If you’re a live or musical theatre fan, you will have a lot to choose from this year and next, as the Mirvish 2018-2019 season is promising 25 shows.
“We’ve never had 25 shows in a 12-month period before so that is a sign of growth,” said theatre producer David Mirvish.
The year ahead will feature seven main season shows, including the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen.
“Dear Evan Hansen I saw at the second stage before it got to Broadway and knew I wanted the show,” said Mirvish.
The acclaimed musical set Broadway on fire with its story, based on a book written by Tony Award winner Steven Levenson and a score by Grammy, Tony and Academy Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
General tickets will go on sale on Oct. 1 for performances in the first booking period, which runs from March 5 to May 26, 2019.
Other main shows include the Canadian premiere of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, which runs from Oct. 11 to Nov. 17 at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
After that, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory rolls into town from Nov. 20, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2019.
The high-energy School of Rock, also direct from Broadway, features 14 new songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber. The show’s Canadian premiere will play at the Ed Mirvish Theatre from Nov. 27, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2019.
But if slapstick comedy is more your speed, The Play That Goes Wrong could be your best bet.
“We like to say it’s sort of like what happens if Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python had a baby,” said lead actor Evan Alexander Smith.
Smith, who hails from Mississauga, describes Toronto’s theatre scene as “incredibly diverse.”
“I had all of my most formative theatre experiences at Mirvish theatres growing up… to get to come back, it’s a really incredible homecoming,” he said.
A big name in music will soon get to experience Toronto’s theatre scene, too. Sting wrote the music and lyrics for The Last Ship, which is scheduled to grace the stage at the Princess of Wales Theatre from Feb. 9 to March 24, 2019 — with Sting himself performing in the show for a six-week stint.
With even more main shows, “off-Mirvish” shows and bonus shows, the 2018-2019 theatre season promises to have something for everyone.
“In terms of live theatre, after New York and London, we are probably the place to come to see live theatre,” said Mirvish.