Results tagged “Toronto” from Blogway Baby

From the article on Playbill:

Snow is expected on Broadway this fall.Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the stage musical packaged by a Broadway creative team since 2004 for such major markets as Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto and San Francisco, will make its Broadway debut this fall, producer Kevin McCollum announced Aug. 4.

White Christmas, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Tony nominee and 42nd Street's Randy Skinner, will begin a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre Nov. 14 and will continue to Jan. 4, 2009. Opening-night date, schedule and casting information will be announced shortly.

I love the movie White Christmas - who doesn't? - but I've never seen it on stage. The 5th Avenue Theatre had a production in 2006 that I missed, as I was still living in Toronto. However, I'm going to try to see this one because it's a limited run! I love Christmas haha :D

Elicia Mackenzie is the winner of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, the Canadian reality show in which contestants were voted on by the Canadian public for the chance to be Maria in The Sound of Music in Toronto (hometown shout-out). You can see one of her performances here.

If you remember from my previous post, Elaine Overholt, my vocal coach, was on the judge's panel and Janna Polzin was one of the contestants in the show. She survived until the last week (congrats!) and you can see one of her performances here.

From the article on Playbill:

On television July 28, after months of competitions, 23-year-old Vancouver actress Elicia MacKenzie was revealed to be the top vote-getter and will jump into rehearsals as the novice who wins over a chilly Austrian family in the famed Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.

MacKenzie will join rehearsals in the Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish production of The Sound of Music, which begins previews Oct. 3 at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.

"I'd like to thank Canada for their votes and the judges who saw something that could get me this far," MacKenzie stated. "This has truly been the experience of a lifetime and I'm so very grateful."

After studying everything from vocal training to mountaintop twirling, Canadians voted for their favorite Maria.

The Canadian series mirrored an earlier series in the U.K. that sought to cast the West End revival of the show, produced by Lloyd Webber.

Congratulations both Elicia and Janna, who made it so far. Tickets are now on sale for the show, and you can obtain them here. Performances begin October 3.

According to this article in Playbill:

Tony Award winners Jerry Mitchell and Jack O'Brien are no longer attached to New Line's film version of the Tony-winning musical Hairspray.

Variety reports that choreographer Mitchell and director O'Brien, who were set to co-direct the film, departed the production when the start date was moved from fall 2005 to spring 2006. The industry paper also reports that Rob Marshall, who helmed the Academy Award-winning movie musical "Chicago," is at the top of New Line's list of hoped-for directors.

New Line now plans to release the film in summer 2007 rather than Christmas 2006. Filming will begin in Toronto next spring with "second-unit work" in Baltimore, the setting for John Waters' original movie.

How exciting! Another movie musical is shooting in Toronto! (Chicago was filmed there as well...) Is Toronto becoming the movie musical capital of the world? Do I hear a LOTR movie musical is in the works in the not so distant future? If they know what's good for them they'll get Elaine Overholt to vocal coach the Hairspray cast (she did that on Chicago for Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, and Richard Gere).

And Rob Marshall would be a great choice for director of Hairspray the Movie...hey, how about Norman Jewison? His Jesus Christ Superstar is one of the most innovative movie musicals ever made, in my opinion.

Good Morning Toronto!

I'll be with them in CD Blossom Time! Boy does this sound like an absolute BLAST ! I just got this email inviting me to:

SWING ROSIE's CD Release SWING DANCE PARTY!

You are invited to a special celebration:

The Mod Club Presents

SWING ROSIE's CD Release and Swing Dance Party!

Tuesday, July 5th

Dance to the girls' signature three-part harmony swing with Guest Star Christopher Plock and the Swingin' Outlaws

Tickets $10
Doors at 8pm
722 College St. W.
416-588-4663

We'll have lots of great music to dance to on that big dance floor, starting with a solid hour of swing featuring Guest Star Christopher Plock and his Swingin' Outlaws, and then of course, the main event: SWING ROSIE in concert! Invite all your friends and every Swing Rosie fan you know, to help us celebrate this great occasion and for ONE NIGHT ONLY, you can take home Sing Cool, Swing Hot for just $10. Don't miss it! Come and Dance the night away!

I've already said how great their CD is in a previous post and now -- what a bargain -- only $10! Check out Swing Rosie's website atwww.swingrosie.com and then jive on down to the Mod Club on July 5!

See you all you hep cats there!

For the last 24 hours Myrna has been the 'bliss child'...and she is overwhelmingly excited at winning the role of Annie in the upcoming City Youth Players production ofAnnie Warbucks.

Annie Warbucks continues the story of Little Orphan Annie...and in fact the first bar of the musical picks up where the last bar of Annieended.

Written by the original Annie team of Thomas Meehan (Book), Martin Charnin (Lyrics), and Charles Strouse (Music), Annie Warbucks opened July 6, 1993 and ran for 200 performances and 38 previews, all Off-Broadway. Although it wasn't the blockbuster of the originalAnnie which opened April 21, 1977 and ran for 2,377 performances, Annie Warbucks was favorably reviewed and has had a great second life in licensing because smaller regional theaters like to put Annie and Annie Warbucks on back-to-back, like an old-fashioned serial.

In the story, the action picks up right where Annie leaves off, when Child Welfare Commissioner Harriet Doyle arrives on the scene to inform Daddy Warbucks he must marry in sixty days so the newly adopted Annie can have a proper mother. In the end, Daddy Warbucks' whirlwind search for a fitting bride uncovers not only a plot by Doyle and her daughter to strip him of his fortune, but also his true feelings for Grace Farrell.

Full of peppy melodies, plenty of laughs, marvelous choreography, smart sets, bright lights and snappy costumes"
--The New York Times

"ANNIE WARBUCKS is an enormously entertaining evening!"
--The New York Daily News

"Surefire family fun! Charles Strouse's tunes are charmers. Well worth catching"
--New York Magazine

The production will be staged in late November at the Vaughn City Playhouse...stay tuned to Blogway Baby for dates and ticket information!

Hey this sounds like fun! A union party! From an e-mail I received today:

Come out and support the Blue Man Boycott! Sunday, June 19, 5 pm, Panasonic Theatre on Yonge Street (south of Bloor at St. Mary)

Canadian Actors Equity, Toronto Musicians and IATSE need our help. The New York based Blue Man Group refuses to operate under the collective agreements of our sisters and brothers in the theatre community. Please come out to the opening night information picket and support the fight for fair wages and decent working conditions. The event will feature live entertainment and special guests. For more information on the Blue Man boycott go to www.bluemanboycott.com

Seriously, this is completely out-of-control. How could Blue Man Group let this get so out-of-hand? Check out the now quite amusing Blue Man Boycott site...I'm especially amused by the "Anti-Blue Man Experience" show that is going to happen Sunday, June 19 at 5:00 pm OPPOSITE THE PANASONIC THEATRE and featuring live entertainment and special guests. And Blue Man Group actually tried to quash this, which is so unbelievably naive it makes my teeth hurt. Check out this press release from the Blue Man Boycott site:

Sunday on Yonge Street: "Anti-Blue Man Experience" opening night rally to go ahead despite legal challenges by Blue Man Group

A major Yonge Street rally sponsored by the Blue Man Boycott Coalition will go ahead this Sunday, June 19, at 5:00 p.m. despite efforts by Blue Man Productions Inc. to legally quash it. A permit to hold the event on Yonge St. near the Panasonic Theatre has been issued by Toronto police.

"The Anti-Blue Man Experience" will coincide with the official premiere performance of the Toronto production of Blue Man Group being held at the Panasonic Theatre. The event will feature live musical entertainment headlined by the all-female all-star band, Blue(s) Woman Group, along with several special guests from the Canadian performing arts and political communities.

Last Thursday, Blue Man Productions Inc. applied to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for an injunction against the June 19 event. It asked the board to forbid picketing activity anywhere within two city blocks from the theatre, in all directions. A consultation on the application has been called by OLRB Chair Kevin Whitaker for Friday.

"We have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on our side despite Blue Man's efforts to silence us," says Susan Wallace, Executive Director of Canadian Actors' Equity Association (CAEA), one of the Coalition partners. The Toronto Musicians' Association (TMA) and Locals 58 and 822 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are the other partners.

"So besides this event being about the growing boycott of this rogue production, it is now also a celebration of the Charter, which turns 23 this year. It's great to be Canadian."

EVENT: The Anti-Blue Man Experience
DATE: Sunday, June 19, 2005
TIME: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
PLACE: Yonge & St. Mary (south of Bloor)

For more information or to arrange interviews with spokespersons for the Coalition, contact: Victoria Lord - 416.484.9047 x 224 or 647.519.8577. Additional contact: Bill Reno - 416.223.7366

Honestly, this has been so incompetently handled by Blue Man Group that SOMEONE SHOULD BE FIRED...and a sacrificial lamb may not be a bad strategy at this point...

Well, I finally got to see the full up production of Captain Louie. As you may have read in my previous post, I had seen the reading at NYMF last year. I went with my producer (and friend)Michael Rubinoff so we were able to get comps! Yahoo!

What I didn't know was that this piece started over 20 years ago! One of the producers, Meridee Stein (who also directs it; her husband Anthony Stein adapted the original children's book The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats for the musical) had approached Steven Schwartz about writing a children's musical and he signed on.

