Theatre 20: Artist Led, story-driven.

Check out this video Theatre 20 published to YouTube yesterday.  It is great to see Canadian grown musical theatre with this kind of star power and panache, back in Toronto.

Bad News

The Toronto preview run of a new off-Broadway show called, Honeymoon in Vegas is cancelled.  This is a major bummer.  Check out the article from Playbill here.  

A Word on Dancap's Demise

Sunday morning as I read Richard's Toronto Star article I could not help but feel truly sad that Toronto is lossing Dancap Productions.  The company, which began bringing shows to Toronto audiences five years ago, will wind down its operations after the summer season, and their wildly successful tour of Jersey Boys ends in the fall.

 By all accounts Dancap, and its novice founder Aubrey Dan were just too ambitious. His efforts to establish a second big brand musical theatre entity in Toronto simply failed to turn a profit.  Dan himself said in an exclusive interview with The Star that, "[Dancap] will be stepping back and re-evaluating our involvement in the theatre business."  It is a big loss,  but boy was it fun.

Over the years Dancap has had a few notable successes. No success was a big, perhaps, as Jersey Boys, which ran uptown at the Yonge Centre for two years. The show launched a Canadian cast, made a few stars, and went on to tour the country.  In fact, the tour of Jersey Boys doesn't wrap until October.  A fitting end for the company.

But their were other memorable moments as well. Seeing Next to Normal at the Four Season's with Broadway legend Alice Ripley, stands out.  As does the company's original tour of South Pacific.  But what sticks out most to me, was the excitement I felt five years ago when Dancap burst onto the scene and promised to bring more shows and more variety to Toronto audiences.

Now don't get me wrong Mirvish Productions IS Toronto theatre, and we couldn't be happier that they represent Toronto to the international theatre community, and bring amazing work to audiences here.  But I couldn't help feeling proud of my adopted city when Aubrey decided that Toronto was ready for more big budget theatre.  And I thought Toronto was too.

Unfortunately, Dancap could not make it work.  Who knows where the blame should lie for Dancap's failure, maybe there is no blame to be had.  But it is a sad day in a city that was once considered tops behind London and New York in international theatre rankings.  At this point it might be hard to place Toronto in even the top five theatre cities in North America. Certainly there have not been many out-of-town previews or development of new work with an international audience in the past several seasons.  Those are markers of a thriving theatre industry.  Of course there have been other successes recently.  Theatre 20, with its star power and unique mandate might prove lasting, and Angelwalk and  Studio 180 spring to mind as torch bearers, but they are both decidedly more low key than Dancap.

These are only my opinions,  but not many would argue that it was nice to see a bit more variety in the stuff coming in from out of town.  I don't think Mirvish would have brought Next to Normal or  American Idiot as Aubrey did. They certainly seemed to pass on Tony winner In the Heights  which Dancap produced this season.  Additionally having Dancap around made Mirvish better.  Would Mirvish have gambled on Spring Awakening if Dancap wasn't nipping at their heals? Who knows? Memories of their great shows and enthusiasm will have to sustain us until someone else brave enough comes along to challenge and diversify theatre in Toronto again.

Thanks for the memories Aubrey.  

Some Good News For Arts in the City

Great news Toronto arts fans.  If you haven't heard already the City Council approved the final Operating Budget for 2012.  The feared cuts to arts grant funding were overturned and the funding was restored to 2011 levels.  This is a huge victory for the arts community that came out aggressively opposed to Mayor Ford's proposed cuts.  With the help of the Friends of the Arts petition City Councillors fought to reverse the reduction.  The Friends of the Arts network boosts over 20,000 local residence.  To read more about the fight for arts spending at City Hall click here.  And to check out the whole 2012 budget here. 

Preview: American Idiot

Reviews are in, and American Idiot, the Green Day inspired musical, is a hit!  The Star gave the show four star, and called American Idiot, "the first great musical of the 21st century."  That is some heavy praise.  Justin and I can't wait to see it next week. The show is on now until January 15th, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.  Dancap Productions is having a fantastic season, with many of their shows receiving critical and audience acclaim.  Lets hope audiences agree on American Idiot.  


Photo courtesy of  Toronto.com, and features, from left, cast members, Scott J. Campbell, Van Hughes, and Jake Epstein.

American Idiot, book by Michael Mayer and Billie Joe Armstrong.
Music by Green Day
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Directed by Michael Mayer
At the Toronto Centre for the Arts
5040 Yonge Street
Call 416-644-3665 for ticket information.

