Oh Canada Eh expands to Ottawa for 25th anniversary
For its 25th anniversary, Oh Canada Eh? is making it a double.
The iconic Niagara Falls dinner theatre is bringing its act to Ottawa June 28 for a company run by two former cast members. For artistic director Eric Hitchcock, it’s a big first step in expanding the show’s brand name.
“What I’ve been focusing on in the last year is, how can we grow?” he says. “Can we be in Halifax, in Charlottetown, in Victoria and various places with small production companies looking to do the same thing?
“It’s a very important step.” The Ottawa show will be staged by Totally Legit Productions, founded by Oh Canada Eh alumni and former Niagara residents Meaghan Chapin and Jean-Francois Grenier. The couple met doing the Niagara Falls show 11 years ago and eventually married. “We may not have taken this avenue it wasn’t for JF and Meaghan,” says Hitchcock. “Because we know them, we had trust in them, they were great, model employees. They were really instrumental in convincing us that this was something we should do.
“The family’s growing.”
The Ottawa production will feature an all-new cast and stick very close to the original Niagara Falls show which has played to nearly a million people since it opened in 1994 at the former Pyramid Place. It opens for its 25th anniversary season this week.
Originated by Niagara theatre veteran Jim Cooper and businessman Ross Robinson, the show mixed music, humour and tongue-in-cheek Canadiana. It has won the Niagara Falls Tourism Misty Award for Attraction of the Year seven times, and helped Cooper get inducted onto the Niagara Falls Arts and Culture Wall of Fame last year.
The Ottawa production isn’t the first time the show has set up shop in another city. In 2002, Cooper and Robinson opened a version in Canmore, Alta., which couldn’t maintain its early success.
For the anniversary show, artistic director Lee Siegel has whipped up 30 minutes of new material which includes more modern music (Shawn Mendes, Drake) to go with Canadian standards from Anne Murray, Bryan Adams, etc.
The Ottawa show will retain the flavor with a few changes, says Hitchcock.
“There’s some variances,” he says. “We’re adding a bit more French content. (And) because the stage set-up is different, there’s going to be some slight nuances to it. But primarily, it’s 95 percent the same as Niagara.”
The Ottawa production runs until Sept. 14 at the RA Centre.
The Niagara Falls production will have a VIP night May 17 to mark its 25th anniversary.