Hart House Theatre Announces Season Including JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA 9/24

Hart House Theatre, the University of Toronto's Performing Arts Leader, is proud to announce its 90th Anniversary Season featuring the return of the smash-hit, Jerry Springer-The Opera opening September 24th, 2009.

This season offers Hart House Theatre's first ever remount of a blockbuster hit with Jerry Springer-The Opera. Directed by Richard Ouzounian, this rude, crude and controversial opera wowed audiences in January 2008; selling out for its closing week and leaving audiences chanting "JERRY, JERRY, JERRY!". (more details below)

Following in October, Hart House Theatre presents Shakespeare's most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Through its tradition of producing exciting, accessible classics, Hart House Theatre has become a downtown destination for large Shakespearean productions that are affordable, well-performed and have high production value. (more details below)

Once again, Hart House Theatre has secured the rights for the Canadian Premiere of a cutting-edge musical. Opening on January 15th, 2010, High Fidelity - a salute to the novel and film of the same name - is sure to speak to the 20 somethings today as it did through John Cusack and Jack Black. (more details below)

To close the season, Hart House Theatre presents Arbitrary Angle Productions' Robertson Davies: The Peeled I, a solo performance starring Canadian gem K. Reed Needles.

Jerry Springer-The Opera
Back by Popular Demand, Return of the Canadian Premiere
Music by Richard Thomas
Book and Lyrics by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas
Directed by Richard Ouzounian
Sept 24 - Oct 10, 2009

3 Week Run (11 performances)
Week 1: Thurs to Sat @ 8pm
Week 2: Wed to Sat @ 8pm
Week 3: Wed to Sat @ 8pm

Tickets: Adults $25, Students & Seniors $15
$10 Student Tickets every Wednesday Night!

Recommended for mature audiences only
Back by popular demand after performing to sold-out houses last January, Jerry Springer-The Opera has something that will offend and delight almost everyone at every turn. This British Blockbuster has all the elements that one has come to expect from the Jerry Springer Show including the world's worst sexual deviants in front of a bloodthirsty and carnivorous studio audience. Richard Ouzounian (best known in theatre circles as the top critic for the Toronto Star) returns to direct this ground-breaking production that was so well received by his colleagues in January.

The 20-odd twenty-somethings careering around the stage and auditorium appear to have stumbled into the deep humanity that lifts Thomas' show from easy satire into something both raunchy and noble at the same time. -The Toronto Star

From men in diapers, tap dancing Ku Klux Klan members, to Jesus, and Adam and Eve, the show is not for the faint of heart but leaves audiences chanting "JERRY, JERRY JERRY!"

A Midsummer Night's Dream
By William Shakespeare
Directed By Jeremy Hutton
Nov 20 - Dec 5, 2009

3 Week Run (11 performances)
Week 1: Fri & Sat @ 8pm
Week 2: Wed to Sat @ 8pm
Week 3: Wed to Sat @ 8pm + Sat @ 2pm
Additional Matinee Performances TBA

Tickets: Adults $25, Students & Seniors $15
$10 Student Tickets every Wednesday Night!

In the autumn, Shakespeare's most widely performed comedy comes to Hart House Theatre. By far the sexiest of his plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream depicts the multiple trysts and high-jinx of lovers as they meet in a forest over-run with fairies. While the fairies taunt and titillate the lovers in the forest, a group of well-meaning, but talentless commoners rehearse a play to be presented to the aristocracy of Athens. Under the direction of Jeremy Hutton (Director of King Lear and Arcadia last season) the show is sure to be high-energy and full of tongue-in-cheek humour that will tease and thrill Hart House Theatre audiences.
High Fidelity
Canadian Premiere
Music by Tom Kitt
Lyrics by Amanda Green
Book by David Lindsay-Abaire
Based upon the novel by Nick Hornby
Directed by Mark Selby
Jan 15 - 30, 2010

3 Week Run (11 performances)
Week 1: Fri and Sat @ 8pm
Week 2: Wed to Sat @ 8pm
Week 3: Wed to Sat @ 8pm + Sat @ 2pm

Tickets: Adults $25, Students & Seniors $15
$10 Student Tickets every Wednesday Night!

Hart House Theatre continues the tradition of producing Canadian Premieres of cutting-edge Musicals. High Fidelity (a musical based on the novel and film of the same name) tells the story of a young man in 'quarterlife crisis' - he's a young adult who gets dumped by his girlfriend, has no money, a cruddy apartment, his job has no upward mobility and he can't seem to get off downward spiral that is taking him nowhere. Through his love of music, he grows out of his self-centred view of the world and finds happiness.

Songwriters Tom Kitt and Amanda Green comment: "The wit, humour and humanity of Nick Hornby's characters and story naturally lends itself to musical treatment. It is a socially acute contemporary love story about people who are obsessed with, and define themselves by pop music and culture. The hero's life is a soundtrack and the big moments are songs." (Playbill 2006).

The original score includes styles from pop music, blues and rock ballads with nuances in the flavour of Bruce Springsteen, the Beastie Boys, the Indigo Girls, Aretha Franklin and Guns N' Roses. Director Mark Selby, a Toronto based Musician and Theatre Artist, leads the production team after mentoring under Richard Ouzounian on Hart House Theatre's Blockbuster Hit Jerry Springer-The Opera.
Hart House Theatre presents Arbitrary Angle Productions'
Robertson Davies: The Peeled I
Scripted and Directed by John Krisak
Starring K.Reed Needles
Mar 3 - 6, 2010

1 Week Run (4 performances)
Wed to Sat @ 8pm

Tickets: Adults $25, Students & Seniors $15
$10 Student Tickets every Wednesday Night!

Through anecdotes, lectures and readings, the story of Robertson Davies is told using his own phrasing and references to his greatest literary achievements. This one-man show is performed by K. Reed Needles; whose family connection to Hart House Theatre goes back 5 generations and who was recently awarded the 2008 Brickenden Award for Outstanding Actor for his portrayal of Davies in this piece.

 

 

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