Fiona Reid and Jim Mezon will star in The Dance of Death.Emily Cooper
The Shaw Festival's four stages will be filled with old familiar faces next season – as the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., repertory theatre bids farewell to its artistic director of 14 years, Jackie Maxwell.
Sweeney Todd will star Benedict Campbell and Corrine Koslo as the titular "demon barber of Fleet Street" and his pie-making accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, according to a release announcing principal casting sent out Thursday morning. Campbell, who played Henry Higgins in 2011's production of My Fair Lady, returns to the Shaw after a summer spent playing King Lear in Calgary and Vancouver. Koslo, who has had many memorable starring turns during Maxwell's tenure, is also back after a season away. Maxwell is directing the Stephen Sondheim musical in the Festival Theatre herself – and its cast also includes Jeff Irving as Anthony, Kristi Frank as Johanna and Marcus Nance as Judge Turpin.
Also on the Shaw's main stage, Alice in Wonderland – adapted and directed by Peter Hinton – will feature Tara Rosling, star of Maxwell's celebrated 2007 production of Saint Joan, in the title role. Graeme Somerville will play the Mad Hatter, Kyle Blair will play the March Hare and Jennifer Phipps will play the Cheshire Cat.
Fresh off her turn as the title character in Michel Marc Bouchard's The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt, Festival favourite Fiona Reid will return to the Shaw to play Lady Hunstanton in Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance. Mary Haney, Julia Course, Fiona Byrne, Martin Happer and Wade Bogert-O'Brien round out the principals in that production to be directed by Maxwell's second-in-command, Eda Holmes.
Reid will also star as Alice – a very different Alice from the Wonderland one – opposite another power-house thespian, Jim Mezon, in The Dance of Death. The Stratford Festival's Martha Henry directs this scorching marriage drama by August Strindberg in the intimate Studio Space.
Other notable casting for 2016:
– In the Royal George Theatre, Benedict Campbell will play the Stage Manager in a production of Our Town directed by Molly Smith. Charlie Gallant and Kate Besworth are set to play George Gibbs and Emily Webb in that old Thornton Wilder chestnut.
– In the Court House, Neil Barclay will play the title character in Uncle Vanya. Harveen Sandhu will play his niece Sonya, while Patrick McManus and Moya O'Connell will be Yelena and Astrov. Maxwell directs.
– Director Philip Akin's production of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold" … and the Boys will star James Daly, Andre Sills and – one of the few actors to make a debut at the Shaw in a major role next season – Allan Louis.
– Natasha Mumba, another new face at the Shaw, will star in Lisa Codrington's adaptation of the Bernard Shaw short story, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God. (Not to be confused with Canadian playwright Djanet Sears's similarly titled play.)
– Mrs. Warren's Profession is back – indeed, the sole play written by Festival namesake Bernard Shaw in the 2016 season – and Nicole Underhay will play Kitty Warren and Jennifer Dzialoszynzki will be her daughter Vivie this time around. Eda Holmes is the belatedly announced director.
– Underhay will also appear in Engaged, a comedy by W.S. Gilbert sans Sullivan. Gray Powell, Diana Donnelly and Jeff Meadows round out a cast directed by Morris Panych.
Tickets for Jackie Maxwell's final season go on sale to the general public Dec. 5. It was announced earlier this summer that Tim Carroll, the British director with Stratford Festival and Broadway credits to his name, will take over as artistic director for the 2017 season. For full 2016 casting information, visit shawfest.com.
Editor's note: Jackie Maxwell is the director of Uncle Vanya. Incorrect information appeared in the original version of this article.
J. Kelly Nestruck