There is a particular joy to watching music theatre, arising from the story being told in both words and music: a natural exuberance, another level of emotion, music as an international language that can carry us further than words alone can do. The Grand Theatre in London understands and celebrates this, giving us a 2024/25 season, under the title “A Time for Play,” with even more music theatre content than usual, anchored by four major musical productions as well as the always sold out Jeans ‘n Classics concert series.
The first Grand Theatre season to be programmed by new Artistic Director Rachel Peake, the production choices reflect her own varied and eclectic résumé as an award-winning director of experimental new plays, theatre classics, opera and large-scale musical theatre.
It’s interesting therefore that Peake’s directing debut with the Grand will be with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s perennial favourite, The Sound of Music, this year’s holiday production running from November 19 to December 22 – something that could be seen as a “safe choice.” But she received rave reviews for previous productions of the show at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Citadel Theatre, so giving weight to her statement that “the Grand’s 2024/25 Season is about moments where joy, where play, bring about real change in the world,” suggests that her take on the show will be an interesting one. After all, at the core of The Sound of Music it is the “power of song” introduced by Maria that brings much-needed harmony, joy and the promise of a bright future to the von Trapp family, giving them the courage to make the right choices in a time of great political unrest.
Music also fuels confidence and a drive for change in the fourth musical of the Grand’s season, playing in March and April, which will also be directed by Peake. It’s the Broadway sensation Waitress – a significantly darker, quirkier show – with songs by Grammy-winner Sarah Bareilles that lift the story of small-town pie maker, Jenna, to another level.
Another significant musical will already have kicked off the Grand’s season before Peake’s debut, with the 26th edition of their famous high school musical project, this year’s offering being Roald Dahl’s MATILDA The Musical, a tale of necessary rebellion against oppression. With a book by Dennis Kelly and raucous yet melodic music by Tim Minchin, it features such songs as Revolting Children and When I Grow Up. Megan Watson who directed Mary Poppins for the Grand a few years ago helms this year’s project featuring 58 London-and-area students in performing, production and orchestra roles, mentored by theatre professionals in all departments. The show only runs until September 29.
And also ahead of Peake’s debut, from mid-October to early November, The Grand offers a full company musical opener at the Grand – Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy As You Like It, but with a musical twist. It is set in the 1960s and infused with songs that speak of that era – the early songs of the Beatles. As You Like It is already one of the most music-filled of Shakespeare’s plays, but this choice of music and adaptation by director Daryl Cloran, originally for the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, takes it deep into full-blown music-theatre territory with music director Ben Elliot creating new solo, duet and ensemble arrangements for 22 Beatles songs such as She Loves You, Fool on the Hill and All You Need Is Love.
The songs, performed by the actors, are integrated fully into the story, continuing the journey of the characters through song, with a live band onstage as part of the storytelling. A hit at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver where it began, this production has since been delighting audiences in Edmonton, Calgary, Chicago, Milwaukee and Washington D.C., and now makes its Ontario debut. Continuing the theme of the season, director Daryl Cloran says in a promotional video for the show “if audiences can walk away with a song in their heart and a belief in humanity, then we have done our job.”
Evil Dead the Musical
Back in Toronto a fun musical highlight of the upcoming fall season, just in time for Halloween, is the return of Evil Dead The Musical, inspired by the Sam Raimi cult classic horror films, The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. While I am not personally a horror movie fan, I do take occasional pleasure in the subgenre of “comedy horror” and – to my enjoyment when I saw it in 2017 – this musical is much more comedy than horror. With the full permission of film director Sam Raimi, and Bruce Campbell – who played the leading role of Ash in the movies, Evil Dead The Musical first saw the light of day on August 13, 2003 at the Tranzac Club in Toronto … but famously performed outdoors with car headlamps and flashlights for lighting as this was the night of the famous city-wide “blackout of 2003.”
