The new theatre season is about to get started in September and October with some wonderful premieres and new stages of evolving Canadian productions.
First up is the Toronto premiere of Amélie presented by Shifting Ground Collective (SGC) at the Aki Studio Theatre (Native Earth Performing Arts) at Daniels Spectrum, with Catie Thorne directing. Founded in 2022 by young emerging artists to give other emerging artists a platform, SGC keeps going from strength to strength with excellent productions and multiple Dora Awards, including winning the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award two years in a row for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Drowsy Chaperone.
Amélie the musical has had as interesting a journey as that of its main character. It was lovingly adapted by Daniel Messé (music), Messé & Nathan Tysan (lyrics), and Craig Lucas (book) from the iconic Oscar-nominated film that captivated audiences at TIFF 25 years ago. It is the story of an imaginative young woman who discovers a mysterious box under the floorboards of her apartment, setting off a chain of events that will quietly transform the lives of everyone around her while she discovers the courage to change her own. This would seem a very good fit for the youthful talent of SGC and is on my “not to be missed” list.
Performances start on September 21. https://shiftinggroundcollective.com/26-27
Like Pygmalion after My Fair Lady?
September will also see the first production to be directed at Soulpepper by its young new Artistic Director Paolo Santaluccia: Spring Awakening. A favourite work of Santaluccia, this is a new adaptation of the then-scandalous 1891 play by German dramatist Frank Wedekind about the awakening of sexuality in three adolescents, each fighting to find their way. The play is better known now as the inspiration for the hit 2006 Broadway rock musical of the same name, so the chance to see it with the music reverse-engineered out of it will be intriguing.
The little show that could
Like me, you might not have been able to get a ticket to Dancer (A Musical in Ten Furlongs), the smash hit of the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival that appeared out of the blue, sold out in a matter of days and was the hot topic of conversation among theatregoers for months. Created by well-known Canadian talents Marek Norman (music) and Jim Betts (book & lyrics), Dancer tells the story of legendary Canadian racehorse Northern Dancer, the “horse nobody wanted” — the too-small, too-ungainly, too-willful thoroughbred who overcame doubt, injury and history to become the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 1964, and capture the heart of a nation.
This little show that could is now on its way to its first full production, presented by Oh What a Ride! Productions Inc. in association with Crow’s Theatre and the Toronto Stage Company at Harbourfront’s Terminal Theatre (formerly the Fleck/Premiere Dance Theatre).
How can actors portray horses and horse races onstage in a believable way?
With the mentorship of longtime leading opera director Tom Diamond, director and choreographer Stacey Tookey, well known from her ten-season tenure as resident choreographer and guest judge on television’s So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. and Canada), has apparently found a way that captures the imagination of audiences and has led to this further stage of development. Keanu Uchida returns as Northern Dancer along with a strong Canadian cast and creative team. https://dancerthemusical.ca
Performances begin October 6.
If you don’t weaken
Also in October, another original Canadian musical is continuing its development after a very successful debut at Theatre Aquarius in the spring. It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken is built around a selection of songs by iconic Canadian band The Tragically Hip, but, as I observed in the spring, thanks to an excellent original book by writers Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe, the show subverts the typical jukebox musical formula, with the Hip’s songs chosen to serve a powerful story – an immigrant coming to Canada in search of a new home – rather than the other way around. It’s a Good Life is making its second appearance, this time at Kingston’s Grand Theatre, with the same cast and creative team, but this time under the banner of Thousand Islands Playhouse, which has been developing this project over the past two years, along with Theatre Aquarius, David and Hannah Mirvish, and Michael Rubinoff (Originating Producer of Come From Away).
October 22 - November 8: https://1000islandsplayhouse.com/the-tragically-hip
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.
