THE SOUND OF MUSIC will end its record-breaking run on January 3, 2010, but the Princess of Wales Theatre won't stay dark for long. There is a yearlong season of familiar and new musicals planned for this popular theatre in 2010.
RAIN - A Tribute to the Beatles
February 26 to 28, 2010
5 Performances Only: Friday 8 PM; Saturday 2 & 8 PM; Sunday 2 & 7:30 PM
The award-winning Beatles concert, RAIN - A Tribute To The Beatles, comes to the Princess of Wales Theatre after past Toronto triumphant runs at the Sony Centre and Massey Hall. RAIN boasts a repertoire of nearly 200 Beatlemaniac favorites, ranging from such beloved songs as Yesterday and Hey Jude to classic hits including Revolution and Come Together.
The show covers the Fab Four from their very first Ed Sullivan Show appearance through the Abbey Road album, through the psychedelic late 60s and their longhaired, hard-rocking rooftop days. RAIN is a multi-media, multi-dimensional experience...a fusion of historical footage and hilarious television commercials from the 1960s lights up video screens and live cameras zoom in for close-ups.
For the four longtime band members - Joey Curatolo (Paul McCartney), Joe Bithorn (George Harrison), Ralph Castelli (Ringo Starr) and Steve Landes (John Lennon), with a little help from their friend Mark Lewis (keyboards, percussion) - the music is first and foremost. For more than two decades in performances around the globe, RAIN has distinguished itself by focusing on details, always being faithful to The Beatles with the ultimate goal of delivering a perfect note-for-note performance. All the music is performed live, with no pre-recorded tapes or sequences. Like The Beatles, the onstage members of RAIN are not only supreme musicians, but electrifying performers in their own right.
The New Mel Brooks Musical
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
March 16 to April 18, 2010
Part of the 2009-10 Mirvish Subscription Season
The classic Mel Brooks movie is ALIVE...and it's headed to the Princess of Wales Theatre! You'll have a monstrously good time at this spectacular new production, winner of the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award and the Broadway.com Audience Award for Best Musical.
Don't miss the sensational cast delivering all your favorite moments from the classic film, plus brand-new show-stopping numbers for the stage, including Transylvania Mania, He Vas My Boyfriend and Puttin' on the Ritz.
This wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronkensteen) as he attempts to create a monster--but not without scary and hilarious complications. The brains behind the laughter is mad genius and three-time Tony(r) winner Mel Brooks himself--who wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book- along with his record-breaking team from THE PRODUCERS: five-time Tony-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman and three-time Tony-winning writer, Thomas Meehan.
MAMMA MIA!
April 27 to June 27, 2010
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' MAMMA MIA!, the smash hit musical based on the songs of ABBA, returns to Toronto, where it began its North American life in 2000 and played for five years.
Seen by over 40 million people around the world, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! is celebrating 7 sold-out years at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, and is currently playing a record-breaking engagement on its National Tour in the United States. The originAl West End production has played more than 4,000 performances, an international tour has played in more than 40 foreign cities, and the blockbuster feature film adaptation, produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman, is the most successful movie musical of all time grossing $600 million worldwide.
An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends-practical and no-nonsense Rosie and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya - from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own.
On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities.
Inspired by the storytelling magic of ABBA's songs from Dancing Queen and S.O.S. to Money, Money, Money and Take a Chance on Me, MAMMA MIA! is a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family found.
LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL
July 6 to August 8, 2010
Part of the 2009-10 Mirvish Subscription Season
It's coming to Toronto next summer, and it's "AN ELLE OF A SHOW" (TIME Magazine). The hilarious MGM film is now the smash hit LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL. Legally Blonde follows sorority star Elle Woods, an underestimated blonde who doesn't take "no" for an answer. When her boyfriend dumps her for someone more "serious," Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style. After turning Broadway and MTV hot pink, this "Feel-Good Song and Dance Juggernaut" (New York Magazine) is "The Best New Musical Around!" (WOR).
Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone more "serious," Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.
In its first year on Broadway, LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL earned seven 2007 Tony Award nominations, ten 2007 Drama Desk Award Nominations, a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award and the chorus of the musical was honored by Actors' Equity Association's Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) with the first ever ACCA Award. The musical also ranked in the top ten list of the most requested Ticketmaster "Arts & Theatre Events" for 2007. LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL received three 2009 Touring Broadway Awards in New York City on May 4, 2009. The show won awards for Best New Musical, Best Production Design and Best Choreography of a Touring Production. The Awards, presented by The Broadway League, honor excellence in Touring Broadway. It is the only such national award.
