Feature: THIS THING CALLED LOVE Cabaret Will Explore All Sides of Love as Part of The Forum's 'Night Music' Series at the Stratford Festival

Back for a third consecutive year as part of the 'Night Music' series with The Stratford Festival's 'Forum', is a cabaret performance by company members . THIS THING CALLED LOVE will be presented in the Festival Theatre Lobby at 7:30pm on Monday, July 30th. Steve Ross, who plays Mayor Shinn in THE MUSIC MAN and The Narrator in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW this season at the Festival, is once again developing, and performing in this cabaret.

This cabaret, which has had a different theme each year, started out as a project that Ross and frequent company member Sara Farb created and performed in. Farb is not performing this year, but Ross indicates that she had a hand in the creation of this one too-the theme of which is "all love-based this year". These shows have evolved over the years, explains Ross: "The first year we did it, we were worried. We thought we couldn't do new material because people wouldn't like it. So we put in songs that we liked, but that we weren't feeling passionate about." He calls the first year a "learning curve". When Ross and Farb were asked to do it again last year, they took the clever approach of making it all newer material and advertising that from the start. "People really dug it, so I don't have any qualms about most of the material being new again this year."

The theme this year is "love" and Ross explains that "the different sides of love" will be explored during the evening of song and spoken word. Even more intriguing, he adds: "We get a bit dark in the second half. We try to go with the downside of love too."

Performing alongside Ross this year are Danielle Wade who plays Marian Paroo in THE MUSIC MAN; Robert Markus who plays Jacey Squires in THE MUSIC MAN and Riff Raff in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW; and Jennifer Rider-Shaw who plays Alma Hix in THE MUSIC MAN and Janet in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. Franklin Brasz and Dave Thompson will be providing the accompaniment.

"We're excited about it! "There are a couple of songs that are way harder than I anticipated " laughed Ross when BWW chatted with him earlier this month. "So, we are still working on those...but I'm excited. It's a great bunch of people again!"

Tickets for THIS THING CALLED LOVE, as well as a list of other upcoming performances as part of the Night Music series, can be found at the link below: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/WhatsOn/PlaysAndEvents/TheForum/Night-Music

The Show begins at 7:30pm at the Festival Theatre Lobby

Photo Credits: The Stratford Festival

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