In 1983/84, The Trip played in New York City and then at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2000 the creative team revisited the show and decided to expand it into an hour-long piece. New scenes and songs were added, as was a new character. The production was finally mounted at the York Theatre at Lexington and 54th. I found out that some of the original cast from 20 years ago have since grown up and brought their kids to see this production -- how cool is that?

Jimmy Dieffenbach plays Louie and is wonderful. I saw him at NYMF and some of the cast has changed but all are amazing young performers. The set, choreography and use of projections are charming. The music is extremely catchy and it's great to see a kid-targeted musical with sophisticated music and lyrics. But it's still loads of fun and extremely accessible. A delightful hour of theater!

BTW [ahem] -- My daughter Myrna would be perfect as Roberta/Mouse.

It closes today at the York Theatre and I’m not exactly sure where it is going next. It is a very urban musical and I think it would be great in a city like Toronto. I believe a certain producer friend of mine thinks so too...

Hmm, this might be a better expression of what I was ranting about last night regarding Equity membership and this whole Blue Man Group dust-up.

Elisa C weighs in nicely with some examples of why it's offensive to describe unionized actors as "greedy", as Paul Denton at Ravishing Light so ignorantly proposed the other day.

Elisa comes from an honest space, since she was a working actor for a time. She knows what she's talking about!

And just so everyone knows: I don't belong to Equity because I'm not an actor. I hire actors: And I always prefer to hire union because of their higher level of professionalism and training.

Here's a highlight from Elisa C's post:

When I lived in New York there were plenty of actors who I thought of as successful. Actors doing Shakespeare in the Park with Joe Papp. Actors in long-running, stable Off-Broadway shows. Those actors all had "real" jobs too to make ends meet. Why? Because the first tier of Equity contract that actually provides a living wage is probably the Broadway Chorus contract and above. The Off-Broadway contract won't do it. The Special Production contract won't do it. Many regional and summer stock contracts don't really do it. Actors who make a ton of money? They represent the very tip-top <1% crowd. The vast majority of actors make bupkes. But they pay their dues (yes, the actors pay union dues, and pay a percentage of income over a certain threshold too) and take their Equity contracts that make bupkes...why?

Because the non-union contracts are even worse. And they don't pay into even the possibility of a pension or health plan. And they don't have any rules to prevent them from working you 4 straight hours without even a 10 minute break. And they don't put any reserve aside so they're able to give severance (or airfare home if out on tour) if a show closes early. And they have no channel by which a cast member can complain about unsafe conditions and actually have some leverage. [If you don't think it happens, it does. Years ago at AMT SJ a show was delayed because the Equity members got together and expressed their fear for their lives over some unstable set machinery!]

According toRavishing Light:

I don't quite see how this is "blinking" on the part of the Blue Man Group, having taken out a full-page ad in the Globe & Mail this past Saturday, defending the use of non-union labour in their Toronto production.

I've never found the Blue Man Group particularly compelling - their presence in the running gags of Arrested Development aside - but if I was in Toronto and had the opportunity, I'd buy a ticket purely because they're showing some backbone in standing up against union goons, concerned only with their own sinecures and claims of entitlement. If the fact that the cost of union dues isn't necessarily being passed on to the end consumer means tickets might be a few dollars cheaper, that's a bonus.

Suzy Conn of Blogway Baby notes - pretty glibly, I think - "Methinks they've left out a few important details, which is the answer to the question: 'Why they can't use Equity members?'" I would suggest there's a fairly straightforward reason for the BMG's actions spelled out in the third paragraph of their open letter

...

If union members are individually best qualified for a job, great; if not, they'll hire non-union technicians and support staff. Union labour is not sacred; membership is often not to an individual's benefit, nor is the lack of union membership a guarantee of poor treatment. The one union job I've had, I was paid (and treated) worse than when working for Wal-Mart. I can understand precisely where the Blue Man Group is coming from: they're railing against the supposition that there's something inherently immoral or shameful about refusing to submit to the demands of those soak-the-rich socialists who tend to rise to union leadership positions, no matter the trade. Good on 'em.

OK, even though I'm over my eyeballs with stuff this week, I'm compelled to respond.

And if you think that you're the first person to call me glib, you'll have to get in line, honey.

First of all, since you obviously don't know anything about the structure of this business and unions, I can totally understand where you might be misled in your musings.

First of all, employers don't pay union dues. Union members pay union dues. Employers pay salaries. And I'm sure you didn't really mean that getting employers to pass on the savings of cheap labor to the customer (for example, say, our enjoyment of cheap clothes made by 10-year olds in Third World countries) is always inherently a good thing. Convenient, practical, and a reality, perhaps, but certainly nothing I would take a righteous stand on.

But that assumes that Equity scale is a lot of money, which it isn't. I made more right out of college picking my nose as a brand assistant at Procter & Gamble than most Equity performers do after 25 years in the business!

There is an imbalance of power in the entertainment business. What other business can you be equally skilled as another potential employee and lose the job because you're not pretty enough, or if they don't like the sound of your voice, or if you just don't "look right"? And it's perfectly legal! What about the extras in a film who are not union and are treated like cattle and work in horrible conditions?

I understand producers are under time and budget pressures, but checks and balances need to keep the situation from spiralling out of control.

Working conditions are often the issue, not salary, and in the heat of a production it is easy to let standards drop until they become dangerous. For example, during All Shook Up in the Chicago tryouts, the catwalks and bridges the cast had to dance across in high heels were too slanted to be safe. Without a union, the actors have no representation and could break an ankle (or worse) and then they are out of a job, perhaps forever.

I guess you could make the argument that if you don't like the conditions, find another line of work. But performers give their all and love what they do, and if they stopped acting we would all suffer in the long run.

Acting gigs can be few and far between and there isn't any "seniority" system in Equity.

As for the quality issue, it is my experience and the experience of others in the business who work with actors, that generally speaking, you get higher quality with Equity members. These are people who are committed to a career in the business, hone their skills on a regular basis and make the sacrifices necessary to stay in the business their whole careers.

In New York, Equity even makes allowances for struggling writers like myself by allowing me to pay actors showcase rates, which amounts to paying subway fare. Metropass and greed don't really belong in the same sentence. I want to use Equity actors because I know I will learn from them as well as gettting a great performance.

Unions can be a pain in the ass, and management can be a pain in the ass. But shouldn't it at least be a fair fight?

So Blue Man Group is now on the offensive. They've published "An open letter to the community from Blue Man Group" on page R5 of today's Globe and Mail.

Methinks they've left out a few important details, which is the answer to the question: "Why they can't use Equity members?"

Here's the text of the ad in the Globe:

An open letter to the community from Blue Man Group

Much has been written about us since we arrived in Toronto, and most of it has been accurate and extremely positive. The theatrical union leadership's attempt to create controvery surrounding our production has certainly taken us by surprise. We offer this letter of introduction so that you may get to know a little more about us.

Over the course of our 17-year history, we have thoughtfully and carefully built an organizational structure that supports our employees as well as our projects. We are a unique organization; our employees are collaborative contributors to our various artistic endeavours, which include theatrical shows, touring concerts, albums, film and TV scores, commercials, short films and more. To our knowledge, there are no other business models that support the kind of creative company that we have developed.

For our Toronto production, we have hired Canadian actors and musicians, a Canadian crew, as well as Canadian management and support staff. Some of these individuals are members of unions, and some are not. We respect their decisions either way. We are an equal opportunity employer and have always been open to all qualified personnel. It is an employee's choice to join a union -- not an employer's place to require it.

Despite assertions to the contrary, we have met with theatrical union leadership in Toronto. In total, 10 meetings or conversations have occurred between our respective representatives from January 21 through May 16. Our goal has been to establish an amicable relationship with the unions. However, this objective was made difficult, if not impossible, by their leadership's threats, questionable rhetoric and coercive tactics.

We disagree with union leadership's assertion that only productions staffed completely by union members are "professional." Blue Man Group has performed for close to 10 million people in 100 cities in five countries with touring concerts and permanent productions. We have a Gold record, a Platinum DVD and a Grammy award nomination. We have won Drama Desk and Obie awards, as well as Audience and Critic's Pick awards, and have appeared in hundreds of national and international television programs. We prefer to let the audience be the judge of our production values and professionalism.

Throughout our history, we have continually valued and supported our artists, crew, management and staff. Without any agreement with a union or association, we have always offered salaries that typically exceed union norms, as well as competitive benefits. We offer superior job security, conflict resolution, employee development, and health and safety committees in each of our theatres, and we do so by choice. Our people, many of whom have been with us for more than 10 years, are the lifeblood of our company. Our long-term success and the high calibre of talent that we have been able to attract are ample evidence that our employees are well-paid and well-treated.

With the exception of the theatrical union leadership, we have felt enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Toronto and Canada, who are excited about a new show and opportunities within their community. They have embraced and show support for what we are bringing to Toronto:

* An internationally acclaimed show specifically retooled to reflect our new Toronto home

* A new, state of the art theatre built by Clear Channel and Panasonic on Yonge Street, adding to the economic health of the surrounding area

* 70 Canadian jobs for performers, musicians, production, management and theatre staff

Blue Man Group chose to develop work in Toronto because of its historically sophisticated and intelligent theatrical audience, and we look forward to becoming active contributors to this vibrant cultural scene. The best and brightest from Canada's vast talent pool have an open invitation to join us in creating an outstanding theatrical production. And we now invite the people of Toronto to experience the most exciting Blue Man Group production to date when we begin previews on June 7th.

Sincerely,

Blue Man Group

Thanks, Blue Man Group, for blinking first...