Preview: Calendar Girls

Based on the hilarious and award winning film, Calendar Girls, makes its North America debut. The show, about a group of women's league ladies who raise money by selling a risque calendar, features an all Canadian cast. Justin and I have been looking forward to this show all season. The heart-warming tale of love and friendship should translate perfectly to the stage. And while it isn't a big budget musical there is bound to be something in Calendar Girls for any theatre lover. A great story, with loveable characters and a powerful message. Don't miss Calendar Girls on now at the Royal Alexander Theatre.

Featuring:

Fiona Highet stars as Annie and Fiona Reid as Chris, with Kathryn Akin (Cora), Terri Cherniack (Ruth), Barbara Gordon (Jessie), Kyra Harper (Brenda/Lady Cravenshire), Kimberley Rampersad (Elaine), Brigitte Robinson (Marie) and Jane Spence(Celia). The men in the cast will be Dan Lett (John Clarke) and Sweeney MacArthur (Rod) and Gordon Tanner (Lawrence and Liam). Christine Brubaker, Burgandy Code, Susan Henley and Derek Moran fill the company's understudy positions.

The show is directed by Marti Maraden

Calendar Girls runs until May 28th. Click the header for more ticket information and to watch the promo video.

Out and About - Toronto Theatre

Wednesday night was a big night out for EAP this week. We had plans to attend the Canadian Council for the Arts reception at the Four Seasons Centre and then go home early. But our good friend Sharron Matthews let us know, via Facebook, that THE Julia Murney was in town performing at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the TSO's pop series. If you aren't familiar with Ms. Murney, you need to watch this, she's amazing!

Anyway we are getting ahead of ourselves. The Canadian Council reception was wonderful. The was a very good turn out of local arts persons. Several Board members, including the charismatic Vice-Chair Mr. Simon Brault spoke about the current goals of the Council, and outlined their strategic plan for the next five years. Mr. Brault who is also the author of the recently published, No Culture, No Future talked a lot about the importance of utilizing the Council's arts contacts more effectively and embracing new technology, hence the strategic plan for the next five years is called Strengthening Connections. We actually took some audio recordings of Mr. Brault and others during the event, and are going to try and get a few highlights up here on the blog, when we figure out how to do that.

After the reception we made our way down to Roy Thomson Hall to get $20.00 rush tickets for Broadway Divas. What an inspired program. Broadway Divas was presented as part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's pop series, and was conducted by the legendary Steven Reineke. Reineke is best known for his work with The New York Pops, and is considered the foremost pop conductor today. He performs annually at Carnegie Hall and throughout North America.

We knew we were in for an amazing night of music when the orchestra opened with the overture from Gypsy, perhaps one of the most incredible overtures ever written. And it only got better from there. Ms. Murney was joined in concert by another Broadway veteran, Jennifer Laura Thompson. Ms. Thompson is perhaps best known for originating the role of Hope Cladwell in Urinetown, for which she received a Tony nomination. But vocally Ms. Murney really stole the show. Her rendition of the Kander and Ebb classic Ring Them Bells was almost as good as Liza's, (Minnelli that is, not me.)

We knew we'd love Ms. Murney but it was a surprise to discover that the real star of the program was Mr. Reineke, who developed and conducted the program. The pop series is a great way for the TSO to reach out beyond the Symphonic crowd, and Broadway Divas was a fantastic night of music. Let's hope that Mr. Reineke will make a stop in Toronto a regular thing. Thanks again to Sharron for alerting us to the show. We are glad we didn't miss this once in a lifetime chance.

I want to go to the Caravan

Just getting back from six months on the road, and came across two articles in the Globe about a company in the North Okanagan out in B.C, called Caravan Farm Theatre. Check out the two articles, here and here. The first, is about their current production Everyone which is actually a collaboration between seven companies including the Caravan. The other six are from Vancouver. Each company has worked with a single setting, a ride in a horse drawn carriage, and a theme of human instinct: sustenance, self-protection, nurturing, etc. It sounds like an interesting project. But it wasn't until I saw the second article that I was really intrigued. The Caravan has been around since 1970, and they do theatre on a farm. Yea how awesome is that? I'm not sure if there is anything that could possibly be better than having stables backstage. Caravan sounds like our kind of place. So if your in the Armstrong area of BC this summer don't miss Everyone, and if you have already seen something at Caravan drop us a line because we would love to know more.

image from the Globe and Mail.