The cast’s intrepidity lent even more energy to the debut, setting off a run of productions that has not stopped yet. With book and lyrics by George Rheinblatt and music by Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris and George Rheinblatt, this irreverent adaptation of already irreverent material became an instant hit, spawning over 500 productions to date around the world, including an off-Broadway run in 2006, as well as several runs in Toronto, winning the Audience Choice Dora Award in Toronto in 2007.
The story itself is simple: five college students go to an abandoned cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash an evil force that turns them all into demons. It’s all up to Ash (a housewares employee, turned demon-killing hero) and his trusty chainsaw to save the day. What takes this into the territory of comedy gold is the way music fuels the comedy. The script is funny but the songs – such as All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons – take the absurdity and outright silliness to another level, making this show a very enjoyable escape from the everyday. There is even a splatter zone for those who enjoy being up close when the stage blood starts to fly. Original director Christopher Bond returns to lend his sharp eye and wicked timing to this new remount. At the Randolph Theatre, just five short blocks away from where the show first saw the light of day, Evil Dead runs from October 5–November 24.
Uncovered
The end of October (22-25) will see the return of one of my favourite annual musical events, the latest edition of the Musical Stage Company’s always-popular Uncovered theatrical concert series. This year’s edition, Uncovered: U2 & The Rolling Stones, focuses on exploring the stories within the songs and the influence the composers had on each other’s creative work. The scripted concert will feature new arrangements by composer Kevin Wong, now in his second year as Music Director for the series, and will be interpreted onstage by some some of Toronto’s top music theatre performers including Hailey Gillis, Andrew Penner and Jackie Richardson. www.musicalstagecompany.com (video trailer on the website)
The Lion King
November will see the return of one of the most joyful of stage musicals, Disney’s The Lion King, in a new “sit down” production (i.e. with an open-ended run) under the Mirvish banner at the Princess of Wales Theatre. I will never forget the first time I saw The Lion King at the Princess of Wales in 2000. As the lights dimmed, the drumming started. And the theatre was transformed through the hauntingly rhythmic music and magical puppetry of The Circle of Life. The stage and the auditorium filled with animals, and children’s (and adults’) faces filled with delight as antelope, leopards and cheetahs, and even an elephant passed by their seats on their way to the stage.
The unique score combines the original Elton John and Tim Rice songs from the animated movie with the distinctive sounds and rhythms of Africa in the rich choral numbers by Lebo M, immediately creating the world of the story, and pulling you in to be further enchanted by Julie Taymor’s puppets and staging. This new production has a largely Canadian cast (41 Canadians, 10 South Africans) and features some well-known performers including Jewelle Blackman (who starred in Hadestown on Broadway) as Shenzi and Camille Eanga-Selenge (who was a beautiful Sonya in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 at Crow’s Theatre last season) as Nala. One of the three boys playing young Simba, Lucien Duncan-Reid will also be familiar as the boy from both Room (Mirvish) and Chris, Mrs (Elgin Theatre, 2023). Performances begin November 2, 2024. www.mirvish.com
Other musical theatre shows to keep an eye out for:
- The Flin Flon Cowboy, with a live country band onstage at that champion of new and experimental work, Theatre Passe Muraille. Runs October 19-November 2.;
- a work-in-progress musical, I Was Unbecoming Then, at the Toronto Fringe’s Next Stage Festival, October 16 - 26;
- a collection of new multidisciplinary works at Native Earth’s Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival at the Aki Studio, November 21-December 1
And finally, if you haven’t already seen it, grab a ticket to Something Rotten at the Stratford Festival. Equally fun for aficionados of Shakespeare and musical theatre – and those who know little of either – this production, expertly directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, is ridiculously funny and wonderfully performed by a talented cast. It has been extended to November 26. www.stratfordfestival.ca.
Jennifer Parr is a Toronto-based director, dramaturge, fight director and acting coach, brought up from a young age on a rich mix of musicals, Shakespeare and new Canadian plays.