On Wednesday night I took the whole fam-damily to see Ain't Misbehavin' at the Bluma Appel Theatre. What a great show! I saw it originally about 20 years ago when it was first making the rounds and became an instant fan of the revue. Back then, I had already been familiar with much of the music, but wasn't familiar with Fats Waller.

The Toronto production stars Jackie Richardson, Kim Richardson, Divine Brown, Starr Dominique, Doug Eskew, and David Lopez. What a great cast!

They all had such great voices and really knew how to use them -- a little thing I like to call "dynamics". The two men were fabulous -- one moved like has was made of rubber (David Lopez) and the other played a great Fats Waller character (Doug Eskew). Great numbers included "Black and Blue", "Honeysuckle Rose", "The Joint is Jumpin'", "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Lounging at the Waldorf".

The band was great too. The kids loved every minute of the show (even if they didn't quite get the "Viper" song, which was a real highlight of the show...) and joined in heartily during "Fat and Greasy"!

I know it was a Wednesday night, but the house wasn't very full. In fact the four of us snuck into one of the boxes for Act 2. Did I mention how much I LOVE boxes? I saw Urinetown in a box and it feels like they are putting on the show just for you.

Parents: Go out and buy tickets to this show and bring the whole gang. It's a great night of great music and great performances.

And don't forget: Get some cash for your trash!

As the Toronto opening of Blue Man Group draws ever closer, the unions are laying down the law!

Equity (check out their billboard), the Toronto Musicians Union and IATSE have started a ticket boycott campaign ofBlue Man Group, opening in June at the Panasonic Theatre. This is because, according to ACTRA:

Blue Man Group still refuses to negotiate union agreements or hire union performers, musicians and crew.

In an e-mail I received today from ACTRA, it said:

ACTRA Toronto supports the boycott and will be joining our sister unions in rallies and other events to pressure Blue Man Group to come to the table.

I guess the unknown variable here will be whether the public in general cares about this wholeBlue Man Group versus the unions thing. Will they join in the boycott? Or will they buy tickets anyways? Perhaps if Blue Man Group incorporated some ABBA music into their production they could ensure themselves a sold-out crowd...

OK, this is my last Plane Crazy post for a while...promise.

Finally, I can stop blowing my own horn. In today's Toronto Star (New Link, New York by Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star May 25, 2005) Richard Ouzounian talks aboutPlane Crazy and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Front page of the Arts & Entertainment section, no less! I must say, it is very, very cool to see your name in print (especially when it's for something good!).

Here's a bit of the article:

Two musicals with Toronto clout behind them have been selected for the "New Links" program of the prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival, taking place in Manhattan next September. Plane Crazy is a musical by Toronto-based Suzy Conn that will be presented by independent producer Michael (Game Show) Rubinoff. The author describes it as "a fun, upbeat musical about feminism set against the backdrop of glamour and innocent sex appeal of the swinging '60s jet age. A time when Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is the largest musical theatre event in North American, with 141 events across 26 venues, 46 concerts, 332 performances, 7 seminars, 39 movies, and almost 1,000 performers and musicians.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

I went to the most beautiful concert on Thursday night with the whole family.

I was called The Song Is You! The Life and Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, and it was a Benefit for the Daily Bread Food Bank,North York Harvest Food Bank, Ontario Association of Food Banks, and the Canadian Association of Food Banks.

I told you to go a couple of weeks ago in this post, so if you missed it, you've only yourself to blame!

It was held at The Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, and was produced by Milton Zysman and GrandNight Productions.

It starred the amazing vocal talents of Elizabeth Beeler, Fred Love, Charlotte Moore, Marcus Nance (who blew my mind with his rendition of "Old Man River"), and Noel Edison and the Mendelssohn Singers.

The arrangements and musical direction were brilliantly done by David Warrack, and the highlight of the evening was the direction and narration by Richard Ouzounian who took what would have been a special evening and made it truly magical.

As the title promised, the evening was all about Oscar Hammerstein II. Richard Ouzounian narrated the Oscar Hammerstein II story, which was incredibly engrossing. I'm assuming Richard wrote it: It was fantastic. I hope he posts it online somewhere.

One thing I found very interesting is that Oscar Hammerstein II had a "barbell" career. At one end, in 1927, he created Show Boat, the first "book" musical and the source of a number of timeless classics. After a few more line drives, he went through a TEN YEAR DROUGHT of flops. That must have been HARD. It wasn't until 1943, paired with Richard Rodgers, that he created Oklahoma!, generally regarded as one of the most influential musicals of the 20th century. Along with Rodgers, he went on to create some of the greatest classics of musical theater, including Carmen Jones, State Fair, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Me and Juliet, Cinderella, Flower Drum Song, and, of course his masterpiece, The Sound of Music, which he didn't live long enough to see succeed.

One particularly stirring moment of the show was Richard's narration of the story of the song "Edelweiss", from The Sound of Music. Apparently, "Edelweiss" was Oscar's final song, before he died of stomach cancer. The combination of the narration and the beauty of the song was haunting, and it had every hair on my body standing, and again now as I write this.

I was particularly intrigued at how an event like this came into being, especially in Toronto. Now, I don't mean to criticize my birthplace, but let's face it: Toronto is a rock 'n' roll town. Our musical theater business, such as it is, primarily caters to tourists. As an aside to any former Torontonian tourists reading this post: Please, please come back. We're sorry about all those mean things we said about you. The people are friendly, the water is safe -- just don't eat the meat...

Well, as is true with most things, it looks like The Song Is You! The Life and Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II is the brainchild of one very unique individual named Milton Zysman. Here's a really interesting piece on the genesis of the show from the GrandNight Web site:

A brief note on Milton Zysman, our Producer

"The Song Is You" is the brainchild of Milton Zysman, 68, a Toronto inventor, film producer, author of scholarly papers on catastrophism, manufacturer of mattress handles, and man about town. Visually handicapped since his early 30's, Milton came to the food bank cause by helping a friend, Bob Spencer, former Executive Director of The Ontario Association of Food Banks. Bob needed a plan to raise money for a food-processing kitchen. Milton helped organize a number of dinners, but soon became bored with this shop-worn technique. His brother Simon explains what happened next:

"Milton lives on Mars, actually; he visits Toronto once in a while. While here in the summer of 2003, my brother set himself up as Grand Night Productions, and borrowed $20,000 from the bank. Setting out to raise at least $750,000 for the food banks by touring Canada, he pitched the idea of a gala performance - an original musical revue celebrating the words of Oscar Hammerstein II. It would be presented to capacity audiences paying top dollar in the biggest venues in Canada. Where did he get the idea that it could be done? It's just something Milton thought he'd enjoy attending himself! That's Milton. Where would the development and performance budgets come from? From everywhere! That's Milton again."

He approached the food banks, and The Mendelssohn Singers. They signed on. After sending a draft script to New York in March 2004, Milton found to his delight that The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization were sympathetic; they have since become his most important backer. Their grand rights licence carries only a token royalty, a benefit worth more than $200,000 to the Canadian tour. With that, a lot of chutzpah, and help from our many other supporters to date, there's going to be a show on May 19th.

They're calling it the Canadian MUSIC Hall of Fame.

Not the Canadian ROCK AND ROLL Hall of Fame or the Canadian COUNTRY Music Hall of Fame. And according to an article in today'sToronto Star ("The Envelope, Please: T.O. Wins Music Shrine" by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, Toronto Star Tuesday May 17, 2005) it's scheduled to open in June 2007 in a brand new $38MM building at Yonge and Dundas.

Plans for the physical hall include a three-foot main area, featuring interactive exhibits, administration offices on the top floor and two stores, some featuring the "Oh What A Feeling" brand used to market popular compilations of Canadian music.

The Canadian Music Hall of Fame started inducting artists in 1978 but it existed only as photographs on a wall at the academy's headquarters. Currently it's housed online at the Juno Award site.

So why no mention in the article of any planned Musical Theater exhibits?

After all, the article does say that Bobby Gimby's trumpet (he wrote the 1967 centennial song Ca-na-da) will be there and Glenn Gould's peaked cap, scarf and finger gloves will be there. So it sounds like it will profile more than just that crazy rock and roll that the kids love so much!

I'm willing to grant that the article may not be completely thorough as to the detailed plans, but I have a sinking feeling that musical theater (writers, producers, performers) will be completely overlooked. For crying out loud, we don't even have a category at the Junos, unlike theGrammys...

What about Brent Carver who won a Tony for The Kiss of the Spider Woman? Or Louise Pitrewho started this whole Mamma Mia! phenomenon in Toronto? Or Leslie Arden? Or Garth Drabinsky? Or Anne of Green Gables? Billy Bishop Goes To War? Or Galt MacDermot who wrote the music for Hair? Or Plane Crazy?

If you visit Jim Bett's Web site you'll see that Canadian Musical Theater is alive and well! Would it kill them to devote just a teensy weensy corner to it?

The article goes on to say:

I think if we had a different location that wasn't quite as sexy as Yonge and Dundas, it might be more of a challenge.

Now I have many words to describe the corner of Yonge and Dundas but "sexy" isn't one of them...

The other night we went to see theCharActors Senior Elite performance of Bye Bye Birdie at the York Woods Library Theatre.

Not only was my daughter Myrna in the show, playing Randolph McAfee, but I was going to see the building that my dad, Thomas Ibronyi, had designed!

