Tour headed to Shaw, Stratford fests
The Post-Gazette’s 35th annual Critics Choice theater tour sets off by motor coach for five days at Canada’s Shaw and Stratford festivals, July 11-15, including three shows and one option at each.
At both festivals, participants will see plays from three historical eras, ranging from romantic tragedy to musical comedy to swashbuckling adventure, with an additional option. There’s even one Shakespeare.
Included are two comfortable hotels, welcoming dinner, picnic lunch and a postshow get-together over drinks, with discussions along the way led by the tour’s longtime leader, PG senior theatercritic Chris Rawson.
First up is the Shaw Festival in picturesque Niagaraon-the-Lake, with a stay at thePillar & Post. Shows are:
• “The Madness of George III,” a comic-pathetic look back at the last king of what became the United States.
• “1837: The Farmers’ Revolt,” a play with vaudevillian verve about Canada’s own rebellion against the mother country.
• “Me and My Girl,” a delicious musical comedy in which the Cinderella figure raisedto the peerage is a guy.
• A Shaw Fest lunchtime option is “Wilde Tales,” based on stories for young and old by master wit Oscar Wilde.
Then on to the larger town of Stratford, with lodging at the Arden Park Hotel, on the edge of the main festival grounds, to see:
• “Treasure Island,” a Robert Louis Stevenson adventure for all ages.
• “The School for Scandal,” a comic classic by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in which wit wars with sentiment.
• “Romeo and Juliet,” the grandparent of all romantic tragedies.
• The Stratford Fest option is “The Changeling,” a noir thriller by Shakespeare contemporaries.
The tour price is $1,677 per person, based on double occupancy. The single supplement is $387. A deposit of $500 per person holds a reservation; status of your reservation will be confirmed upon receipt of deposit.
Deposits should be made payable to and mailed to Gulliver’s Travels, 460 S. Graham St., Pittsburgh, PA 15232-1210; phone 412-3457576 or, outside Pittsburgh, 1-800-848-4084.
Call Gulliver’s with questions about trip details, but call Mr. Rawson at 412-2161944 with questions about the plays.