Mirvish closes deal to buy Canon, Panasonic

David Mirvish has completed the purchase of two major Toronto theatres from Key Brand Entertainment: the 2,300-seat Canon Theatre and the 700-seat Panasonic Theatre, both located on Toronto's major artery, Yonge Street.  These two venues join Mirvish Productions's two other theatrical properties on King Street: the 1,500-seat Royal Alexandra Theatre and the 2,000-seat Princess of Wales Theatre.   "Toronto has many excellent, first-class venues, and we find ourselves lucky to now have under our ownership and management four of them," says Mr. Mirvish. 

"We will be able to offer theatergoers more shows and more variety. Our subscription series can become much more dynamic and varied. There will be more opportunities for long-run, sit-down, homegrown productions - resulting in more exposure for our talented artists.   "We can also better serve the broader theatrical community through increased efficiency in operations and more opportunities to move successful productions fluidly from one venue to another.  

"The Canon, which we have programmed and operated since 2001, is a historical building, meticulously restored and a top venue for the presentation of large-scale works, both visiting productions and local ones.   "The more intimate Panasonic, where the audience is no farther away than 80 feet from the stage, is a welcome addition as it allows us to consider productions that would have been lost in our much larger buildings.  Dramas, comedies, smaller musicals and entertainments will all work brilliantly at this state-of-the-art playhouse.  At the Panasonic we will be able to collaborate with artists from Toronto's alternative theatres and commercially transfer productions that have proven themselves on our city's vibrant and busy subsidized stages.  We will also be able to bring to Toronto diverse works from around the world that would not necessarily play well in venues with thousands of seats.  

"We invite the Toronto theatre community, other producers and presenters, to consider bringing their productions to these venues."  

At the Canon Theatre, there is already a strong program of shows for the 2008-09 season.  Beginning with a four-week return engagement of Monty Python's SPAMALOT in September, the season includes: A CHORUS LINE, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, MEDEA, THE COLOR PURPLE and SPRING AWAKENING.  

At the Panasonic Theatre, the musical WE WILL ROCK YOU, which transferred to this more intimate space after playing 61 weeks at the larger Canon Theatre, continues its successful engagement in a new, up-close-and-personal production.  

At the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the North American premiere production of DIRTY DANCING is now in its 44^th triumphant week in an open-ended engagement.  

At the Princess of Wales Theatre, production work and rehearsals continue for the Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish lavish new production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC.  The first performance will be on October 3, 2008.   For tickets and subscription, call 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333, or go online at www.mirvish.com.