SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, ANNIE and More Included in Stratford Festival 2025 Season Lineup
Learn more about the full season here!
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 28, 2024
Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced the 2025 season, featuring classic and new texts, that celebrates harmony and examines the forces that enhance it or work against it.
These plays are Shakespeare's As You Like It, Macbeth and The Winter's Tale; the musicals Annie and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; the classics Sense and Sensibility and Dangerous Liaisons; the contemporary Canadian plays Forgiveness and The Art of War; and two Stratford Festival commissions, Anne of Green Gables and Ransacking Troy, both of which will have their premières in 2025.
“As I was putting together the 2025 season, I began with a few wonderful plays, and one in particular that I have always wanted to direct, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Central to the resolution of this story is the god Apollo, who helps bring harmony to a family ripped apart by passionate conflict,” says Cimolino.
“Apollo is the God of healing, of music and the arts, of truth and the protection of the young. What a wonderful figure to have at the centre of the season, I thought: a god of harmony, a state we yearn for in this world.
“But in its humblest form harmony can become dull, ‘some settled low content' as is described in As You Like It. And when it does, we yearn for passion to seize us and take us to the heights of pleasure, but it can just as easily drive us into conflict, which once more sees us craving harmony.
“And so two other gods took their place in my mind alongside Apollo, Venus and Mars, entwined in a never-ending cycle of destruction and creation. Together these three inspired what I hope audiences will find to be an entertaining and meaningful playbill, themed around Apollo, Venus, Mars: Reflections on Harmony, Love and War.”
As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Director: Chris Abraham
Production Underwriters: John & Therese Gardner
Production Co-Sponsors: Martie & Bob Sachs
Rediscover Shakespeare's tale of transformation and resilience, in a production directed by Chris Abraham, whose Much Ado About Nothing was a critical and box office hit last season.
In a world rocked by political upheaval, a Duke's daughter, Rosalind, faces exile from the city to the countryside. She flees with her cousin Celia, and the pair discover new identities and the prospect of new love, even as they confront their deepest fears.
Abraham, who is the Artistic Director of Toronto's Crow's Theatre, has directed a string of extremely Popular Productions for the Festival, including Tartuffe, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello and The Matchmaker. His recent Crow's production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 was the runaway hit in Toronto and will be reprised as part of the upcoming Mirvish season.
Annie
Book By Thomas Meehan
Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Original Broadway Production Directed by Martin Charnin
Based on “Little Orphan Annie” by permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Director and Choreographer: Donna Feore
Music Director: Laura Burton
Production Co-Sponsors Robert & Mary Ann Gorlin and Peter & Carol Walters
Donna Feore is back with a musical for the whole family! Annie, winner of seven Tony Awards, is one of the most popular musicals ever written. It's filled with memorable and oh-so-hummable songs, including “Tomorrow”, “It's the Hard Knock Life” and “You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.”
It tells the story of a loveable orphan, Annie, who is stuck in an orphanage run by the dreadful Miss Hannigan. The child dreams of being reunited with her parents, but instead finds happiness with the wealthy Daddy Warbucks, who becomes not only her protector but also her hero, finding wealthy homes for all her friends at the orphanage.
Feore's list of hit musicals grows longer with every passing season and includes Chicago, Billy Elliot the Musical, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof – and another show about a sad little orphan, Oliver! Feore's recent credits also include the world premières of the musicals Summer Stock and The Griswold's Broadway Vacation, and the multimedia orchestral production Life Reflected, which after opening in Ottawa toured Canada and Europe.
Sense and Sensibility
By Kate Hamill
Based on the novel by Jane Austen
Director: Daryl Cloran
This production of Jane Austen's beloved classic will use an adaptation by Kate Hamill, one of the most exciting and oft-produced playwrights working today. Audiences will enjoy the vibrancy of her script, which clearly reflects her genuine love of Austen and of classical theatre. Her adaptation is filled with playfulness, humour and emotional depth, as well as substantial roles for women – and men – which makes Sense and Sensibility an ideal showcase for our exceptional actors.
The play follows the Dashwood sisters, who have been left destitute after the sudden death of their father. The girls find romance – and suffer heartbreak – as they try to regain social stability for their family in gossipy 18th century England.
