Where Theatre Royalty Hangs Out
Three very important people were rumored to be having dinner together while I was in Stratford:
1. Captain Kirk
2. Captain Von Trapp
3. The Queen
I kid you not. Stratford is the kind of town that attracts the likes of William Shatner, Christopher Plummer, and Helen Mirren to its pastoral riverbank setting along the Avon River. And while the town itself is full of lovely delights, theatre “royalty” doesn’t swing into rural Ontario, Canada, just to see a village that looks like a small-town America set on the Warner Brothers lot.
No, such luminaries come here to be at the hub of some of North America’s finest theatre: The Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada (which seems a bit of a misnomer, considering this season only 4 of 12 productions are actual Shakespeare).
Josh Young as Che in Evita. Photo © David Hou, courtesy Stratford Festival.
Mr. Plummer himself made Stratford his summer home for the 2008 and 2010 seasons, and during the current festival had been playing the lead role in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Alas, the production wrapped on September 12, but other shows in the rather glorious festival (and I don’t gush lightly) run until early November.
While Mr. Plummer is the only one of the above trio who appeared in the current Stratford season, both he and Mr. Shatner polished their acting chops in Stratford during the 1950s. Other theatre luminaries who’ve graced the Stratford Festival stage include Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, and Peter Ustinov.
Shows running into autumn this season include Kiss Me, Kate, re-imagined by director du jour John Doyle—the man who rethunk recent Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd (Patti LuPone version) and Company. This production alone is worth the effort to reach Stratford.
Monique Lund as Kate in Kiss Me, Kate. Photo © David Hou, courtesy Stratford Festival.
And since you’re going, you’ll want to book tickets to the festival’s production of Evita, with dazzlingly talented and handsome Josh Young in the role of Che. Mr. Young’s perfectly managed narrative singing makes the role of enigmatic Che Guevera, who never actually met Eva Peron, more relevant to the production than any I have previously seen.
While the Stratford Festival was originally launched 57 years ago as a pure Shakespeare event, it has evolved and become justifiably renowned for its brilliance in musical theatre. The current season includes a production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. The acting is memorable, but Rich Fox’s rethinking of the orchestral arrangements is absolutely inspired. If the Paris I dream of could make its own music, it would sound like these orchestrations.
Performances at Stratford take place in four different theatre venues. The largest, seating over 1,800 patrons—all are close-in and with excellent sightlines—is the Festival Theatre. This theatre is important in world theatre history: it was the first “thrust stage” theatre built in modern times, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Since the Festival Theatre opened in 1957, it has been duplicated in dozens of spots worldwide, including Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.
Stratford for Travelers
Numerous license plates from New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, remind me the area is very close to a substantial part of the American and Canadian population. And for those who prefer to fly as close as possible, Stratford is approximately two hours away from Toronto’s international airport, and about three hours from both Buffalo and Detroit.
Stratford is a B&B and inn kind of town, and there are literally dozens of them, many laced with theatrical history. If you’d like to sleep in a glorious house Mr. Plummer once called home, check in at Hughson Hall where the actor lived in the mid-50s when he and Mr. Shatner were both performing at the festival. Owners Ross Hodgson and Clinton Hughes now lovingly care for the mansion and serve up quite a breakfast.
As for where you’ll find the two captains and the Queen (or other visiting royalty), the man who’ll likely know is David Lester, host bon vivant at The Three Houses B&B. Mr. Lester knows just about every actor who’s ever been through Stratford (refers to Mr. Plummer as “Chris”) and he loves welcoming travelers each morning, serving up quiche and listening in as they discuss shows they saw the day before.
The Squire discovered the best bet for rubbing shoulders with Stratford’s theatre elite is an après theatre drink or nosh at a cozy pub called Down the Street. I didn’t see Mr. Plummer himself there, but I did see actors from several shows there, possible theatre royalty of the future.
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Festival Information:
Stratford Shakespeare Theatre Festival of Canada: www.stratfordfestival.ca
Local Information: www.welcometostratford.com/
Where to Stay:
The Three Houses B&B, 100 Brunswick St., 519-272-0722 www.thethreehouses.com
Hughson Hall B&B, 220 Hibernia St., 519-305-0780 www.hughsonhall.com
Morris House B&B, 9 Cobourg St., 519-271-6442 www.rundelrestaurant.com
Where to Eat & Drink:
York Street Kitchen, 41 York St., 519-273-7041 www.yorkstreetkitchen.com
Down the Street, 30 Ontario St.,519-273-5886 www.downthestreet.ca
Rundles Restaurant, 9 Cobourg St., www.rundlesrestaurant.com
Bijou, 105 Erie St.,519-273-5000 www.bijourestaurant.com
The Old Prune, 151 Albert St., 519-271-5052, www.oldprune.on.ca
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