The 2024/25 Off-Mirvish Season
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: John Karastamatis, Sue Toth, Erin Nantais
The 2024/25 Off-Mirvish Season Features
Two New Productions of Recent Local Hits, the Canadian Premieres of an Off-Broadway Musical Parody and a Broadway Satirical Gem
The return of two local critical and popular hits from previous seasons in major new productions – Britta Johnson’s musical LIFE AFTER and Crow’s Theatre’s Fifteen Dogs; the Canadian premiere of Indigenous playwright Larissa FastHorse’s satirical comedy The Thanksgiving Play; and the homecoming of sorts of the hilarious new comedy featuring the songs of Canadian icon Céline Dion, Titanique, make up the 2024/25 Off-Mirvish Season.
Subscriptions to the Off-Mirvish season are now available for sale at mirvish.com.
“In each Off-Mirvish season we like to include both local and international shows,” said David Mirvish. “This coming season we are delighted to welcome back two past local successes and present two local productions of successes from both Broadway and Off-Broadway.
“LIFE AFTER dazzled several seasons ago at the Berkeley Street Theatre. After having productions in two prestigious regional theatres in the United States, Yonge Street Theatricals is mounting a major new production of Britta Johnson’s moving and unforgettable musical. It’s an honour to be hosting it at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre.
“We are equally excited about the Canadian premiere of The Thanksgiving Play, which has played Broadway and is one of the most produced plays across the continent.
“Fifteen Dogs will be our third presentation of a Crow’s Theatre production. Two seasons ago we presented Cliff Cardinal’s The Land Acknowledgement (or As You Like It) and this past season we staged a revival of Uncle Vanya. Both were major hits at the CAA Theatre. Fifteen Dogs is a different breed altogether, an adaptation of the Giller Prize-winning novel that is daring, playful and full of creative energy. Originally staged in the round, it will be adapted to a proscenium production at the CAA Theatre.
“Canada has given the world some truly brilliant artists. Céline Dion is perhaps this country’s most prolific and well-known export. When we heard about a spunky Off-Broadway musical that paid homage to Céline while having fun with one of the world’s most popular films, Titanic – which, by the way, was made by another Canadian artist, director and producer James Cameron – we knew we had to bring it home to Canada. “Our co-production of Titanique (with the Segal Centre for Performing Arts) will rightly begin in Céline’s hometown, Montreal, before making the journey down the 401 to the CAA Theatre.
“We promise a varied, rich and truly different season of theatre in Off-Mirvish 2024/25. Won’t you join us?”
Canadian Premiere
A Pop-Up Theatre Canada Production
The Thanksgiving Play
By Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Vinetta Strombergs
Starring Rachel Cairns, Colin Doyle, Craig Lauzon and Jada Rifkin
September 28 to October 20, 2024
CAA Theatre
Length: 90 minutes, no intermission
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s hilarious comedy.
It’s the story of four white theatre people who are brought together to create a culturally sensitive elementary school show about the origins of Thanksgiving. Their politically correct attempts to update the myth of the first Thanksgiving with today’s social justice issues are served up as a comedic feast. The play asks: How do you do the right thing in an ever-changing world?
A hit on Broadway and one of the most produced plays across North America, The Thanksgiving Play is smart, wildly entertaining and deliciously wicked.
"CRITIC’S PICK. HILARIOUS AND BRUTAL SATIRE ABOUT MYTHMAKING.”
The New York Times
★★★★
Time Out
Canadian Premiere
The Canadian production will be co-produced by the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal and Mirvish Productions in Toronto. TITANIQUE was originally produced Off-Broadway by Eva Price with special arrangement by MEP.
By Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue
Directed by Tye Blue
Music arrangements and orchestrations by Nicholas James Connell
Starring Véronique Claveau
The remainder of the cast to be announced.
December 5, 2024 to January 12, 2025
CAA Theatre
Length: 90 minutes, no intermission
When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning blockbuster film Titanic, you get Titanique, Off-Broadway’s most award-winning splash hit, which turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia and joyful slay-fest.
Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Just leave it to Céline Dion to enchant the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog. Sailing on fierce powerhouse voices in show-stopping performances of such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “All By Myself” and “To Love You More” – backed by the unparalleled energy of a full live band – Titanique is a one-of-a-kind theatrical voyage bursting with nostalgia, heart, and campy chaos.
This Canadian premiere production will star an authentique real-life Québec star – Véronique Claveau – as Céline Dion in her Toronto theatre debut. As we like to say: AUTHENTIQUE! VERONIQUE! TITANIQUE!
“IRRESISTIBLE & ENDEARING MUSICAL WITH TITANIC-SIZED CHARM.
YOU'RE GUARANTEED TO LAUGH YOUR ICEBERG OFF.”
