The Shaw Festival’s 2021 season continues into fall and winter with the American classic “Desire Under the Elms,” Irving Berlin's beloved musical “Holiday Inn” and perennial favourite “A Christmas Carol.”
“Over the past few months, we’ve had the privilege to create and share theatre with our audiences live and in-person,” said artistic director Tim Carroll.
“The end of the summer does not signal a close to our collective theatre experience, but a continuation of it,” he said in releasing details of the shows.
Proof of full vaccination will be required and masks are mandatory for anyone attending the shows.
Eugene O'Neill's “Desire Under the Elms,” directed by Carroll, opens for previews on Oct. 16 and runs from Oct. 23 to Dec. 12 at the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre.
Julia Course is Abbie Putnam, a young wife caught between duty to her new husband Ephraim Cabot (Tom McCamus) and her growing passion for her step-son Eben Cabot (Johnathan Sousa), in O’Neill’s tragic masterpiece set on a rural American farmstead.
The production also features Kristopher Bowman and Martin Happer.
The classic “Holiday Inn,” directed by Kate Hennig, previews starting Nov. 14 and runs Nov. 20 to Dec. 23 at the Festival Theatre.
Kyle Blair is Jim Hardy, a song-and-dance man who trades the bright lights of showbiz for the quiet life and a farmhouse.
When he meets and falls for local tap-dancing school teacher Linda Mason (Kristi Frank), they turn the farmhouse into a spectacular inn that’s open only on holidays. It’s all blissfully perfect until the unexpected arrival of his old New York song-and-dance trio – Ted Hanover (Kyle Golemba) and Lila Dixon (Vanessa Sears) – puts a wrench in his plans.
Also checking in at the Holiday Inn are Carla Bennett, Wren Evans, Élodie Gillett, Joshua Graetz, Gabrielle Jones, Amanda Lundgren, Jordan Mah, Allison McCaughey, Melanie McInenly, Kevin McLachlan, Drew Plummer, David Andrew Reid, Jennifer Rider-Shaw, Kiera Sangster, Adam Sergison, Jason Sermonia, Julius Sermonia, Jacqueline Thair, Julia Thompson and Jay Turvey.
Graeme Somerville takes on the lead role of Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol,” also directed by Carroll.
It opens for previews at the Royal George Theatre on Nov. 12 and will run Nov. 20 to Dec. 23.
Somerville stars as everyone’s favourite miser, along with Jason Cadieux, Peter Fernandes, Patty Jamieson, Andrew Lawrie, Marie Mahabal, Marla McLean, Julie Lumsden, Kelsey Verzotti and Kelly Wong in this enchanting production for the young and young at heart.
Tickets are available through the box office at 1-800-511-SHAW (7429) and online at shawfest.com.