THE STORY OF MY LIFE - a new musical premieres in Toronto

Toronto, ON. Alvin and Thomas met in Grade One. They shared the battlefields of childhood and adolescence, inseparable until one moved to the big city and their lives took different directions. The Story of My Life is a tender, musical celebration of lifelong friends and the power of a friendship that can tie two people together forever, no matter where they are.

Tony Award-winning Canadian actor Brent Carver (CanStage's Vigil, Larry's Party) will co-star in the CanStage world premiere of the musical The Story of My Life alongside Jeffrey Kuhn. 

Mr. Carver is best known for creating the role of Molina in the musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman for which he won a Tony Award.  He starred in the New York production of Parade in 1999 and was subsequently nominated for another Tony Award. He also appeared in the world premiere of Timothy Findley's Elizabeth Rex at the Stratford Festival.  Most recently he originated the role of Gandalf in the Toronto run of The Lord of the Rings.

New York-based Canadian Jeffrey Kuhn makes his CanStage debut in The Story of My Life.  An active performer, Mr. Kuhn has played the one-man, 35-character leading role in Doug Wright's award-winning I Am My Own Wife.  His Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning production of Assassins, Wicked and Ragtime.  In Canada he has been seen in The Lion King, The Who's Tommy and in numerous Stratford productions.

Directed by Michael Bush, this two-hander by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill (the same team behind CanStage's workshop of Not Wanted On The Voyage) will feature a creative team including musical director Marek Norman (CanStage's The Last Five Years), set and lighting designer Glenn Davidson (CanStage's Letters From Lehrer), costume designer Linda Cho, stage manager Darragh Parsons and apprentice stage manager Carolyn Mykytyshyn.

Michael Bush was most recently the director of artistic production for the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City where last season he directed Based on a Totally True Story.  He was associated with MTC for over 25 years and helped artistically guide more than 150 new plays and musicals including the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, and Doubt, and the Tony Award-winning Love! Valour! Compassion!  He is currently the artistic director of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center Cabaret and Performance Conference.

Canadians Neil Bartram and Brian Hill are seasoned collaborators, working together as a creative team on Somewhere In The World, The Nightingale and the Rose, Not Wanted on the Voyage and Clara's Piano, a new musical conceived and directed by Susan H. Schulman. Both Mr. Bartram and Mr. Hill starred in the Dora Award-winning original Canadian cast of Forever Plaid.  Mr. Bartram's musical directing credits include Phantom and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Mr. Hill has spent time at the Stratford Festival and is currently the resident director of The Lion King on Broadway.