phedre. The Tom Patterson Theatre will also feature Ever Yours, Oscar, a piece by Peter Wylde based on Oscar Wilde's letters, which will be directed by Bedford and will star him as well.

The Studio Theatre is featuring all Canadian content, including the world premiere of Morris Panych's newest play, The Trespassers, directed by the author. A long-overdue revival of George F. Walker's 1977 hit, Zastrozzi will be staged by Jennifer Tarver and Sunil Kuruvilla's Rice Boy, first seen at Canadian Stage, completes the lineup.

McAnuff also announced that new plays have been commissioned from John Mighton, Judith Thompson, George F. Walker and Aaron Sorkin.