Holiday music comes to Shaw Festival
Company members to perform Christmas favourites for socially distanced audience of 50 people
It’s not the Christmas show the Shaw Festival had in mind at the start of the year, but there will be a holiday musical next month.
“Songs for a Winter’s Night,” running Dec. 5 to 19 at the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre, will feature ensemble members performing Christmas favourites for a socially distanced crowd of 50 people or less.
Audience members will be required to wear protective masks.
The show marks one of the rare times the festival will have used one of its theatres this year. With the pandemic taking hold in March just before previews started, the 2020 season went through several delays before being outright cancelled.
The last show to be pulled was supposed to be this year’s holiday offering, the return of “A Christmas Carol.”
But rather than let 2020 be a total washout, the festival used $400,000 in Feddev funding for a fall concert series in which company members performed in various Niagara-on-the-lake locations.
The Christmas production is directed by Shaw associate artistic director Kimberley Rampersad and stars ensemble members Kyle Blair, Andrew Broderick, James Daly, Kristi Frank, Elodie Gillett, Alexis Gordon, Olivia Sinclair-brisbane, Jonathan Tan and associate music director Ryan de Souza.
Paul Sportelli provides the musical direction.
Audience members are invited to share their favourite holiday memories with Shaw, which may be interwoven into the show. Those stories can be emailed to feedback@shawfest.com.
Tickets are general seating, available at the Shaw box office at 1-800-511-7429.