The library is a gorgeous building in the middle of a nondescript area. The lobby of the theater is circular with wonderful attention to detail in the theater (every seat is a good one!). Surprisingly, even the women's washroom is roomy! Wonderful job, Dad!

Myrna was her usual brilliant self. She was one of two grade 5 students amongst the grade 7 and 8 students (the other was a boy who played Conrad Birdie). She knew her marks, every move, every line of dialogue. Her voice in "Ed Sullivan" and "What's The Matter With Kids Today (Reprise)" was amazing! Wonderful job Myrna!

A real family affair!

My husband got the following message fromAir Canada today. He's an Elite member, so this is his "special offer" (err, he received the same message three times...NOTE: Get your act together ThinData!):

I am pleased to offer you an exclusive opportunity to be first in line to purchase tickets for the Toronto World Premiere theatrical production of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Only Air Canada, as a principal sponsor of the first major stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, can offer our Top Tier members this exceptional opportunity to order tickets before anyone else.

Tickets go on sale to the public on May 15, 2005. However, as an Air Canada Top Tier member, you'll be among the first to experience the biggest, most ambitious theatre production ever staged by ordering your tickets on May 14, 2005 beginning at 9 AM (ET).

Performances for THE LORD OF THE RINGS begin on February 2, 2006 at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.

J.R.R. Tolkien's book trilogy has sold over 200 million copies. The award winning three-film adaptation broke box office records. And now, an international creative team directed by critically acclaimed Matthew Warchus has combined all three books into one extraordinary stage event.

To order your tickets on May 14 at 9 AM (ET), before they go on sale to the public, call 1-800-461-3333 (in Canada and the Continental U.S.) or (416) 872-1212 (in Toronto), or click here to buy online. Please have your Aeroplan number ready. For more information about this great show, visit www.lotr.com.

With a thrilling score, a spectacular design, and an ensemble of over 65 actors, singers and musicians, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is destined to be the stage event of the year. I truly hope you can take advantage of this exclusive opportunity and enjoy the show.

Sincerely,


George Reeleder
Senior Director, Marketing
Air Canada

Someone needs to explain to the agency that you should only have two spaces after a period with non-proportional fonts (like Courier, and on typewriters). With proportional fonts, only one space is required after a period. Koff, koff, bush league, koff, koff. I have gone to the trouble of correcting the double spaces, at no charge!

What a great Mother's Day!

Last night the whole fam-damily went down to the REX to see Swing Rosie at their first "May at the Rex" performance, and the launch of their first CD, named Sing Cool, Swing Hot

It was great to see Swing Rosie in concert again: Composed of Kira Callahan, Shannon Butcher, and Chantelle Wilson.,

Here are some quick bios:

Toronto jazz singer Kira Callahan is the founder of Swing Rosie. As a solo artist, Kira has performed on stages from Toronto to Paris and her CD Kira Callahan Live at Glenn Gould Studio can be heard on CBC Radio, Jazz FM 91.1 and CIUT 89.5. Kira brings passion and a natural soulful swing to the trio. Her warm mezzo tone is the perfect fit for the songs of the Andrews Sisters era. Visit Kira Callahan's website at www.kiracallahan.com.

Shannon Butcher is a graduate from the University of Toronto's Music Faculty, and she is a regualr solo performer in Toronto's jazz scene. Shannon's youthful and energetic persona, along with her versatile soprano voice help bring to life Swing Rosie's playful and intricate harmonies. Visit Shannon Butcher's Website at www.shannonbutcher.com.

Chantelle Wilson can be found performing around the world on cruise ships, and singing, dancing and acting in productions both on screen and on stage. Chantelle brings her rich alto vocals and charismatic stage presence, as well as her talents as a choreographer to the trio.

The new CD is fantastic! We listened to it all the way home...and again the next day. It's a fresh Jazz CD with a live performance sensibility. Plus, it's classic The Andrews Sisters style with fresh arrangements of classic songs. Where else are you going to find that today?

Here's my wishlist for the next CD: "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)", "Elmer's Tune", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000".

Swing on, girls!

While I was in TheatreBooks picking up a copy (finally!) of Reading Lyrics by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball (a collection of more than a thousand of the finest lyrics from 1900 to 1975), I picked up a flyer for"The Song Is You": The Life and Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II.

On May 19, for one night only at the Hummingbird Centre, Richard Ouzounian will narrate and direct a show dedicated to the memorable classics penned byHammerstein. With musical direction by David Warrackof the Canada Pops and soloists Elizabeth Beeler, Fred Love, Charlotte Moore (whose CD Friends of Mine I have raved about in a previous post) and Marcus Nance. Also featured will be conductor Noel Edison and the 60 voices of the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers.

Go to www.ticketmaster.ca for tickets.

What a wonderful way to nourish your spirit, while helping to nourish thousands of children and adults struggling with hunger in Toronto!

My daughter Myrna's CharActors Senior Elite Musical Theater class (she's part Hungarian so of course her class would be elite!) is performing Bye Bye Birdie at the York Woods Library Theatre at 1785 Finch Avenue West on Thursday, May 12. She is playing Randolph McAfee, her second male role in a month, after Mr. Bumble!

This is interesting in its own right, but what makes it fascinating is that during the course of research for theLost Land John Malkovich post, I discovered that one of the buildings my father designed was the York Woods Library! Get outta town! How cool is that?

If only he was around to see one of his granddaughters sing and dance in one of his buildings! My father was a brilliant architect whose taste for mid-century modern design I seem to have inherited.

And I say to myself, it's a wonderful world...

My daughter's class did excerpts from Oliver! at her music night last night and they left us wanting more! They did two numbers: "Food Glorious Food" and "Oliver!" and Myrna played Mr. Bumble.

She was fantastic! What a star! And I am going to take credit for assembling an awesome Bumble costume and pinning a large pillow into her costume (w00h00 Mom!). She was wonderfully portly. Actually the whole night was musical theater -- the grade 4s did "Summertime" from Anne of Green Gables and the grade 6s did "Sunrise Sunset" and "Wedding Dance" from Fiddler on the Roof, complete with a bottle dance!

Minimal sets, but great costumes and wonderful piano playing by the music teacher -- way to go Mrs M!. The kids really loved doing the musical theatre numbers because the music is so great and it gives them a chance to be dramatic and and discover a different world than their own. (and also because dressed as orphans they got to wear bare feet and ripped clothes!)

There was also a wonderful performance by the grade 5 and grade 6 string ensembles. (Myrna is in grade six strings.) It was so cute with all the girls dressed in their orphan rags playing the violin! Way to go Mrs C!

Bravo Myrna! Encore! Encore!

Last night I went to see DECIDE, which defiantly bills itself as "THE Urban Musical".

It is written, directed, and produced by Stuart Knight, a 30-year old motivational speaker.

Stuart also acts in it alongside five other actor/singers. It plays every Saturday night in a loft on Queen Street West. It's a musical revue about deciding to be the master of your own life, making changes, relationships, connectivity, sensitivity, nativity, and hyperactivity (sorry, I can't seem to stop rhyming ever since I walked out of the show...). It combined dialogue scenes with songs and hip hop poetry. Lots of hip hop poetry.

Here is Stuart's explanation of the show's theme, from the Web site:

Why Did I Write This Show?

It's 2am in the morning and I've just been asked to come up with text explaining why I wrote this show. The answer is simple, turn on your TV at 2 am in the morning, channel surf for 5 minutes, and you'll know why.

When people ask me where I want to take this show, I am reminded of interviews of big time television executives. Almost always in those interviews, you'll hear a sentence saying "I want to take this to every household in the country." I'm always bothered by those kinds of lines because it assumes that people want you in their personal space. Does the idea of having my material rooted in every home in the country excite me? Of course it does; but, only if I'm invited. It's like a relationship, there's nothing worse than being with someone that you know does not want to be with you. So, when people ask me, where do I want to take this show? I want to be able to walk down the street and see nothing but open doors.

If you find that confusing, keep reading. If that makes perfect sense to you, stop reading now and go see the show next Saturday by reserving a seat off the Web site at www.decideshow.com.

Here's my quick summary: When the cast was talking I wished they were singing; and when they were singing I wished they were talking. And then I wished it would end.

First of all let me say that I applaud Stuart for doing it. He's out there doing live theater every Saturday and people are paying money ($20) to see it. So kudos for that. And the cast are extremely committed and gave it their all. So kudos for that too.

But overall it was a self-indulgent, preachy, pretentious, cliche-ridden show. Imagine a musical written by Tony Robbins, and you'll get a pretty good idea of last night's experience.

In my opinion the music and lyrics were amateurish. Every song was wailed a la American Idol to signify its emotional importance.

And Stuart likes to talk...a lot. I can't help but think that, as the writer, if he was really worried about the quality of the show he would get off the stage, cast another actor to play his roles and sit in the audience and watch it.

But I think the show has a bigger purpose. It is designed as a show and an after party where you mingle with the other members of the audience. You're invited to wear a Snuggle button if you wish to be approached for conversational purposes (a technique from Stuart's "Art of Conversation" workshop, we are told).

It is also designed as a springboard for Stuart's motivational workshops and other party venues (we were also invited to head over to the big hip hop party he was throwing on King Street that night). As a former marketer I really like this whole concept of using a show to market other stuff, but as a result I'm not sure the show itself receives top priority.

With all that being said, the audience (an urban, late '20s, early '30s crowd) loved the show, seemed to be having a good time, and they gave the show a standing ovation at the end.