The production will be directed by Daryl Cloran, who is Artistic Director of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and has credits at major theatres across the country, including a wildly popular Beatles-inspired production of As You Like It, which has toured widely. Earlier in his career, Cloran chalked up a number of credits at the Stratford Festival, including as assistant director on Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer.
Dangerous Liaisons
By Christopher Hampton
From the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
Director: Esther Jun
Production Co-Sponsors: Cathy & Paul Cotton
In pre-Revolutionary France, the Marquise de Merteuil and her sometime lover the Vicomte de Valmont amuse themselves by plotting the seduction of two women of virtue: the virginal Cecile Volanges and the respectably married Mme de Tourvel. But as their cynical game proceeds, the players' motives grow deeper – and more deadly.
The play was written by Christopher Hampton in 1985, adapted from the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Hampton also wrote the screenplay for the hugely successful 1988 film starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich. This will be the second production of this play at the Stratford Festival. It was first produced to great acclaim in 2010.
Esther Jun, who is Director of the Festival's Langham Directing Workshop, will direct, after such recent successes as Cymbeline, Les Belles Soeurs and Little Women at the Festival and Kim's Convenience, which she staged most recently in London, UK, receiving tremendous critical and audience response. Esther was the Assistant Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre before joining the Festival.
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Created in collaboration with Ex Machina
Director: Robert Lepage
Production Underwriter: Laurie J. Scott
Production Co-Sponsor: Carol Stephenson, CM
Visionary director Robert Lepage takes on Shakespeare's tragedy of unchecked corruption and heinous self-interest.
Set in the milieu of Quebec's biker gangs, the production will reflect on violence and the allegiances that drive it, revealing the horrors that grow unhindered once the seeds of evil are planted in the soul.
Obsessed by omens and urged on by his wife's ambition, a heroic figure takes his destiny into his own hands. He murders his way to the top, only to find himself plunged ever deeper into tyranny as he battles vainly against enemies, real and imagined, from both sides of the grave.
Lepage, Artistic Director of Ex Machina, is celebrated around the world for his stunning, boundary-breaking work. His landmark production of Shakespeare's little-known play Coriolanus took Stratford audiences by storm in 2018. Just imagine what he will do with this illustrious tale, the play whose title must not be uttered!
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book by Jeffrey Lane
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
Based on the film “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning
Original Broadway production directed by Jack O'Brien
Director: Bobby Garcia
Choreographer: Stephanie Graham
Music Director: Franklin Brasz
Production Co-Sponsors: Sylvia D. Chrominska and The Whiteside Foundation
Like this season's La Cage aux Folles, this razzle-dazzle show, in the vein of The Producers, is set on the French Riviera. It features a conman who woos wealthy women and pockets their money to fund a glamorous lifestyle. When a competitor comes to town, they team up to raise the stakes but soon find themselves in unhealthy, though hilarious, competition. A final con – to prove who is the better hustler – sees both men get their just reward.
Made famous in the film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels delivers laughs galore and is certain to entertain audiences at the Avon Theatre.
It will be directed by Bobby Garcia, making his Stratford debut. Garcia has directed a string of major musicals, primarily in Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore, with credits including Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Fun Home, Waitress, In the Heights, Matilda, The Bridges of Madison County, Shrek, Aladdin, Urinetown, Dreamgirls and many more.
The show will be choreographed by Stephanie Graham, who did the choreography for this season's Twelfth Night. She has worked as a director and choreographer across Canada and won the 2015 Dora Award for outstanding choreography Opera/Musical for The Wild Party.
Anne of Green Gables
A new adaptation by Kat Sandler
Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Director: Kat Sandler
Production Sponsor: The Schulich Foundation
Is there a Canadian title with more global recognition than Anne of Green Gables? More than 56 million copies have been sold, and it has been translated into 30 languages.
Anne of Green Gables by Kat Sandler is a bold adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's timeless tale of imagination, resilience and the transformative power of love. Set in the picturesque village of Avonlea, it follows the adventures of Anne Shirley, an irrepressible orphan with a vivid imagination and an unyielding spirit.
Sandler, who will also direct, is known for her deeply funny yet poignant plays and has written and directed extensively across Canada. She has enormous affection and respect for this story and wants to bring it vibrantly to life for another generation. The story of an outsider, an orphan, who finds happiness and wins the hearts not only of her adoptive family but of her doubting community is a story for the ages.
