Vanessa Sears News

Little Shop of Horrors is currently playing at the Avon Theatre through Nov. 2 as part of the Stratford Festival.

If you are in Stratford, Ontario and are looking for a good time, look no further than this season's production of horror comedy rock musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. There aren't a whole lot of shows that can call themselves a horror comedy rock musical, but if you frequent these parts…or, you know, have a pulse, chances are you saw one last year too. The success of last season's THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW has sent the message that audiences get a kick out of the subversive escape that this kind of show can offer, and so, Director/Choreographer Donna Feore is serving up another delicious hit in the same vein as ROCKY HORROR (puns intended).

Donna Feore's gritty new take on Billy Elliot the Musical, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical from Lee Hall and Elton John, is now on stage at the Stratford Fesitval. The production officially opens on Tuesday, May 28, at the Festival Theatre.

For the past several seasons, Stratford's Festival Theatre stage has been home to classic musical theatre productions with catchy tunes that audiences might find themselves humming long after the company had taken its final bow. This season, the musical living on that stage is a little different. It is not a classic from the golden age of broadway, the music, while moving, is likely not that familiar ear worm that you will wake up singing, and the story is as gritty and high stakes as many of the Shakespearean productions we have seen on that stage in recent years. BILLY ELLIOT officially opened to a raucous standing ovation on Tuesday evening, making it clear that Stratford audiences are more than happy to branch out to something a little different.

At a press conference held May 28 in the Davies Takacs Lobby of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 282 nominations for the 40th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto. On Tuesday, June 25 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 49 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Silver Ticket Award and the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award will be presented.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at The Stratford Festival's Little Shop of Horrors. The production is currently in previews and opens on Friday, May 31. 

From the creative team that made history with Stratford's longest-running production, The Rocky Horror Show, comes another cult rock musical, Little Shop of Horrors. Previews begin today at the Avon Theatre and the production opens on Friday, May 31.

Everyone's favourite nanny arrives just in time for the holiday season! One of the most successful and beloved Broadway musicals in the world, the YPT Production of Disney and Cameron Macintosh's Mary Poppins will be presented on the Mainstage fromNovember 5, 2018 to January 6, 2019.

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced key casting for the 2019 season, including Michael Blake as Othello and Amelia Sargisson as Desdemona in the season opener, Othello, one of Shakespeare's greatest and best-known tragedies.

Everyone's favourite nanny arrives just in time for the holiday season! One of the most successful and beloved Broadway musicals in the world, the YPT Production of Disney and Cameron Macintosh's Mary Poppins will be presented on the Mainstage fromNovember 5, 2018 to January 6, 2019.

'People come, people go,' 'some have, some have not.' Simple lyrics that can expose a myriad of stories and wounds. Just what one would expect in a busy hotel. No one is ever quite sure what happens behind the closed doors of a grand hotel, but outward appearances are often just that, appearances that don't always belie the truth. Given those opportunities for musical intrigue, The Shaw Festival is producing an elegant production of GRAND HOTEL at their Festival Theatre for their 2018 Season.

A collection of eccentrics sashay through the revolving doors of the Grand Hotel as the Golden Twenties in Weimar Berlin comes alluringly to life in the Shaw Festival's main stage musical Grand Hotel. Directed by Eda Holmes, with music direction by Paul Sportelli and choreography by Parker Esse, Grand Hotel soars with song and dance encapsulating the era's zest for life. Grand Hotel begins previews May 3 at the Festival Theatre.

All good epic adventures begin somewhere. A new adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew by Michael O'Brien makes its world premiere and opens the Shaw Festival's 2018 season. Under the direction of Artistic Director Tim Carroll, the creative team and cast bring the story of Narnia's origins and its mythical multiverse to the Festival Theatre stage.

This holiday season, a delightful production of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT is on stage at Hamilton's Theatre Aquarius. This production is loads of fun for the entire family, and makes for the perfect holiday excursion.

Artistic Director Tim Carroll announces the Shaw Festival's 2018 ensemble. This season's 56 actors will take to the stage in 14 productions, plus numerous Secret Theatre experiences.

Pushing the limits of the Shaw Festival's mission, an edgy slave story from a different era is being presented in The Royal George Theatre. By the looks of it, Shaw's usual audiences are in for an eye opener. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (aka BJJ) has taken us on his own personal journey of frustrated playwright who takes the advice of his psychologist and writes a play as an homage to an obscure playwright Dion Boucicault. Boucicault's 1859 played entitled 'The Octoroon' has been transformed by BJJ into 'An Octoroon.' In doing so, BJJ creates a prologue of his own invention describing his personal journey in producing the original work, where no white actors would take on a the roles of evil white plantation and slave owners. 'The Octoroon' tells the story of a plantation that is on the brink of being sold, the original owner's sexual relations with a slave that produces an octoroon ( one who possesses 1/8 Negro blood), the threat of new found love, misogyny and the overall treatment of slaves.

The Shaw's production of An Octoroon is perhaps the funniest, and certainly the most subversive, theatre experience this season. Riffing off of Dion Boucicault's melodrama The Octoroon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie Award-winning play is his sardonic, radical response to present and past attitudes of race. Directed by Peter Hinton, An Octoroon makes its Canadian premiere at the Royal George Theatre, beginning previews July 16.

The Shaw's production of An Octoroon is perhaps the funniest, and certainly the most subversive, theatre experience this season. Riffing off of Dion Boucicault's melodrama The Octoroon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie Award-winning play is his sardonic, radical response to present and past attitudes of race. Directed by Peter Hinton, An Octoroon makes its Canadian premiere at the Royal George Theatre, beginning previews July 16.

Best Musical Tony Award contender COME FROM AWAY won big at the Toronto Theatre Critics Awards including Best New Musical, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical. Mirvish Productions produced the show at the Royal Alexandra Theatre last December before it moved down to New York.

The delightful musical-comedy Me and My Girl launches Tim Carroll's first season as the Shaw Festival's artistic director.