Harry Potter And The Cursed Child/ Mirvish 2021-22 (Photo: Matthew Murphy)

“Please join us as we turn off the ghost light, turn on the stage lights and once again gather together in the sacred space that is the theatre to share stories and celebrate our common humanity.”

After 18 months, David Mirvish is reopening four of Toronto’s iconic theatre venues with a season of blockbuster shows, returning favourites, and a surprise or two.

“It’s been a long time since our stages were filled with the work of artists and our auditoria were full of our beloved theatregoers,” says David Mirvish in a media release.

“I knew the first season back needed to be spectacular, and I believe we have succeeded in assembling a slate of plays that run the gamut from hilarious to powerful to magical, and musicals that are just as special.”

Main Subscription Season: Seven Shows

Jesus Christ Superstar
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Lyrics by Tim Rice
Directed by Timothy Sheader
Opens December 2021, Ed Mirvish Theatre

For its 50th Anniversary, this new production was originally staged at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London, with award-winning choreographer Drew McOnie. This production won the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.

Leopoldstadt (North American Premiere)
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Patrick Marber
January to March 2022
Princess of Wales Theatre

This Olivier-Award winning play by acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard opened in early 2020 in London and sold out theatres in the West End.

From the show’s description:

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna. But Hermann Merz, a manufacturer and baptised Jew married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world. Gathered in the Merz apartment in a fashionable part of the city, Hermann’s extended family are at the heart of Tom Stoppard’s epic yet intimate drama.

Room (North American Premiere)
By Emma Donoghue, based on her novel
Music & Lyrics by Kathryn Joseph & Cora Bissett
Directed by Cora Bissett
A co-production with Covent Garden Productions and the Grand Theatre, London, Ontario
February to April 2022
CAA Theatre

Emma Donoghue’s bestselling novel Room is the basis for the new play with songs by Scottish songwriters Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett. A previous film adaptation for film by Donoghue won Academy Awards®, Golden Globes and BAFTAs.

The plot follows Ma, a woman who was kidnapped as a teenage girl, and held captive in a room built by her captor for seven years. She has a five-year-old son, Jack, who has no idea that the world outside even exists, and lives happily inside the imaginary world she’s created, until the seminal moment she realizes they have to escape.

2 Pianos, 4 Hands
Written and performed by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt
March to May 2022
Princess of Wales Theatre

A true homegrown success story, Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt have been entertaining audiences all over the world since 1996 with this musical comedy show about two musicians and their obsession with their craft.

Pressure (Canadian Premiere)
Written by David Haig
Directed by John Dove
Starring Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey), Malcolm Sinclair, and Laura
Rogers
April to June 2022
CAA Theatre

It’s D-Day in June 1944, and the Allied forces under General Eisenhower are set to launch. The decision boils down to what could be the most important weather forecast of the century. Boyle stars as Scottish meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg in this true story. The play was a critical and audience hit on its premiere in London’s West End.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Canadian Premiere)
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
Directed by John Tiffany
Opens June 2022
Ed Mirvish Theatre

What began as a two-part event has been restaged as one performance that takes up the story 19 years after Harry, Hermione and Ron saved the world of wizards. A new generation joins in this time, just arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

& Juliet (Pre-Broadway North American Premiere)
Music & Lyrics by Max Martin
Directed by Luke Sheppard
Opens July 2022
Princess of Wales Theatre

Internationally acclaimed songwriter Max Martin created the music for this modern take on Romeo and Juliet, including his monster hits Hit Me Baby One More Time, I Want It That Way, Teenage Dream, Roar, It’s My Life and many more. The show includes arrangements by the Tony® and Grammy® Award-winning orchestrator Bill Sherman and a story by David West Read (CBC’s Emmy© award-winning series Schitt’s Creek).

Off-Mirvish Subscription

Boy Falls From the Sky
Written and Performed by Jake Epstein
Developed with and Directed by Robert McQueen
Music Direction by Daniel Abrahamson
Opens January 2022
CAA Theatre

A cabaret from Jake Epstein, “that guy from Degrassi”, whose career in musical theatre — including touring through the US with Spring Awakening and American Idiot, playing Spider-Man on Broadway and originating the lead role of Gerry Goffin (Carole King’s husband) in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical — forms the basis for this combination of songs and storytelling. Behind the successes, he shares the heartbreak of rejection, boos, and stage fright in this candid show.

Blindness
Based on the novel by José Saramago / Adapted by Simon Stephens
Directed by Walter Meierjohann
Voiced by Juliet Stevenson / Sound design by Ben & Max Ringham
Opens August 2021
Princess of Wales Theatre

A man driving a car in a European city suddenly goes blind, with no reason or rhyme. But, he’s only the first as an epidemic of blindness grips the city. The government attempts to quarantine the victims in an empty asylum, and panic is everywhere. José Saramago’s dystopian novel won a Nobel Prize for Literature, in this adaptation by Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time).

*Room is both a Subscription and Off-Mirvish Selection

Returning Hits

Come From Away
By Irene Sankoff & David Hein
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Reopens December 7, 2021
Royal Alexandra Theatre

Casting, performance and ticket details will be announced soon for the return of this beloved show, the longest-running Canadian musical. It tells the true story of the small town of Gander and its residents who welcomed more than 7,000 stranded air passengers when the tragedy of 9/11 struck.

Hamilton
By Lin-Manuel Miranda
Directed by Thomas Kail
Returns February 2023

The Broadway blockbuster finally makes it back to the Toronto stage in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s story about America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Casting, performance and ticket details to be announced soon.

In a media release, Mirvish outlines the company’s protocols when it comes to COVID.

“Of course, none of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of the medical and scientific communities, both locally and around the world. By creating powerful vaccines they are making it possible for the arts to return in a safe and respectful way,” he explains.

“And to make sure all of us remain safe while at the theatre, only fully vaccinated people — on stage, backstage and in the audience – will be allowed into our venues. (Exceptions, including children under 12 and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or faith-based reasons, can provide a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of attending a show).”

Full details on the new season [HERE].