The Winter's Tale
By William Shakespeare
Director: Antoni Cimolino
Production Co-Sponsors: Dr. Dennis & Dorothea Hacker, Dr. Desta Leavine in memory of Pauline Leavine, Dr. M.L. Myers and Peggy Ptasznik in memory of Vic Ptasznik
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino will at last have the opportunity to direct one of his most beloved Shakespeare plays, The Winter's Tale, a story about the intense power of human emotions and their ability both to bring people together and tear them apart.
King Leontes, obsessed by suspicions of infidelity, puts his pregnant wife, Hermione, on trial for her life. He comes to his senses only when his actions have cost him both wife and children. But true love can work miracles and even the bitterest winter contains the seeds of spring.
The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's final romances, a bittersweet drama of wrath and regret – culminating in one of the most poignant reunions ever written. Full of wonderful surprises and coincidences, this colourful and wildly entertaining story speaks to our deepest fears and greatest hopes.
Cimolino's Shakespeare productions have been among the most popular at the Festival, including King Lear and Richard III with Colm Feore, The Tempest with Martha Henry and The Merry Wives of Windsor with Sophia Walker, Brigit Wilson and Geraint Wyn Davies.
Forgiveness
By Hiro Kanagawa
Adapted from the book “Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents” by Mark Sakamoto
Director: Stafford Arima
Production Co-Sponsors: The Schubert Family
Adapted from the acclaimed 2018 Canada Reads-winning memoir by Mark Sakamoto, this moving and heartfelt play by Hiro Kanagawa tells the story of Sakamoto's grandparents and their harrowing experiences during the Second World War. In the face of tremendous adversity and horrific transgressions, they chose not to live a life of anger but rather to embrace and teach forgiveness.
The production will be directed by Stafford Arima, who is the Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary and has a string of Broadway, Off Broadway and West End credits to his name, including as director of the original Broadway production of the musical Allegiance. His memorable production of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, featuring Brent Carver, was a highlight of the 2010 season.
Ransacking Troy
By Erin Shields
Director: Jackie Maxwell
Choreographer: Esie Mensah
Production Co-Sponsors: Marilyn Gropp, Jane Laird, Dr. Robert & Roberta Sokol and an anonymous donor
Written by Erin Shields, the dynamo behind 2018's Paradise Lost, Ransacking Troy is a compelling adaptation of the Trojan War narrative through the lens of its female players. Funny, intriguing and always thought-provoking, this retelling of The Iliad and The Odessey whisks audiences away on a bold adventure.
After nine and a half years of war, Penelope is tired of waiting for Odysseus to return home, so she gathers a band of Greek women to set sail for Troy. An epic journey ensues as the women struggle to bring about a peaceful end to the war and imagine the future they want to create when it's through.
The production will be directed by Jackie Maxwell, former Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival. Maxwell has directed extensively in Canada and beyond and was at the helm of Shields's Paradise Lost, another Stratford commission, which was a huge hit for the Festival in 2018. She also directed a haunting production of The Changeling for the Festival in 2017.
The Art of War
By Yvette Nolan
Director: Keith Barker
Production Underwriters: The Harkins Manning Family in memory of Jim & Susan Harkins
Production Co-Sponsors: Karon Bales & Charles Beall, Bryan Blenkin & Alan Rowe and Catherine Elliot Shaw
The Art of War by Yvette Nolan is a dramatic examination of the role of artists in war and in peace.
During the Second World War, Nick is sent to the front lines as an imbedded painter. What he witnesses, what he paints, will transform not only him, but Canada's idea of itself.
This moving play will be directed by Keith Barker. Barker is Director of the Festival's Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program and the former Artistic Director of Native Earth. He has extensive credits as a director, dramaturge and actor, including his role as Louis Riel in the hit 2023 production of Women of the Fur Trade.
Tickets for the 2025 season will go on sale to Members of the Stratford Festival beginning November 10 and to the public on December 16.
The 2024 season continues until November 17, featuring Twelfth Night, Something Rotten!, Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance, La Cage aux Folles, Wendy and Peter Pan, Salesman in China, Cymbeline, Hedda Gabler, The Diviners, The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? and Get That Hope. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.stratfordfestival.ca or call the box office at 1.800.567.1600.
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