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RJR123
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From Today's Star:
Witches cast a spell on T.O.
Maybe all it took was a little witchcraft to help put Toronto back on the theatre map again.
When the curtain rose last night on the press opening of Wicked, it marked the beginning of a new and vibrant chapter in our city's history.
The cynical might have their doubts as to how a touring company of a hit American musical could make such a difference to us, but here's the reason why.
Wicked sold out.
Even before it started its first preview on March 8, there were barely any tickets available for the seven-week run and within a matter of days, those too were gone.
(For the record, there are still 20 seats available by lottery for each performance at $25, drawn out of a hat 90 minutes before curtain time.)
Last summer when The Producers and Hairspray were struggling to find their audiences, it seemed this city would never have a hit again. New York impresarios had stopped viewing this place as the favoured destination it had been for well over a decade, ever since the days of Les Misérables.
Remember when Phantom of the Opera ran 10 years and The Lion King lasted for four? Well, Hairspray and The Producers had trouble making it to six months.
A lot of it was to blame on the SARS crisis of 2003, but the strengthening Canadian dollar, drooping American tourism and a general sense of malaise didn't help matters.
Some people even wondered if a big musical would ever sell out in this city again.
Luckily, Wicked turned the tide. It proved that audiences still had an appetite for entertainment in Toronto ... they just had to be led back to the table.
After that, it seemed like the floodgates opened. The Mirvish production of Da Kink In My Hair was held over three times, playing to more than 100,000 people and grossing more than $3 million, making it the most commercially successful Canadian play in this city's history.
And then came The Lord of the Rings.
Thanks to some tough-minded determination from David Mirvish, this $27 million stage adaptation of the Tolkien classic has decided to stage its world premiere here in Toronto — not Chicago, not London, cities that had all tried to claim it as their own.
Mirvish's two secret weapons were the support he brought from the three levels of government and producer Kevin Wallace's fond memories of Toronto's glory days.
"I remember when Phantom of the Opera ran here for 10 years," he recalled. "It was a proud place and it was looked on as the third-largest theatre city in the world after New York and London. Well, since SARS, the city has been sleeping in on its potential and it needed a major theatrical event to wake it up again."
The announcement last week that the Hobbits would be moving the Shire to Hogtown brought the world spotlight shining on this city in a way it hasn't done in years.
And during the intensive build-up to the March, 2006 opening of The Lord of the Rings, there's no doubt that light will keep blazing, leading hundreds of thousands of tourists here to see what will be the largest musical production in history.
Was it only six months ago that people were willing to write us off the world entertainment scene? It's amazing how quickly things can change.
A lot of events came together to make this happen, but I like to think that it all started with a couple of witches.
Remember: if you sing it, they will come.
Witches cast a spell on T.O.
Maybe all it took was a little witchcraft to help put Toronto back on the theatre map again.
When the curtain rose last night on the press opening of Wicked, it marked the beginning of a new and vibrant chapter in our city's history.
The cynical might have their doubts as to how a touring company of a hit American musical could make such a difference to us, but here's the reason why.
Wicked sold out.
Even before it started its first preview on March 8, there were barely any tickets available for the seven-week run and within a matter of days, those too were gone.
(For the record, there are still 20 seats available by lottery for each performance at $25, drawn out of a hat 90 minutes before curtain time.)
Last summer when The Producers and Hairspray were struggling to find their audiences, it seemed this city would never have a hit again. New York impresarios had stopped viewing this place as the favoured destination it had been for well over a decade, ever since the days of Les Misérables.
Remember when Phantom of the Opera ran 10 years and The Lion King lasted for four? Well, Hairspray and The Producers had trouble making it to six months.
A lot of it was to blame on the SARS crisis of 2003, but the strengthening Canadian dollar, drooping American tourism and a general sense of malaise didn't help matters.
Some people even wondered if a big musical would ever sell out in this city again.
Luckily, Wicked turned the tide. It proved that audiences still had an appetite for entertainment in Toronto ... they just had to be led back to the table.
After that, it seemed like the floodgates opened. The Mirvish production of Da Kink In My Hair was held over three times, playing to more than 100,000 people and grossing more than $3 million, making it the most commercially successful Canadian play in this city's history.
And then came The Lord of the Rings.
Thanks to some tough-minded determination from David Mirvish, this $27 million stage adaptation of the Tolkien classic has decided to stage its world premiere here in Toronto — not Chicago, not London, cities that had all tried to claim it as their own.
Mirvish's two secret weapons were the support he brought from the three levels of government and producer Kevin Wallace's fond memories of Toronto's glory days.
"I remember when Phantom of the Opera ran here for 10 years," he recalled. "It was a proud place and it was looked on as the third-largest theatre city in the world after New York and London. Well, since SARS, the city has been sleeping in on its potential and it needed a major theatrical event to wake it up again."
The announcement last week that the Hobbits would be moving the Shire to Hogtown brought the world spotlight shining on this city in a way it hasn't done in years.
And during the intensive build-up to the March, 2006 opening of The Lord of the Rings, there's no doubt that light will keep blazing, leading hundreds of thousands of tourists here to see what will be the largest musical production in history.
Was it only six months ago that people were willing to write us off the world entertainment scene? It's amazing how quickly things can change.
A lot of events came together to make this happen, but I like to think that it all started with a couple of witches.
Remember: if you sing it, they will come.