Hamilton just one of 24 hits being offered by Mirvish this season.
HAMILTON, HELLO DOLLY, AN ADAPTATION OF ROOM AND MUSIC AND LYRICS BY BOB DYLAN ARE JUST SOME OF THE MIRVISH HIGHLIGHTS
Mirvish Theatre’s 2019/2020 season, which consists of a whopping 24 shows, will provide an always welcome hit of nostalgia with an array of fan favourites, several diverse “reimaginings” and a handful of shows making their Canadian debut.
The Main Subscription Season kicked off a week ago with The Band’s Visit, a 10- time Tony Award winner starring Canada’s Chilina Kennedy ( most notable for her run as Carole King in Broadway’s Beautiful — The Carole King Musical) and Israeli actor Sasson Gabay, who starred in the original film production.
This set of shows also includes Piaf/ Dietrich, starring Louise Pitre and Jayne Lewis; Conor Mcpherson’s Olivier Award- winning Girl from the North Country, which features music and lyrics by Bob Dylan; and the 1997 Disney film Anastasia brought to life by writer Terence Mcnally and composers Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens ( the creators of the iconic musical Ragtime).
But that’s not all that Mirvish will be offering this season. Two of the most anticipated shows include Lin-manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, based on Ron Chernow’s biography of the U. S. founding father, with a score that blends hip- hop, jazz, blues, rap and R& B; and a Tony-winning revival of Hello, Dolly! fresh off a Broadway run that starred Bette Midler.
As for the Off- Mirvish Season, which features “edgier, challenging” shows all staged at the CAA Theatre, there comes Us/ Them, which originated in Belgium and follows the story of a Russian school siege from the perspective of two young students; Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel’s Indecent; and Room, an adaptation of Canadian author Emma Donoghue’s best- selling novel, which was also adapted into an Oscar- nominated film.
Donoghue collaborated with director Cora Bissett, and admitted at the Mirvish Theatre Preview that she, too, felt it sounded like an odd choice initially. “Room had sounded a bit mad to start with. So I decided to be as open to (Cora’s) crazy genius as I had been ( to) my own ideas,” she said. Noting its minimal settings and limited cast, she added that, actually, “It couldn’t be a story more inherently theatrical. They’re spinning a black box of space with their imagination.”
The story follows Ma, a young woman who has been held prisoner in her kidnapper’s home for seven years, where she raises her fiveyear- old son Jack, who has never seen the world outside their room. This production takes a few detours from the source material to adapt to theatrical form, including the addition of “Big Jack,” an adult version of the boy who offers a glimpse into his thoughts, and also allows for the child actor playing his younger version to have a more malleable and breathable role.
Then comes another 14 shows in the company’s off- subscription set, including theatre vet Mandy Patinkin’s Diaries; a new, reimagined production of the record-breaking Cats ( just in time for Tom Hooper’s film adaptation); The Illusionists’ one-week holiday show; Summer: The Donna Summer Musical from Canadian director Des Mcanuff; and new productions of Alain Boublil and Claude- Michel Schönberg’s legendary musicals Miss Saigon (which the Princess of Wales Theatre was originally built for in 1993) and Les Misérables; Mozart’s Don Giovanni; a turn of The Second City’s sketch show She The People; the 25th anniversary show of Riverdance; and Chase Padgett’s one- man show 6 Guitars.
Capping off this list is a “grittier” Phantom of the Opera, which will make a winter stop in Toronto as part of its North American tour. In a statement, producer Cameron Mackintosh shared, “They set such a high bar on original productions that it raises ours. This one is more visceral, it has a bigger dramatic edge, the love triangle is heightened and emotion runs higher.” It will feature new scene design, staging and choreography.
Finally, there comes a onenight special benefit concert of My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, which first debuted 10 years ago at the Toronto Fringe Festival, and was created by the husband- wife team of David Hein and Irene Sankoff. Those two went on to create the massive hit that is Come From Away, which they began working on after David Mirvish himself caught their original work and asked if they could collaborate.
As for Come From Away, the production continues to show no signs of losing steam in its second year, playing sold- out shows at the Elgin Theatre through to Dec. 1. It will then “come back home” on Dec. 13 to its original space at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, which is also where Hein and Sankoff ’s benefit concert will be held, bringing all of their work full-circle.