Mirvish Productions unveiled its 2013–2014 season this morning. While we complained last year about the lack of risk-taking, this year’s lineup features a charmingly bizarre assortment of 14 shows. Of course, there’s the usual array of crowd-pleasers like Les Miserables, The Lion King, Cats, Stomp, Heartbreak of Home, a new show from the Riverdance producers, and the latest Disney tie-in, Aladdin, which moves to Broadway after its Toronto debut (a pattern we haven’t seen in a while). But there are also oddball productions, like the “tango rock opera” Arrabal, as well as a stage adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis with music by Nick Cave. What’s more, the three-show Off-Mirvish series, which launched half way through last season, will feature George F. Walker’s Afghanistan war play Dead Metaphor, a work that was supposed to run at the Factory Theatre before the Ken Gass affair. This time last year, who’d have imagined a Walker/Gass play in a Mirvish season?
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The Weekender: Grey Cup Festival, Terminus and five other events on our to-do list
Terminus, the first production in the Off-Mirvish series, opens this week at the Royal Alex (Image: Mirvish)
1. 100TH GREY CUP FESTIVAL Read the rest of this entry »
The Toronto Argos are going for grey on home turf this weekend, facing off against the Calgary Stampeders. For the past week, Toronto has had football fever (it doesn’t hurt that the NHL is still in lockout) with football-themed events—a mini football field in Yonge-Dundas Square, the Scotiabank Fan Zone at the MTCC—dotted around the city. Highlights of the festival include a zip line over council chambers at City Hall and performances by Zeus and Our Lady Peace. The mayor, of course, is in the spirit, even more so than most. Go Argos! November 15–25. Various prices. Various locations, 100thgreycupfestival.ca
Mirvish Productions announces new “Off-Mirvish” series for smaller-scale productions
Terminus, Without You, Clybourne Park and Dancing with Rage (Images: Mirvish)
This morning, at a press conference at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Mirvish Productions announced a new series called “Off-Mirvish” (get it?). The second-stage series is intended to present new, critically lauded smaller-scale productions, spreading the company’s dominance over an ever-expanding swath of the Toronto market (and supplementing its season with more adventurous fare). For the series’ first season, Mirvish will present Terminus at the Royal Alex and Without You, Clybourne Park and Dancing with Rage at the Panasonic Theatre. “The Toronto theatre community is one of the most vibrant in the world,” said David Mirvish in a release. “For a long time, we have been looking at ways to celebrate this community and bring its work to a larger audience.” Off-Mirvish’s first season will run from November 21 to March 24, with four-show packages ranging from $99 to $199.
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Listen to Kathleen Turner’s husky voice on five separate occasions
Kathleen Turner (Image: Viva Vivanista)
In anticipation of Kathleen Turner’s upcoming role in the Mirvish production High (from May 8 to 13), Carlton Cinema has announced it will be hosting a free film fest on April 28 that will be screening Turner classics Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses and Body Heat. We’re excited to see her endure a Florida heat wave and convince her lover to kill her husband on the big screen (it’s one of her sweatiest roles to date).
