Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto ON: Producers at Starvox Entertainment and June Entertainment announced today James Maslow and Renne Olstead will join David Arquette on stage in Sherlock Holmes. Maslow, best known for playing the role of James Diamond in Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush, will star as the legendary Dr. John Watson and Olstead, who played Madison Cooperstein in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, will take on the role of the well-to-do-American, Lady Irene St. John.
Both actors will make their stage debut in this new, and original adaptation. Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tales, penned by the late playwright Greg Kramer and directed by Andrew Shaver, Sherlock Holmes is scheduled to play Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre (244 Victoria Street) from Oct. 27 to Nov. 8.
The eleven member acting company includes much of the original cast from the critically acclaimed Montreal Segal Centre production that premiered in May 2013, also directed by Shaver. Shaver will restage the show for a North American tour, launching a six-performance, “Tour Preview” engagement on Oct. 15 in Los Angeles, followed by additional runs in Toronto, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, with subsequent cities planned into 2016 to be announced shortly.
The cast includes Kyle Gatehouse as Professor Moriarty along with Patrick Costello, Graham Cuthbertson, Matt Gagnon, Barbara Gordon, Karl Graboshas, Trent Pardy and Amy Rutherford.
As the only friend and confidante of Holmes as well as his best friend and flat-mate, Watson is a veteran doctor with steady hands for surgery and firing weapons! Maslow was honoured to have the opportunity to take on the role that has been played by such great actors as James Mason, Robert Duvall, Jude Law, Martin Freeman and Ben Kingsley, amongst countless others. The actor noted, it represents “a chance to stretch and show audiences a whole new side of the man who is often portrayed as dim-witted compared to the brilliant, emotionally-detached analytical machine that Holmes can sometimes be.” He added, “Greg Kramer’s wildly clever script, and working alongside David Arquette, has been a great gift. I serve not only as the sidekick but as a great and intelligent foil – even though as Holmes is known to state, ‘I see, but do not observe’.”
In Sherlock Holmes, Lady Irene St.-John is the American wife of Lord Neville St. John who goes missing early in this new theatrical adventure. In the course of the action, Scotland Yard turns to Sherlock Holmes to help solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance. “I love Irene,” exclaimed Olstead, “she shows that even back then, brainy is the new sexy. Irene is manipulative, devious, enigmatic, and clever enough to give even Sherlock Holmes a run for his money. David (Arquette) and I are having a blast in rehearsals discovering the many shades beneath her ruthless and cold exterior and her emotional intelligence towards the great ‘consulting detective’.”
ABOUT THE SHOW
This Sherlock Holmes was the recipient of five prestigious Montreal English Theatre Awards, including Outstanding Production and Outstanding Director. The Segal Centre commissioned multi-talented, British-born, Montreal-based writer, director and actor Greg Kramer to pen this fresh new take on Conan Doyle’s stories of the legendary detective. The playwright was also supposed to play Scotland Yard detective Lestrade in the original Montreal production, but tragically, Kramer passed away on the eve of rehearsals.
Andrew Shaver, one of Canada’s most exciting young directors, known for his work with the innovative SideMart Theatrical Grocery (Trad, Haunted Hillbilly, Gordon) and assignments with Des McAnuff for the Stratford Festival, brings his ironic and kinesthetic vision to the production and has worked on the script subsequent to Kramer’s untimely death. Design is by Cirque du Soleil’s James Lavoie.
Produced by Toronto-based Starvox Entertainment (Corey Ross, Producer) and seasoned feature film producers, John Ryan Jr. and R Scott Reid of June Entertainment, Sherlock Holmes is thrilling, humorous, full of head-scratching crimes and dazzling deduction in the face of cunning evil. The show takes theatregoers on a heart-stopping adventure through the opium dens, the muddy docklands and the gritty backstreets of London during the turn of the century, a time of great social and technological change.
The opium wars have ended. The Ripper has wreaked his havoc. Electricity is on the rise and Scotland Yard is in its infancy. Lord Neville St. John gives a moving speech in the House of Lords to ban opium and a vote on the matter is imminent. Meanwhile, Professor James Moriarty, notorious criminal kingpin, plots to thwart the upcoming opium vote. When a drowned body is discovered, and Lord Neville goes missing, Scotland Yard turns to “the world’s only consulting detective” and newest resident of 221-B Baker Street: a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
LOCAL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
Sherlock Holmes will be staged at The Ed Mirvish Theatre from Oct. 27 to Nov. 8 with performances Tuesday -Friday evenings at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
On sale now, tickets range from $39.95 to $119.95 and are available online at www.mirvish.com and by phone at 1-800-461-3333.
For additional information visit www.mirvish.com or sherlockholmesonstage.com.
SOCIAL
Website: sherlockholmesonstage.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SherlockTour
Twitter: @Sherlocktour
Hashtag: #Sherlock
Photo: David Arquette (centre) as Sherlock Holmes with James Maslow (left) as Dr. John Watson and Renee Olstead (right) as Lady Irene St. John. ©2015 Brian To.
2015-09-30
Toronto: James Maslow and Renee Olstead to star opposite David Arquette in "Sherlock Holmes"