McAnuff to Join Ontario's Stratford Fest; Helm New Musicals

Des McAnuff, who recently received a Tony nomination for Jersey Boys and whose upcoming projects include the revival of The Wiz at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, will become one of three artistic directors at the classical repertory theatre the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada.  He will start in 2008, according to Variety.

"I think if you're going to be a great director, and you aspire to do great work, you have to do the great plays," said McAnuff, who was raised in Canada and directed Toronto theatre earlier in his career.   Despite his success with Jersey Boys and other high-profile projects, McAnuff says that he shies away from choosing shows for their commercial potential.  The artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse through 2007 (after which he will remain a director emeritus), McAnuff also decided to join the Shakespeare-heavy Stratford Festival due to its three artistic directors not having to perform any administrative duties, allowing "more professional flexibility to pursue other projects."  He joins Marti Maraden and Don Shipley; all three will helm plays as well as serve as artistic directors.

Antoni Cimolino, the executive director of Stratford, said "I feel that our secret's a little bit too well-kept," and hopes that the hiring of McAnuff will place the Stratford Festival a little more centrally on the theatrical radar.  Numerous Broadway hits--such as Thoroughly Modern Millie, I Am My Own Wife and Jersey Boys--began at La Jolla under McAnuff's leadership before moving to New York.  With Michael David and others, he is a co-founding member of the producing group Dodger Theatricals, which brought Jersey Boys and other hits to Broaway.

McAnuff's revival of The Wiz, starring David Alan Grier and others, opens at La Jolla in October; the production has previously been mentioned as being possibly Broadway-bound.  His busy director's slate also includes the upcoming touring and London versions of Jersey Boys, Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention--which will be developed at La Jolla next year, Alice, a new musical based on Alice in Wonderland with music by Michael Friedman and written by Annie Weisman, and another new musical based on the Flaming Lips' album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (written with the famed indie rockers).  In addition, he says that Zhivago--a musical based on the classic Pasternak novel which received mostly positive reviews after its recent opening at La Jolla--may be headed towards a "next step."  He is also a musician, composer and screenwriter.

Visit www.stratford-festival.on.ca for more information on the Stratford Festival.