Mayor Ford's Just Gotta Dance

Author and Ford-critic Margaret Atwood and Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page as Cannon Dolls;
Mayor Rob Ford stuck in the middle. 

Toronto's mayor is a Mr. Dursley-esque grump face with a popularity rate so low in the heart of the city that I've literally never met one of his supporters. They like him in the suburbs I guess, or so the electoral map suggested, but down where we use the TTC and go to the theatre and have GBLQT friends and spend time in city libraries, he's not so popular. The arts community, in particular, has it out for Ford- whose crusade to lower the city's out-of-control taxes seems to threaten their very existence (right from the get-go he freaked out during a debate on arts funding, declaring "people, we have roads to fix!"). Even when he is, on occasion, right, the mayor is so incapable of presenting an idea as anything but hate-filled bullying that he's become a symbol of everything the artist-intellectual downtown core hates. And with each "shut up, I'm going to my cottage" decision he makes, Ford only makes it worse.

So today's announcement that he's joining an age-old tradition of arts solidarity came as quite the surprise (and, frankly, a PR miracle for Ford's office). On December 10th, the National Ballet of Canada will open their yearly production of The Nutcracker (James Kudelka's oddly beloved Russian-influenced version that was created specifically for the company) with a 2pm matinee. Rob Ford will be there, but not in the audience. In Act I, the roles of the Cannon Dolls who begin the battle scene are generally reserved for special guests (past Petrouchkas include celebrities, politicians and sports stars like Margaret Atwood, David Miller and Mats Sundin). At the Dec 10, 2pm opening performance of the 2011 Nutcracker, the marshmallow-looking mayor of Toronto will play the role, dolled up in bright colours (and, I pray to god, a nice pair of tights!).

It seems every time I go to the theatre lately there's an improvised comment, a sarcastic dedication or a scripted joke at Ford's expense (he's all over this year's Ross Petty Pantomime, just for starters). Maybe he's finally realizing that Toronto lives and breathes with its artistic and cultural identity, it's what sets the city apart, and the artists have voices too loud to let them hate you this much. And maybe he was bullied into it, maybe the National Ballet isn't exactly the struggling institution he should be focusing on. But hey, it's a start, right?

Broadway Bound

photo by David Hou

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced what I was hoping would be coming: Jesus Christ Superstar's move to Broadway!

The smash hit production (directed by Broadway vet and Stratford Artistic Director Des McAnuff) will premiere at the Neil Simon Theatre on March 22, 2012 after a sojourn at California's La Jolla Playhouse starting in late November.

The last Stratford production to make the move to NYC (2009's Importance of Being Earnest) recast all its best performers (Mike Shara, Ben Carlson, Andrea Runge and Stephen Ouimette). Here's hoping the same doesn't happen to the superb cast of JCS (including Chilina Kennedy, Bruce Dow, Brent Carver, Marcus Nance, Aaron Walpole, Lee Siegel and Mike Nadajewski), for many of whom world stage recognition has been a long time coming. If the cast makes it intact I'm calling it first that Josh Young's got Tony Nomination written all over him for his performance as Judas.

Look out for our upcoming review of the production.

Raising a Glass to a Stratford Great

There was sad news out of Stratford today as the festival announced the death of one of their finest performers, Peter Donaldson. The consistent and engaging actor died of lung cancer yesterday, January 8th 2011, leaving behind 2 daughters and his wife, former Stratford actress and Little Mosque on the Prairie star Sheila McCarthy.

Donaldson, who's brilliant performances as Kent (King Lear) and Friar Lawrence (Romeo & Juliet) were highlights of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, was slated to return to the festival in 2011 playing Buckingham (Richard III) and Marcus (Titus Andronicus). Filling his shoes will be tremendously difficult for the festival where he spent 24 seasons.

Stratford Artistic Director Des McAnuff hit the nail on the head as he mourned the loss of possibility for the talented actor whose death at 57 came just as many of Shakespeare's greatest roles were opening up to him as he got older: "Our sorrow is all the deeper when we think of the King Lear or the Prospero we might someday have seen him play but now have lost forever". 

Donaldson will be greatly missed, but his 24 years of Stratford greatness leave behind a truly remarkable legacy.