Toronto commercial theatre: Hamilton takes the money and runs (and runs), but will More Entertainment bring more jobs?

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On the day it opened in Toronto last week, before anyone local had seen the cast in town or a single review had gone online, Hamilton announced a 10-week extension at the Princess of Wales Theatre – all the way into August.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2015 hip-hop history musical is clearly still a big enough show to sell a six-month run (at least) in Canada’s biggest city, based on its brand-power alone.

So it could have been cast entirely with chimps and done boffo box office. What it should have been cast with, however, is Canadians.

If you think of theatre primarily in terms of spectatorial pleasure and economic spinoffs, the long Toronto stop of the “And Peggy” tour of Hamilton – which is set to be its last – is good news for the city. Audiences will pack one of producer David Mirvish’s theatres all summer long, and frequent the surrounding establishments on King Street before and after.

If you think of theatre in terms of the local industry and artists, however, it’s a real kick in the Canadian pants that American producer Jeffrey Seller has only brought (and very belatedly) a tour of the biggest musical of the century to our country despite what is clearly a strong market for it.

A Canadian-cast production is still nowhere on the horizon: Hamilton’s not going to boost the careers of a bunch of young racialized performers in this country the way it has in the United States, Great Britain and Australia until the Stratford Festival revives it in a couple of decades (the way it is about to revive another Seller-produced hit, Rent).

One hopes this isn’t a sign of the future for Toronto commercial theatre, anyway – restricted to being the final stop for North American tours with almost entirely American casts, the place where the last box-office dollars are wrung out a production before it is mothballed or goes non-union. Perhaps we should have just joined the American revolution dramatized in the show and got the complete cultural takeover over with in 1776?

I exaggerate, of course; there’s a great not-for-profit theatre scene in town that employs local actors, directors and designers. But Toronto theatre is also a big-money business here, and more of the box-office generating locally could and should be trickling down to Canadian artists and, ideally, creators, too.

Mirvish Productions, the city’s main commercial company, fills its downtown theatres mostly with a main-stage subscription season that, this season anyway, is comprised entirely of international presentations imported from England and the U.S.; it also runs a smaller “off-Mirvish” season of shorter runs of Canadian productions of plays and musicals.

Additionally, Mirvish occasionally launches a local open-ended production of an international hit show featuring a Canadian cast. Currently, its big “sit-down” show is a play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We’ll see if any musicals are set to join it anytime soon when the company announces it 2023-2024 season next week.

I’m not here to bash Mirvish at all; the company lost money trying relaunch the Canadian company of Come From Away more than a year ago and took a significant risk on Harry Potter in what was then still uncertain theatregoing environment.

While there are many reasons why Toronto’s commercial theatre industry is so dominated by tours, one thing that is needed is more profit-seeking producers taking risks in this country – either putting on shows on their own, or mounting ones that might be attractive for Mirvish to present in its seasons.

Dancap Productions, the last one to try to challenge Mirvish’s market dominance, threw in the towel in 2012, while smaller commercial theatre companies are disappearing: Ross Petty Productions just shut down after 25 years of holiday pantomimes, and Starvox, which mounted shows such as Evil Dead: the Musical and Bend it Like Beckham: The Musical, is now mainly in the more lucrative business of immersive art exhibits.

In that light, the launch of a new commercial company called More Entertainment this week is welcome news. Rock of Ages, its first show, officially opens Tuesday at the Elgin Theatre and is selling tickets through May 20.

More Entertainment’s chief executive officer and executive producer JP Gedeon is directing the revival of the loopy, low-brow 2006 Broadway jukebox musical built around glam and metal rock hits – and which already had an eight-month run in Toronto through Mirvish Productions back in 2010.

The cast features many Mirvish veterans such as AJ Bridel (Kinky Boots), Steffi Didomenicantonio (Come From Away) and Jeff Madden (Come From Away). Gedeon is less established as a director; in an interview with The Globe and Mail, he admitted he’s never directed at this level before – and that a number of the recent credits listed in his bio are from semi-professional or community theatre.

But Gedeon has better-known pros working with him such as choreographer Sean Cheesman (So You Think You Can Dance Canada) and musical director Mark Camilleri. And, crucially, he has the investors – two, he says, who want to remain anonymous for now – backing him up in what must be a multimillion dollar production. (The CEO was mum on the exact size of the show’s “considerable” budget.)

How does Rock of Ages plan to make its money back? Gedeon says More Entertainment has the rights to take its production on a North American tour after its Toronto run. I look forward to seeing what this new company has to offer on Tuesday evening; look for my review later this week.

Canadians in London

Congratulations to Crystal Pite on her latest Olivier Award nomination, announced Tuesday; the acclaimed choreographer is up for best new dance production at the British performing arts awards for her recent production, Light of Passage, at the Royal Opera House.

Meanwhile, expat actor/writer Haley McGee is up for the “outstanding achievement in affiliate theatre” award for the Soho Theatre run of her latest solo show, Age is a Feeling, which The Globe interviewed her about in August.

What’s opening across Canada this week

I Forgive You opens at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and runs from March 1 to 11. Ten years ago, Scott Jones, a Nova Scotia choral conductor, was subject to a homophobic attack that left him paralyzed, but he decided to choose the path of forgiveness in the aftermath. This Artistic Fraud production tells that story with Jones himself on stage conducting a children’s choir in the music of Sigur Ros.

Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion opens Tuesday at the Globe Theatre in Regina after a delay related to COVID-19 case. A heist comedy/exploration of the possibility of reconciliation by playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, it’s on through March 12.

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, a popular #MeToo two-hander from Hannah Moscovitch, is set to have a run in Winnipeg at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Cente from March 1 to 18. Artistic director Kelly Thornton directs. (Read The Globe review of the Toronto premiere.)

What’s opening this week in Toronto

Rubble, a new work by playwright (and practicing neurologist) Suvendrini Lena and directed by Beatriz Pizano, opens at Theatre Passe Muraille on Thursday (to March 18) in co-production with Aluna Theatre. Set in Gaza, it asks: What is the meaning of poetry amidst a state of siege?

Beyond the Moon, also opening in Toronto on Thursday at the Tarragon Theatre (through March 19), reunites award-winning playwright Anosh Irani with acclaimed director Richard Rose. The intriguing logline: “In a Mughlai restaurant in Toronto, a late night visit from a mysterious stranger rattles the cage and shatters the peace.”

Look for The Globe review later this week.