Me, I stood up to leave.

This Blue Man Group vs four Toronto theatrical unions feud is like bad case of genital herpes -- it just won't go away. Not that I'd know anything about genital herpes...it's just what I've read...

Another article in The Globe And Mail on Saturday April 16, 2005 ("Tangled Up In Blue" by James Adams) describes the participation and ticket buying boycotts of various Toronto unions and their affiliates (and U.S. Actors' Equity!) against the Blue Man Group, which is opening in June in our fair-ish city.

I can't say I was that excited about seeing Blue Man Group in the first place. After seeing the ads, watching excerpts on late night talk shows and hearing a friend of mine who saw it in New York describe the show in detail, I had no great desire to see it. Just not my cup of tea, that's all.

Blue Man Group has started its advertising campaign. The unions are lighting their torches. So which way is this thing gonna go? Will the union bring the Blue Meanies to their Blue Knees? Or will Torontonians, so desperate for some real blue theater (tired of just Baby Blue CityTV!), cross the picket-ticket line?

Will our mayor David Miller be able to resist the free opening night tickets and VIP limo service? Stay tuned.

This is so weird. I go for a swim, almost every day. It's a great time for me to meditate...I usually write lyrics while I'm in the pool. Today, I was thinking, "Gee, I wonder what Louise Pitre is doing these days..." (nice site BTW).

I was recalling a TV news piece from a few years ago when Louise first hit Broadway and was up for a Tony (Best Actress, Mamma Mia!, 2002). She walked into the famous Colony Records store on Broadway and pointed out her album on the shelf and she talked about finally fulfilling her dreams of Broadway stardom. It was cool to see this Canadian girl being celebrated as the toast of Broadway, and relatively late in her career too.

I'd seen Louise in tons of Toronto shows before she finally became the toast of Broadway, including I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and Mamma Mia! in Toronto.

Well, no sooner than I had said "Doo doo doo doo", I ran across this article in Playbill on Louise Pitre's next gig. She's coming back to Toronto for a month to star in Annie Get Your Gun.

Canadian actress Louise Pitre will trade the tunes of ABBA for those of Irving Berlin in her next stage outing, Annie Get Your Gun.

The award-winning singer-actress, who opened the Broadway company of Mamma Mia!, is set to play Annie Oakley in a month-long run of the Berlin classic this summer in Toronto. The Toronto Star reports that Pitre will play opposite the Frank Butler of country music star Paul Brandt in the mounting of the musical at Toronto's Massey Hall.

Like the acclaimed City Center Encores! series, Annie Get Your Gun will be presented on a stage filled with a 25-piece orchestra. There will be lights and costumes but no additional scenery. Donna Feore will direct and choreograph the musical about the sharp-shootin' Oakley; Rick Fox will conduct the onstage orchestra.

Annie Get Your Gun will begin performances in early August. Dates and ticket information will be announced shortly.

For her performance as Donna in the Canadian, Broadway and touring companies of Mamma Mia!, Louise Pitre received the Dora Mavor Moore Award, the San Francisco Critics Circle Award, the U.S. National Broadway Award as well as a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Her numerous theatrical credits include roles in Piaf; Les Miserables; The World Goes 'Round; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living In Paris and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Pitre's solo recordings are titled "Songs My Mother Taught Me" and "All of My Life Has Led to This." Pitre was also recently involved in the world-premiere production of the late Cy Coleman's The Great Ostrovsky.

The original production of Annie Get Your Gun -- featuring a score by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields -- opened at the Imperial Theatre in May 1946, playing 1,147 performances before closing Feb. 12, 1949. Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton starred. The most recent Broadway production -- March 1999 to September 2001 -- cast Bernadette Peters as Annie Oakley. Peters won her second Tony Award for her performance opposite Tom Wopat's Frank Butler. The Berlin score features such classic tunes as "There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" and "I Got Lost in His Arms."

I saw Bernadette Peters in Annie Get Your Gun...twice. Louise has big (well, small in size, but you get my meaning) shoes to fill.

According to this article in Playbill, The Drowsy Chaperone is headed for LA!

I remember when I saw The Drowsy Chaperone at Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999 as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. I've only seen it once, but I still remember how much I loved the book and the clever story-telling device. Specifically, the narrator puts on an old record and then the action unfolds, representing what's on the record. This created many comical situations where he put on the wrong record and a whole new bunch of characters came onto the stage before he realized his mistake.

I don't remember being especially impressed by the songs, but I only saw it once and that was a while ago so I'd be willing to listen again. After all, they must have made some changes before the full production at Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre. I also heard it had a successful showcase last fall at NAMT's producer festival, and I'm guessing that's probably how it got picked up for L.A.

Break a leg Drowsy!

From Playbill:

The Drowsy Chaperone (Nov. 8-Dec. 24): The American debut of this musical with music by Greg Morrison, lyrics by Lisa Lambert and a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar is being billed as a "pre-Broadway engagement." The musical-within-a-musical finds the biggest fan of musical theatre presenting his favorite 1928 Gable and Stein show featuring a plotline that finds a Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to marry. Her scheming producer enlists a chaperone, a dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a couple of gangsters to keep her from the debonair groom.

The work played to sold out crowds at the 1999 Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival then transferred to a full production at Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre.

Well, when there is an official Web site to promote the boycott of your show, you know you've pissed someone off.

Actors' Equity is spearheading a boycott launch of the Blue Man Group production, set to open in Toronto this spring.

ACTRA is also encouraging its members to joinCanadian Actors' Equity Association, The Toronto Musicians' Association and IATSE at the launch of their boycott campaign of the non-union productionBlue Man Group.

Show your support of the boycott. Come to the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on Tues. April 5 at 1:00 p.m. 27 Front St. East.

And if you go into the Web site you can read letters of support from other union groups. I mean even the ETT (Elementary Teachers of Toronto) are getting into the act and everyone knows that bunch is one tough bunch of hombres!

Stay tuned, this isn't over yet...

Finally after 40 odd years the Conn Curse has been lifted by my daughter Myrna! What is the Conn Curse? Well before I got married it was called the Ibronyi Curse.

Whatever the name, it meant that no matter how exceedingly talented (and modest) I was I could never ever get cast in a major part in any theater production throughout my school years. Through my elementary, junior high and high school years no matter how many times I auditioned I always got stuck in the chorus!

It wasn't until university when my true brilliance in performing was noticed and I was cast as Gladys Hotchkiss in The Pajama Game and Velma Kelly inChicago.

Well, it seemed as if my daughter had inherited a similar fate. Now, she is a hundred times more talented than I ever was and it seemed that for the last six years of her elementary schooling she was always mysteriously overlooked. It was a mystery 'cuz she was getting cast in commercials and productions outside of school. Hence the Conn Curse. Well no more my friends! Myrna has been cast as Mr. Bumble (the lead part available) in her class's "Reader's Digest" version of Oliver! for music night! Congrats Myrna!

So I admit I was a bit pissed at Mirvish Productions for screwing up the run of The Producers and Hairspray in Toronto and plastering Mamma Mia ads everywhere I turned in this fair-ish city. In my opinion, their past productions (The Lion King, The Producers,Hairspray, Miss Saigon) have had a pretty spotty casting track record. And to top it off, I thought they were turning into purely spectacle producers with the Lord of the Rings extravaganza coming next spring.

However, according to The Toronto Star(Mirvishes in an expansive mood, The Toronto Star, March 30, 2005), Mirvish announced his new 2005/2006 subscription series with none other than Mary Poppins herself, Dame Julie Andrews.

Julie Andrews also announced that, as part of that lineup, she will be directing The Boy Friend, a fun 1920s spoof musical with which she made her Broadway debut at the age of 19, some 50 years ago. She originally directed this musical for Goodspeed Musicals in 2004 in Connecticut, and is now in charge of their touring production. Add to that Les Mis (yawn, but a crowd pleaser), Movin' Out (awesome if you get the right talent), and three new plays, and you've got a respectable (if not groundbreaking) lineup.

Fingers crossed on casting choices! Now if I can just get Mirvish to include Plane Crazy in their 2006/2007 lineup...

From the Star:

If you're announcing a theatrical playbill full of huge hopes and optimistic dreams, who better to help introduce it than Mary Poppins?

Obviously that's what David Mirvish had in mind when he brought out Dame Julie Andrews as the star attraction to launch his biggest-ever subscription season yesterday morning at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

The 69-year old star of My Fair Lady, Camelot and The Sound of Music actually brought many in the crowd of 400 media types to their feet in a spontaneous standing ovation when she made her entrance.

Andrews managed to combine cool elegance and friendly warmth as she discussed her production of The Boy Friend, which will be one of the shows in next year's Mirvish season, as previously revealed in The Star.

"I look on this as a labour of love," said Andrews in describing the 1920s spoof with which she made her Broadway debut at the age of 19, some 50 years ago. "It's as elegant and beautiful as a piece of lace, but it's also an awful lot of fun."

The 42nd Mirvish subscription season will feature seven shows, a record number for the organization. Mirvish himself attributed his daring to "a sense of optimism that's sweeping through the city again. This is a time to rebuild, to move ahead and we want to be part of it."

Playwright Michael Healey served as master of ceremonies for the event, utilizing his customary martini-dry wit. "Hello, I'm Ed Mirvish," is how he began.

