Mirvish to Present First Full Year Of Theatre Since 2019 Featuring PRESSURE, HAMILTON & More

It's already the third week of January and the Mirvish theatres are getting ready for what is set to be be the first full year of theatre since 2019.

While Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues its record-breaking run at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre -- the show set a record for the highest weekly sales for a non-musical play in Canadian history: $1,984,045 - at the other three Mirvish venues there are new shows.

This month at the Royal Alex they welcome David Haig's acclaimed WWII drama, Pressure. In February at the CAA Theatre, Andrew Bovell's powerful family drama, Things I Know to be True, in a co-production with The Company Theatre, stars Tom McCamus and Seana McKenna. Also in February, after a three-year delay, Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton finally returns to fulfill its original run (which was cut short by Covid only four weeks in), this time at the Princess of Wales Theatre. In March at the CAA Theatre, they will present Crow's Theatre audacious production of Cliff Cardinal's The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like it. In July at the Royal Alex, they have the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown, a show that's hotter than hell for what they hope will be a very hot summer, indeed.

But that won't be all, on March 6th, they will announce the 2023/24 season, which will fill their theatres for the remainder of the year.

PRESSURE

WRITTEN BY David Haig
STARRING Kevin Doyle
DIRECTED BY John Dove

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

JANUARY 24 - MARCH 5, 2023
ROYAL ALEXANDRA THEATRE

D-Day, June 1944. The Allied forces led by General Eisenhower are poised to launch. 350,000 lives are at stake and the decision of whether to attack comes down to the most important weather forecast of all time.

Award-winning director John Dove (Farinelli and the King, Broadway starring Mark Rylance) directs Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey, Royal National Theatre) as Scottish meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg, in this true story and critical smash hit direct from London's West End.

Olivier nominee Malcolm Sinclair (Casino Royale, Royal National Theatre) and Laura Rogers (The 39 Steps, West End) reprise their roles as General Eisenhower and Kay Summersby to bring this remarkable story to life.

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

WRITTEN BY Andrew Bovell
STARRING Tom McCamus AND Seana McKenna
DIRECTED BY PHILIP RICCIO

CANADIAN PREMIERE

FEBRUARY 1 - 19, 2023
CAA THEATRE

A poignant family drama with universal resonance, Things I Know to be True is the story of a year in the life of the Prices, a seemingly typical modern suburban family. Bob (Tom McCamus) works on the assembling line at a car factory and Fran (Seana McKenna) is a registered nurse. They have struggled to raise four children (Alanna Bale, Michael Derworiz, Christine Horne, Daniel Maslany) and, now in their sixties, the couple looks forward to their retirement years.

But a parent's job is never finished, and as the seasons change, Bob and Fran find themselves guiding and supporting their adult children as they each face life-altering changes that shake the foundation of the once stable family home. Some of the forces that change this family's lives are out of its control, such as new technology and the advancement of an encroaching global economy that doesn't seem to care about its effects on the livelihoods of individuals. Some are very personal.

With insight and humanity, Bovell has tapped into the poetry, beauty, and tragedy of everyday life to create a deeply moving play that will resonate with anyone who has ever been part of a family.

Ultimately, Things I Know to be True is a about familial love in many of its forms - at times comforting and supportive, at others suffocating and destructive.

HAMILTON

BOOK, MUSIC & LYRICS BY Lin-Manuel Miranda

DIRECTED BY Thomas Kall
CHOREOGRAPHED BY Andy Blankenbuehler
MUSICAL SUPERVISION AND ORCHESTRATIONS BY Alex Lacamoire

BEGINS FEBRUARY 22, 2023
PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Hamilton is the story of America then, told by America now. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway, Hamilton has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theatre-a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education.

With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire,

Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's acclaimed biography. It has won Tony®, Grammy®, and Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors.

AS YOU LIKE IT

WRITTEN BY AND STARRING CLIFF CARDINAL

MARCH 10 TO APRIL 2, 2023
MEDIA NIGHT IS MARCH 14 AT 8PM
CAA THEATRE

In September 2021, just as theatres were starting to reopen after the long pandemic hiatus, Crow's Theatre, one of the city's most eclectic and adventuresome companies, decided to begin with an audacious new show. They said very little about it. Only that it was a "radical retelling by Cliff Cardinal" of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. There were no further details, no last list, nothing.

Of course most people know As You Like It as one of the bard's most accessible and whimsical plays. How was Cliff, a young Indigenous playwright and actor acclaimed for his acerbic, mischievous humour and willingness to deal with raw emotions and difficult subject matter, going to retell this classic of Western theatre?

When the show was finally on stage, word spread about it like wildfire. Its first audiences raved: it was "essential viewing," "a surprising, powerful, thrilling, and moving piece of theatre that will never be forgotten."

As more people saw the show, it became clear that what Cliff was doing with his new work was examining the relationship between the Indigenous community and the settlers. He was showing us what a young and insightful artist from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation sees in the aftermath of the discovery of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools. He was offering us the unvarnished truth of the state of the reconciliation process this country has been attempting for the last few decades. He was using theatre to do what it has always done: to take a few moments and pay attention to someone other than our own selves.

Called "the Canadian arts surprise of the year" by The Globe and Mail, Cliff's brilliant play The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It will dazzle and engage you as only the best theatre can.

HADESTOWN

BY ANAÏS MITCHELL
DIRECTED BY Rachel Chavkin

JULY 5 TO AUGUST 20, 2023
THE ROYAL ALEXANDRA THEATRE

Welcome to Hadestown, where a song can change your fate. Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theatre Album, this acclaimed new show from celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) is a love story for today... and always.

Hadestown intertwines two mythic tales - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell's beguiling melodies and Chavkin's poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, Hadestown is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs you and never lets go.

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