Talk about being in good company. Rivaled only by New York and London, Toronto’s theater scene ranks among the largest in the English-speaking world, with nearly 60 theater venues and hundreds of performing arts stages. From fringe to mainstream, the show goes on every night of the year, affording planners a dazzling diversity of event and outing choices.
Removed from direct competition with other major performing arts cities because of its location, Toronto can simultaneously meet the expectations of the discerning visitor while reaching a wide visitor market, says Janice Soloman, executive director of the Toronto Entertainment District BIA (Business Improvement Area). "The performing arts add tremendous value to the marketing of Toronto."
Encompassing much of downtown, the dynamic Toronto Entertainment District is home to many of the city’s world-class stages, including the cavernous Princess of Wales Theatre, the century-old Royal Alexandra Theatre, comedy shrines Second City and Yuk Yuk’s, Roy Thomson Hall, Glenn Gould Studio, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the stunning Bell Lightbox, scheduled to open later this year as the new home of the esteemed Toronto International Film Festival.
Both Toronto-based, powerhouse main stage theater companies Dancap Productions and Mirvish Productions bring big Broadway shows like the currently running Jersey Boys to Toronto—typically the first choice for theater-going visitors.
"We frequently find that U.S. visitors see a Broadway-style production on their first theater night out in Toronto," says Jacoba Knappen, executive director of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, representing 175 professional theater, dance and opera companies in Toronto. "However, they then want to find local, original Canadian experiences."
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, for example, is an international icon devoted exclusively to LBGT Canadian culture. Meanwhile, the repertory-based Soulpepper Theatre Company, located in Toronto’s vibrant Distillery District and frequently compared to Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre, stages only Canadian interpretations of the classics, from Chekhov to Shakespeare.
The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and Factory Theatre, known as the "Off-Bathurst Three," have been among Canada’s most influential alternative theaters for decades.
And there’s the independent Nightwood Theatre Company, exclusively feminist; the Harold Greene Jewish Theatre Company; the fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company; and so many more.
"In Toronto, there is a stage for every niche, mirroring the city’s exquisitely drawn multicultural scene," Knappen says.
For More Info:
Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts
416.536.6468
www.tapa.ca
Toronto Entertainment District BIA
416.926.1337
www.torontoed.com
