Willy Wonka, the Phantom of the Opera and Wadsworth the Butler will be coming to a London, Ont., stage later this year and next.
The Grand Theatre unveiled its 2023/2024 playbill on Tuesday, with new and returning shows coming to the over 120-year-old stage.
Dennis Garnhum, artistic director of The Grand, says the upcoming slate of productions gives audiences a chance to enter “a world of pure imagination.”
“It’s all about joy, it’s all about laughter, it’s about imagination, it’s about having a good, fun time in the theatre with a lot of music,” Garnhum told Global News.
With the upcoming playbill’s slate of productions having been in the works for almost three years, Garnhum says he is excited about what Londoners will have to see.
The 2023/2024 season kicks off with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera as part of the 25th-anniversary production of the High School Project. Directed by Andrew Tribe, the show will run from Sept. 19 to Oct. 7 on the Spriet Stage.
Garnhum said with the show being the silver anniversary of the High School Project producing such an iconic play, the demand among area students to participate is one of the highest ever.
“We’re going to blow the roof off in a way to celebrate 25 years of this incredible, unique project,” says Garnhum.
Returning to London is Kim’s Convenience from Oct. 17 to Nov. 4. The play version of the production was originally at The Grand in 2013 before being adapted into the popular CBC show of the same name.
A special part of The Grand’s production of Kim’s Convenience will be that its creator, Ins Choi, will star as the family patriarch, Appa, for the first time. Choi previously portrayed Jung, Appa’s son, in the play and TV show.
Arriving in time for the holiday season is the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. London’s Mark Uhre will portray the candy maker Willy Wonka with Canadian actor and director Jan Alexandra Smith directing the musical.
Garnhum says the selection of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as its holiday show is based on the record-breaking success of Elf last year.
“(Elf) was family centred, it was joyful, it was something people recognize with really incredible music and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is all those things,” said Garnhum.
Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will run from Nov. 21 to Dec. 24. As a holiday production, The Grand will once again be asking audiences to support the business cares program of the London Food Bank.
The Grand will kick off 2024 with another musical, The Invisible, Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare. In what the theatre calls a “genre-busting mash-up,” the musical follows seven brave women who risked it all to fight one of the greatest threats of their time during World War Two. The musical will run from Jan. 16, 2024, to Feb. 3, 2024.
The world premiere of In Seven Days will take place in February, running from Feb. 13, 2024, to March 2, 2024. The comedic play follows a woman named Rachel returning to her family home in London, Ont. to visit her ailing father, who intends to die by medically assisted death in seven days.
In March, an adaption of the classic board game and cult film Clue will hit the Spriet stage. Garnhum, who is leaving his role of artistic director for The Grand in June, will return to the theatre to direct the slapstick comedy. The play will run from March 12-30, 2024.
“It feels like a great parting gift to have a chance to comeback for this,” said Garnhum, adding it will be “anyone’s guess” for how the show will end each night.
Throughout the 2023/2024 season, Jean ‘n Classics will be returning to offer five different concerts:
- Abbey Road – Aug. 17.
- Earth, Wind, Fire, Blood, Sweat, Tears… And A Little Chicago! – Nov. 7.
- Motown/Disco – March 5, 2024.
- Journey/Queen – April 4, 2024,
- Never Break the Chain: The Music of Fleetwood Mac – May 30, 2024.
The season on the Spriet stage will conclude with the Tony Award-nominated Million Dollar Quartet. A jukebox musical, the production showcases the impromptu jam session of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins on December 4, 1956. The musical will run from April 16, 2024, to May 11, 2024.
Productions on the Auburn Stage for the 2023/2024 season will include:
- Ronnie Burkett’s Little Dickens – Nov. 27 to Dec. 9.
- The London Gospel Collective – Dec. 17 and 18, Feb. 25, 2024, and April 21, 2024.
- Huff – Feb. 6-17, 2024.
- One Step at a Time – April 9-20, 2024.
Other highlights of the 2023-2024 playbill include Educators’ Night Out (formerly Teachers Club) and Student Club returning with a six-show package, Tea Talks before 1 p.m. matinees on Wednesday and AfterWORDS on Wednesdays following performances.
Season subscription tickets are currently on sale, with single production tickets going on sale on June 19.
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