People Magazine
“VERY FUNNY! THE TITANIQUE MUSICAL FINDS ITS SEA LEGS…
Near, far, wherever you are, Céline Dion will be there, in this camp reimagining of the maritime blockbuster that revs up into increasing absurdity.”
The New York Times
“TITANIQUE IS F***ING GREAT.
SWIM, DON’T WALK, to see this Céline Dion jukebox fantasia!”
Vulture
“SENSATIONAL, HILARIOUS & DERANGED!
The funniest musical in town!”
The New York Post
A Crow’s Theatre and Segal Centre for Performing Arts Production
Fifteen Dogs
Adapted and directed for the stage by Marie Farsi
Based on the novel Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
Starring Laura Condlln, Stephen Jackman-Tortkoff, Tom Rooney, Tyrone Savage and Mirabella Sundar Singh
January 25 to February 16, 2025
CAA Theatre
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes, including one intermission
— I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.
— I'll wager a year's servitude, answered Apollo, that animals – any animal you like – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they were given human intelligence.
That’s how, one night over a beer at the Wheatsheaf Tavern, the gods Hermes and Apollo decide to grant human consciousness and language to a group of 15 dogs at a Toronto veterinary clinic.
What happens next – how each of the dogs responds to this sudden change to their existence – is the story of this wildly successful stage adaptation of André Alexis’s multi-award-winning international best-selling novel.
Roving the city from west to east, the dogs learn to live life anew as they build new relationships with other dogs and with the humans that cross their paths – and with whom they now share a language and intelligence, tools that come with many challenges.
Performed by some of this country’s finest actors, this new play had its world premiere at Crow’s Theatre in 2023. Embraced by both critics and audiences, Fifteen Dogs became an instant hit. It was subsequently staged at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal earlier this year where it was greeted with similar acclaim.
This compelling, charming, funny and moving play examines our relationship with the animals we share our lives with while providing insights on the human condition itself.
You will fall in love with Fifteen Dogs.
“CRITIC’S PICK. WHIMSY, IMAGINATION AND PROFUNDITY.
One doggone spectacular tale.”
The Globe and Mail
"A MUST-SEE, even for cat people.”
The Toronto Star
“★★★★ CHARMING, MOVING AND UTTERLY HILARIOUS.
Thoughtfully told by a knock-out cast.”
Next Magazine
A Yonge Street Theatricals Production
LIFE AFTER
Book, Music & Lyrics by Britta Johnson
Directed by Annie Tippe
Cast to be announced.
April 16 to May 4, 2025
CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
Length: 95 minutes, no intermission
Britta Johnson is one of Canada’s most acclaimed composers, lyricists and writers for musical theatre. LIFE AFTER is her celebrated and luminous musical which premiered in Toronto in 2017 and played a sold-out run at the Berkeley Street Theatre. It was subsequently produced at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre and Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. It returns to Toronto's CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre in a major new production helmed by Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning producers Yonge Street Theatricals for a strictly limited engagement.
Despite being a famous self-help author, Frank Carter's optimistic advice offers little solace to his 16-year-old daughter, Alice. After his untimely death, Alice embarks on a quest for truth, unravelling the events that changed her family forever.
LIFE AFTER is a “stirring, fully original” (Chicago Tribune) new musical, “exquisite from start to finish” (BroadwayWorld) that moves through the complexities of life with wit, humour and grace.
"I am so thrilled that LIFE AFTER is coming to this legendary stage in my hometown for the next phase of its journey. This is the community that raised me and the city that has championed this show since the first downbeat on opening night at the Toronto Fringe in 2016. Developing this show has been the most transformative part of my career so far, and it’s an honour to bring it home and share its journey with my community again." - Britta Johnson, creator of LIFE AFTER
“After successful productions in San Diego and Chicago, we could not be more pleased to bring LIFE AFTER back to Toronto. LIFE AFTER has captivated audiences every step of the way, and we look forward to announcing additional plans for the future soon”- Linda Barnett & Natalie Bartello, Yonge Street Theatricals
"CATCH IT NOW, OR YOU’LL NEED TO WAIT FOR BROADWAY!”
WGN-TV, Chicago
“BORROWS FROM NOTHING EXCEPT THE TIMELESS ARTISTIC DESIRE TO MAKE SENSE OF LIFE AND LOSS.
Britta Johnson is an immensely talented new voice.”
Chicago Tribune
“GORGEOUS! A STUNNING & ORIGINAL NEW MUSICAL.
Profoundly emotional, deeply moving and surprisingly humorous.”
BroadwayWorld
“CRITIC’S CHOICE! LUSH, POETIC & SURPRISINGLY FUNNY.
A luminous new musical.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune
"★★★★ (OUT OF 4) LIFE AFTER WILL STAY WITH YOU FOR A LONG WHILE.”
Chicago Sun-Times
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