News and notes on the summer theatre and music scene

As another week gets underway, I wanted to round up a few items of interest in the arts world that have crossed my desk in the past week or so.

I was at the Shaw Festival last evening for Enchanted April at the Festival Theatre, which I will be reviewing in a future column, but there was quite a bit of news from the Festival over the past week.

Last week, Shaw announced several charitable organizations will once again benefit from proceeds raised through the Festival's Town Preview Performances program.  At a cheque presentation, some of the NOTL organizations receiving support from this season's town previews of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan include NOTL Community Palliative Care, the NOTL War of 1812 Bicentennial Committee, The Gallery Players of Niagara, The Royal Canadian Legion and The Friends of Fort George, among others.

The Town Preview Performances program offers NOTL residents the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets to designated preview performances, with proceeds raised distributed to various NOTL charitable organizations who apply for funding.  Cheques range from $ 250 to $ 1,000 for each organization.  It is a nice idea and everyone wins with an arrangement like this.

Meantime, on Friday Shaw announced they are receiving funding from the Government of Canada under the Enabling Accessibility Fund to improve accessibility to Shaw Festival venues.  The cheque for $ 50,000 will allow the Festival to improve accessibility at three of the four NOTL theatres, including construction of a new entrance and installation of a lift at the Royal George Theatre.  There will also be seven automatic door openers at the Festival Theatre, Production Centre and Royal George Theatre's accessible washrooms.

The Festival Theatre has been the easiest venue to enter/exit for those with disabilities, but now the smaller theatres will be easier to access as well, particularly the small Royal George which was once the town's movie theatre before Shaw acquired it years ago.

Niagara Falls MP and Defense Minister Rob Nicholson was on hand Friday for the cheque presentation.

This news came on the heels of the Shaw Festival announcement of the playbill for the Festival Theatre next season,which will see the John Kander/Fred Ebb musical Cabaret anchor the lineup.  The popular musical, made even more famous with the film version starring Liza Minnelli in the early 70s, will be directed by Peter Hinton, who directs this season's winning production of Lady Windermere's Fan.  I can see Hinton doing quite a number on this edgy musical set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power; this is just the kind of vehicle I suspect will make headlines next season at Shaw.

Other productions at the Festival Theatre include The Philadelphia Story, the beloved romantic comedy written in 1939 by American Philip Barry and made famous with the film version starring Katherine Hepburn as socialite Tracy Lord.  The production will be directed by Dennis Garnum, Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary, which will see the production head to their venue for part of the 2014/2015 season in Calgary.

Also at the Festival Theatre, Bernard Shaw makes a welcome return to the mainstage with his 1893 comedy The Philanderer.  The show will be directed by self-described Shaw fan Lisa Peterson, a two-time Obie Award winner and a very busy freelance director.

Casting and full creative teams for these productions and the remainder of the 2014 playbill will be announced at a later date.

Meantime, in Stratford the Stratford Festival has announced their exceptional production of Mary Stuart, directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, has been extended for a third time.  Six performances in October have been added in response to a sold-out run, with new performances added on October 2 at 2 pm; October 3 at 2 pm; October 5 at 8 pm; October 9 at 2 pm; October 10 at 8 pm and October 11th at 8 pm.

Mary Stuart was written by Friedrich Schiller and adapted for this new production by Peter Owald, and features Stratford stars Seana McKenna and Lucy Peacock as Queen Elizabeth and Mary Stuart, respectively.  I will be writing more about this show later in the week now that I have had a chance to see it earlier this month, but suffice it to say it is one of the most popular productions this season for a reason.

Finally, a few summer music notes from the myriad of summer music festivals on this month in the province.  The Stratford Summer Music season continues with a final performance by the acclaimed Vienna Boys Choir with German-Canadian Tenor Michael Schade performing tomorrow night at 7 pm at St. Andrew's Church in Stratford.  The Elora Festival has a special performance coming up this weekend with Sonic Escape:  Circle the Sea on Saturday at St. John's Church in Elora at 3 pm a trio of Juilliard graduates performing on flute, violin and cello.

Closer to home, Music Niagara continues this week with The Sunparlour Players Friday evening at Stonechurch Vineyards, and Kristin Hoff with the Lithuanian Piano Duo performing Saturday evening at St. Mark's Church.  The big event on the weekend is Quartetto Gelato at Jackson-Triggs winery on August 4th.  For more information, go to my website at www.finemusic.ca or www.musicniagara.org.

Enjoy some great theatre and music this week!

July 29th, 2013.