Healey's presence was more than coincidental, because his new comedy, The Innocent Eye Test, will have its world premiere next season, in a co-production with the Manitoba Theatre Centre, directed by Christopher Newton.

The author described it as "a classic farce about art dealers, terrorists and how Canadians are perceived abroad." Set in a Tuscan villa, it fulfills what Healey jokingly said were Mirvish's demands when he commissioned it: "a two-act comedy with no more than eight characters, all about sex and money."

Also present to raise the Canadian content level were author Dan Needles and star Rod Beattie of Wingfield's Inferno, the fifth play in the incredibly successful series about a Bay Street broker who leaves it all behind to live on a small Ontario farm.

"It's about how Canada's biggest growth industry is the stifling of human achievement," is the way Beattie wryly described his latest work.

There will be three other big shows in the season as well. First, of course, is the recently announced stage version of The Lord of the Rings, which, with its $27 million budget and international creative team, is likely to stand as the focal point of the entire year.

But the two remaining musicals joining it on the bill are no slouches either.

Movin' Out, the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp collaboration, has been a huge hit on Broadway and across the country ever since its opening late in 2002. Using 24 of Joel's hits to tell the story of five friends whose lives are changed forever by the war in Vietnam, this show packs a real punch, due in large part to Tharp's kinetic staging.

And the original mega-musical, Les Miserables, has been a favourite of Toronto audiences ever since it first played here in 1989.

Mirvish gently turned aside any questions as to whether Toronto residents Colm Wilkinson and Michael Burgess might be stepping into the shoes of Jean Valjean that they once filled.

"You'll have to ask (producer) Cameron Mackintosh about that," was his diplomatic reply.

Rounding out the year is the wild card of the seven shows, Nomade, a production from the Quebec-based Cirque Eloize. The group has been highly popular in Europe and is currently performing in Paris at Les Folies Bergere.

Their style is hard to describe, but from the video we were shown, it seems a bit like Riverdance meets Cirque du Soleil.

In any event, the season Mirvish Productions has planned has the potential to be truly spectacular and to fulfill one of the major purposes of theatre, which is, as Andrews wisely described it, "to bring a bit of joy into all of our lives."

We had a wonderful evening at The Rex tonight catching up with Swing Rosie. They were in wonderful form, and they looked loose and relaxed on the stage. They sounded great, and they seemed to be having a great time with each other.

I'm famous for my "doo-doo-doo-doos", or moments of "incredible coincidence". There were actually two tonight connected to Swing Rosie, however I will only recount the weirdest one.

If you read this morning's post, about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I made a comparison between "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and the Japanese slang for James Bond: "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". So, we're sitting in The Rex and we're looking at the Schedule of Events for April. I scan down to April 27 & 28, and the band performing at 9:30 pm is called "Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang"...how weird is that? They're from Copenhagen, Denmark, and they play the music from the films of James Bond. What are the chances that I would blog that in the morning, and then see a jazz band in the same vein on a schedule that afternoon?

Sometimes I scare myself...

I finally saw Judy and David's Pigmania yesterday afternoon at the Jane Mallet Theatre, the final show of their March break run.

My daughter Myrna was a singing and dancing pig, and was featured as a foxette (glamorous back-up singer to the Big Bad Wolf who was dressed like Elvis but looked more like RumTumTugger...)

I know Judy and David are immensely popular Treehouse TV celebrities, but I must say Myrna stole the show! Of course not for lack of "hamming" it up by Judy and David (especially David). Lots of audience howling, shouting, clapping, squealing, and general delight from the rugrat set.

Very simple sets, but totally in sync with the whole performance. J&D keep a strong relationship with their audience by constantly breaking the fourth wall to keep the kiddies engaged. Mark Terene (of Beauty and the Beast and Lion King fame) directed and the piece moved along nicely.

My only complaint was that the sound was a bit loud, making it obvious that some of the group vocals were tracked, which seemed unneccesary given all the enthusiastic kids up on stage from the CharActors Theatre Troupe, who sang and danced their hearts out throughout the whole show.

Next year I hear the show is going to be Red's in the Hood...

I was down at the Jane Mallet Theatre today picking up my tickets for Judy and David's Pigmania (on until Thursday afternoon) and a matinee had just let out. Judy and David (still in Pig get-up, complete with pig noses) were out Meeting and Greeting the tiny tots. What a joy it is to see little kids who have just been totally engrossed and entertained with live theatre and music, squeal with delight as they get their picture taken with the stars and get a chance to meet the real live people from the stage.

The reason I'm going on Thursday is that my daughter Myrna is a foxette in this rock and roll version of The Three Little Pigs. As part of the CharActors travelling troupe she has performed all over the city in this show for the past two weeks.

Singing and dancing her way through March Break. Now that's what I like to see! I'll give you a review after I see the show...

Wow, this is going to be fun. We have almost an entire year of buzz to build up to the opening night of the $27MM Lord of the Rings Musical.

It's kinda cool that the global debut will be here in Toronto, but I'm a little surprised that everyone keeps saying that it's the first major show to debut outside of the West End or Broadway. What about Kiss of the Spider Woman? Started in Toronto...directed by Hal Prince...won 6Tonys on Broadway (1993: Musical, Book, Score, Costumes, Actor: Brent Carver; Actress: Chita Rivera; Featured Actor: Anthony Crivello). What about Ragtime? Started in Toronto...won a 4 Tonys on Broadway (1998: Book, Score, Orchestration, Featured Actress: Audra McDonald). Gosh, evenShowboat was revived in Toronto, and then went on to a triumphant North American tour and 5 Tonys (1995: Revival, Costumes, Director: Harold Prince; Choreographer: Susan Stroman; Featured Actress: Gretha Boston). Gee...what did all those shows have in common? Oh yeah...

Still, it seems really unfair to take everything from someone, even the accomplishments of his shows...

Anyway, in today's The Globe And Mail James Adams Weekend Diary (sadly hidden behind a "premium content" wall...and no New York Times-style blog appropriate Link Generator...sorry) was a bit of an homage from my post from Thursday. James said:

"It's been said that the Rings will owe less to the conventions of musical theatre and more to the sweep of opera and epic movies, while drawing on "ethnic traditions." I think this could be a mistake. If I want opera, I can walk the few blocks from the Princess of Wales to the new home of the Canadian Opera Company to see the completeRing cycle by Wagner. If I want ethnic, I can catch the China National Acrobatic Troupe at the nearby Hummingbird Centre. And if I have a hankering for cinematic scope, well, there are the DVDs of Alexander and Troy, and the three Rings movies for that matter.

In short, The Lord of the Rings musical should not try to exempt itself from one of the fundaments of the hit musical, which is to leave the audience with a snappily titled, hummable melody or two reverberating in their skulls as they exit the theatre. To spark this kind of thinking, I hereby offer the show's creators these (possible) song titles:

Give My Regards To Mordor;
Hobbitually Devoted To You;
Careful With That Axe, Grimli;
Ring-toss Wizard;
I've Grown Accustomed To Those Orcs;
Let Elvish Rule;
Gandalf, I'm Only Dancing."

I'm still partial to my "Second Breakfast At Tiffany's" and from Brighterbuc:

You're getting to be a Hobbit with me?
'Swonderful, 'smarvelous, 'smeagle should be with me...
It's Gandalf Night for Singing
One (Ring that's a sensation)
Ma, he's making Eye at me!

I saw all the LOTR movies, but must confess (horror of horrors) I am not a huge, huge fan like my husband and daughters.

I always thought "Elvish" was what you spoke when you talked like Elvis Presley...

But I just read in the Globe and Mail today (Can a hobbit save Hogtown? by Guy Dixon,Globe and Mail Thursday March 17, 2005) that as a proud citizen of Ontario I'm helping throw $3 million into the LOTR musical!

Woohoo I'm a producer -- Sardi's here I come! No more rented tux! Given that kind of commitment towards a $27 million project, well, I sit up and take notice. So, do you thnk they could trim a little fat off the budget by just adapting some existing material for this project?

Maybe Smeagle could sing this to Gollom ?(from Kiss Me Kate)

"Why Can't You Behave"

==

Maybe Frodo could sing this to Sam in a touching moment of hobbit-bonding?

"Hobbits, hobbits who need hobbits are the luckiest hobbits in the world..."

==

Or what about:

"Bye Bye Bilbo?"

==

"Hair?"

==

"Second Breakfast At Tiffany's?" I know this failed as a musical but why not give it a second chance.

==

And to borrow from the Fats Waller musical, Ain't Misbehavin': "Your Feets Too Big"

Hey, I'm just getting started...

Well, now I really understand that scene inWhite Christmas where the cast is rehearsing the dance number "Choreography" with Danny Kaye andVera-Ellen, up at the chalet. As you know, all the women dancers are barefoot, dressed in dull grey dresses and instead of "chicks doing kicks" they are doing modern choreography while DK sings "through the air they'll be flying, like a duck that is dying, instead of dance it's choreography!"

Last night my husband and I went out to see Dream Machine at Theatre Passe Muraille. We hadn't seen a show there since The Drowsy Chaperone! It really is a nice, small space. It had received four "N"s in NOW magazine. Written by Blake Brooker and David Rhymer, and featuring Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis, Michael Green, Onalea Gilbertson and Brad Payne, it is billed a "The spirit of the Beats conjured in a hallucinogenic, genre-defying musical".

What is a Dream Machine I hear you ask? In the program they describe it as follows:

"The Dream Machine was a light/flicker-producing device invented by Biron Gysin and Ian Sommerville in 1960. It was meant to transport the user into a waking dream state. The inventors knew that it was capable of producing a drugless high and hoped that it would become a common household appliance. It never caught on."

Instead, we got the cappuccino machine.

The program goes on to say:

"The Beat Movement and its activities were many and varied: proponents advocated experimentation in all forms -- faith, food, sex, travel, art and work and through this, formed their own strange orthodoxy. Dream Machine started off as a musical investigation of the lives os some of the Beat luminaries (William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin) then it became something else. Fittingly, perhaps, and under the sway of the furious experimentation and playfulness the Beats were famous for, we began to experiment ourselves. Could we create a musical without characters or plot? Could we musically induce in the audience the emotions of these courageous, idiosyncratic, and frustrated minds?"

Yes and no. The evening was nicely sustained on one "slice of Beat life" after another, as the songs explored the angst, the drugs, the sex etc. And the rear projection added to the whole effect. I'm not sure whether it was the piece , or the Beat movement itself, but the whole thing felt empty, sort of soulless. I didn't feel any connection to the actors, it was very egocentric, like one big navel gazing party. Maybe that was the point?

Maybe too much time has passed. The continuous drug fuelled angst and sex orgies on stage seemed less controversial and shocking and new, and more tired and annoying.

Although the lyrics were fun to follow, the music was a bit wallpapery and not very engaging or fun (or God forbid, catchy) as opposed to the memorable drug songs from the musical Hair.

Also, I couldn't help thinking of the Mike Myers movie So I Married An Axe Murderer as the actors recited some jumbled verse. And I half expected Vera-Ellen to descend from the rafters, ready to relieve us with some good ol' fashioned tapping.

However, it was fun live theater. The actors were great to watch in such a small space. Denise Clarke was especially captivating. The way her body moved was compelling -- strong,flowing, freakish at times. She was so deep into this piece that she no longer appeared to be acting.

I had a good time, but I wouldn't see it again and I probably wouldn't recommend it. But hey, I'm still thinking about it...

Wow, another lead in Wicked takes a tumble...WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Read the article on Playbill.com:

The first performance of the eagerly awaited tour of Stephen Schwartz's Wicked -- scheduled for March 8 at the Canon Theatre in Toronto -- has been canceled.

Stephanie J. Block, who portrays the not-so-Wicked Witch of the West, is unable to perform due to an injury sustained during the show's rehearsal period.

A press statement reads, "[Block] has suffered a minor injury during rehearsal. She is experiencing muscle spasms which are preventing her from performing. As a result, tonight's preview performance has been canceled and has been rescheduled for Sunday, March 13 at 7:30 PM. . . All tickets for this evening's performance will be honored for this new Sunday evening performance."

Block, according to the press statement, is expected to return to the musical in a few days. Kristy Cates, one of the standbys in the Broadway production of Wicked, will play the role of the misunderstood Elphaba until Block returns.

Wicked is proving to be a bit of a dangerous proposition for its leading ladies. Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the role of Glinda, suffered a neck injury during the show's out-of-town tryout in San Francisco. And, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel broke a rib during her final weekend of performances on Broadway.

My husband and I finally got to go out for a romantic dinner together last night. Our Saturday night plans were ruined by our eldest daughter's insistence that she seeFootloose at the City Playhouse in Vaughn that same night (she saw it and gave it rave reviews!). So another sacrifice in the name of theater...

Anyway, we decided to go out Sunday night instead (Desperate Housewives was preempted by an Oprah-produced tearjerker movie...so we figured, why stay in?) to our favorite Cajun restaurant:Southern Accent on Markham Street (inMirvish Village, no less).

We drove by the Bathurst Street Theatre where Bat Boy is playing and parked. Inside, Southern Accent was in full Bat Boy mode, having hosted the opening night party. Batbills (Playbills in disguise) decorated the walls and there was even a dish on the menu called "Bat Boy Salad"!

The salad was composed of baby spinach and radicchio with grilled asparagus and avocado, tossed in a lime olive dressing with sesame seed garnish (what else would you expect?) for $12. Add marinated black tiger shrimp pieces and it goes up to $16.

That got me thinking.

I mean, I've been to celebrity restaurants before (the Hog's Breath Inn in Carmel, owned by Clint Eastwood, where you can still get an Dirty Harry burgers and an Eiger-sandwich) but I've never seen a regular restaurant offer a musical-themed item.

What about a "Sloppy Pal Joe"? "Pajama Game" (roasted au jus of course)? "Wonderful Tuna"? "The Sound of Moussaka"? I'm sure you can think of others.

More importantly when Plane Crazy is a hit, what will its food offering be? Think. Think. Think. How about "The Plane Crazy Stew", a chicken dish made with breasts and thighs...

I really need to get out more.

I started up dance/aerobics classes again with the great Sarina Condello on Friday! I took a session last year at this time and it was sooooo amazing.

Unfortunately any strength and flexibility I may have built up last year is gone and I'm starting from zero again (sigh). The class participants were assembled by Elaine Overholt, singer and vocal coach extraordinaire (she vocal coached Richard Gere, Rene Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones during the filming of the movie musicalChicago). I used to take vocal lessons with Elaine many moons ago, but now my oldest daughter Myrna has that honor.

Anyway, the people in the class are all singers/writers/musical theatre performers so it is a great group. Meredith Shaw and Giovanni Amenta who played Janet and Brett in the Plane Crazy workshop last March are back for this session too. Actually Sarina's class was how I met them and eventually cast them in the workshop. BTW, Meredith will be appearing inLittle Shop of Horrors as Chiffon from March 23 through 26 at the Isabel Bader Theatrehere in Toronto. (All proceeds donated to the Toronto People With Aids Foundation). And there were a couple of newbies in class today too.

Sarina's teachings focus on the African origins of dance and rhthym, with Latin, Arabic and modern dance thrown in too. I'm not usually the type of person who gets spiritual and in touch with the earth, but Sarina's enthusiasm and lack of pretense are so wonderfully inclusive and infectious that I can't help but discover my inner warrior!

By the end of the eight weeks I'm fully expecting to be a lean, mean dancing machine (and maybe touch my toes if I'm lucky!)

Every morning as I drive my kids to school I listen to Q107 with John Derringer. Partly for the classic rock, but mostly to listen to the very funny The Last Word with Auntie Mo' (Maureen Holloway) which comes on at 8 am. Like clockwork, the last commercial break before Maureen comes on is a commercial for "Korry's Men's Clothing", a store on the Danforth, always read by "Korry" himself. I always think, "...good for him, I wonder how long he's been in business..." Well, now I know.

Last night I finally got around to watching one of four The Songwriters -- An Intimate Evening of Songs and Stories DVDs that my wonderful husband bought for me. I thought they were some kind of rediscovered PBS specials, and they are DVDs that profile legendary theater/film songwriting teams performing their own material. We started with the Kander and Ebb/Alan Jay Lerner edition. Liza Minelli starts off the Kander and Ebb portion and by her good condition the date seems to be somewhere in the late '70s. Oh, didn't you know that you tell the time by a sundial, and the year by Liza Minelli's physical condition? The next hour wasJohn Kander (aka The King O' Vamps) at the piano and Fred Ebb singing and sweating at the microphone. At Fred's request this was shot in one continuous take. It was so, so, sooo amazing!

There is nothing -- I mean nothing -- like hearing great songwriters talk about their songs and then sing them with the intensity and meaning and the inflection they had imagined when they were writing. I didn't want it to end. Fred's voice was fine, but his enthusiasm and commitment to a song was so compelling.

I only wish that some of the sad-excuse-for-singer tarts today would watch this kind of stuff to get a clue on how to perform. Ooops, did I say that out loud? Sorry. Anyway, after watching them, I wish I knew these people.

And why doesn't somebody do a production of Flora The Red Menace instead ofBat Boy? My seven year old has fallen in love with the score of Flora ("You're a Communist, sign here!").

Fred Ebb talked about how they wrote a song about BoBo's Bar and Grill after receiving the news that one of their mutual friends had committed suicide. At the other end of the spectrum they did one of their "party songs", an ode to Sara Lee. What a joy.

As the credits rolled on this program (still no idea where it was shot) it said "Guests stayed at the Inn On The Park in Toronto" and John and Fred's clothes were done by "Korry's Menswear"! Oh my gosh, this was shot in Toronto! And they were dressed by Mr Korry-on-the Danforth himself, no less! Kewl.

OK, here's what I was talking about in the title of this post. All the audience shots during the Kander and Ebb performance showed everyone (well almost everyone) wearing huge eyeglasses! Not sunglasses but prescription glasses. I know that this was the fashion then, but to see a whole audience with these big beauties is a bit freaky. Are the glasses so big, so you can find them easily when you're not wearing them? Or did the bottom fall out of the glass market in the 1970s making it really cheap to buy a lot of glass? Or were they doubling as ski goggles? Inquiring minds want to know. Inquiring minds NEED to know.

Miss you Fred.

Welcome to Toronto Theater! Come on in, make yourself at home...but oh...don't stay a while!

I just finished reading the Globe and Mail review ofBat Boy ("Quite Simply Bloody Awful" by Kamal Al-Solaylee in the Globe and Mail, February 24, 2005) and -- wow -- that smarts! He gave it a zero!

Now that's harsh. Even the movie Road Trip 2 got a 1/2 star in the Globe! I haven't seen it yet [Bat Boy the Musical, not Road Trip 2], so I can't comment on whether he was off base, but you can't help feeling badly for the production when a critic (origin of the word: CRITICAL!) really goes to town on a show. No matter how correct he/she may be, you know a lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into bringing it to stage. I know how devastated I felt after reading the Queen's Journal review of The Pajama Game (Queen's Musical Theatre, 1984) and the critic said of my portrayal of Gladys Hotchkiss that I was "mincing and simpering". It still haunts me twenty years later...revenge is a dish best served cold....but I digress. After a review like Kamal's, the show is bound to close early. At least that's what happens in New York. Money and dreams down the drain. Excuse me, I need a tissue!

Kamal hated everything from the book, music, lyrics, direction, cast...even the money ($500M). How can you criticize cash? Theater reviewers seem to have a problem with "businessmen" investing in theatre unless they have been starving for twenty years. Now, I did listen to the CD and didn't really care for it, but I was hoping the production would give it more life.

And Toronto casts always seem to be a bit, well, not top notch. (which I used to think was due to the lack of talent here, but it turns out I am constantly running into amazing musical theater singers, so I think the problem is the casting, not the talent). But I still wanted to see it, damn the review!

Until I read these four words "...miked to near deafness...". Now I will definitelyNOT go to see it. I cannot stand when shows are too loud. I know I sound like that Huey Lewis character in Back To The Future -- "you're just too darn loud". But Toronto seems to have a problem controlling sound! And I don't expect to have my eardrums permanently damaged when I go to the theater. Same damn thing happened at Mamma Mia, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch. (Oh and during Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway" at the Juno's some years back). Rock/Pop music in a show can be loud enough to be exciting (eg. The Boy From Oz in New York, Cher's show at the ACC) but doesn't need to be so loud that blood starts to trickle out of my ears.

The Toronto Star piled on with its own 1-star review ("Bat Boy a low-flying creation" by Robert Crew in The Toronto Star on February 23)

At the end of Bat Boy: The Musical, a character rushes in, looks at the dead bodies sprawled across the stage and asks, "What happened here?"

To which the sheriff solemnly replies: "It's a long story. I don't know where to begin."

Know that feeling. But let's try this: Bat Boy, which opened last night at the Bathurst Street Theatre, is one of the most over hyped, underachieving musicals to hit town in a long time.

It has been touted as the latest cult hit but any wit or style seems to have deserted the show in its Toronto incarnation...Mind you, they and everyone else weren't helped by the fact that the performers were all vastly overmiked...Director Michael McGinn fails to exploit the environment to the max. Too often, the cast ends up strung across the stage. No bite, no charm, no fangs, no thanks. This particular Bat Boy has struck out.

Now, I'm not 100% sure what's going on here...this musical seems to be garnering extremely mixed reviews. They loved it in NYC, but hated it in London, and now in Toronto. And the movie is in production...

It only seems appropriate that the Canadian Sex in the City would be based in L.A., which not many people know is actually Canada's second largest city. That's right, more Canadians live in L.A. than any other city except Toronto. And I can almost guarantee that most people in Toronto wish they were living in L.A. -- especially right now.

The article in Wednesday'sGlobe and Mail profiles "a scantily clad Brigitte Bako", a Canadian actress who spent a dozen years trying to break into the big time acting scene in L.A., but after some early successes ended up in soft-core porn. Well, at least she got lots of exposure on CityTV, so all her friends would get to see her acting...

From the article:

In G-Spot, Bako plays Gigi, a one-time acting prodigy whose roles in acclaimed films seemed destined to make her a star. Like the fictional version of herself, Bako started out on a roll, boarding a Voyageur bus, at age 19, from Montreal to New York, where her first, small movie role was in Woody Allen's 1989 New York Stories (her segment was directed by Martin Scorsese).

From there, Bako landed other decent parts in films such as One Good Cop (starring Michael Keaton). But then her luck turned. In the mid-1990s, her mother died. Her boyfriend dumped her and she was in a car accident that left her in traction for several months. She lost roles in four major studio pictures, including Don Juan DeMarco with Johnny Depp and The Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas.

When she got back on her feet, she opted to take a part in the soft-porn TV show, Red Shoe Diaries -- from which point she started aggressively accumulating material for the G-Spot scripts. "Red Shoe Diaries became this cult hit, and then basically every script I got after that I was naked by page four."

Her career then became an ever-growing repertoire of late-night B-movies, with titles such as Paranoia, Sweet Revenge and Wrong Number. Bako recalls she almost jumped on the Voyageur bus back to Montreal.

But at dinner parties, she kept her friends in stitches, recounting tales of her career lows. "They told me to write it down. So I did. I ended up with 10 scripts. I'd never written a thing in my life before," says Bako, most recently in HBO's The Mind of the Married Man.

Then Lantos heard through the entertainment grapevine that the actress, whom he'd met a few years earlier when she was in the feature I Love a Man in Uniform, had written some pretty funny stuff.

"He called me and said, 'Bako, I hear you wrote something,' " she says, adopting a strong Eastern European accent. "I said, 'Yup.' He says, 'I'm heading to the cottage and I want to read it.' I had four scripts at the time so I mailed them. At the end of his cottage vacation, he said, 'Well, Bako, you can write.' And so it started."

Gigi's co-stars are Stella, played by Heather Hanson (The Chris Isaak Show); Francesca, played by Kristin Lehman (Judging Amy); and Roxy, played by Kimberly Huie (Deep Impact). All are Canadians, now living in Los Angeles, who were repatriated to do G-Spot, which filmed for six gruelling weeks last summer.

"Every girl on this show is single," adds Bako. "I made sure of that. I wasn't going to hire anyone who had a better love life than me."

Featuring a blonde, a brunette, a raven-haired character and a redhead, Bako calls the cast a "Revlon ad in the making" and agrees the comparisons to Sex and the City are inevitable, if a tad old.

"Sex and the City is the grande dame. They started it all. But basically, any show that now comes along and talks about womanhood, sexuality or penises is going to be compared to it.

"What we have in common is that we all have vaginas. That's about it. We can't afford the shoes they wear. Our show is multiracial, multicultural, we're mostly unemployed and we can't get laid.

"We're celibacy in the suburb. That's what we are."

Nice article in the February 17, 2005 issue of eye Weekly on Bat Boy the Musical.

The article does a nice job of profiling the new impresario, Morris Berchard, who is funding this mid-size musical, to the tune of $500K...he's certainly done a good job of building advertising awareness with a significant bus shelter campaign.

With theater in Toronto a definitely iffie proposition in Toronto over the last two years, it's nice to see new producers jumping into the fray. Especially in the under-served mid-sized musical department. From the article:

Bat Boy the Musical was inspired by stories that appeared in the early '90s in the tabloid Weekly World News. To this day, the paper's former managing editor claims the stories of a hybrid child were true, although it must be noted that the tabloid owns the Bat Boy trademark and has taken royalties from productions off Broadway, in London's West End and across the US.

Bat Boy the Musical is being marketed as a universal story of an outsider trying to fit in. That's what appealed to producer Morris Berchard, who's spending close to $500,000 of his own money to bring it to the Toronto stage. Just like Schramek and several of the sort-of-familiar character actors who comprise the cast of 10, Berchard sees Bat Boy the Musical as his bid for wider acceptance.

"Right now, I'm a little bit like Bat Boy. I'm an outsider trying to get in," says Berchard, a youthful looking 49, assessing his relationship to Toronto's theatre community. Winnipeg-born Berchard always dreamed of being an actor, but his parents advised him to seek greater financial security. So he took his psychology and sociology degrees to a fledgling Toronto firm in the early '80s and helped turn it into Canada's biggest purveyor of employee assistance programs. Berchard is vice-chairman of WarrenShepell, a company that no longer requires his day-to-day attention, leaving him vulnerable to the theatre bug.

He became transfixed by Bat Boy the Musical last spring, after he attended a reading by the original off-Broadway cast. The show was a cult-hit in New York, and Berchard was considering an investment in the London run. "It just blew me away," he says, and he ended up bringing it to Toronto with the creators' blessings. "They took a bit of a chance, because I'd never produced anything in Toronto before."

Perhaps not, but Berchard is getting top-notch advice from Donald Farber, a veteran entertainment lawyer in New York. The show's associate producer is Marlene Smith, the seasoned Toronto producer known for bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats to town in the 1980s. As well, Berchard isn't cutting corners.

"He didn't cheap out, you know?" says Schramek, who notes the quality of the tech equipment, props and costumes. "What a wonderful thing for an impresario to come out of the woodwork. This guy who loves theatre has the potential to produce stuff and isn't afraid to go quality."

While it's not strictly an Equity production, Berchard has signed Equity contracts with the actors. Doing otherwise has been a sore point for the non-union Blue Man Group production that's going into the refurbished New Yorker Theatre. "After we all got our contracts," says Schramek, "Morris invited us over for a meet-and-greet. No producer I've ever worked with has just said, 'Come over to my place. I'll cater a night.'"

Berchard is the last to deny that he gets a thrill mixing with theatre people and watching their eyes light up when, for example, they first saw the elaborate set on the theatre stage. "They were so delighted to be working on the show, being on the stage," says Berchard. "It was a magical moment for me."

The producer has plans to bring other New York properties to Toronto, concentrating on the mid-sized 400- to 500-seat houses. Schramek also sees a lot of potential in that range, as well as in the style of new musical thatBat Boy typifies.